Today I finally finished all the print information for our family profile. Not far into the thing I realized in many ways it's a marketing campaign. We want to be truthful to who we are but at the same time we want to relate to potential birth parents so they are willing to pick us. Now that it's done I can breath easier that we've checked one more thing off our list. Now we only have to submit pictures to go with the print version so our agency's media department can put together a stunning profile that best suits our family . . . supposedly. At least we get a final say in the profile because they will send us a proof before it's ready to go. Our next step after the pictures is the video profile and then the home study review and then I think we're done with all the agency stuff.
As far as the home study goes, we have our home visit scheduled for the 5th and then it's just compiling the rest of the paperwork they need. Right now we're waiting on our FBI background checks and then I think the last of it is done. I can't believe we're almost to the point of being ready to go active and be shown to birth parents.
It still seems surreal that we're actually close to achieving our goal of becoming parents. But happening it is. I've finally become excited about buying baby clothes and furniture. I no longer look at pregnant women with hurt and anger and that makes me feel so much freer than I've felt in a long time. I think that feeling more than anything has given me the peace of mind knowing that adoption is definitely the right choice for us. I've come to terms with the fact that I'll never be pregnant but that's OK because I want to be a Mommy more and adoption is going to make that happen for me. I hope I've set realistic goals in our wait time before we're matched so that I don't go crazy. If we're active with our agency by September I will give us until our anniversary in April before I question our choices in regards to our profile.
So I think, before bed tonight, I'm going to treat myself to looking at cute baby furniture and maybe even indulge in buying some gender neutral clothing items. You know, onsies, bibs and the like. I feel like I deserve it. :)
Friday, June 29, 2012
Saturday, June 9, 2012
Feeling Somewhat Accomplished
Today we got our big adoption questionnaire filled out for the adoption agency. It goes over things like our budget, race of the child, substance use during the pregnancy and the birth mother's medical background. There are some really tough choices to make when it comes to stuff like this because it makes you think about some difficult decisions. I know that if I were having a baby there would be no booze or drugs of any kind unless prescribed by a doctor. Unfortunately, it's not up to me anymore. I have to put my hands up and have faith that these decisions I have to make will turn out ok and that David and I are able to handle them if anything comes up.
Other than that we're on track to finish our home study soon as well. We've received a few reference letters that were simply amazing (thank you Kristyne and Beth!!) and we're almost ready to set up our home visit with our social worker. Once that is done and all of our paper work is completed then it will be sent to the adoption agency for review. And then, once that's done we can activate our profile. It will be so weird knowing that in a few months our information will be shown to perspective birth mothers. I'm anxious but very excited at the same time. I've finally allowed myself to begin looking at baby furniture and clothes. We won't know the sex of the baby (and we didn't pay the extra money to be gender specific) so I'm having fun looking at all of the cute clothes on Amazon. I'm focusing more on the furniture aspect of it because at the very least we'll need a bassinet, changing table and car seat/stroller. Ordering furniture from the BX can take forever so I'm not sure if we'll do that or just buy stuff on Amazon since it will be easier to ship over here. I'll even peruse Amazon UK because alot of their stuff will ship to Germany and it's cheaper than coming from the states. Some of my co-workers know where all the good baby shops in the area are so I'll have to take a look at them as well. We do have a Toys R Us in K-town but their baby stuff is really limited unfortunately. At least it was the last time I went in there anyway.
It feels good to be finally making some progress towards our goal of being parents. I think both of us are starting to get a little bit excited. Dave is not so happy about all the paperwork that has to be done but oh well, he'll survive :-).
Anyway, I just wanted to keep everyone informed as to where we are at. Every day we're getting closer and closer and I just can't wait. I'm glad we've made this decision and I'm hoping that soon our family will be complete.
