Spring Cleaning

I have been missing from the blog world for a bit, my apology. I've been busy with projects, spring cleaning and assisting Matt where I can be of help as he does the "man" side of projects.

We have a lovely size of a home, but no garage. That makes space and organizing doable with the two of us, but now that we're planning on adding to our family, we have to get creative. Thank The Lord we have an attic! .....and amazing parents who are storing large items for us.
It's been a fun nesting phase for me, slowly but surely turning what was the guest room into our future baby's room. We are blessed that my parents saved so many things from my childhood upbringing. Some say hoarding, I think wise. I have a talented husband who's been able to use his skills to make the crib, high chair and such be brought up to date.... Or legal.

I also had a great time registering for our baby! My good friend Kayla took the time to go with me. She came equipped with a list and all! I was so thankful she was there, guiding me in the "things" we will need when baby comes. It seems odd in some ways to register... They say to not have a shower until baby comes and is legally yours. (Understandable) But that it's wise to register during the waiting duration if baby is placed quickly, and all depending on the situation. But we did it, and oh how fun it was!

I love that we're able to use this beautiful furniture, it's as though my mom was able to have some say in the baby room.
Clearly we haven't been placed yet, but we've had a few "situations" come up.

The first email we received I was overjoyed just to have heard something. I'm unable to go into detail, likely that baby has been placed elsewhere. The other situation that was placed upon us we denied, which sounds awful, but we knew it wasn't right for our family. We prayed about it and were encouraged through our training (from Seattle) that you shouldn't feel you have to take the first baby that comes your way. You should step back, pray about it and seek The Lord that it's right for your family.

We currently are waiting to be placed with a birth family, this period can be daunting I'm sure depending on how lone we are waiting for ....but we're grateful to see the process is rolling forward. Who knows our "pregnancy" could be one of a mouse, or one of an elephant. Gods timing is perfect, that is what I keep reminding myself as I pray.

Thank you all for your encouragement and support. Please keep praying for us, and the timing of it all. I'm excited to one day look back on this time in our lives.
Blessings,
Emily

Out in the States!

We're excited to share we've made it to the next step. Profile books: check, letters to potential birth parents: check, made a $10,000 payment: check!
We've made it to the point in our adoption journey where our profile books are going to be sent out! Yippee! The relief we feel to be at this place.
Our case worker will send out our books to some of the other Bethany Christian services offices to be viewed by potential birth mothers and birth fathers. Our case worker has gotten to know us deeply, which will help guide her in who our books are given to.
We have no idea as to the timeline, but were thankful The Lord has his perfect timing. We trust that under his perfect plans for our lives that it will happen. It could be a month, 6 months or 16. We know that our family and friends will be right alongside us as we enter this phase. Please continue to be praying for us, this time can be long, as well as mentally and emotionally draining. We want to thank you however for all the support and love we've felt thus far. It's amazing how this process has brought our family and community so close around us. Thank you.
Here we go, jumping in to whatever God has planned!

Blessings,
Emily

Give thanks to The Lord for he is good, his love endures forever.
Psalm 118


A photo of our profile book, sorry for the poor quality, it's a photo taken off the computer screen.

Profile Book ....

I have to confess the profile book out of this entire process has been the hardest thing for me. I don't really know if I can really put it into words, but its been this weight on my shoulders, continually on the back of my mind. Mentally exhausting right? ....Well I did it to myself. The thought of your protraying yourselves to an unknown audience, a birth mother and father who are choosing us to parent their child. We want to be honest in our profile book, sharing who we are, what we are about, hoping that through the book they will connect with us, Matt & Emily Imlach, hopeful parents. There is a lot of pressure on that book, and I pray that they feel the love that we will give that child, that they will be able to trust us. What a gift, what a selfless hero they are.

 My goal was to have the book finished by Thanksgiving, the reality of that was well, not a reality.
I talked with Matt and we came to the agreement that I would collect the photos, make the list of the themed pages and do some research on what company we would go with. From there, Matt would work on putting the book together, he is a perfectionist (not in a bad way) and I would rather him put his personal touch on it. While Matt was working on the book in his spare time, I would also be working on the paperwork for the loan were planning to apply for.  My wonderful mother in law stepped in to assist Matt in accomplishing the book, she too is very thorough which blessed us greatly in the book getting finished.

We have now ordered 1 profile book, to confirm that when we get it that there are no spelling errors making sure we like the way it looks when we are holding it in our hands. Things are so different from screen to paper. Once we get it (this week!) then we will order 8 more! Whoa! It would be a bummer to order all the books and have a mistake. Thankfully the Lord gave me a wise husband who decided we would just order 1 first.

But through it all, I think its caused me much unnecessary stress, anxiety and disagreements to say the least. The Lord continued to remind me that its all in his timing, and I have to trust in that.

Here are the different themed pages that are going into our profile book:
-Introduction: Matt introducing me and myself introducing Matt.
-Our wedding
-Future Grandparents: There is a special page devoted to my mother.
-Future Aunts & Uncles
-Us at work
-Our home
-Vacations
-Outdoor hiking adventures/trips
-Our interests: Matt: softball, biking, hiking, building/creating projects, gardening.
                       Emily: Running,swimming,hiking,cooking,crafts, gardening,coffee dates,walking pup.
-Fisher
-Friends
-Church
-Shanan

Then there is a closing page with a photo of us and we each have to write letters to the birth father and mother....that was a hard letter to write as well.

