Lifeline and Crochet Class

After rereading my last post, I want to make sure everyone understands that adoption has not been an easy decision for us.  We have and continue to struggle with this decision.  I have no concern about loving a child, mine or otherwise.  The concern is whether or not it is God's will for us to adopt and whether or not the adoption means that we are giving up having a child naturally.  Basically, that is part of the point of writing this blog.  We want to be in God's will and we want a family.... either naturally or by adoption... or both.  We have come to the conclusion that it doesn't have to be one way or the other.  We can pursue both ways of having a family.

So, that brings me to the title of this post.  "Lifeline and Crochet Class"  What does crocheting have to do with having a baby.  Well, about 2 years ago, our home church, Central United Methodist Church, started a Prayer Shawl Ministry. The crocheted shawls are prayed over as they are being made and then by our church staff.  They are then distributed to people who are sick or hurting. It has been an awesome ministry and has touched my family personally several times.  I digress.... So, I also refer to the weekly meetings as crochet class because this is where I have learned to crochet.  Mrs. Susie is amazingly patient and helpful with learning new stitches.

After we developed a stockpile of prayer shawls, we decided to increase our ministry. Mrs. Susie was involved with a similar group in a different city but they made baby blankets for babies that were being adopted.  The goal was to give the child something that was with them from birth.  The blanket would be with them in the hospital and then moved around with them until they reached their forever family.  We decided to do the same thing.  Originally we were looking at using the same agency. However, someone mentioned that a church member's child was now the director of a local adoption agency branch of Lifeline Children's Services.  So, we had the director come speak of the children, their need, and how we would be helping them.  I left with tears in my eyes.  The church had them give a similar presentation on a Wednesday night and Jonathan had the opportunity to hear them as well.  That was it for us, and we began the process.

We filled out paperwork and more paperwork, have attended several meetings, and are now in the autobiography and interview part of the home study process.  I will keep you updated with how Jonathan is doing on his autobiography (I am finished with mine).

Hopefully, tomorrow I will catch you up on where we are with the pursuit of conception.

And for the record, I am finding that this blog is becoming very therapeutic!