Completed Paperwork Mailed Today!

So exciting! Last night, Rachael and I FINALLY completed all of our paperwork needed before we can begin the Home Study! It was a lot of work, involving multiple background checks, drug screenings, blood work and doctor visits, insurance checks, our wills taken care of, questionnaires, and a host of other papers needing signatures requiring a witness or notary! Phew! So glad that is done!! It's now in the mail and on its way to Bethany in Winter Garden! After they've had a chance to go through it all, they'll contact us to schedule for our first of 3-4 home study visits. We're probably looking at mid-summer before all of that is complete, but once it is, we'll be a "waiting family!"

This Year Is Different!

Mother’s Day. It’s not always easy for us to celebrate this day. It comes with a number of mixed emotions. Certainly, Rachael and I can rejoice and be thankful for the women in our lives who birthed us, cared for us, helped us to grow and to learn, and to become the adults that we are today. They’ve been by our side guiding us along the way, year after precious year, nurturing us in only the way a mother can. We’ve laughed together, cried together, had a number of good times, and a few not so good. There have been times where we’ve argued and we were not the most obedient. But through it all, we had our mother’s love. 

I wouldn’t trade my upbringing for anything. It’s because of our parents and their love for us, that Rachael and I have come to desire so much to be parents ourselves. But after seven years of being married and praying for God’s blessing in our lives to become parents, we are still childless. 

This day, Mother’s Day, has not always been easy for us to be happy about or to look forward to. There is recognition and celebration everywhere for the mothers who are, the mothers that are not with us anymore, and even the expectant mothers who are pregnant. But this holiday rarely recognizes the women who haven’t crossed that line - the women who want to be a “mom” so badly, but haven’t had that opportunity yet for whatever reason. 

With this holiday comes cards that are given, special church services, and commercials on TV that talk all about how great being a mom is and how it’s all worth it. (Father’s Day can have a similar effect, even if not quite as intense.) But every little part of this day that stands to serve as a celebration of motherhood, is also reminder to my wife and I that we are not a part of “the club” - that we don’t know what it’s like to experience parenthood and there is a fear that we never will.

Yesterday, Rachael found a card in the mail. It was the first Mother’s Day card she’s ever gotten that actually referred to her as a “mom!” She loved it and it brought a joyful tear to her eye! It was so thoughtful, and I am so grateful that she was given this card in recognition of our status as soon to be parents! Here’s what Rachael had to say about it: 

Mother's Day is one of those days that is hard for me to express how I feel. I love celebrating my own mother, and honoring her for all she is to me, but it's always a reminder that so many have what I desperately want. But this year is different. This year, we have a hope that we will soon have a child of our own. And today, when I went out to the mailbox, I found my very first Mother's Day card, sent to me from my sweet brother and sister-in-love. Thank you, Nathan Hamler and Nicole Hamler! You have made my weekend! 

It’s not been an easy journey for us. But this year, we don’t have to fear! We just have to trust! We know God is working His plan for us, even if we didn’t always see it! Adoption was always the plan He was working for us to build and grow our family! It’s because of that, that we have hope that we’ll soon be parents! We are SO looking forward to it, and can’t wait to meet our child! We pray and hope that next Mother’s Day, we’ll be spending the day with our son or daughter!

Nest Egg Pendant Necklaces

Hey everyone! A very good and long-time friend of ours creates hand-made necklaces with a "nest" pendant. She wanted to help us in a very unique way by offering to take custom orders and give us the proceeds from the sales to help us offset the cost of our adoption! Details about the necklaces and how to order them can be found on the fundraising section of our website or by going to http://hallfamilyadoption.blogspot.com/p/necklaces.html! Of course, we've also begun selling our T-shirts, which will continue through the month of May.

New Shirts for Sale

Today, we made an official announcement of the launch of this site! In addition, we have designed and are now selling on this site our new Adopt(ed) T-Shirts! The organization we are going through is Fund the Nations. They will print and mail the shirts once we have all our orders. Our goal is to pre-sell over 75 shirts between now and May 20. By doing things in this manner, we'll be able to keep our costs down and more will go towards the funding of the adoption! Will you consider buying one today? Details on the shirts and how to order them are given on the Fundraising section of our site at hallfamilyadoption.blogspot.com/p/fundraising.html

Lack of Faith?

