Moving Forward

Today we did it.  We completed the final adoption class and made a beautiful announcement to our friends and family.  We also of course had to document the occasion with a picture of her signing the paper of completion and handing us our very last certificate.

Here is our beautiful announcment:

Hammon Party of 3?  Not for long!

Today We completed the last required class in order to proceed with adopting. Adopting you say? WHAT?! That is right. There are many reasons we have decided to keep this off of facebook until now. The main one being that as we go through this process we wanted to know that we were following what we knew was the right path for us without a lot of outside interference or persuasion one way or another. Isaac and I have always planned to adopt long before we were even married. Before we were pregnant with Ezekiel we had actually started looking into it and how we would go about it. After getting pregnant with Ezekiel and all the hardships that entailed with that we decided we where not going to try to prevent another pregnancy and would even welcome getting pregnant again with the idea being that regardless what happened (getting pregnant or not) we would begin the process when he turned two. In the end the pregnancy we hoped for ended up not happening until only a few months before Ezekiel's second birthday. Timing wise we decided to wait since we wanted to give 100% when the time comes to adopt into integrating the new family members. After we lost our baby and the grief that comes with that we decided we needed to take time separately to process, heal, pray and figure out if God wanted us to go back to our original timeline. We didn’t want this to be something to replace the loss in the timing department. We wanted to make sure that we were both in the same mind frame without influencing each other one way or another. So that is what we did. I’m so grateful we decided to do it this way. It was in this time that God revealed himself to us in an ever deeper way through healing and direction. After about a month we came together and both knew beyond a doubt that this was indeed what step and timing that God was calling us toward. Only with a twist: we both knew we were supposed to adopt older Children. We loved our babies we have lost so much and they weren’t even fully formed. Yet every day there are kids out there who day after day feel the rejection that ensues without having a family to call their own. We believe there are specific children that are meant to be with us and sooner rather than later and that this is why God has us on this timeline. I suppose now would be a good time to tell you a little bit about who will be joining our family. To put it very simply: We do not know yet. We are just entering the home study and matching process. What we do know is this. We are: 1- Supposed to adopt local(Pennsylvania) 2- Adopt from the foster care system 3- Be willing to take in older children and siblings We are working with The Children's Home of Pittsburgh and as of today have officially completed all the classes we need in order to move forward into the home studies and matching process. I'm sure a lot of you are scratching your heads having no idea what this means even still so I would like to share a little more in depth. The children's home of Pittsburgh works primarily with children ages 6 and up. They also work with sibling pairs that can range in ages. The children we are looking to adopt being that they are older already have dealt with the tremendous loss of having the parental rights of their biological parents terminated and the trauma they have endured to get to that point. This means there is less legal risk in regards to the fear of having them taken from us or placed back with the family. But it also means that these kids have been through trauma, loss and hardships that many adults have never even had to face. We are open to siblings (something that our agency tries to keep together and we love). We have been asked many times when people find out we are in the process of do you have a specific child in mind? To be honest we have begun the search to find our new family member and this is where we would ask for prayer. One of the things we love about our agency is the fact that 1- They value the children. If they do not feel like you are going to be a good fit for these children then they will tell you no. 2- They are very thorough when it comes to the matching process. Beginning in the next few weeks will be our home studies. This is where we will sit down with our social worker and they will get to know us...really get to know us on a psychological and personal level. We have done so many questionnaires, classes, etc; to give them a look into who we are but these home studies will go more in debt to see who would be the best fit for us and us for them. 3- Because the kids are older some of them actually get a say in what they are looking for in a parent. We actually love this. If a child doesn't feel like they will connect with us then we want that child to have the freedom to say no. What does this mean for the future? PRAYER...lots and lots of prayer. Isaac and I both feel in our hearts that there is someone or several kids that are specifically meant to be with our family and we are determined to find them. Love them. Help them heal in any way they need it. We want when they walk into our home to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we love them unconditionally and we aren't going anywhere. They are meant to be with us. So we would ask that you pray with us in these ways: 1- That we would follow God's leading in timing and placement. 2-That our social workers and the childcare’s social workers would have wisdom and guidance to tell us no or yes if a situation is meant to be. 3- Clarity. We honestly just wish we could take them all. We love every single child/young adult who we have gotten to know through this process and it is so hard to say no. But we must also be realistic and know that no is not a bad thing if it means that child can be placed with someone else better for them. 4- That we would have the wisdom, patience and love necessary to help these children heal through whatever it is that they have gone through. We want them to know from the MOMENT they walk into our home to stay with us that they are ours. That they are loved unconditionally. They are wanted and that we are there for them. From the moment those children walk into our home they are OUR children. We will not introduce them or treat them as anything but that and respectfully ask that you treat them like that as well. We are open to any race, gender, age, background, religion, sexual orientation etc; and want you to know that these kids regardless of how the outside might perceive them are going to be loved unconditionally by us. We know this can be hard for some people to understand, so please ask questions. Don’t make assumptions or judgements and we will try to answer any questions and keep you in the loop if interested.

We have come to discover going through this process that nothing is set in stone. Even the preconceived ideas we had are kind of thrown out the window. There is no way to say for sure that we will experience x,y, z as we go through this process. But I can tell you that we will cherish every prayer and any bit of support we can receive from any of you. We are excited for this new adventure and know it will be a completely new normal we have to grasp. We will follow God's timing in this and trust that He will give us peace when the situation is right.