Fischer, party of...5?!

Over the past year, we've been trying to discern whether or not God has planned more children for our family. With all of the ups and downs of our process with Alex, I was starting to wonder if maybe we should just be grateful that God had blessed us with CJ and stop focusing on adding more children. I had hoped we would have one more child, but realized that maybe God's plan was just different from my own. Well, we found out recently that His plan is different, but not in the way we expected.

About a month ago, I posted that our case with Alex had been closed by the state of Arizona. What I did not mention was that CJ's birthmom is pregnant and she asked us to adopt the new baby. We were a little hesitant to share with you all, just in case plans changed. A week after she asked us to adopt the baby, she confirmed her decision. Funny how God's timing works. The day that we found out our case was closed, we also found out that we may be bringing home a new baby in the fall. We do not have a set due date yet, but believe that it will be in September or October. We also do not know the gender (because I know you were wondering).

The adoption agency we are working with here in Vegas is also able to work in Arizona, which is wonderful! The experience we've had with them so far has been great and we are very excited to work with them. I just submitted our paperwork today. Once our fingerprints and references come back, our home study process will begin.

Then, two weeks ago, I received a call from Alex's birthdad. He shared that they would like us to adopt Alex in addition to the new baby. While this was not the call we were expecting, we were certainly excited (and a little overwhelmed). It was confirmed a few days later, and we are now waiting on paperwork to go through for us to pick him up.

Our ICPC (documentation that allows us to bring Alex across state lines) and our foster license are expired, so we are working on getting those current again. We'll have to have a home visit, but most of the work was done when we got licensed the first time.

I would never have guessed that God would bless us with two more children. I definitely would not have guessed that CJ would have biological siblings living in our home. Part of me is a little terrified to grow our family so fast, but I believe that God will give us the strength and resources we need to raise these little ones.

Your prayers are appreciated as we make these transitions. Alex will probably be about 18 months old when we get custody, which will be a difficult time for him. We don't really even know when to expect the new baby. We also worry about the impact all of this will have on CJ. We will regularly post updates on the progress of adopting both children.