Two weeks ago, on a Wednesday morning, while I was at the doctor's office for what I thought would be a pretty routine visit, I was faced with a bit of a scary moment that caused me some fear and doubt and led me to have a temporary lack of faith in what God was doing in our lives.

As part of our requirements for adoption, both Rachael and I are required to have signed reports given by our doctors about our health. I'm pretty sure it boils down to the agency wanting to make sure we're not going to be dying anytime soon or that we might give some sort of disease to our child! Anyway, as part of that, we're required to have a test for TB (tuberculosis). I didn't think much of it. As far as I knew, I was perfectly healthy in that sense.

Long story short, when I went to the office for the results of the test, I expected for them to take one quick look at my arm, say, "Yep! No TB!" and sign the form I needed. Instead, my arm looked rather red and puffy in the location where they gave me the TB test and I was showing a POSITIVE! My doctor got a bit worked into a frenzy, which didn't put me at much ease. I was immediately ordered to go get a chest X-ray and have blood taken for further testing.

For the next few days, while waiting for the results to come in, I kept telling myself (and my wife) that everything was OK. It was probably just a mistake or that it was reading a false positive. That's what I was saying on the outside and what I wanted to believe, but if I were really being honest, I allowed myself to think the worst. I was worried that everything we had been working on toward adoption up to this point was going to come to a screeching halt! I was worried that maybe God's plan for us was different than I thought!

Jesus' disciples also had a moment of fear and doubt about God's plan. Jesus had been betrayed, arrested and beaten. The cheers from the crowed which days earlier were shouting, "Hosannah! Hosannah!" were now shouting, "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!" He was sentenced to death, nailed to a cross, and took the penalty for our sins. After all the miracles they witnessed and all the things that they had heard Him say and do, the disciples found themselves cowering in fear in a locked room, uncertain about the future. What did it all mean? How could He be dead?

Three days later, the tomb was empty! Jesus had risen! The problem for the disciples wasn't God's plan. It was their lack of faith and understanding in who God is and His greater plan. During my own moment of fear and doubt, I had the same problem as the disciples. It was my lack of faith and understanding in what God had already proven He was doing in our lives. In that moment of uncertainty, I lost sight of who God is and His faithfulness and love for us! Why should I have doubted Him? Why would He take us so far in this journey only to slam the door in our face? Why did I not trust Him more? It's moments like this that I realize how much He is stretching me and challenging me to trust Him throughout the journey.

I had a few days to think and pray about all of this, and I was praying hard! There were others I shared my story with who I asked to also pray with me for good results. Obviously, Rachael was praying! So were my parents and her parents as well. Never underestimate the power of prayer!

On Friday, I received a call from the doctor's office telling me that they had received my chest X-rays and that they were clear! It was a good call for sure, but I was still waiting on the blood tests. I finally got a call the following Tuesday (nearly a week after all this began) that confirmed the results of what we had been praying for! I did NOT have TB!

This was just a small moment in our journey that for me personally, caused me to stumble a bit. I now look back and think how foolish of me to think such a way! God is bigger than our greatest problems and His plans are perfect, way beyond our own understanding! We just have to trust Him to see them through!

Proverbs 3:5-6 says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your path straight."

New Shirts Coming!

Excited about the designs for our new adoption shirts! We'll be starting to sell them soon and during the month of May! Would you consider purchasing and wearing one to help support us?

There are 2 meanings behind the message. First, that we are called to adopt and do so by the grace of God. We are actively praying that God would bless us with a child, which is similar to when Hannah was praying for her son in 1 Samuel 1:27, and God granted her request. Secondly, as Christians, we are all adopted by God into His family through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ, according to Ephesians 1:5.

2 Day Training Completed!

Last month was VERY busy for us with both work and church leading up to Easter. We completed our mandatory 2 day training for adopting in Orlando, and made some new friends who are also in the same process with us. We're almost done with all our paperwork that has to be completed before we can continue with our home study. We just have a couple of doctor visits to take care of, drug screenings, and background checks. We're hoping to have all of those done in the next few weeks. We've also begun to reorganize our home and start preparing space for when baby comes. This weekend, Rachael and I even bought our first stuffed animals for our child: a Winnie-the-Pooh and Tigger too!