Last Thursday was our final adoption training class at Bethany. It was a five hour meeting with five other couples in attendance. Mostly we discussed attachment in adoption which is "a special enduring form of 'emotional' relationship with a specific person which involves soothing, comfort and pleasure." By the end of the session, Amanda and I understood how important attachment really is for an adopted child. You wouldn't think an infant would have trouble attaching to its adoptive parents until you remember that it spent the first nine months of life in its mother's womb listening to her heartbeat, breathing, and voice. They tell us that healthy attachment will take several months.
Now that this meeting is completed, we are just waiting to do our home study. It should be soon. It will happen sooner if our FBI background checks have returned to the agency. So, with the home study quickly approaching, we have started applying for adoption grants. The applications for these are just about as long as our adoption application. Our hope is that we will receive enough grant money to cover a major portion of our adoption expenses, that is, $14,500, but doesn't include the first $5500 needed up front. We feel blessed to have already collected that first $5500 through our own saving and the generous gifts of friends and family. The grand total of adoption expenses will be somewhere near $20000. To say the least, we are hoping for a grant (or two, or three).
Please be in prayer for us as we apply for grants. At this point, we are tired of filling out applications. Pray that we would persevere through this process. Also, pray that we could do our home study soon. The sooner we get that done, the sooner we can be matched with a baby.
THANK YOU!!!
