our adoption story

We are excited to announce that we have officially chosen an adoption agency! After much prayer and discussion we have decided to go Heaven Sent. We think their program will be great for us. Thank you all for your prayers as we made this huge decision. Today we dropped off our application and now the fun begins as we start the process of paperwork. In the adoption world we have learned that the home study process is what people like to call "paper pregnancy." It's very exciting to have our agency because now we can just focus on the process instead of trying to sort out all the ins and outs of different agencies. Pray for us as we go through this process one step at a time.    

It would be easy to look around and wonder why we have to deal with infertility.  There are parents of children they don't want (or at least act like they don't) and teenagers getting pregnant.  We do what we are 'supposed to do' - we go to church, pray, and have even given our lives to full-time ministry.  Yet, the one thing that seems to happen repeatedly; something that is natural to all creation, doesn't happen for us.  We can cry out, 'Why us?!'  Why is this happening to us?  For a moment, we did.  Then, we flipped the script and asked, 'Why not us?'  We can use this time in our lives to learn, to help, and to grow.  We are excited that we get to deal with something this difficult because it is clearly a part of His plan for us.  I find no comfort in any other explanation for our infertility except to say that God is in control and we are not.  We rest completely in Him and trust that when all is said and done and our child is ...

Hey everyone! We have our t-shirts being printed! Be the first to get a one of kind Hornbaker shirt. At the top of the blog there is a picture that shows what the shirts will look like. We have sizes from XL to youth small.  Thanks again for all your support.

Hey blog followers,  because of you guys, we have had over 1,000 page views for our blog in just a month's time.  Thank you all so much for continuing to follow us.  Thank you also for all the wonderful comments and prayers.  We are moving through this journey one day and blog at a time and you guys are all right there with us.  -Josh and Cindy

It is truly amazing when you start telling people that you are adopting how willing people are to ask how they can help. As many of you know adoption is not an inexpensive endeavor, but we are trusting in the Lord to provide all that we need to bring baby Hornbaker home. In a response to people's question of how they can help we are planning a couple of fundraisers so that people can be involved in our adoption journey. Don't feel bad if you can't help with any of our fundraisers there is one thing that everyone can do and that is to pray. This week we really need prayer for picking the agency. As you all know we had a meeting on Tuesday with one agency. We loved that agency and we think it might be the place for us but we feel the need to go check out the other agency next Tuesday. So much prayer is needed for that area. Other ways that you can help: On October 7 th and 8 th we are having a yard sale. For this to happen we need donations of anything and we could use some...

We are excited because we have some new developments in the adoption process. Tomorrow we are a going to meet with a new agency and so far we like them but that was only through a short phone conversation. Then next week we have another appointment with a different agency. This second agency came about randomly today through a random email. So please pray for us as we meet with these agencies so that we will know without a doubt if one of these places is the right place. It is interesting how each of the agencies is different in so many ways and it just takes wisdom to understand which would be the right place. But God is awesome because he provides wisdom for every part of our lives.

At the beginning of every year, we get important pieces of paper in the mail stating how much money we made and paid in taxes. We have to file our taxes and pay if we owe.  Some things we have to do and some things we get to do. It's more than words, but an attitude.  When we 'have to' do something, it is usually an obligation and not something we want to do. On the other hand, when we 'get to' do something, we look forward to it and it is exciting - like 'getting to' go on vacation. We have to go to work, but we get to go on vacation.  It is about attitude. With adoption, people may say, 'We can't have a baby, so we have to adopt.'  To me, we get to adopt.  If every child is a gift, then so is our adopted child.  If we have to adopt, then it can come across as second-best. I am excited about adopting because it is how God is giving us a family.  So even though we may not have the pregnancy experience, we are as excited about adoption as ...

I just wanted to thank you all for the more than expected response we have been getting since the first blog post. It is exciting because, I truly did not expect it at all. All the response made me think about a statistic that I kept running into while doing research on adoption. Basically the statistic says that 60% of the people who adopt will adopt from someone who knows someone who knows someone. So if you haven't told someone about our blog please do and continue to check it out yourselves. Also, thank you for all the encouraging responses. It is amazing when you start to tell people that you are adopting there are different responses. Some people are excited just like if you said you were pregnant. Others are not quite sure what to say and then others have more of oh really type of response (like I wonder what's wrong). So how should someone respond to someone who says they are adopting, we say just be excited because the people are excited. -Cindy