We haven't blogged for a couple of weeks as we took a small break from our home study packet. We have a couple of things we need to complete before we can send our packet in--but three of the things are dependant on outside resources. So tomorrow we get our TB test (but we had to wait for our appointment so we had to wait for that "resource"). In two weekends we are taking our CPR/First aid for infant class (but had to wait to take it for when there was a class opening). And our final check list item is getting our physical, however, our doctor office doesn't have an opening until APRIL!! So we are hoping tomorrow we can show them what the physical consists of and they can squeeze us into some random appointment time :) Then just a few more worksheets to work on and we'll be DONE with the packet itself. After our packet has been recieved, we will have our interviews that we will need to set up with our social worker. If you can all be praying for our birth mother (that may or may not be working with Bethany/even be pregnant at this point) right now that she is feeling loved and is working through her adoption plan and that God is protecting her--that'd be great!
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So as we work through our packet, I wanted to share with you something that was read to us while we were at our training.
It is called, "Different Trips to the Same Place: A Story about achieving parenthood through adoption vs conception" by Diane Armitage, an adoptive mother.
When you decide you want to have a baby, it’s like planning a trip to Australia. You’ve heard it’s a wonderful place, you’ve read many guidebooks, and you feel certain you’re ready to go. Everyone you know has traveled there by plane. They say it can be a turbulent flight with occasional rough landings, but you can look forward to being pampered during the trip.
So, you go to the airport and ask the ticket agent for a ticket to Australia. All around you, excited people are boarding planes for Australia. It seems there is no seat for you; you’ll have to wait for the next flight. Impatient, but still anticipating a wonderful trip, you wait…and…wait…and wait. Flights to Australia continue to come and go. People say silly things like, “Relax. You’ll get a flight soon.” Other people actually get on a plane and then cancel their trip, to which you cry, “It’s not fair!”
After a long time, the ticket agent tells you, “I’m sorry, we’re not going to be able to get you on a plane to Australia. Perhaps you should think about going by boat.”
“By BOAT?!?” you say. “Going by boat will take a very long time, and it costs a great deal of money. Besides, I really had my heart set on going by plane.” So you go home and think about not going to Australia at all. You wonder if Australia will be as beautiful if you approach it by sea rather than air. But you have long dreamed of this wonderful place, and finally you decide you travel by boat.
It is a long trip, many months over rough seas. No one pampers you. You wonder if you will ever see Australia. Meanwhile, your friends have flown back and forth to Australia two or more times, marveling about each trip.
Then one glorious day, the boat docks in Australia. It is more exquisite than you ever imagined, and the beauty is magnified by your long days at sea. You have made many wonderful friends during your voyage, and you find yourself comparing stories with other people who also traveled by sea rather than air.
Other people continue to fly to Australia as often as they like, but you are only able to travel only once, perhaps twice. Some people still say things like, “Oh, be glad you didn’t fly. My flight was horrible. Traveling by sea is so easy.”
You will always wonder what it would have been like to fly to Australia. Still, you know God has blessed you with a special appreciation of Australia, and the beauty of Australia is not in the way you get there, but in the place itself.
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We hope you enjoyed the story! I will post more another time on why I love this story :)
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Sunday, January 8, 2012
This weekend rocked!
This past weekend, Mark and I had the privilege of going to Seattle to complete our training and orientation! We had a great weekend of being able to hit the town of Seattle Friday evening--which included going to Pike Place Market and Hard Rock Cafe. We LOVE Hard Rock Cafe and visit every one in every state we go that has it. So it was fun to accomplish adoption items as well as sneak in a date night in there :) We also got to stay in a great hotel at the base of the Space Needle. We left our blinds open so Saturday morning we woke up to the Space Needle-It was simply amazing!!
AND, to top it all off, we had a great time at our training and orientation. For the first time in this whole process, I didn't feel alone anymore!! We were in a room of people who understood where we are at emotionally and what it is like to be "paper pregnant". That's kind of a joke among adoptive families since we are "concieving" a baby out of paper (all of our home study paperwork and other documents that are needed) and then you stay "paper pregnant" until your baby arrives home with you...so sometimes I feel like I even have the hormones of a pregnant lady :) I met some great people and finally have some people to talk to through this process. Don't get me wrong--our family and friends have been very supportive in the adoption process, but it is different to have someone who KNOWS what it's like to be in our shoes.
We now are just waiting on getting our homestudy packet in the mail--I was hoping it'd be waiting for us when we got home from our weekend trip, but sadly it wasn't. So we will wait for that to come and then get hauling on it. I asked what the fastest time someone completed the packet is--and I was told two weekends...so my goal is to get it done in a month--because yes, I do want to get it done quickly, but I also want to take it seriously because this is for our child :) We get to turn in our fingerprints in on Tuesday as well...so now we just get to wait for the FBI to process that too--which takes about 8 weeks.
