[SvdByFaith]

Hello everyone! My name is Tina and my dh and I have already begun the process of adoption. We're waiting to see if we will be be approved to start the rest of the process.

Let me start by telling you our story. We have three biological children that are 18, 13, and 11. I am 37 and I had a hysterectomy at 29. My dh and I began discussing adoption afterwards because we didn't feel like our quiver was quite full yet.

Even though we began reading everything we could about adoption, we felt like we needed to wait until we had our debts paid off. We had made some poor choices before we were saved, which resulted in enormous credit card debt. We also did not have insurance and were left MANY large medical bills from the surgeries.

Here we are, 8 years later and we are still in debt, although it is down to around $6000. But our credit rating is shot for awhile. We definitely do not have the money for an adoption.

We are in a little different situation now than most people who adopt. We always wanted a baby, never an older child. That, we knew for certain. We are not out of debt, and we were not even entertaining the idea of adopting at this point in time when the Lord impressed onto our hearts that He wants us to bring an 8 year old special needs child into our family.

The way it happened will take too long to write out, but it is definitely the Lords doing, not ours. I even struggled with the Lord, asking him to find a really good home for this little one, but He reassured me that He was serious! (I was a little nervous for not taking Him seriously!)My dh and I have never had the Lord impress anything on our hearts in this way. That, in itself, is exciting for us!

My questions are:
Will a bad credit rating keep us from being able to go any farther? Who looks at the credit rating, the adoption agency, or the social worker who does the home study?

If the adoption agency only sends someone out to do a home study in their state (we're not in their state) and asked me if I already had someone to do the home study, can I go ahead and hire someone local to to the home study to get it underway?

Is it possible to request or find a Christian social worker? (central Texas area) Does anyone have a referral?

Has anyone here started the adoption process that DID NOT have the money, but trusted the Lord to provide the means?

I have a gazillion other questions, but I don't want to go on and on. I appreciate everyone who is here to give advice that has already gone down this path. It's nice to know that I'm not alone!!!

God bless all of you!
Tina