:) Go team!

The Conference Call

The expectant mom that our agency had been in contact with last week (and weeks prior) still had not had her medical records sent over. Hesitation on the conference call made it not seem like it would really happen.

Last month our profile had been sent to a birthmom in Iowa. She declined due to wanting a biracial family. That situation did not work out, so she decided she wanted to speak with her second choice-us!

This afternoon we talked for close to an hour (with the director of the agency on the line as well), and her main concerns were wanting a family that would be accepting of a daughter that is not Caucasian when the rest of their family is.

We went on to talk about other things, things her family likes to do, hobbies, goals, all of that. What she would like for her unborn child. A very hard conversation to have someone! I'm still not sure I asked all the right questions, or gave all of the right answers. Wondering if they could hear on my end as Wyatt & Brett broke a snowglobe and lightbulb (we decorated for Halloween today) and I tried to stay calm and not strangle them.

But...
as of now she wants to go with us!
We are about a month and half away from due date,
so we're starting to get things in order (rooms & money mostly!!) to get a new addition to our family!!

Cautiously optimistic.

Oops!

The "presentation" went great I suppose.
The birthmom liked our profile.

She ended up in labor early....Today!!!

Unfortunately, the ultrasound was wrong.
Baby was a boy!
Hoping and thinking for the best for the birthmom, the baby, and the new family who will be chosen to adopt him.

We're still holding out for the pink!

Being "presented"

Agencies that don't find the right matches through their own database of prospective adopting parents often advertise elsewhere. Or if an expectant mom doesn't find the right family with an agency, they will help her find the right people.

A situation like this came up with a smaller agency. We have the completed home study to hand over to the agency, but they needed a profile. A bit of a whim and way before we are fully ready. But as with any kids added to a family, is there ever a "right time?" And if it did work out, we would be able to make it happen. Just not as easy as if it were to happen a few months from now.

But the alternative (not ever being "chosen") does scare us enough to not pass up a potential opportunity.

So we put together a profile! 6 pages of photos and descriptions of us, our family, and our life.

Submitted to the agency. Which apparently many many other people did as well. Any time an infant girl (with no drug/alcohol exposure) is to be born, there seems to be huge, large interest.

Heard back yesterday afternoon that we are one of three families chosen to be presented to the expectant mother! Our hopes are not up, everything was put together so last minute! And people can wait years and years before adopting, so we're doubtful that it would happen for us within a couple of weeks of having a completed home study.
But it is good (potential) practice!!
She will see the three profiles tomorrow to see if any of them feel right to her.
yikes!
:)

More papers

And back to the county office. Weren't we just there? Yeah, back in May...but we need more from them!


Last documents needed for us to send (that were not required for our home study) were driver licenses and the kids' birth certificates.

With the count office opening this morning at 8am, I figured Wyatt & I could easily get over to San Marcos, get the 3 certificates, and then head over to his preschool by 9. Traffic was fine, but the wait in line (again) was bad. We managed to get to preschool right around 9:15 (10 miles away).

So those get mailed out with a few other things, and then we continue on our profile (photos, etc).

Home Study complete!

We passed!
Took our time getting there,
but we have a complete home study!

This means legally we are able to adopt within the parameters set through the home study. It basically says we will be adopting an infant girl within the United States. We had contemplated doing international, but are instead sticking to domestic adoption.

Within domestic adoption there are a few ways to go about it. Through the state/county, private, or independent. We will be going with a private agency.

The home study has been sent to the adoption agency we have chosen to work with. There are some documents still needed with them: one more letter of reference, our drivers licenses, birth certificates for each of our kids, as well as some papers specific to the agency.

As we get those organized we also have been pouring over photos of us & our family. Trying to get forms filled out in order to create a profile. Harder than it seems!

Once the documents are sent off and our profile is compete (we have someone creating this for us, to put together as a hard copy), we will be "active" with the agency.

At that time we could get a call that day that there is a baby born and we will need to travel. Or we could be in for a very long wait. Hopefully it will end up something in between :)

Randoms of Waiting

Taking things slow in finishing up our home study. No immediate rush, and we're not quite ready yet. Plus, the home study expires a year from completion. Not a large sum or effort to get it updated, but not being in a hurry we can wait a bit longer. Also waiting for some of the financial information (we'd pretty much forgotten about the retirement accounts from Spawar!), takes a bit of time.

We have however chosen a primary agency to work with! We will be signing with some smaller ones as well, but the large one gives us the best chance at adoption, most likely.

So we will now be working on paperwork with the home study as well as the actual agency who will (most likely) oversee the adoption & getting things moving along!