Well, today I made one of my MANY trips to the good ole post office since our adoption journey has begun. I left with a smile on my face just as I do every time. Because I'm accomplishing something that is bringing us that much closer to the day we bring our baby home.

Today was even better. Today, I mailed the last chunk of our home study paperwork!

Over the last two weeks, I've gotten copies of our marriage license, copies of our birth certificates, background checks, fingerprints sent to FBI, insurance affidavit, financial statements, copy of our most recent IRS tax form, physicals, TB tests, and drug screenings. I've also heard that reference letters have been sent in on our behalf as well.

The biggest piece of paperwork we sent was our self study. This is also what took the longest to complete. The self study included about 60+ essay questions about ourselves, our childhood, our families, our marriage, parenting, health, etc. And, because I promised to fill you in on things that I wish I had known, I'll give you a peak at some of the questions asked:

• Personality Section: Describe your personality; include what you view as your strengths and weaknesses. What significant events or experiences have shaped your personality? (This is all one question.)
• Childhood Section: What kind of child were you? How did you spend your time? Who were your friends? What are your most pleasant and your most unhappy childhood memories? (Again, all one question.)
• Education Section: What kind of student were you?
• Marriage Section: How has your relationship changed since the "honeymoon"? What do you admire about him/her now? What are his/her strong and weak points? How are you both alike? How do you differ? (And again, all one question.)
• Children Section: Whether you have children or not, what other experiences have you had with children?
• Parenting Section: What will your methods of discipline be with your children? How would you set limits? What do you feel are important characteristics of good discipline? (And, you guessed it! All one question!)
  
• Adoption Section: How do you think a child feels about being adopted? How will you help your child feel positive about adoption? (One question.)
• International/Transracial Adoption Section: How do you see the child being accepted by your family, your church, and your community, both now and as your child grows up?
• Health Section: What medical or emotional problems or stresses have you experienced in your life and how have you dealt with them?
• Employment Section: How satisfied are you with your present employment or in home situation? What would you change? (One question.)
• Home and Community Section: Please describe your house and its surroundings.

Obviously, I have only given you one question out of each section. But I think it gives you an idea of how detailed some of questions are and how thought-provoking some were. We were encouraged by our social worker to embrace this process no matter how invasive it seemed. And, that is what we are doing! We have used this self study as a time to get to know each other even better and talk about things we may not have otherwise discussed. Now, we are FINALLY finished after a very busy, sad, and crazy month!

So, what's next? Well, we will wait for our agency to go through our paperwork and forward our self study to our social worker. Then, our social worker will contact us about meeting for our individual interviews. These usually take about an hour and a half each. Hopefully, we can both meet on the same day and make only one big trip to Oxford. Once our individual interviews are completed, we will have our home visit. This is when our worker will visit our home to see that it is okay for a child to live in. There is more paperwork as it relates to our preferences medically, situationally, etc. We will prayerfully complete those questions, and get our profile ready to go! Of course, I've got our profile book nearly completed! Yep. I'm an overachiever!

We are attending an all day adoption education meeting August 4. I'm hoping that after that, our profile will be posted and we will be finished with everything! Of course, that's just my prayer. I haven't discussed that timeline with my worker. We'll see! Once our profile is posted, we just wait and pray until a birthparent chooses us as adoptive parents for their child! As I've already explained, there is no way for us to know the time line of being chosen. It could be very soon or it could be a year or more, depending on what the birthparents want for their child.

So, until then....we'll continue "praying for more!"

Big Apple Adventure

As soon as we returned home from our much needed family vacation, it was time to get to work on the next week...Vacation Bible School. I volunteered to teach a second grade class at our home church. Thankfully, Cynthia was willing to help me...and that makes the "dream team!" Ha! We got to the church at 2:00 Sunday to decorate and get things ready for Monday. This year's VBS theme was Big Apple Adventure...NYC! So fun!

Our classroom
Starring....2nd Grade!

