Thinking Out Loud

Hello Friends and Family,

I am sorry we have not been updating the post like we should. I mainly haven't been doing any updates because I don't have any new news to share with you. We are still in the waiting phase and could be here for quite some time. We did receive our official license and our home study is being submitted for potential little girls.

I had a friend ask me the other day to just share my heart so from now on that is exactly what we are going to do. I try not put time lines around when we will have our daughter, one so I don't set myself up for disappointment and two because I know the Lord has a divine time set aside just for this moment. I will confess I had hoped we might have a little girl by Christmas.

I have to share with you that I have never felt so called by the Lord to anything like I have to adopt (and through CPS). I have prayed and prayed and talk to the Lord all the time. I always want to be doing the will of my heavenly Father and not just to fill my own desires. The Lord continues to affirm this decision for Nelson and I almost daily. My heart is already filled with love for the child or children the Lord has planned to become a Carter. I think of her often and pray for her and her family. I can't help but look at little girl clothes and toys. I have even bought some toys for her.

We have yet to be contacted about a match for us but every time I check my email or my phone rings from our agency my stomach gets butterflies. When I think about a little girl or girls coming into our family it makes me smile. I can see her and see what a blessing it will be to our whole family to love her. I really can't wait for the day it really happens. The Lord calling me into this ministry is one I feel the Lord has prepared me for in my own childhood. Being a child of abuse I feel God has taken something bad and will turn it into good. As His word says He can use all thing for good. (And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose) Romans 8:28

Thank you all for your support and please continue to pray for us and our future daughter or daughters. Always include their parents in your prayers. We have to remember we don't know what they have been through and ideally we want them to get their lives together so they can be the parents God called them to be.

God bless,
Hugs, Kisses and Prayers
Sandy Sue

We are officially Licensed

Hello Friends and Family,

We are sorry we have not given any updates recently. The adoption process is a lot of waiting and this is what we have been doing for the past couple of months. We found out on November 6th that we are officially licensed for foster/adoption. When I received the phone call and they told me they were now submitting our home study for potential children, I got butterflies in my stomach and thought and thought wow this is really happening.

At this point we do more waiting. We are so excited and can't wait for God to grow our family. We will keep you posted as the process moves forward. Please continue to pray for our future daughter or daughters and their family.

We will wait upon the Lord and trust in His timing. Thank you all for your support in our journey to adopt.

Nelson and Sandy

Waiting again

Hello all,

I am so sorry it has been so long since our last post. It has been crazy around the Carter home with school starting back up. We had our home study on the 17th and everything went really well. We did a mad cleaning the weekend before so we were ready. It was painless not quick but painless. All in all our case worker was her for seven hours. We only had a few things we needed to fix and two of them we did on the spot.

At this point we are just waiting to be licensed. Once we are officially licensed they can submit our home study for little girls who fit our profile. We are excited but also a little nervous. We have put this in God's hands and we trust in Him completely. We don't know when He will add to our family or if there will be one or two little girls. We are so ready to offer the child a loving home and family. The boys keep asking when she is coming? We have to keep telling them we don't know we just have to wait. In the adoption process you do a lot of waiting.

To help you better understand how the process will work I have listed the steps below.

1. Receive our license.

2. Adoption agency submits our home study for potential placement.

3. CPS decides which families will be the best fit for the child.

4. Our agency plus any other agency goes in to represent the proposed family.

5. If CPS choosing our family we met with them and our case worker.

6. They give us the child's information folder. We review the folder and then within 24 hours let them know if want to move forward.

7. We choose to move forward and the child will be given our life book. This book contains pictures of home, family, neighborhood etc.

8. They set up what they call a pre-visit with the child at their current foster home. Nelson and I will go and visit her and get to spend some time.

9. We will have a second pre-visit with the boys. This time we get to take her to the park or to go get an ice cream.

10. We have one more pre-visit. At this point the next time we see her will be her moving into our home.

11. She will live with us for 6 months under a foster status until we legally adopt her.

So as you can see there is still a lot of steps to be taken. Please continue to pray for her and her family. Thank you all for your support and please feel free to ask questions. We want everyone to be part of the adoption and welcome comments and questions.

Sandy Sue

Home Study Scheduled (YEAH)

Dearest Family and Friends,

It has been a long road but we are done with our paper work and have our home study scheduled for August 17th. My friends have mentioned to me they have not seen me much this summer. This is so true. I had no idea how much time it would take to go through this process. We have of course moved it along quite fast. It has been a whirlwind of work and fun. Besides all the paperwork we have moved three rooms around in our house. Here are the pics of our new rooms. Note our boys have been sharing a room for 5 years so having their own room is a big deal.

Lincoln's New Room. Set up for the Artist in Him!!

Landon's New Room (He is totally pumped!)

The Girls Room!!! We are just waiting for the Lord to fill it.

I have to say it has been a lot of fun decorating the girls' room. I say girls being it could be for one precious little girl or the Lord could choose to bring us siblings. We have set the room up for two just in case. God really provided for us in setting up the room. I found the bedding on Craigs list and met a wonderful Christian family in the process. They are now following our blog. This has been a crazy couple of months and we are happy we will be licensed soon. Please pray for us on the 17th. Once we pass our home study we will just wait. I have to say it is surreal to walk by the room just waiting for God's timing in bringing us a daughter or daughters. The thought of going from 2-4 is scary but we trust our heavenly Father and know He knows what is best for us.

