While I am Waiting

Hello all,

I am sorry once again for not updating the blog. I will try harder to update it more often. I don't have any new news which seems to be my mantra lately. I have to confess that I have been some what disappointed that we have not heard from our agency for a placement. I know with out a doubt that the Lord has called us into this ministry and I can't wait to serve when the time comes.

I have been praying a lot lately and I know God is in control and everything will be in His timing. As I prayed in my car the other day while driving to Bible study a song came on that was an answer to my prayer. I have the lyrics and a link below. I cried, I sang, I praised and I felt so close to my Lord at that very moment. Waiting is the hard part and I truly believe God uses this time to draw us closer to Him. Enjoy the song I hope it moves you the way it moved me. The Lord reveals so much to us through so many venues. Thank you all again for your prayers and the support you have shown Nelson and I in this amazing adventure. I can't wait to see what God does! (In His timing of course.)

Sandy Sue

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bb7TSGptd3Y

Lyrics to While I'm Waiting :
I'm waiting
I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am hopeful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
Though it is painful
But patiently, I will wait

I will move ahead, bold and confident
Takeing every step in obedience
While I'm waiting
I will serve You
While I'm waiting
I will worship
While I'm waiting
I will not faint
I'll be running the race
Even while I wait

I'm waiting
I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am peaceful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
Though it's not easy
But faithfully, I will wait
Yes, I will wait
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve you while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting on You, Lord

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.