Thought I better do this

So, after having been going through the adoption process for our little Gus for over three months now I thought hmmm maybe I should blog about it. That way when people want an update they can check the blog. Sometimes things change quickly and sometimes things are really slow.

So here is the background that has brought us to where we are now three months later. In late January, early February Jason and I felt a tug on our hearts to pursue adoption of a little one with Down Syndrome. We had always talked about this but after a worship service at Providence we felt God telling us to look now. So I contacted Bethany Chirsitian Services. I told them that we were interested in adopting a child with down syndrome between the ages of birth and two and that we did not care gender or if the child was from the US or international. Well they were sending me pictures of all these kiddos with down syndrome by the end of the day.

Jason and I started going through profiles on kids, filling out our initial application and making friends quickly with Stephanie the intake person at Bethany, whom we love. Within about a month we kept feeling a tug to look back at the picture and profile of a little boy who was 11 months old from Korea. We asked for more information on him and then we asked about Korea's three year marriage requirement. Stephanie checked on many things for us and called back a few days later with wonderful news. Korea was willing to waive the three year marriage requirement because he had Down Syndrome, they were also going to reduce the country fees.

And so our journey began. We decided at that point not to give him an American name because there was still so much more to do. So our next step was to fill out the massive long 32 essay question long application with several other sources of inf0rmation on us. This was a very good experience as it gave Jason and I a chance to talk some things through and think more about what it will look like when we are parents.

Soon after making the decision to pursue Gus we had a doctor at spectrum look at all of his paperwork to give us some more information on his heart condition and pulmonary hypertension. While at work one day I received a phone call from Sarah a case worker at Bethany. She explained Dr, Lacina's report to me. The report brought tears to my eyes as I was informed that little Gus was much sicker than we first thought. His heart defect and pulmonary hypertension put him at risk for a shortened life span, frequent pneumonia, and lack of strength and energy.

With this news Jason and I went to our knees. We prayed and cried and prayed some more. We decided to take our time listening to God about whether we should continue to pursue Gus, who we already felt a strong attachment to or look for a different child. During this time our families were a strong support as they prayed with us, brought out great questions to ask Bethany and other doctors. We also had a lot of support from friends who were also praying and giving us names of pediatricians we could talk to.

Well after about two weeks of praying Jason and I both got an overwhelming sense from God that we were supposed to continue to process of pursuing the adoption of Gus. On the same day we received a brand new picture of Gus . We know that God is with us through this and will guide our every step. Our prayer has been and continues to be that we will continue to go forward until a door is completely closed.

So now that we had made a decision we decided we needed to have a name for this little one that had already touched our lives so much. So on a wonderful spring walk at Hippie Tower with Morgan running free we talked names. We decided that he needed a name that meant strength with all of his health problems. We also decided he needed a name that was four or less letters to write (teacher coming out in me). So Augustus it was, and we will call him Gus. Three days later we celebrated Gus' first birthday with a small cake, a sign, a card and stuffed elephant. We look forward to the day when Gus will see the pictures of us celebrating his birthday even though he was half way around the world.

So where are we now, well Gus already has a pedicatrician, Dr. Shook who is wonderful. He also has a pediatric cardiologist, Dr. Lacina who has been great at telling us the facts and giving us best and worst case scenarios. We are starting our homestudy with Bethany on Wednesday. And Gus, is happily waiting for his Mommy and Daddy to come get him.

I will do my best to keep this updated with what is new. Biggest prayer concerns right now: 1) that Gus stays healthy, no swine flu or any other yucky stuff. 2) that homestudy goes well. 3) that Gus gains weight, our 14 lb little peanut needs to grow.