Home study and baby proofing

April 5th we will have our home study done... Ummm... That's a week and three days from today. THAT IS CRAZY! So for those of you who don't know what goes on at a home study for adoptive parents here is a little cheat sheet:


-A home study, as its name implies, examines the dwelling of the prospective parents.
-It is required by LAW to have a home study done before adopting.
- A social worker comes into your home, makes sure it's up to fire and safety codes, makes sure it's clean (but not spotless, cause that'd be ridiculous)
- A social worker will go through each of the adoptive parents past, family background, employment history, a criminal background check, a credit check, and medical records.
- Basically they have the power to say "yes" we can have a family, or "no" we can't.
-1500.00 is paid before the study. And then we will hopefully get a signed paper saying we are fit to have a baby and continue with the adoption process.
- Oh and then there will be a post placement study done after we have baby Parks in our home. Making sure all is going well.

A home study isn't for our benefit, (although I already feel like we've learned so much.) A home study is all for the baby, and his life and what's best for him. Which I 100% support. So I say, bring an X-ray machine if you need to! Let's get this stuff done! :-)

We got a gate for our hallway so that the dogs can't just come and go as they please. If we are back in the nursery that means they can't just scamper right in- which will be a huge blessing. Then of course we got all the other standard "baby proofing items" we are feeling prepared and anxious... But wouldn't anybody?

We are still in need of around 1,000.00, and maybe more as we would absolutely love to be able to stay at a private extended stay hotel when we are in california. We have so many wonderful people offering rooms in their homes to us, and we will most likely end up staying with one of them... But to have our own space those first few days would be such a huge blessing. Pray for God's leading as we get closer and closer to D day.

Love you all!!!

KayC and Joey

How God provides...

Hi friends and family!

      We have had a wonderful few weeks and have been just amazed at the outcome of love and support of people we would never even expect to come out and love on us. Our eyes have been opened at how loved we are and how loved our little buddy already is! 

       It's amazing to see God work, in our marriage, in our home and in our finances! Joey has been able to work a lot of overtime as of late which has been a huge blessing to the baby Parks fund. All the money that was from that (around 2,000.00) was able to just go straight into the fund. SO, from gifts ranging from 25.00-over 1,000.00 we are ALMOST to our goal of 11,000.00 dollars. We still have around 1,000.00 to raise, but in my heart of hearts I know that God will provide that money. In just two months God has provided 10,000.00 through donations and extra work that Joey and I have been able to do. It's just a complete miracle. 11,000.00 could have been 11 million dollars... THAT is how impossible it seemed in my mind at first. but here I am again, with the conclusion that absolutely nothing is impossible with God. We gave this all up to him from the very start and daily he reminds us of HIS faithfulness. 

       Joey and I both went and had physicals done by our doctor and it went great. we really love our doctor. If you live in Olympia and are looking for a great doctor check out Dr. Harris. I found out that I lost 36 lbs in 3 months! All thanks to Weight watchers! :-) He was very happy with us and is super excited for us too. It was the only time I ever left a doctors appointment with a smile. haha. 

        We have sent in our check to the California adoption agency we are working with and have them working on our case right away. It's so nice to have all of the financial part of that dealt with and we can focus on the most important task at hand. We were also able to send in our down payment to our attorney here in Washington and ARE SOOOOO excited for our future. We are trying to stay positive and focused. Please pray for the birth father to continue to ignore everything, or to just sign his parental rights away. It seems like he will just ignore everything sent his way about this, as he has ignored everything else sent his way. God's will be done. That is what Joey and I are being taught daily.

        So when I was was in California I was able to meet up with some wonderful friends, one of my very close friends who has three boys, gave me loads and loads of clothing for our little man. I felt so guilty for spending ANY money on clothes that I had purchased at a thrift store prior to this because, OH my GOODNESS I can't explain the mountain of clothing we were given. SO... because of this blessing I quickly needed to figure out something different for his "dresser" in his room. He was certainly going to need a lot more space. I immediately thought of IKEA, and decided to purchase another shelf to stack on the one we already had. It really turned out even better than I was expecting. So below is the new configuration of the wall with the framed prints on it. I laid down in the middle of the room last night after organizing and putting things away and just had the biggest smile on my face. :-) I was laying in our little baby's room... Joey and I are being blessed after SO long of wanting to be parents... It seems so completely unreal. In exactly 2 months I will be 27 years old and *hopefully* holding him in my arms. I can't wait to post THOSE pictures. my heart just beams with love thinking about him. 

        We have registered at babies R us and Amazon.com. finally I feel like the amazon.com one is perfected. the link to our amazon registry is here: Baby Parks amazon.com registry


Thank you again for all the love, all the support... it's just incredible. Wish i could hug each of you!

Love,
KayC, Joey and our little buddy...

This is a picture of Baby Parks snuggled all warmly in his birth mothers tummy. :-) SO amazing. 

California yard sale madness!

Hello from California!!

I have been having a great time here, the first 10 days have been spent preparing for an insane large yard sale we held for our little man. The friends I have here in Sacramento are amazing. They are supportive in ways I would never imagine. They offered up houses to hold the garage sale at. So many people offered different items to sell, and bake goods, and offer such incredible support. One of my favorite definitions of the word "support" is:

"To keep from weakening or failing; strengthen"

Strengthen! Through Christ I feel so many people have given such amazing love. Joey and I feel beyond blessed.


So many customers (supporters) at our yard sale came up to me, and gave money. From 10 to 50 dollars, they just came to give. I was in shock at the love from perfect strangers and our amazing friends and family.

At the end of the day we raised just about 500.00!!! I was in awe of God's goodness. He provided a time, a place, all of the "things" and the hearts to help and give.

With all this fundraising we are officially at the halfway mark and as soon as Joey's overtime checks come in we will have 3/4 of the funding we need to adopt baby parks. In the beginning 11,000.00 by May, seemed so impossible, but as each moment through this has taught me- not only is it possible- it's GOING to happen!

I have also been able to spend a good amount of time with our birth mother and friend. I've been able to be there for a baby doctor appointment which just blew me away! I heard my baby boy's heart beat! Not only that, but her doctor was so kind and welcoming that he did an ultrasound (even though it wasn't the ultrasound appointment day) I saw my little man, he's getting so big and growing so perfectly! The doctor is very happy with how well the birth mother's pregnancy is going so far. It was such a blessing! :-)

So I already received as a gift my plane ticket to come back to Sacramento in May. The plan is I will fly in on May 4th and spend time with our birth mother and get ready for the arrival near his due date which is May 19th. Joey will drive down as soon as she goes into labor or the due date passes. From there we will have to stay in California for around 10 days due to ICPC laws.

There is still so much to work out but this is the general idea we have. :-) please pray for us, that we will continue to seek God's will as this process continues.

To God be all the glory.

KayC