a moment to rant

so we are doing this adoption thing...and i'm totally on board, as is steve...and we know it is the work of God...but i need a minute to rant...

everything between the step of signing up to finally getting the child whomps! it does...and maybe it's supposed to make up for the 9 months of being uncomfortable and sleeplessness, but i guarantee a sleepless night didn't cost anyone 15 grand!

i'm a normal run of the mill american who just wants what most couples do, a family. for whatever reason, i get to go about it this way, and this way is not the most fun, at least at this point. i once heard that adoption is not a lucrative business...if not, please tell me where it all goes. 2k here, 50 bucks there, 15k here, 500 bucks there...pretty sure my preggo friends weren't shelling out this kind of cash, even for ultrasound.

not to mention the mound of paperwork and red tape to prove that i am who i am, that i do in fact make X dollar, live at said address, have a good upstanding character, am not a child molester, don't have dangerous living conditions, and am able to care for a child. i know my friends didn't have to do this much...maybe if everyone who wanted a family had these requirements and had to pay the costs for all this, teen pregnancy would decrease.

i'm sure in the end it will all be worth it, and it will seem like the easiest thing ever done, but as i'm hemorrhaging cash and the paperwork is piling...i say that this is for the birds.

samuel anton

for those who don't know, we have decided to adopt from russia. our application has been approved, now comes the pile of paperwork required by the US and Russian governments. one thing we will get to do is to name our children(yes, that's right, children...we want to bring back brothers). we decided last week that the oldest of the 2 will be names samuel anton myers. while they will have somewhat "american" first names, we wanted them to have russian middle names...

we decided on samuel for the first name because of the story of samuel in the Bible. hannah, his mother had prayed for years for a child, even saying "O LORD Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant's misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the LORD for all the days of his life..." one day hannah found she was with child and rejoiced, she gave birth and called him samuel "Because I asked the LORD for him." we asked God for a child, and this was His response...not quite like hannah, but close enough.

we wanted to have a middle name that started with the letter a...and i know, the poor kids initials will be the same as his name...as least he won't forget. we landed on anton which is russian for "to go into battle." ironically enough, it is also the last name of a friend of mine...but i don't think he husbands family is russian. anyway, i feel very much like samuel will literally go into battle and fight some spiritual wars. steve and i have always felt like our children will do some amazing things for the Kingdom of God, and the names seem fitting.

samuel anton myers...wherever you are, we love you and can't wait to meet you!

adoption update

the application is in the mail! in 6-8 months, there will be little ones at my house!