We did it!!

Yesterday, we finished our 21 hour MAPP class! It was the end of one chapter, and the start of another, as we meet this week to start the process of our home study. This class helped us to be reflective about what we desire for our family and understand what many children in foster care and adoption go through each and every day in order to reach their FOREVER Family. It is so hard to hear what these children have endured or may endure... more than some of us ever will as adults.God has adopted us into his kingdom and we have become HIS children, why wouldn't we do the same for one of HIS own? This child, who I have called ( and will refer to often as) "sweet child of ours" has no idea who we are, or when they will meet us, but we are prayerful that the transition in becoming their parents will be one that fills them with hope, joy, and love as well glorifies GOD. We know that God will guide us as parents, and that we may even have to ask you all (friends and family) for advice on occasion. We really could not do this without all of your prayers and support and we love you all for your prayers and words of encouragement.

WAITING....

Isn't there an expression or song... "Waiting is the hardest part, Patience is a virtue" I can completely AGREE, each step we take inching closer to the reality of having a child is exciting, but with step comes a waiting period. Since it is unknown when we will get our child, waiting IS absolutely the hardest part. The paperwork is nothing compared to the WAIT!!! We have had a joyous, blessed, and very busy life the past six years. Since getting married, traveling, and doing ministry we have been so busy that the thought of waiting at this beginning stage is hard, because we know the wait will continue to get longer. I think this is God's way of preparing us and allowing us to give Him the glory every step of the way.Over the past six years we have had two wonderful, fun, exciting, and crazy little loves in our lives... BABY AND EMMA!!! These two sweet rat terriers have brought us complete JOY, LAUGHTER, and LOTS OF SMILES!!! We are looking forward to them meeting and getting to know the new addition to the family, and know that God gave us these sweet Loves during this WAITING to love on us. We are blessed in so very many ways and take each step knowing that God is in control.

PAPERWORK

Today was our second MAPPS Class (one more to go) and we left with a thick packet of paperwork. As you probably can imagine, or if you know anyone who has ever adopted a child, the paperwork is massive!!! Question, after question, after question.We will get through it all, and it all really has brought some healing and understanding of the process. The joy will come when ALL pages have been submitted. Jason and I are learning a great deal about adoption and fostering, but also a great deal about each other as well. This has been an exciting experience that has made us aware of our daily blessings, and amazed us at how well our parents raised us. We have shed some tears, and know that many more will be shed along the way, but the thought of completing our family is making everyday and every piece of paper WORTH IT. Our parents have done a fabulous job in raising us, and even when we were difficult they loved us just the same. We both have realized how blessed we are and how easily our lives could have gone in a different direction like the children who are waiting to be adopted today.We could have easily been one the ones of these children who have been in foster care bouncing from one house to another. God knew the plans he had for us, and knows that our child is out there waiting for us! We plan to continue to uplift and glorify God every step of the way, even in the hardest of times. Thank you to our friends as well, who have been soooooooo supportive of this journey, and for being HAPPY, ACCEPTING, and PRAYERFUL about our decision. We love you all!!!

Fingerprints

When you adopt a child, you have to do many things that are not the "norm" when you have a child.When a baby is born, they are weighed, measured, and their tiny little fingers and footprints are taken.Yesterday afternoon, we traveled to Human Services. Knowing that everything would be fine, I still experienced nerves.Suddenly it hit me... A mother will have to give up her child... the thought of thought troubled me for quite awhile. I kept thinking of how hard a decision like that had to be and thinking about how she would feel about us.My prayer is that whoever she is, that she will find peace and love when that decision is made.

I feel like every new thing we do, or hoop we jump through is one small step closer to parenthood. The nerves are exciting, kinda like the butterflies you get when you are about to get married and your walking down the aisle towards the love of your life, and you think to yourself, " This aisle got longer, can't I just run to him?" Each step we take gets us closer and closer to the reality of parenthood. Questions start running through your mind, "Will I be a good mom/dad,will he/she get used to us?, How will we handle telling them about their birth parents when they ask?."

Even though we have a lot to consider and be prayerful about one thing is for sure, God will be there to guide us every single step of the way. It all makes us excited about what God has in store for the Pamblanco Family.

( Thanks to Carrie for these bibs- we do not know at this time if we are adopting a boy or girl, or what age they will be (only God knows), but if we do get a boy first we will save these for the little girl we want to adopt from China, when Jason is "of age" LOL LOL. Love ya Carrie!!)

How did we get here?

Many people believe that having a child or getting pregnant is somewhat simple and straight forward. Before we met I was diagnosed with Endometriosis, which left me with a 10 pound mass in my abdomen, a less than 10% chance of having a child, and a huge scar on my stomach.About three dates into meeting my sweet husband I decided I should tell him in advance in case he wanted to "bow out" while he could. His reaction was straight from the Lord, " Jason, my chances of conceiving a child one day are not good, less that 10%- his response," What you don't believe in adoption?" Words could have not rolled off a tongue any sweeter then those precious words.... ADOPTION! God had provided me with a Godly man of Integrity who had a heart for Adoption. After almost fours years of trying, crying, and "whying" (asking why ALOT) we decided that 2010 would be our year to move forward with adoption. After all, God ADOPTS us into HIS Kingdom when we are saved so why not adopt one of His own children? On January 9th, 2010 we started our first MAPP class through the Florida Baptist Children's Home. MAPP is a class designed to help couples who want to adopt, foster, or foster to adopt to gain knowledge about the children they may bring into their existing families. Going into the class Jason was calm and collective, while I myself was nervous not quite knowing yet was to come. After talking with sweet friends from church (they know who they are) I was told that this would be a time of healing, and that is exactly what I got only 5 minutes into the class. A devotional was shared at the beginning where we were reminded that delay is NOT denial- meaning that just because God has delayed a pregnancy it did not mean He was denying us a child. Quite the opposite, God has been preparing over the years for this exact moment in time...for the moment we get our child. Time, patience, and God's grace has prepared for this very stage our our life.