Keep on praying, our book will be out there in the world soon being viewed!

Blessings,
Emily

His way

This has been a year of change, growth and peace from The Lord. The end of January 2012 we had felt it on our hearts we were to start pursuing adoption. When we knew this was our calling, in a way it was a relief for me, my body, emotions, and my entire "being" could start on the path of much needed healing.

A verse that give me encouragement is: Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

 I was scared-what is this going to look like? Can we do this, adopt? What will everyone think? But when we felt the confirmation from the Lord to pursue adoption, peace & joy took over me.

My dear friend Emily Baynes came over last week for coffee and she spoke such truth into my life. Her words were very gentle, kind and true, saying she knew this isn't the path that "I" would have planned for my life.... that yes I had always had the desire to adopt, but that "my" plan would have gone a little differently. I was so encouraged after having her over, it brought me joy to hear what she had to say.
In the big picture God is using this in our lives to bring us closer to him, glorify him, and that this journey in our life will bring others to find Jesus as their savior. Its not about me, or us, but its about Jesus.

Just as Jesus led the Israelites through the wilderness for forty years, he chose to not take Matt and I straight on the road of parenthood....as we would have wanted. Jesus took us on a different route, not a quicker, easier, cheaper, instant gratification kind of a route. But he took us on a route that has changed us in some incredible ways, weeding out more of the sinful flesh that we have, confirming our identity in Christ and changing us to become more like him. My heart throughout these years has softened, I have become more aware of those around me, and the desire to learn to love others as Jesus does. This really is the life he has chosen for us, this is the big picture.

Paper Pregnant!

It's been a whirlwind of the last few weeks, we've personally been busy but on the adoption end it seemed like we were in our first phase of waiting. We were in the limbo of waiting for our Home study to be approved..... It took longer then I expected, many home studies were turned in trying to be approved before the new year! We finally received the news on December 19th that our home study had been approved and we were officially paper pregnant! It was such an amazing feeling, tears of joy ran down my face. This has been an amazing experience so far, this was the best Christmas gift for us indeed.
Now what do we do you ask? ---> Since we have been approved to basically be parents to a newborn, Matt and I now have the opportunity to apply for grants, praying we maybe get a little help. The. We can pay our next due amount and our profile books will be sent out for birth mothers to see. From there it's all the lords timing (which we know is perfect) for when we get placed.

I will continue to keep you updated as our journey develops! Thank you again for all your love and support! Your prayers mean so much!

Blessings, Emily

Bringing Home Baby Imlach Fundraiser!

We're so blessed from the turn out Thursday night---I honestly didn't know what to expect, we were blown away by the turn out!
Thank you all who came and supported us, we had such a fun night!

For those of you who missed it, I will share a few photos from the evening. For starters my sister Laura made a beautiful Time Line of the Adoption process and many of the things we are to do. This was important to us to share, many people are unaware of what it takes to Adopt. When Laura showed me the Time Line for the first time Thursday night, my eyes welled up with tears. It was beautiful, I couldn't have asked her to do a better job!

She shared photos that I had taken, and explained the cost of the Adoption. 

$550.00 Formal Application Fee(Due with Application) 

This fee covers the creation of your online account, the case file, the collection of references, background clearances, orientation, and the first meeting with Bethany Christian Services Staff. 

$200.00 Training/Education Fee 

$2,000.00 Home Study Fee (Due prior to Home Visits) 

This fee covers the home study that is required for adoption including the creation of required documents, interviews, home visits (4), and gathering/assessing collateral information, service planning. 

$10,000.00 Pre-Placement Services Fee(Due at Approval) 

This fee covers work done on your behalf to have your profile seen by expectant parents and includes your web profile, outreach activities, and various support services during the waiting period. 

This fee also covers the pregnancy counseling provided to the expectant parents and includes work locating, engaging and involving the expectant father  in the process, history compilation, meetings with you, hospital planning, negotiating adoption plans and agreements, counseling at the hospital, and grief counseling. 

$12,900.00 Placement Fee(Due at legal Placement) 

This fee covers petitioning for adoption and other required documentation, placement of the child, grief counseling post placement, file maintenance. 

$2,000.00 Finalization Cost

Meeting with Lawyers and making Adoption Legal in the Courts. 

 $30,000.00 in total 

My reminder to myself daily is that the Lord will provide! 

Didn't matt do a great job on the Map! 

Some of the cards for the Quilt, people wrote a note to the future little Imlach to be! 

Thank you again everyone for coming to our fundraiser and making it a night to remember forever! 

Blessings to you! 

Emily 

My Heart

This is an e-mail sent to me yesterday, it warmed, melted and melted my heart. From my 6th grade block teacher, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.


Dear Sweet Emily,


I am so happy to hear you are soon to be a parent. Parenting is such a joyful, beautiful experience. I remember a quote from your mom when she found out I was to become a new parent, "Get ready, you're in for the best adventure of your life!" I will always remember her words, and I think of her often when we are having our amazing adventures with Stephie. I feel her lovely spirit is with your new best adventure as well.

I am so sorry that I am not able to make the gathering tomorrow, but I do want to meet you for lunch, coffee or dinner soon, and I want to give you a check for the baby God has created for you and Matt.

Let me know your schedule, and let's make a plan!
Love and hugs,
Sherry

  I was so blessed to get this e-mail, it was much needed for my heart. I have been missing my mom a lot throughout this time, but I am thankful for messages like this that encourage me and remind me of my mothers heart.   blessings, Emily