Russ accidentally ended up helping with some of our decorations! Thanks babe! He did a fabulous job sketching our taxis and cutting the best skyscraper ever! His is the pointy one in the picture.

NYC skyline across one wall

The wall across from the skyline

Thanks to Russ's mom for letting us borrow all her fake trees from her house and her park bench for our Bible Study at Battery Park corner!

Battery Park

Our bible study wall where we posted our verses and key words for each day

Once Cynthia and I had the room ready and Monday's lesson together, we met back up Monday morning ready to go! We had a blast laughing and getting dressed up for the day. Cynthia was a good sport and pretty much wore whatever I told her to! Ha!

The teachers were ready!

This is the first time since I was in the youth group that I have helped with VBS. In the past, I was working, on vacation, or in college. It was lots of fun! The music for this year's VBS is by far my favorite, and we had a blast! We had an awesome group of second graders full of big personalities, so we all fit in quite well!

Creating our backdrop for our theater in the park

Bible story time

Lady Liberty relay with review questions from our bible story

Thanks to all the volunteers who helped make VBS such a success. Special thanks to Jennifer, our children's minister, for all her hard work and effort! I wish I had pictures of all the decorations throughout the church! Phenomenal!

We had about 15-17 second graders each day, and we loved them all! Thanks to the parents for sharing them with us!

Praying for More on the Beach

Party of Two...Praying for More

Mama and Daddy

Cousins

Jack, Clancy, Aunt Patsy, and Uncle Howard

You can still purchase your Praying for More t-shirt to help support our adoption and as a reminder to pray for our little one. You can purchase on the right sidebar of this blog, through me personally, or Jilli B's in Corinth. We are out of brown larges, but all other sizes available, including one youth medium. Thank you SO much for all the support!

Also...please remember to send us a photo of your and/or your family/friends wearing your shirt so that we may show our baby one day just how loved he or she was! I'm LOVING all the "praying for more" vacation pics!

Priceless Family Vacay

When Nonnie passed away, we couldn't help but see God's hand in her last week and the week to follow. First of all, as I mentioned in my previous post, Nonnie and Pops were able to spend her last week together in the same room. We also had our annual beach trip scheduled for June 5. You see, Nonnie and Pops have taken us to the beach for over 25 years. They have a time share in Panama City Beach. When asked if they wanted to sell one of their weeks, Nonnie said, "No. This way at least for one week out of the year, our family can be together." She loved our beach trip! And, she would have been upset if we had missed it. So after the funeral, we all left for our Smith/Coon vacation. It was a time when Nonnie's family could be together for a week without distractions and enjoy each other. Laugh at our family memories. Smile as we talk about Nonnie. And even shed some tears as we imagine her walking through the waves.


If you know us well, you know that these last two years have been difficult. More difficult for some than others, but we all needed this time away. Everyone really made a conscious decision to do whatever they wanted and enjoy our trip. For most of our trip, the cousins spent the most time on the beach.

Me and Clancy in our matching swimsuits

When you put us "older kids" together, there is never an idea of what will happen. The boys aren't big fans of laying out. They were dying to bury someone in the sand. Not sure what possessed me, but I quickly obliged. So, we started our vacation full force!

Jack and Russ digging a hole

Thank you, Lee! I was parched!

Help! I was buried and couldn't get up alone!

A man watching the scene gave me beads for my performance! Ha!

The cousins and cousin-in-laws (minus Dustin...he had school)

There really is not much to say about our trip because all we did was sit out in the sun. All day. Every day! I was usually the first one out. I would go out around 10 in the morning and have my alone time as I watched the waves crash on the shore. By noon, the whole crew was lined up and conversation was lively!

Aunt Patsy, Clancy, Kristin, and me

Party of Two soaking in the sun!

Most of you know what a big deal it was when Russ would actually get out in the sun. He doesn't do that! But, on occasion he would sit out in the sun and talk or study. My sweet little nerd man!

