Living for the Moment

Since we last updated our blog, many things have happened on our adoption journey, both in our hearts and in the process of our adoption. First of all, we want to thank all of you who contributed to the matching grant we received. We were able to match it completely and even go a few hundred dollars beyond the $5,000. Yay God! We are so grateful and feel blessed that so many of you have invested in our adoption financially and through your prayers.

We had our family profile, (which is a book about our family), shown to a birth mother for the first time back in September. Since then, we have had our family profile presented 8 times. All the birth mothers have said no. Sometimes it's a little disheartening and it's easy to go down the slippery slope of wondering what is wrong with our family. Why hasn't a birth mother chosen us yet? But then God reminds us that He has already chosen our baby and will bring us together in His timing. As good as it would feel to be chosen, we trust and know that God's plans and timing are always better than ours. When we finally get that "Yes," we know it'll be worth the wait.

God is so awesome in that He weaves so many details together in the process of our journey. We will never know until we get to Heaven all those details, but we have a few we want to share with you. When we began this journey almost a year ago, I(Alyssa) had a perfect picture in my mind of how this whole thing would go. At least, I thought it was perfect. We would be matched with a wonderful mother who had no drug or alcohol problems, the father would be willing to sign the adoption papers without issue. Also, we would keep it a closed adoption so once we got our baby, we could move forward and raise our child in a protected environment away from the reality of why they were placed for adoption. God has slowly been tearing down my vain imagination of how this adoption should go so I can see the reality of what is going on and what He ultimately has planned for us, our baby, and the birth mother and father.

First, He dealt with the drug/alcohol issue. I have been praying protection over our baby since the day we decided to adopt; physically, mentally and spiritually. I have prayed that no matter what decisions the birth mother makes, the Lord would be a shield around her and her womb and He would protect our baby even when she is not a good covering. So when we were presented with an opportunity to have our profile shown to a birth mother who drank alcohol the first three months of her pregnancy, my faith was really tested. I've seen firsthand the effects alcohol can have on a child in the womb and it is not pretty. Everything rational in me said no. I not sure I could handle a child who has fetal alcohol syndrome. Then God said, "What have you been praying for, Alyssa? Why are you doing this anyway? The whole point is to save a child." This birth mother drank the first three months of her pregnancy because she wanted to abort the baby. Then she felt God telling her not to. Still her family pressured her to have an abortion and she found herself in the abortion clinic parking lot one more time, but she remembered what God said, and God saved her child again. Her story lined up with exactly why we decided to adopt in the first place. The only thing holding me back from saying yes was wondering if God would come through. Had He protected the baby during the first trimester of drinking? I heard God say, "Absolutely! I love this baby more than you do and I heard your prayers. Now say yes!" So we did. She chose another family. But for that one week while we waited, we prayed for that child like he was our own and we invested into his life and his mothers life like nobody else except for the other two families she was being presented to. By saying yes, not only did God do amazing things in our hearts, but the birth mother was affirmed in her choice to save her son's life. She was blown away that three wonderful families wanted her son.

Now when we are asked if we want our profile shown to a birth mother who smokes or has done drugs or alcohol during some point in the pregnancy, we don't even hesitate to say yes. We know God is bigger than that. He has even opened our hearts to an open adoption. The more we've researched it, the more we see that it's healthy for an adopted child to have relationship with their birth parents, even early on. It helps fill in the blanks of such a huge question, and it really helps the birth parents make the right choice for their child knowing that he or she won't be out of their lives completely. Plus, kids are smart. They know who their "mom and dad" are compared to a birth parent.

The reality is, most of the situations we are going to be presented with are not going to be pretty. It's more than likely that the birth mother has gone through abuse, has no family support, has turned to drugs, etc. All of these circumstances that could put fear in our hearts and cause us to say no. But God has slowly helped us to realize that He still wants us to say yes and believe Him for great miracles in the midst of such pain.

So once again, we continue to wait. We know this is all part of the process. We may hear "no" twenty times before we get the "Yes!" When it comes, all the waiting will have been worth it all. In the meantime, God has been challenging me to live in the moment. It's so easy for me to get caught up in thinking about what I need to do next. Sometimes I feel like all I do all day is rush from one thing to the next. Before I know it, the day is over and I realize I didn't take time to enjoy it. My kids are at a wonderful, fun stage right now. I want to soak in as much as I can because I know I will blink and they'll be going to college or getting married. I have a wonderful husband and two lovely children. I'm excited for our next child to join the family and I pray eagerly for that. But a good friend reminded me today of just how blessed I am and to enjoy this season with just the four of us. That's exactly what I needed to be reminded of. God takes us through seasons in life and they only last so long. So enjoy the season you're in. Before you know it, you'll be on to the next one.

Thanks for all you prayers and support. We will continue to keep you posted.

