Thank You

Friday night we ended our online silent auction. Thank you to the following people who donated items:

Amy F.   www.amyshomecleaning.com
Letricia B.   www.plusadayphotography.com
Melanie L.  www.facebook.com/blueponydesigns  and http://melanielocke.arbonne.com
Ginger H.   naturalhelps4health.myshaklee.com
Amy P.
Jenn W.
Cevan S.
Jennifer H.

Claudia B.
Nicola S.
Nicole H.
Kim L.
Naomi D.
Jamie F.
Jin W.
Laura M.
Mary N.
Adam F.
Lindsay F.
Mary Beth G.

We are so blessed by the amazing friends and family we have. This auction raised just over $1,000! Words can't express how thankful we are for everything you all have done for us! We love you!

Patience and Home Appliances

Hello lovely readers. Wanted to fill you in on the newest goings on. We are busy applying for grants and matching grants (those are nifty, they match whatever we raise!) and we are about to start an online silent auction! Wonderful people have donated the most awesome items towards the auction. Handmade items, gift cards, crafts, and all kinds of fabulousness! I'm in awe of their talents and willingness to help us! So, a huge thank you to you all!

I'll be adding people to the group on Facebook to be able to see and bit on all of the items on Thursday and Friday before it starts.

Other fundraisers are in the works, but we've had an unexpected speed bump.
Friday morning, the air conditioner in our house cooled it's last. Seeing as we live in NC and it's currently 90+ degrees every day, staying in the house wasn't exactly an option. Thankfully, my parents are letting us invade them until it's fixed. Remember the old saying, "company is like dead fish, after a few days they both start to stink!" Well, we are trying really hard to not be stinky fish!

Needless to say, I was upset. Ok, more than upset. It felt like a cosmic sign, maybe God was telling us to stop this crazy adoption idea and just go about our lives. I was pretty down Friday and even Saturday. Still don't understand His timing, or His plans, but I know that giving up on the child that is out there waiting for us isn't in His plans. Sure, it would be easier to throw up my hands and say, "Ok, God, I quit." We've tried for over a year and a half, you've thrown small speed bumps and now a large, expensive one our way. I'm done." Sure, it would be easier, but what about that baby who needs a family? Giving up on him or her because of an air conditioner? Seems a little selfish and stupid. Therefore, we are staying on course, speed bumps be darned! Just need a little patience.

I'm not a patient person. If you know me well at all, you've laughed at that because I'm possibly the least patient person ever in life. I strive daily to be a more patient person, but it's taking too long...
Want to know something that takes a long time and can make you nuts? Adoption. It can make you crazy in ways you didn't even know you could go crazy! What is my best and worst quality? Well, my  worst quality is that I..

Any-who...that's where we are. Be looking for the auction and please be praying for us! Specific prayer requests: Our AC, patience for me, our future baby, the birth parents, and for us to follow in God's will in this whole process.

Thanks for reading. Much love for you all!

Aren't we adorable?

New Photo of us! Thought I'd share!

Pretend This is a Clever Title, Ok?

It's been a while since I've updated you lovelies on our progress. I guess that's because there hasn't been much to update. We were thrilled when our homestudy was completed and approved. We felt like we had cleared a giant hurdle and it would be a smooth road to the finish line. We were way too optimistic. As it turns out, the hurdles are still in front of us.
We have decided to use a different agency for the remainder of our adoption process. This agency is located in Rock Hill, South Carolina. There is nothing we have to do over for the switch, as they will accept our NC homestudy. One of the main factors that led to this change is the difference in adoption laws between NC and SC. NC has a seven day revocation period. Meaning, for seven days after the birth mother signs the adoption papers, she can change her mind. Seven days of every time the phone rings wondering if it's the agency telling us that the birth mother has changed her mind. SC doesn't have a revocation period. Once the birth  mother signs the papers, usually 24-72 hours after the birth, it can't be revoked.
The hurdles come in the form of paying for the remainder of the adoption expenses. We are applying for several grants and even low interest loans, but those won't cover the entire amount.
Our first plan is an online silent auction. If you are a crafter, direct sales person, willing to purchase gift cards, have items you're willing to donate, please let us know. We hope to start taking donations as early as today, and be able to start the auction in a week or so, depending on the donations we get. It will be on Facebook. The items will be listed with a photo, and anyone interested in bidding will bid under the picture in the comments. Seems simple enough, right? I hope so.

