Our Confidence in Gladney

Ted and I spent the four months after officially deciding to adopt searching for the right agency for us. We even began the application process with one before finding out policy information that didn't gel with us, leading us to back out. We researched all there possibly was to research and developed the most detailed list of questions you can imagine. When I started going through my list of questions with a Gladney rep on the phone, she laughed at me a bit with her sweet Texas twang, saying she'd never heard such questions before. She reassured me that Gladney believes in trust between their staff and clients. We'd been burned by the previous agency we'd started to sign on with, so the word trust was just what we needed to hear to go full-steam ahead with Gladney.

We have not once regretted that decision. We have the upmost respect for their entire staff and the strongest confidence that they are doing all they can do (and possibly even more, with the help of God) to advocate for Abenezer. Though this is a worrisome, stressful situation we are in, something we haven't worried about even once is Gladney's reputation. There is no other agency that we would want on our side right now, not one.

The world of adoption includes many twists and turns, more than we'd imagined when we set off down this path, and no other road has required more faith or patience of us. I look back at 2007-Lori, the one who sometimes complained about how long it was taking for paperwork to get done or how impatient I felt with the process, and I want to gently shake her and say, "Honey, you have no idea what patience is about to be required of you...better buckle up and tighten those straps."

So Ted and I are doing our best to hang on to that mustard-seed. I hope to encourage others out there further behind us in the process (especially Gladney families) to hang on to faith. Dig deep in search of that little seed and have patience that God's timing is perfect, though you may not be able to see right now (I'm preaching to myself here). And please please please don't let our situation rattle your confidence in the Gladney staff. These people are stellar, I'm telling you. Tears well up regularly when I think of them and all they are doing for our family. They are overworked, under-appreciated, and go the distance with all of their families.

I know that our situation has probably scared a lot of Gladney families out there, but I implore you to understand that what is happening to us now is not the norm: the Gladney team could not have done anything to prevent this happening. We are convinced that they have the best resources available to do all they can to advocate for these children. We ask that you remember what good hands we are all in with Gladney, and that they daily go above-and-beyond, many days working long over-time hours to bring our children home to us.