My Turn...

            First of all, I should say thank you to anyone who is reading this.  It has been amazing, and very humbling, to me to see how many people actually have a vested interest in Danielle’s and my life.  So much of life is contingent on factors beyond our control, and this has shown me how God can use his people in these situations to show how much he really loves us.

            Danielle started this blog off by telling a little about our past.  I think it is only fair, and very necessary, that I talk a bit about who Danielle is.  Especially for those of you who have not had the chance to meet her.

            Danielle is a morning person.  I am not.  I think she is really the first person I have ever known to actually wake up happy.  While I wake up slow, and spend the first 45 minutes I’m up stumbling around in a haze, Danielle pops out of bed, and within moments, she can be dancing and singing around the house.  This, to me, is a great insight to her personality.  Especially the singing.  I used to mock musicals because “people don’t just randomly burst into choreographed song and dance.”  Well, it may not always be choreographed, but sometimes I feel like I went to bed one night, and through some weird twilight zone accident, woke up in the middle of a musical.  Thankfully, she has a beautiful voice.

            For some time before I met Danielle, and for most of the time I’ve known her, Danielle has been a nanny.  I think she’s an incredible photographer, and really, there is very little that she tries that she’s not good at.  However, there is something special about her working as a nanny.  This is actually one of the first things that attracted me to her.  Any of you who have spent much time around her have probably noticed that children seem to flock to her, almost in pied piper fashion.  I have yet to see a child that didn’t completely adore Danielle.

            Danielle and I have talked several times about why God would allow her to have MRKH.  In 1 Corinthians 10, Paul writes about temptation.  He says that God will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can handle.  I believe that this is true not just for temptations, but for trials in general.  We all have trials in life, but God would not allow us to go through a trial and not also give us the means to handle that trial.  That is how I first viewed Danielle’s MRKH.  As a trial.  However, in many ways, I can now see it as a means through which God has, and will, bring blessings into our lives.  As I mentioned earlier, Danielle has a special way with kids.  This has shown me that she, probably more than about any one I know, has the ability to love a child unconditionally, whether that child was her own natural born child or not.

            I guess I can also tell you a little about where we are so far in the whole adoption process.  As Danielle said, we have begun to look into the Foster-Adopt program.  I, too, was originally very wary of the Foster program in general.  However, the more we look into it, the more I feel that this is the direction we should be headed.  So, this next week, Danielle will be attending an orientation program through the DSHS.  This is really the first step.  In the mean time, we will be talking to several people who have adopted through the foster system, just trying to get as much information and insight as we can.  From there, there are a few classes that we must both attend, followed by a home study.  At that point, we will officially be foster parents.  It can take anywhere from a couple of weeks to a year for a child to be placed with us.  I would expect it to be on the longer end, because, at least with the first child, we are hoping for an infant.  Some time after the child is placed with us (I don’t know how long this usually is) we will be able to begin adoption proceedings.

            This is a very exciting time in our lives.  I again want to thank you all for sharing it with us, for the prayers that I know are being said on our behalf, and for your support.  I thank God for all the family and friends he has blessed us with.