Full Disclosure, we've been discouraged lately. Me especially. It seems sometimes that every time we think we are getting closer, it just seems far away. I'm hoping we can get people to donate to this auction and then get others to participate and bid.

Thanks for reading this. Thanks for your prayers and support.

Yet Another Update

Hello out there in cyberland. Just a quick update. Our homestudy has <FINALLY> been approved. What does that mean? In a word - Fundraisers. Grants. Loans. Gifts from long lost rich relatives maybe? We are starting the super fun process of applying for any adoption grant we can get our hands on. We are also working on some other ways to raise the funds.
Thanks for all of your prayer and support. I appreciate each time someone asks how the process is going or says that they are praying for us. I'll let you know more when we know more!

The End is Near...Or is it?

We had our last visit with our super awesome caseworker last night. The first meeting was at our house and she got to meet Hannah. The second meeting was just the two of us, and the third was her and Shaun. Last night Shaun and I met with her for the final time and I'm going to miss chatting with her! She has already sent us the rough draft of our homestudy document to be fact checked, and, being all punctual, I've already sent it back to her! Yay, me!
I've never read one before (why would I have?) so it was actually interesting to see what all it entails. I still don't find us particularly interesting, but maybe that's a good thing. She wrote about our childhoods, schooling, how we met, how we parent Hannah and the best part...she wrote that we both "appear to be emotionally stable." I don't know why, but I got a good chuckle out of that. Not that we aren't stable (Shush, you! You know who you are!), it's just funny to see it written.

So, what's next you ask? Well, once she makes the changes she sends it to her boss with our agency. She said it should take about a week to be approved. After that, we will have an honest to goodness signed homestudy. Woot! Why woot? Woot because it means we can apply for grants, interest free loans and other ways to raise the funds we need to complete the adoption. (Unless you, gentle reader, happened upon $25,000 that you just can't find the use for. If that's the case, we should talk!) Seriously though, yes, it seems like a crazy amount of moolah, and yeah, it's a lot, but when there's a will, there's a way. Pretty sure some really famous philosopher said that. Or Charlie Brown.

We've said from the start that we are open to either gender or any race. <Insert looks of shock and awe here.> Yep, that means that there is a high likelihood that our new family member won't be all pasty pale like me! If you are shaking your head at that, don't call me. We can't be friends. One of the adoption classes we took called it "conspicuous families." Families that stand out. I'd like to change that culture. I think that a family is so much more that skin color. I would love to live in a world where it was completely normal for the family members to be a whole mix of colors.

Anywho...stepping away from my soapbox before I really get going. The next few months are where we will be writing for grants, working on fundraisers, all in the hopes of bringing our new baby home.

What can you do to help you ask? (You ARE asking that, right?? I thought so!) You can pray! Pray that we are able to secure the funds as quickly as possible. Pray that we do everything for the Glory of God. Pray for the birth mother of our baby. Pray for peace for her as she makes what has to be an unbelievable difficult decision. Pray that She knows that we will always love her for the gift she gives us. Pray for us. We haven't had an infant in nearly 9 years. (If you don't own stock in Starbucks or Folgers now might be a good time to invest.) It's going to be a change. We get that, but also know that it will be a change for the best!

Success!

The first meeting with our caseworker was a success! She came to our house and we talked for nearly three hours. She was able to see our home and meet Hannah. She even asked Hannah special questions to make sure that she felt included in the process.
The questions she asked were run of the mill ones. Why are we wanting to adopt. What do we do for fun. How do we settle arguments and all that good stuff.
The best part is that she loved our humor and sarcasm. She was hilarious. So glad that she has a great sense of humor. Would have made for a long meeting!

We will meet with her three more times. I meet with her next week by myself, then the following week Shaun will meet with her, and the week after that we will meet with her together again.
Once the meetings have finished, she will write up the homestudy document and send it to us to fact check. Once we check it, the document will be sent to her supervisor and then to our agency. Then we will be an official "waiting family."