Russ, posing a goofy study pose, and Lee

The rest of the time, though, he sat in the shade. Bless him! We set up an umbrella behind our massive line of family tanners. There he sat or stood while we listened to the music, read, or talked about life.

Lee and Russ in the shade

Of course, the boys can't sit still for long. That's when it was time for football!

Jack, Russ, and Lee playing ball

...or fishing for minnows by hand! Ha!

Russ and Lee trying to catch minnows in their hands

The Coon family never goes on a normal vacation! This has been proven for the last 50+ years. So, while eating lunch on the balcony one afternoon, we look to our right to see this....

A waterspout!

Of course, the intercom asked everyone to take cover. But, as I looked around...everyone was doing just as we were. Standing on the balcony taking pictures and watching! Ha!

Yep, we stayed out on the beach all day. Until sunset most days....

The only worry in the world was if the tide was gonna reach my chair!

Lee, Kristin, and Rhonda

Soaking in the sun

Trust him. He's a doctor! Ha!

Each year, we celebrate a few things while on our beach vacation. First, we all celebrate my parents', our, and Kristin and Lee's anniversaries. We also celebrate Uncle Howard's birthday each year!

Our Big Energizer Bunny! He works harder than anyone I know!

We stayed in and cooked every night except one. For our nightly entertainment, Russ brought his guitar. Not everyone can sit around a guitar and have family sing-a-longs! Ha! We requested he learn some of our favorites including "Dirt Road Anthem" and Zac Brown Band songs. We had the best time!

Take a look/listen for yourself! Don't forget to mute my playlist.

Of course, we took some beach portraits before leaving too!

Clancy and Jack

Russ and me

Oh, how I miss the sand between my toes and tide reaching my chair!


And, who knows! Next year we could be carrying a new little member of the family! I certainly hope to carry on these happy memories for our children as they grow up.

Priceless family vacation!

Wishing We Were Back...

I love the beach! Summer doesn't officially start until I go to the beach.

Now, we've been....

We're back...

And we wish we were there again!

More on our trip coming soon...

For This Social Worker We Have Prayed...

Last Friday, Russ and I had our first home study interview. It was an hour long joint interview. Despite all the comforting advice about home studies, I was still quite nervous. Mostly because we didn't know exactly what to expect. I helped give a bridesmaid brunch Friday morning in Corinth, so Russ and I met in Oxford for our interview. We were very pleased to meet our worker. She was all smiles, and she actually probably never stopped smiling! Now, that's one way to make a couple feel comfortable! Unfortunately, I was so nervous, I didn't get a picture of us with her. I'll ask her next time, and maybe I'll have that for the baby book!

We started off by introducing ourselves and all the formalities of meeting new people. Then, we jumped right in! Our worker pretty much let us start by telling her how we met, how long we dated before we were married, our schooling, our basic background information, etc. Then, we talked about what led us to adoption. She took some notes as we talked, but I really felt like she was simply trying to get to know us. It was very pleasant. We talked a little about our families and our support at home and all over the country...that's where YOU ALL came in! We told her how overwhelmed we have been with our t-shirt sales, and she was amazed too. This baby is already so loved! There have been several recent ways we have seen God's hand at work through this story, and I wish I could share them all with you. It really has been such a joy to let Him lead and watch as He works! You should try letting Him lead if you haven't already!

Once we told her a little about us as a couple (and directed her to our blog to see more), it was time for the paperwork! It really was not as daunting as I expected. Maybe it is spaced out for us, so we won't be overwhelmed. I'm not sure yet. We each have many, many essay questions to answer for our self study that will be used to guide our individual interviews, physicals including a drug screening and TB skin test (this has been quite the ordeal today!), financial statement (which we had already completed before starting the process to be sure we would be okay to continue), copy of birth certificate, tax form, copy of marriage license, insurance coverage affidavit, and criminal background check. We only have to complete our financial statement, self study, and physicals before meeting for individual interviews! We are a little behind since the passing of Nonnie and our family vacation, but we are now steady at work on the paperwork. We will send it in chunks to Bethany, and then our worker will be ready to continue.

