The beginning of an adoption story

I have a lot of thoughts on this so bear with me, it should be worth it.

There are over 100,000 kids in foster care in CA and not enough people are doing something about it.  As a generation I think that we're really good at helping those less fortunate than us but I also think some of us take the easy way out, including Andy and I.  We send money to organizations thinking we've done our part, but not anymore for team Koning.

I've always wanted to adopt.  As long as I can remember I've said "I want 12 kids, 6 naturally and 6 adopted".  Andy knew this marrying me and now that we've had some kids our overall numbers may have changed but my heart for adoption hasn't.  Since our wedding, Andy and I have slowly looked into adoption and pretty much gave up when we found out the cost of it all.  We thought that we would never be in a place financially to afford the adoption that we thought we wanted and so we gave up that dream and moved on, living happily and contently with our two biological children.  Then, as it always seems to happen, both Andy and I felt like adoption was put on our hearts at the end of last year.  I don't remember who brought it up but one of us did, and the other one admitted they felt like God was putting it on their heart too; since that talk, we haven't looked back.


So we'd like to anounce that we're in the "pregnant phase" of adoption.  This is when we tell everyone we're doing it.  It takes time, it's a long, emotional, crazy process and we won't be getting a child any time soon, but we will be adding to our family via adoption.  We've learned about something called the "CA waiting children's program" or "fos-adopt".  This is something AMAZING that our state has, so that we have oppurtunities to help children that are in the foster care system.  It's very detailed and if you have more questions about it feel free to ask Andy or I but one of the best things about it is the government assistance with cost and the affordability of helping a child in need.  We don't have all of the details hammered out and I'm sure details will change, but for those that want them, here are some decisions we've made:

-we're adopting from CA
-we don't care if our child is a boy or girl OR what race or mix of races they are
-we plan on adopting just one child
-we won't be getting a newborn but the oldest we want to take is as old as Avery (we don't want to replace her as the eldest child)

We have been SO blessed in our journey so far...we're using a really great company based out of Modesto called FCCA (Family Connections Christian Adoptions) which utilized the "fos-adopt" system differently than other companies so that once we are fostering a child in our home, they will not be returned to their biological family.  While you don't have to be a Christian to use this company our most recent classes consisted of 4 young christian couples and we had a really great time challenging eachother, teasing one-another, and praying for each other.  We even took a picture together for our future child's "lifebook" which we're really excited about (pictured below with the social worker that taught the class:)

Both Andy and I are aware that not all of our friends and family will understand the decision that we've made but we do encourage you to talk to us about it.  Also, if you have questions about it either ask us or look into this amazing book "Adopted for Life", it talks about the role that Christians need to take in adoption (WARNING: I do not agree with everything that is said in this book but it's a really good read and can help you understand why we have made the decision that we have).

Because this is such an emotional rollar coaster and such a long process we do ask for prayer.  We have a lot of steps to go and a lot of hoops to jump through.  In our spare time (wink wink) we're working on jumping through those hoops, then we meet with a social worker, do our homestudy, and once all is said and done, we're open to start our child search process.  We will keep you updated throughout the process.  We're very excited for this journey and can't wait to meet the newest addition to our family!