Grant Awarded

We are happy to let you all know that we were awarded a matching grant from Hand in Hand Adopt. It's a non-profit organization that awards matching grants to qualifying couples who have not yet finalized their adoption. We were awarded a $2,500 matching grant for a total of $5,000 if we raise $2,500. We are so excited about this and praise God for His continued provision! We have sent out letters to many of you letting you know how you can be apart of helping us reach our goal. If you have not received a letter and would like to know more about how you can participate, you can email us at mossnyc@hotmail.com.

Since we last updated our blog, we have been presented to one birth mother. She did not choose our family, so in the last week, we have requested to be presented to another birth mother. She is due in November. We understand that being presented to birth mothers and not being chosen is part of the process. We feel totally secure in the fact that the right mother will choose us because we know that God has already hand-picked the right child for us. It's just a matter of us getting our family profile out there so the birth mother can find us. Please continue to be in prayer about this for us. We will let you know when we are matched.

Waiting

A lot of you have been wondering what's been going on since we last updated our blog. We have been accepted by all the agencies we applied to. Several of them need a few more documents, so we are in the process of completing that. There are already many situations with children available where we could have our parent-profile presented to the birth mother, but we don't have near the funds we need yet. Just to give you an idea of what this will cost, we need to raise at least $20,000 more for most situations where a child is available. So far we have raised about $6000. We've already put $4000 of that into our home study. For two agencies we have applied to, the very least we will pay for an adoption is $11,500 for agency fees, plus $5000 for the birth mother's living expenses, plus $2500 for legal fees. Not included in all of that is the traveling expenses. In most states, it takes about 8 days for documents to go through the courts just so the baby can cross state lines. So in the end, the average adoption will cost around $25,000. This is pretty standard everywhere that we've looked. It is not uncommon for the cost to be closer to $35,000 and sometimes as high as $50,000. It's seems like a lot, but we know God will provide all that we need.

You may ask why it costs so much. The only reason we can give you is that the agencies we've applied to take good care of their birth mothers before and after the adoption. This is really important to us and we feel that is part of the whole spirit of adoption. Some agencies are able to lower their costs or do a sliding scale fee based on income because their staff is all volunteer and they may only have a handful of adoptions a year. We have applied to one agency like that, but at this point they have no birth mothers. The agencies we have applied to that do cost more have about 20 adoption situations available at a time. Our goal in applying to more than one agency is to have our profile available to as many birth mothers as possible.

We have also started the process of applying for two adoption grants. One is a matching grant and the other awards anywhere from $3000 to $5000 to those who are approved. If the matching grant is accepted, we will let you know more about how you can give through that and have your donation matched dollar for dollar!

So, right now we feel like our job is to actively wait. By that, we mean to continue pursuing fundraising while praying for God's perfect timing in bringing us our child and for His protection over our baby and our birth mother. Please continue to pray with us in these areas. We also don't want to limit what God is doing by saying we can't adopt right now because we don't have the funds. If God makes it clear that we are to adopt a specific child, we will go ahead and start the process, fully believing that He will bring all the funds in.

Thank you for your continued prayer and support. We appreciate you all!!

Applications are in the mail!

It has been too long since we updated our blog. It seems life just gets busier and busier with two toddlers in the house. But life is good and we continue to see God's blessing and favor over our lives. God is so good!

This week we finally finished filling out applications to adoptions agencies and got them sent in the mail. We applied to four different agencies; one in Texas, one in Arizona, one in Utah and one in Kansas. All the agencies we applied to do not require any fees until we've been matched with a birth mother. By applying to several agencies, we will cut down on wait time. Then whatever agency matches us first will be the agency we adopt through.

Within the next few weeks, each agency should receive our application and other necessary paperwork from the agency that did our home study here. Then we will wait to hear if we are approved. Once approved, the agencies will begin showing our profile to their birth mothers. When we are chosen by a birth mother, it's considered a match. Then we begin planning for the birth of our child. This includes phone calls with the birth mom, updates on her pregnancy, and planning the hospital visit when the baby is born. The agency will also be drawing up the paperwork for the adoption.

It feels so good to be at this point because we've done all we can do up to this point. Now we just wait and watch God do His thing. We know He has already chosen the right baby and birth mother for us. During this waiting period please continue to pray over the safety of our child in the womb and over our birth mother as she makes some of the hardest decisions she'll ever make in her life. Thanks again for all your prayers and support through this whole process. We love and appreciate you all!

Home Study Completed!

Our home study has been completed! We had our last visit with Sandy Whitton from Littlest Angels International about two weeks ago and she has approved us for adoption. It's hard to believe we only started this process a few months ago and now we are closer than ever to adopting. There are a few more things that have to take place though before we can bring our baby home.