Love,
Sammee
Other than that we're on track to finish our home study soon as well. We've received a few reference letters that were simply amazing (thank you Kristyne and Beth!!) and we're almost ready to set up our home visit with our social worker. Once that is done and all of our paper work is completed then it will be sent to the adoption agency for review. And then, once that's done we can activate our profile. It will be so weird knowing that in a few months our information will be shown to perspective birth mothers. I'm anxious but very excited at the same time. I've finally allowed myself to begin looking at baby furniture and clothes. We won't know the sex of the baby (and we didn't pay the extra money to be gender specific) so I'm having fun looking at all of the cute clothes on Amazon. I'm focusing more on the furniture aspect of it because at the very least we'll need a bassinet, changing table and car seat/stroller. Ordering furniture from the BX can take forever so I'm not sure if we'll do that or just buy stuff on Amazon since it will be easier to ship over here. I'll even peruse Amazon UK because alot of their stuff will ship to Germany and it's cheaper than coming from the states. Some of my co-workers know where all the good baby shops in the area are so I'll have to take a look at them as well. We do have a Toys R Us in K-town but their baby stuff is really limited unfortunately. At least it was the last time I went in there anyway.
It feels good to be finally making some progress towards our goal of being parents. I think both of us are starting to get a little bit excited. Dave is not so happy about all the paperwork that has to be done but oh well, he'll survive :-).
Anyway, I just wanted to keep everyone informed as to where we are at. Every day we're getting closer and closer and I just can't wait. I'm glad we've made this decision and I'm hoping that soon our family will be complete.
Love,
Sammee
Monday, June 4, 2012
Getting Close
We are almost done with all of our Home Study paperwork. We just have to finish our background checks and then our home visit and then I think we're finished. We have yet to receive some of our reference letters but that's Ok, we still have a little bit of time. Other than that we're just plugging along.
We've signed up with an agency called American Adoptions and we're in the process of doing all their paperwork as well. Hopefully by the time the paperwork is done on both sides we'll be ready to go and can go active as soon as it's all done. Once we're active it means that our profiles are being shown to potential birth parents. If we're approved by our social worker to adopt outside our race then we are going to be a part of both the Traditional and Agency Assisted programs the agency has to offer. This means our information will be shown to practically every birth mother that comes through the agency which will increase our chance of being selected sooner. My hope is that we get everything finalized by the fall and will be hearing something by early next year if not sooner. This may just be a pipe dream, but we'll see. I think it's a relatively reasonable goal to give myself 5-6 months to wait for a call when the agency lists normal wait time to be matched as lower than that. I realize that's just an average but I'm still hoping that with us not being selective about race and gender that it means we can be selected sooner.
I'm trying to keep my expectations in check because this stuff rarely ever goes according to my plan. Of course I would want this done as quickly and efficiently as possible but I have to rely on other people to get this done and that just throws everything out the window for me. For those of you that know me well, when it comes to stuff like this I'm very much a control freak. If I had the legal power to do this all myself I totally would so that I know it got done right and on my timeline. Alas, I'm not capable of doing this on my own. But things are progressing and I just have to keep telling myself that it will get done and it will be ok.
We've signed up with an agency called American Adoptions and we're in the process of doing all their paperwork as well. Hopefully by the time the paperwork is done on both sides we'll be ready to go and can go active as soon as it's all done. Once we're active it means that our profiles are being shown to potential birth parents. If we're approved by our social worker to adopt outside our race then we are going to be a part of both the Traditional and Agency Assisted programs the agency has to offer. This means our information will be shown to practically every birth mother that comes through the agency which will increase our chance of being selected sooner. My hope is that we get everything finalized by the fall and will be hearing something by early next year if not sooner. This may just be a pipe dream, but we'll see. I think it's a relatively reasonable goal to give myself 5-6 months to wait for a call when the agency lists normal wait time to be matched as lower than that. I realize that's just an average but I'm still hoping that with us not being selective about race and gender that it means we can be selected sooner.
I'm trying to keep my expectations in check because this stuff rarely ever goes according to my plan. Of course I would want this done as quickly and efficiently as possible but I have to rely on other people to get this done and that just throws everything out the window for me. For those of you that know me well, when it comes to stuff like this I'm very much a control freak. If I had the legal power to do this all myself I totally would so that I know it got done right and on my timeline. Alas, I'm not capable of doing this on my own. But things are progressing and I just have to keep telling myself that it will get done and it will be ok.
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