Time to grow our family

After we adopted Naomi, we knew that we would adopt again. We weren't sure how, where or when but we knew God would tell us when the time is right.

We have always been interested in the Foster Care system and all the kids that long to be in a family. To us, it really seems like a no-brainer. There are thousands of kids that need a family and we are a family that has love to share. Plus we strongly believe when it says in the Bible to take care of the orphans. James 1:27a says, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress..."

So when we moved to Washington to started to research the Foster Care System and different adoption agencies. We found out the first step on our journey is to take PRIDE classes. PRIDE stands for: Parents' Resources for Information Development Education. It is a 27 hour course that we are taking right now. We have completed 2 of the 6 sessions so far.

When we picked which session to sign up for we picked one that worked with Darrick's work schedule. The class is being held in Seattle at One Church, One Child/Ujima Community Services. It was not the closest class but the one that worked. Our Pastor and his wife Martha agreed to watch the kids for us so we signed up.

Pretty soon after the class started on the first day we knew why we were there. God led us to UJIMA and we knew we wanted them to be our adoption agency. We love their philosophy which is "Finding families for children and not finding children for families". They are all about the kids and believe in that so much they charge nothing for their adoption services. I mean $0.00!

We are asking to adopt a sibling group, preferably a boy and girl between the ages of 4 and 10 but we will see where God leads. We know that He already has our children picked out so we are relying on Him. We really want to be able to keep siblings together since they so often get separated in the system. We are open to any race.

So yesterday we got the application and are working on that. We need 4 references so if you would be willing to do that for us please let us know! We need to do Background checks, fingerprinting, CPR/First Aid and get updated TB tests. Let the process begin!