Another labor of love...

We decided to create a slideshow with pictures and bits of information about us.  This is another way that we can shout to the world that we are ready to adopt and perhaps even connect with an expectant mother who is thinking about placing her child for adoption.

It is like a mini version of our profile.  Feel free to share it!

National Adoption Month

November is National Adoption Month.  How fitting that I started the month out by going to a seminar on how to adopt more quickly.  There was a message that came across loud and clear: we should not be WAITING to adopt.   Waiting implies that we are doing nothing, while expecting something.      I walked away from the seminar with a few more ideas on how to network and get our information out there to expectant parents who might be thinking about placing their child for adoption. 

I also realized that I was in a room of 50-60 people, all from our agency, that are hoping to adopt an infant.   The numbers that our agency is dealing with now have increased a lot and I wonder if more people are opening their heart to adoption.     I hope so, because as more people want to adopt and the more adoption becomes a larger part of every family, the better it will be for our children.  

So Happy National Adoption Month to my fellow hopeful parents, to those amazing parents who are part of an awesome support network for us, and to everyone who has been touched by adoption.

The Wait

Here we are waiting....   we're ready to take a baby home at any time!  We have our foster license required by the state of WI for all domestic adoptions. We have our home study which says we would be a great home for ANY child or even twins!   But, we just have to wait.

Brandon tells people that we are at the "hurry up and wait" stage.  It's such a huge amount of work to get to this point and yet, here we are and things are out of our control.   I've printed the profile books, we've set up our facebook page, created business cards and started handing them out.    I feel a little lost without something to DO as we wait, but hopefully I will get some more ideas on November 5 when I go to a seminar on adoption networking. 

It's only been ONE month and I already feel like I'm struggling.  I'm not sure what this wait has in store for me and I hate the unknown, but hopefully someday - the struggle will be worth it. 

What I must remember....

I must remember that all of my life, I have felt like my purpose is to be a mother.   I know it in the fiber of my being that I am meant to have a child to raise and to love and to build my world around.    When most people were figuring out what their career paths were going to be, the only thing I knew for sure was that I was going to be a mom.         I think that's key - A MOM, not a woman who gave birth.   Because now I know that I am not meant to give birth, but that doesn't mean that I will not be a mother.   

Although my mom did give birth to me (which I am thankful for), the things that came after were probably more important.  She bounced around the house while I was a crying baby, she rocked me and sang Silent Night to me, she listened about my bad days at school, she gave me a curfew, she cried with me when I was hurting.   She has been my source of unconditional love. Even when I pierced my tongue at age 18 and she was furious, I know she still loved me.

So I must remember - that's what I want.   I want to soothe a crying baby, wake up for midnight feedings, push a stroller, hold a tiny hand, read bedtime stories, and teach about life and love.  I want to be a mother.


An adoptive momma, who's blog I follow, made me cry in a recent post.   Thank you http://ttimes3.wordpress.com/ for this.

To my dear friends who are still waiting for their precious dreams, I promise you, your dream will come true.  And in those darkest moments when you think all hope is lost, remember, that “no matter how your heart is beating, if you keep on believing, the dream that you wish will come true.”  As someone who never thought this distant dream of mine would come true, I promise you this as true as the sky is blue, it will come true.

So I will choose to believe that my dream will come true.  Someday soon, I will be a mom.

 

Feelings all over the place

So, lately, I've been looking at Brandon and thinking "what would our biological child look like?"  
I've been feeling a little sad when I really think about never having a child with our genes mushed together. 
Perhaps it's because we've had some friends who have recently given birth or perhaps it's because I look at his kids all the time and see parts of Brandon, but none of myself.    His youngest looks so much like him, but his oldest only has little hints.   I wonder what would happen if we did have a baby.    Unfortunately, I will never get to see that unless perhaps we win the lottery!  I'm pretty sure I've talked about this before and here I am talking again.... 

 I feel at peace about our decision to forgo crazy medical interventions to get pregnant - not that they are CRAZY in general, but they would be much more involved than a we would want and we would have to spend a lot more money with little hope that it would work.   I have felt very good about our decision to adopt, because I know that I will LOVE the child that is placed with me with all of my heart.  I will fall in love with the baby the moment I see him or her.  Heck, I might even fall in love as soon as we are matched with the amazing birth parent that chooses us.    I am thrilled to have the opportunity to parent a child, no matter how that child comes to us.   

Because I know that I will FALL IN LOVE - I am so excited that our profile is DONE!!  I posted a link to it on the previous post and I am very proud of what I created for us.    This means that at any moment, we could be matched and I am just in awe of that!  

Now I feel like I want to buy everything that we could ever need for our baby.  I've been researching strollers and it is so overwhelming!  I'm hoping that Brandon and I can take a day to go to a few stores and try a bunch of strollers out.  It seems like such a big deal to pick out those big items!    If it were up to me, I'd fill our house with baby items immediately.  That's how excited I am!

Our Completed Profile

Click here to view this photo book larger

What?! We're ready?!

So, apparently I was a little confused as to how things worked with our adoption home study.   After our last visit, I assumed that we could not be considered waiting until our home study was in it's final form and we received our foster license (needed for domestic adoptions in WI).     I was waiting (not so) patiently and emailed our social worker to see how she was doing on things and told her we were excited to be approved.

After a couple of emails, it turns out, there is no doubt that we are "approved" and that we can actually be considered by birth parents RIGHT NOW!  Because we have completed all background checks, interviews, paperwork, training (except for one next week), we are ready!   After the home study is written in it's final form, we'll receive a copy of the foster license and I believe the home study, but really, that doesn't need to be there in order for us to move forward.

We are waiting for our sample profile to be delivered to our house, because I want to make sure it looks great in print before I order a bunch of copies for the agency.   Once we have the copies delivered to the agency, I'm sure it will feel like we are officially WAITING.      For now, I'm working on creating some cards that we can hand out for networking purposes and I have set up an email address and a facebook page especially for our adoption contacts. 

At this point, I want to ask each and every one of you to cross your fingers,  your toes, your eyes - everything!  Hope that this will be a short wait for us and that we will be connected with our baby very soon, because I can't wait to really start this adventure of parenting!