First of all, we need to put together our parent profile. This is basically a really nice and elaborate classified ad for birth moms searching for a home for their babies. We've been looking at lots of examples and hope to have ours finished in the next few weeks. Then we just pray that God leads the right mother to see our parent profile and choose us as parents for her baby.

Also, we need to complete 16 hours of adoption classes. We are taking a class this coming Saturday, so that will take care of half of those hours. We will complete the rest with online courses. After that, we should be ready to go! We just need a mother to choose us, and then the paperwork begins to bring home our baby.

This week the reality hit us that we could have a baby very soon. I think all along I've had this time line in my mind of when would be a good time for this baby to come into our home. Late fall or early winter would be good because Joab would be around 18 months. However, God has a way of doing things in His timing. With how fast everything has gone so far, we feel like God wants us to be ready this summer. At first, this scared me a little bit, but God reminded me that He never gives us any circumstance in life that's too difficult as long as we get a hold of His grace. I want and need to be open to His timing because I don't want to miss His best for us just because I want to be comfortable and have control of the situation. I think many of us can attest to God's goodness in times where things were out of our control or didn't happen in our timing. Through this process of prayer and letting go, I have found God's peace that passes all understanding. On top of that, I am getting more and more excited to hold this little one and start our lives together.

Thank you God for always wanting the best for us. Helps us to let go and give control to you in all circumstances. Amen.

Adoption Banquet was a Success!

We had our adoption banquet with Adam and Jodi Woodden last Sunday and it went well. All of us put in a lot of work, and we think everyone that attended had a great time. It was at Camp Robber in Montrose, CO and the food and service was fantastic. We were able to bless many with door prizes and raffle prizes. We also had over 85 silent auction items up for bids. They ranged in variety from pedicures to massages, oil changes to painting services, restaurant gift cards to Tiffany lamps, and beautiful art photography to family portrait photography packages. The community was very generous and made it possible for us to have such an awesome silent auction. All in all, including gifts from those who were unable to attend, we were able to raise about $6000 to be split between our two families. We are so thankful for those that gave and we know that God will multiply what was given 30, 60 and 100-fold and give it back to those who were so generous. Adoption is God's idea, so when someone gets behind that and supports it, there's no way God won't bless them back. I'm excited to see God do that in the lives of those who gave towards our adoptions.

Blessings!

Silent Auction on Facebook

So, I thought of this great idea the other night. I have been spending many late nights getting prepared for our dinner and silent auction. While browsing for some instructions to sort of copy and print out for our live silent auction I came across a site that gave people the opportunity to mail or call in a bid beforehand. I thought, why not do something like that through Facebook? So here I am spending more late nights getting photos of the items and then the way people bid is under the comments of each photo.
I thought it would give people who aren't attending the dinner a chance to bid on the silent auction items as well. I'm not sure how it will go over yet. I'm afraid people are thinking it is just one more invitation to our dinner, since people are saying they are 'not attending'? Maybe those 'not attending' just don't care...or they didn't read what I was trying to do. Who knows maybe this will catch on and could work neat. The idea is that as more people comment, or even say they're attending, or invite others, the more it shows up in news feeds and the more exposure it gets.
Fundraising is hard work. With Social Networking we have an opportunity to use a unique media, but also run the risk of just annoying people. I'm not trying to do that, just trying to do what I can to get the support we need. Sometimes that comes from the unlikeliest people, like for instance, the 50 or so businesses that donated something (most of them complete strangers to us). Not all are called to adopt orphans, but all are called to care for the orphan. It is neat to see that desire rise up in people that may not even know the Lord.
So, if you actually read my blog, pray that this online auction idea would make sense to people. And pray that what God is doing through us and for us would be a blessing and testimony of His goodness to us all.

Last Chance for Dinner Tickets- Price Lowered!

Our adoption banquet that we’re holding at the Camp Robber with Adam & Jodi Woodden on Sunday March 13 at 5:30pm is not sold out yet. We’ve asked people to RSVP by March 4, but we still have lots of tickets we can sell. Originally, we were asking for $50 a ticket, but now we’re wondering if that price was too difficult for many, especially those with families. So we’ve decided to lower the price of the tickets these last two days to $35 per person or $60 a couple. And for families, we’re willing to do a family deal. We want everyone that wants to come to be able to come, even if that means you just paying the basic cost of the meal ($20 per person).

It’s been awesome to see the community get behind us! The total value of all our silent auction items is over $5000! So with the auction and the raffle drawings you could be leaving with some awesome stuff! Everyone will be given one raffle ticket to put in the raffle of their choice and then you can buy more raffle tickets.

We need to know by Monday night, March 7th, in order to let Camp Robber know how much food to prepare. Call Steve at 970-209-7878 to reserve your tickets. Thanks so much for your friendship and support!

