Monday, February 28, 2011

Big News for the Thompsons!

We're adopting!

If you have talked to us in the past few months, this shouldn't come as a surprise, but yep, its out there for the world we're adopting!

We have chosen to adopt an infant domestically, through Bethany Christian Services. We have finished the mountain of paperwork and answered all of the invasive questions and last week we were officially put on the waiting list. Needless to say, we are excited.

Today I visited the Bethany office to make another payment and more importantly ask them about the waiting list that we had just become a part of. I tried to ask about it like it was no big deal, you know, I'm only asking because I'm here sort of thing, when in reality, I was only there so I could ask the question. She surprised me by responding to my casual, off the cuff question with a not so casual response, "Let's go into my office." I don't know what I expected when she responded that way, but it wasn't what I got. She basically informed me that we are the only family on our particular waiting list. (I should pause here to explain what I mean by that.)

Van and I have prayed about this for a while now and we feel that we were not going to put racial or gender stipulations on our adoption. In fact one of the things that pushed us to adopt was the knowledge that non-caucasion children are so much less likely to be adopted. We did not come to this decision lightly as we know that parenting a child of a different race will require extra care and thoughtfulness. But one thing that we are very excited about is the possibility that our family will be a small picture of God's family. We have tried to be very strategic in keeping our lives diverse, so we will be sure to lean on our community to support us in raising our babies.

So, basically, what she told me, is that we are currently the only family waiting on a non-caucasion child. The next woman who walks into the Bethany office will be placed with us, unless she doesn't like us. Which is absolutely crazy! She continued by encouraging me to get ready for a baby. This is not at all what I expected when I asked. I had anticipated being 2nd or 3rd on the list, but I was sure that she would caution me to not get my hopes up. I'm pretty sure that is their default mode is to keep the expectations low, so I still don't know what to think about this.

The reality is that we could still wait a very long time, and I'm trying to remind myself of that, BUT it could be soon. CRAZY! Get Excited, cause we are!