I know many of you are not interested in this post, but I would have LOVED to have someone spell it all out for me when I was researching the process. I asked SO many questions to SO many adoptive parents before I even began looking for an agency. I like to know exactly what I'm getting into, although adoption doesn't really work like that. Ha! I hope this helps others and offers a little insight for those praying, so you know exactly what you're praying for!

Gotta get back to work! Still praying for more...

Nonnie

First of all, I want to thank all of you for your sweet texts, precious emails and messages, and much needed prayers over the past two weeks. I also apologize for my lack of blogging (if anyone has even missed it!), but we have just had a whirlwind of emotion and activity over the past couple of weeks.

As our family prepared for two weeks of nonstop activity, flurry, and fun (in true Smith fashion)...our world came to a screeching halt on Friday, June 3rd, when our Nonnie went to be with Jesus. Although she was in the later stages of Alzheimer's, we were in no way prepared for this. She had even had a great morning, breakfast, and lunch when she was taken from this world where she has been trapped in her earthly body and entered His presence!

Russ and I were on our way home from Oxford when we got the news. It was a long ride home. Tears streamed down my face as I drove my car and Russ was ahead in his. They were tears of joy for her freedom and tears of sorrow for me and my family. We will miss her. I wasn't ready to let her go. No one was. Then, I think of the amazing place He has prepared for her (and us). What joy she must feel! I pictured her walking around in the ocean waves, running around with her mom and dad, talking and laughing with Aunt Num Num, and simply smiling her smile...eyes focused on anything she wanted. No blank stares and no more laying in a reclining nursing home chair. Nope! She hated sitting still. Always busy and in motion. And, I can only imagine her dancing as she entered His Kingdom. I'm not sure what she will clean there, because I'm sure it is cleaner than we could ever imagine! But, maybe Jesus left a spot for her to scrub on. Ha! I'm so happy for her.

Then I thought of those of us left...

Memories filled my mind in between the visions of her in Heaven. Memories of mud baths at the coast, sponge rollers in our hair as we rode the wheel barrow, all the animals she would find in our ears during bath time, all the hours she spent scratching my back, trips to the mountains, trips to the beach, the "Worm Song", her "Hmmmm" when she found something interesting or funny, the hairbows we had made out of anything recycled (2 Liter coke wrappers, balloons, bottle tops), her big purse, the smell of cedar in thier house, jelly shoes, watching Little Women everytime I visited....

Then, I thought about Pops. If you haven't read my post about them, catch up here. Truly a Notebook story. I couldn't stand the thought of him finding out. This is where we saw the hand of God even more than we had before. You see, Nonnie and Pops have lived apart for the last two years because of Nonnie's advanced Alzheimer's. Pops was able to stay in his assisted living, but Nonnie had to be placed in a nursing facility. The week before, Pops' health urged us to move him into a nursing facility as well. We found a nursing home that could take them both in the same room. They lived in the same room the last week of her life. The nurses said that every single morning, Pops would get out of his bed, get dressed, and sit at Nonnie's bedside holding her hand and rubbing her arm. Every single day. All day. I don't know about you...but we couldn't have planned that. It was all Him. We are so incredibly thankful for the time they had together. It was almost as if she had been waiting on him to be there. So she could exhale, say goodbye, and meet her Creator. I'm sure she's standing there watching just waiting on the day when she and Pops can be together to see the Great Smoky Mountains from above!

Yes, we are sad. Still hard to believe some days. Still an unspoken quiet around our homes. But, oh how wonderful it must be to see what she's seeing! What a legacy she has left us! What fun memories she left for us laugh about over and over again now that she's gone! Maybe, just maybe, one day I can leave that kind of legacy for my children and grandchildren...filled with memories (crazy, fun, and awesome!) of a life well-lived.

We miss her so! But, we look forward to seeing her again! Because our life here on earth is but a vapor.

Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. James 4:14

What will I do with the time I have left? What will my legacy be?

How about you?