This past weekend, we found out that during the homestudy process and especially after the packet is turned in, we really need to get our nursery in order--which seems weird to me. I mean, I know it's because at any point after the homestudy is approved we could get "the call" telling us that our baby has been born and we were chosen, but it's hard to wrap my mind around it all. I was talking with a few of the other adoptive moms saying that it's to prepare for a baby that isn't growing inside of me, I may not know the gender (especially when we are making the nursery), or when they'll be born--so we'll be going gender neutral for the nursery and for a lot of the clothes. We plan on buying a crib, changing table, dresser, a few outfits, a couple of boxes of diapers, formula, bottles and pacifiers probably until our baby comes whenever that is.
We are excited to see what God has in store for us in the phase of life and we will continue to wait patiently to hold our little one for whenever God's plan comes to be.
AND, to top it all off, we had a great time at our training and orientation. For the first time in this whole process, I didn't feel alone anymore!! We were in a room of people who understood where we are at emotionally and what it is like to be "paper pregnant". That's kind of a joke among adoptive families since we are "concieving" a baby out of paper (all of our home study paperwork and other documents that are needed) and then you stay "paper pregnant" until your baby arrives home with you...so sometimes I feel like I even have the hormones of a pregnant lady :) I met some great people and finally have some people to talk to through this process. Don't get me wrong--our family and friends have been very supportive in the adoption process, but it is different to have someone who KNOWS what it's like to be in our shoes.
We now are just waiting on getting our homestudy packet in the mail--I was hoping it'd be waiting for us when we got home from our weekend trip, but sadly it wasn't. So we will wait for that to come and then get hauling on it. I asked what the fastest time someone completed the packet is--and I was told two weekends...so my goal is to get it done in a month--because yes, I do want to get it done quickly, but I also want to take it seriously because this is for our child :) We get to turn in our fingerprints in on Tuesday as well...so now we just get to wait for the FBI to process that too--which takes about 8 weeks.
This past weekend, we found out that during the homestudy process and especially after the packet is turned in, we really need to get our nursery in order--which seems weird to me. I mean, I know it's because at any point after the homestudy is approved we could get "the call" telling us that our baby has been born and we were chosen, but it's hard to wrap my mind around it all. I was talking with a few of the other adoptive moms saying that it's to prepare for a baby that isn't growing inside of me, I may not know the gender (especially when we are making the nursery), or when they'll be born--so we'll be going gender neutral for the nursery and for a lot of the clothes. We plan on buying a crib, changing table, dresser, a few outfits, a couple of boxes of diapers, formula, bottles and pacifiers probably until our baby comes whenever that is.
We are excited to see what God has in store for us in the phase of life and we will continue to wait patiently to hold our little one for whenever God's plan comes to be.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
We are moving forward!!
We got a packet in the mail that had our contract with Bethany Christian Services (BCS) and our fingerprint/background check forms. We are so excited to be moving forward and making a little bit of progress towards having our future child with us in our home.
In this packet, we also found out that we need to be at a training up in Seattle this coming weekend--so we booked our hotel and will have a little night out on the town as we get to work towards adoption--YAY! And, the domestic coordinator up in Seattle was nice enough to let us do our orientation on Friday so we get to get two things out of the way, instead of spending two different Saturdays doing the training on day and the orientation on the other day. Thanks to the coordinator for doing this!!
And this morning, Mark and I went to get our fingerprints taken! It was a weird feeling going in to get it done. I kept saying, "we are doing this to work towards adoption." OR "We are doing this for our adoption" just so everyone didn't think we were getting booked into the jail for something. Haha!!
We are excited that we can be pro-active in this stage of the adoption--because from all of the adoption blogs I've read, waiting is the HARDEST because there isn't much you can do once you've turned in all your paperwork and your homestudy is approved, the only thing you're waiting on is for a birthmother to choose you and then for the baby to be born. There isn't much you can do while you wait besides sort of prepare your home for a baby whom you don't when he/she will arrive--you can be waiting for one day after your approved home study, or you can be waiting for years. So I am glad that I am in the stage where I can check things off and move forward at this time :)
Well, off to clean the house, but just wanted to update people as we had some info.
In this packet, we also found out that we need to be at a training up in Seattle this coming weekend--so we booked our hotel and will have a little night out on the town as we get to work towards adoption--YAY! And, the domestic coordinator up in Seattle was nice enough to let us do our orientation on Friday so we get to get two things out of the way, instead of spending two different Saturdays doing the training on day and the orientation on the other day. Thanks to the coordinator for doing this!!
And this morning, Mark and I went to get our fingerprints taken! It was a weird feeling going in to get it done. I kept saying, "we are doing this to work towards adoption." OR "We are doing this for our adoption" just so everyone didn't think we were getting booked into the jail for something. Haha!!
We are excited that we can be pro-active in this stage of the adoption--because from all of the adoption blogs I've read, waiting is the HARDEST because there isn't much you can do once you've turned in all your paperwork and your homestudy is approved, the only thing you're waiting on is for a birthmother to choose you and then for the baby to be born. There isn't much you can do while you wait besides sort of prepare your home for a baby whom you don't when he/she will arrive--you can be waiting for one day after your approved home study, or you can be waiting for years. So I am glad that I am in the stage where I can check things off and move forward at this time :)
Well, off to clean the house, but just wanted to update people as we had some info.
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