The Dreaded TB Test

So, part of the Adoption process is having a tuberculosis test. Since the whole family has to do this we had "fully" prepared the boys for this simple procedure that involves a lightening-fast pin prick that we would all laugh off in a matter of seconds. There was just one problem - the TB test doesn't involve a little lightening-fast pin prick! Well, you can imagine our surprise when we arrived at the clinic and found four hypodermic needles lined up awaiting us. Now, if you can indeed imagine our (Nelson & Sandy's) surprise, you can multiply that by 10 and you will begin to come close to the shock that was frozen to the faces of Landon & Lincoln.

After a little coaxing and some apologies for the gross misrepresentation we had given them the previous night about the test, the boys jumped up on the table and took one for the team... still with the look of shock permanently adhered to their face.

On the way out Lincoln asked, "just how many kids are we going to adopt?" Apparently he has already maxed out his TB test to adoption ratio.

Running, Running, Running

Sorry it has been so long since our last post. We have been very busy finishing up paperwork and getting the house ready. Nelson surprised this week by working very hard moving the rooms around and toddler proofing the house. God is so good He continues to guide us through this process. We had to name a doctor for her that takes Medicaid. God provided and the new doctor in town Dr. Shelton takes medicaid. What a blessing. The closer we get to finishing the more excited we get. I sometimes think wow this is really happening. There is still much to do but we are working hard to get our license before the end of the summer. We turn in our paperwork this week and then we wait for them to schedule or home study. That could take a few weeks. This is good because I still have lots to do to get ready for the home study. I will post pics of the rooms when we have finished them. Please continue to pray for us and her and her family. God is in control and we trust Him completely. Thank you all for your support. The Carter's.

Classes Finished

Whew!!! We took our last class on Saturday. This class was focused on medications, first aid and getting our certification for CPR. All in all I would have to say these classes were great. I believe all parents could benefit from these classes whether they were adopting or not. Nelson and I walked way better parents than we were two weeks ago. Each class we took confirmed more and more in our hearts that God is calling us to adopt. We now are in the middle of filling out lots and lots of paperwork. Because these are children who are in care of the state they have very strict rules set up for them. Over the next weeks we will be finishing up the paperwork and preparing a room for our future child. Needless to say it is very busy around the Carter house. The boys will move into their own rooms so they are excited about this. Landon is more excited because he has been asking us to have his own room for quite some time. This process can take a while so please be praying for us as we wait. The adoption process is a lot of waiting. We were given a rough time line of 6-9 months or sooner to possibly be placed with a child. Her room and her family will be ready and waiting for God to bring that special little girl into our lives. When you pray for us please pray for her as well as her family. We have to remember these families are hurting and lost. We don't know what their lives have been like or what kind of childhood they might of had. This of course does not excuse abuse or neglect but we are called to love them just the same. Sandy Sue

Our Classes

Friends and Family,

Tomorrow we will be on class five out of six. At first you think why should I have to take these classes but you soon understand. Traditional parenting techniques don't usually work with these children. For instance time out is not recommended for them. If they have spent their lives being rejected or neglected time out is another way of making them feel rejected. Also they may like being put in time out because they don't have to worry about trying to bond with you and then you just disappoint them anyway. Nelson and I have learned so much and we think all parent should take these classes. We typically parent the behavior instead of the relationship. My heart just aches for these children. Last night Lincoln slept with me because he was scared to sleep alone. He asked to be right up against me and asked for me to sleep with my arm around him. I treasure this time. He looked up at me and said, "mommy I will always need you because you keep me safe." At that moment I was filled with love for him and all those children out there who don't have someone making them feel safe and secure. I could just imagine our potential daughter having to face all these fears on her own. I pray God will bring her to us soon. We know God is in control and wether He brings a child for us to adopt for a lifetime or to love for a season we will be doing His work.

Sandy Sue

Welcome to Our Adoption Journey

Hello Friends & Family,

If you don't already know our family has been joyfully called to explore the ministry of adoption. In countless ways this decision has been placed upon our hearts. This need has been put into perspective as we have learned more about the thousands of children in need of a loving, safe home. As Christians, we have also been convicted by the many comments and commands Jesus gave about loving children, orphans, little ones and the least of these. We have been blessed for a purpose…and we believe that purpose includes sharing our blessings with a child that may otherwise never know a loving environment.

We will be adopting through Covenant Kids, a placement agency for TDFPS (Texas Department of Family & Protective Services). We have already begun our adoption license classes, and have completed about half of the course training. After the completion of our classes we will have a home study and will be in the process of finalizing the mountains of paperwork required by the state. The timeline after that is anybody’s guess… when the need arises.

Our prayer is for God to give us clarity and strength as we go through this process. We will be making decisions that will affect our immediate family, our extended family, our hearts, and the life of a hurting child. May these decisions be prayerful and selfless.

We ask that you lift our family in prayer during this time, as well as the child who may at this moment be dreaming of a family who will love them. We will also be in prayer for the family whose child we may be adopting. Even though their mistakes are the reason a child will require a new family, they need Christ’s love no less they we do and no doubt they are hurting as well. The real prayer would be that children are so well loved there would be none available for adoption.

We wanted to create this blog so you can take this journey with us. We are not sure what the Lord has planned for us, but we trust Him fully.

In His Name,
Nelson & Sandy Sue