God's Favor

Today was our first day of asking for donations for the silent auction we'll be holding at our adoption banquet on March 13th. Jodi Woodden and I (Alyssa) met this morning and prayed for God's favor as we headed into the first of many local business to see if they'd be willing to contribute to our cause. It would make sense to not be shocked when we began to see God's favor because that is what we asked for, but I couldn't help but stand in awe of God's goodness as we went from business to business and not once were we turned away. Either businesses donated something on the spot, or told us to call next week after they'd had some time to look over the letter we had written explaining our adoption process. More than one business owner today had either adopted a child or knew someone who had. Others were excited about adoption and glad to support us. One woman even asked us to share why we had decided to adopt. It's neat to think that God was planting seeds in the hearts of those we talked to, all the while providing for us. All I can say is, God, You are AWESOME! For anyone who is contemplating adoption, but you're intimidated by the cost, or paperwork, or whatever, just trust God and go for it. Adoption is His idea. And if it's His idea, His favor will follow your obedience. I know when we're finally holding our baby in our arms, we'll see that every step in this adoption was more than worth it.

So, next week we'll take another day to ask for more donations from local business. I'm excited to see what God will do. If you're interested in donating anything for our silent auction, post a comment and let me know. It can be a physical item or your time or talent, such as music lessons, artwork, babysitting, etc.

God bless you all, and thanks for praying and supporting us in this. Yay God!!!

Fundraising Banquet Invitations have been mailed!

THANK YOU SO MUCH TO Scott's Printing who graciously donated the printing for our dinner invitations and tickets! They did an Amazing Job! We were so blessed by this, because they said they get many requests for donations throughout the year and generally reserve them for their customers. They said they believed in what we were doing though. Yeah God!

You are cordially invited to the Moss/Woodden Adoption Fundraising Banquet!

Sunday, March 13, 5:30 pm, at the Camp Robber!

Full course dinner, silent auction, and raffle!

RSVP by March 4!

Tickets are $50 silver, $100 gold, and $250 platinum.

Many of you will receive a mailed invitation. For those of you who want to purchase tickets online, click the Paypal "Purchase tickets" button at the top right. Please let us know how many tickets you are purchasing so we know how many meals to reserve. If you have a paper ticket be sure to bring it to the meal, as we will enter your ticket into a raffle. When purchasing tickets online, we will reserve your ticket for you and hand them out at the door the night of the banquet dinner.

****There are only 100 seats available, so respond early!****

Your ticket purchases are not tax-deductible. If you would like to give a tax-deductible gift separately from the dinner ticket, you can write a check to: Solid Rock Foundation Ministries. Mail it to: Steve Moss, 18106 Woodgate Rd., Montrose, CO, 81403. They have graciously partnered with us to offer this.

Thank you!!!!

Home Study

Today we had our first visit for our home study. The woman who did it was Sandra Whitton from Littlest Angels Adoptions in Cedaredge. She was so excited to be visiting our house because, as a child, she frequented the house with friends. Apparently, she grew up just down the road from here. Everything went very well. She had a great time going from room to room and trying to remember how things were from her childhood experiences here. She also liked interacting with Kaitlyn and Joab. Joab was very talkative and Kaitlyn showed Sandy all of her princess Barbie's.

As far as the home inspection goes, the house passed. The only thing we need to do before getting our baby is put at least one ladder outside an upstairs window in order to escape in case there's a fire. No problem there. That's actually something we've kept telling ourselves we need to do, so now we can't procrastinate any longer. She took with her the application we filled out for the home study and will be getting back to us about the next time we can meet. We need to meet two more times. She also took a deposit of $2000 today and will take another $2000 after the home study is complete. We're doing an Adoption Banquet with the Woodden's (our friends who are also adopting) on Sunday, March 13 at 5:30pm @ Camp Robber (so mark your calenders Montrosians), so hopefully that will help make up for some of the costs of the adoption. We knew this wouldn't be cheap, but now that this first deposit has been paid, it makes the process even more exciting because it solidifies in our hearts and minds that we're going for this totally and completely. We know God has been in this since the beginning and we're excited to see His favor and blessing in all of it. Thanks for all your support and continued prayers.

Our adoption process is underway

We look forward to filling the farmhouse a little more as we begin our adoption process! We are so excited for the plans the Lord has for us and how He called us to this decision. We are just starting out this blog thing, but we'll work on it soon to share our story and to keep you updated on the process. Please keep us in your prayers and thank you for following our journey!

Our home study is this Friday and we have filled out mounds of paperwork for it. We've had our fingerprints and mailed off for our background checks.

We are planning our first fundraiser with great friends Adam & Jodi Woodden who are also adopting with the same consultants we are using. So mark you calendar for March 13, 5:30pm we will have a full course banquet to help raise some of our adoption costs. We are pursuing a domestic adoption and the costs can range from $9,000 to near $18,000. We are trusting the Lord will provide others to join with us in 'caring for the orphan' by giving towards these costs.