Please keep us in your prayers. Once we have the completed homestudy document in hand we can apply for grants and interest free loans. We are also considering doing another fundraiser in the future.

The Countdown is On...

Thursday. 6:30. Our first meeting with our social worker. Taking deep cleansing breaths. Inhale...exhale...repeat.

We have laughed and talked about hundreds of things not to talk about the two hour meetings, but not sure what we are actually going to talk about that's not snarky and sarcastic. Two hours and no sarcasm...is that even possible? Let's face it, I get sarcastic at the checkout at Walmart.
Checkout lady - "Is that all?"
Me - "Nah, I'll take all this invisible stuff too."

Lord help me. Granted, I know she's supposed to get to know the "real" us but shouldn't we break her in gently?

Hmm...there's that word again..."real."

Pray for us!

Quick Update

Just a quick update, not the next great American Novel, I promise.

We have successfully submitted all of our paperwork for the homestudy. It's been approved! Now we wait to be contacted by our assigned Caseworker. There will be 4 interviews in the homestudy. One with Shaun and I together, one visit to our house, one with just me, and one with just Shaun. Then - it will take them up to three months to write the reports. After the reports are written and in hand, we can apply for the all important GRANTS!
Thank you for your continued prayers and support!

Expectations vs. Reality

When I decided to start this blog, I told myself it would be full disclosure. That being said, I've been procrastinating on this post. It's been about a year since we decided that we wanted to adopt. At first, people were really excited, and now, when people ask how the process is going, they seem disappointed or almost bored when I tell them that we are still buried in paperwork and awaiting the actual start of our home study. Yes, the same one we were wanting to start in August, and September, and October... I get comments like "You still haven't done the homestudy? What's taking so long?" Or even better, "Oh, you're still going through with that?" Going through with it? I'm not attempting a hostile government take over (yet) or donating my right leg. When I try to explain to them where we are in the process I watch as their eyes glaze over like mine to when my husband starts telling me about the newest sports record to be broken, or how much he enjoys reading Winston Churchill's autobiography. Well, I'm sorry I don't have better news for you. Really I am. Don't you think I'd like to have the process hurrying along as well? Let's face it, my birthday is in two days and I'm not exactly feeling like a spring chicken here. For those of you who want to know, here is where we are:
We have paid for the homestudy. We completed all of the paperwork for it, or so we thought. Once we had everything submitted and did our happy dance, the agency came back and told us that they were going to combine our homestudy and formal applications to allegedly hurry it up on the back end. Well, with the combination of applications came an influx of more paperwork. New, longer, more detailed autobiographies, online classes, infant CPR (is this where I mention that Shaun is a licensed EMT?), medical records, recommendation letters, and more. The rubric for the autobiographies is about 8 pages. I, for one, am not eight pages interesting. I'm more like 4 pages of interesting with maybe a little comic strip or something. I blame my parents actually, normal middle class upbringing. Nothing crazy (minus this one aunt). Nothing to "overcome" or use to pad my autobiography. Nope. Loving parents, little brother, cat, dog, occasional fish tank. Summers with mom, beach vacations, you know, the typical Lifetime Movie Network movie without the horrible twist. Not that I'm complaining, I prefer the normal upbringing, honest. I really do. After all, I'm not the one who has to read my super exciting autobiography!
Whew...sorry about that. Back on topic now. Really.
Full disclosure...here goes nothing.
A few months ago, we got super news. We secured a loan that would completely fund the adoption. Anything we didn't raise would be covered by this loan. (Insert happy dance here.) Well, like all good things, or chickens counted before they were hatched, we discovered that Shaun would be taking a pay cut with his job starting in April. Nothing that will hurt our daily lives, but would make paying back the loan significantly more difficult. I'm hoping that my Jamberry business continues to grow and will make paying back any adoption loans as easy as applying a set of nail wraps (see what I did there?), but until that happens we are going to be applying for as many grants as we can get our beautifully manicured hands on. Should be easy right? I mean, all you need to apply for adoption grants is a completed homestudy...
So there you have it. I will try to update more often. I will try to be transparent with the process. I want this to bring awareness to adoption and the process as much as inform you about our journey.