Hanging In There

I've had several people ask me, over the course of the last few weeks, how the adoption was going. Each time the question was responded with a smile and a small explanation regarding the status of the impending legislation changes.

Talking about the adoption has been exceptionally hard for both of us. Post election and still with possible legislation changes, we moved forward with the process regardless of the hurt and confusion that seems to be present. It hasn't been easy, trying to keep a smile on our faces and pretending that politics don't matter. In the world of international adoption, they matter a great deal. USCIS fee increases, that were introduced back in July, are going into effect on December 23rd. 21% on average. That's a pretty big jump and pretty daunting to us right now, but just another way the government is attempting to limit intercountry adoption.

We finished the home study portion. The final draft was sent to MLJ and then we received our IEP. I'll talk more about our IEP a little later on. For now we move on with fundraising. Right now we have a holiday Origami Owl party running with my friend Stacy Schneider. You can find our party link here if you're interested in shopping with us. Stacy is donating a portion of her commission to our Adopt Together account. I'll put together a little something more about this for tomorrow.

We hope everyone is doing well and is ready to launch into the craziness of the holiday season. We're looking forward to spending lots of time with family and friends over the few weeks.

Lots of love,

The First Visit

All the nervousness and anxiety were built up for nothing. It's true when people say that the home study agent isn't coming to your house to do a white glove inspection. They just need to make sure that you have enough space and that it's suitable for a child. They're also there to make sure that you are going to be suitable parents. 

As I mentioned in my last post, our home study agent is incredible. I love working with her and the agency. She came in and stayed for about 2 hours. We went over a number of things like how the process works, where we're at financially, our future goals and hopes, our parenting styles and why parenting in certain ways is important, and why we decided to adopt. I don't feel like we're being judged and that was a big fear when we started on this journey. I feel like we have more clarity and the more time we spend with her, the more at ease I am.

We're looking forward to her next visit, when we start to delve into our childhoods and past histories. I'm looking forward to it and I know it will all be worth it in the end.

Lots of love,

Home Study

We were accepted by Hopscotch Adoptions Inc. on August 8th. Since then, we've been gathering paperwork, tracking down certificates, and obtaining certified copies on just about everything you could imagine. Our first batch of papers looked like we had leveled a small forest. We're still waiting on a couple of the city/county checks to come back and next Friday we are getting our finger prints done for the state background check.

I'd been talking with one of the ladies on staff at Hopscotch, since our acceptance, and decided to drop off our first batch of papers during a time when she would be there. It's always pleasant to meet the faces behind the e-mails and we live close enough to their office, so that taking our paperwork to them is easier than mailing it. On Thursday, I announced on Facebook that I would be meeting the home study agent on Friday. I had a sense of relief and nervousness leading up to Friday morning.

When I went into the office, I first met the director. She is fabulous and I loved chatting with her. She asked a questions about the program and how we were doing. She introduced me to the nice woman who I had been exchanging emails with for the past several weeks. Talking with our home study agent was wonderful. We sat down around 10:45 and I didn't leave till right around noon. We spoke about the interviews, my worries and fears, baby stuff, daycare options, financing the adoption, our families, and so much more.

Our first home study visit is next Friday. We've already begun cleaning the house up (more so than usual) and I've picked up a couple of art projects to distract myself from thinking about it. I feel confident that we're going to pass the home study. We have to be honest and show that we're going to be good parents.

I love working with Hopscotch. Communicating with them has been incredibly easy and they've made everything very clear. I left their office on Friday feeling good about the process. I didn't feel as overwhelmed after talking to them. Sure, we still have a lot of stuff left to do, but feeling like you have people in your corner, rooting for you, makes the process much easier.

Background Checks

When an agency tells you that they do extensive background checks, they're not lying. 5 city/county checks, 2 child abuse checks, 2 sexual offender checks, 2 SBI checks, and 2 FBI checks. All of our city/county paperwork was dumped in the mail yesterday and I hope we get those back next week. Finger prints for our SBI checks are in a week and then those will get sent off. At least they'll know we're normal people after everything is all done.

We're getting closer!

Another Lesson from Disney

Today's Disney lesson comes from the movie Meet the Robinsons. This movie is highly underrated and wasn't very big when it came out. I watched it several years ago and latched on to the message that the main characters explore. Lewis, the main character, is a brilliant inventor, but get's stuck helping Wilbur complete a project. Lewis expresses his frustration with not being able to complete the project and Wilbur gives him some valuable advice.

Lewis: I don't even know what I'm doing.
Wilbur: Keep moving forward.
Lewis: I mean, this stuff is way too advanced for me.
Wilbur: Keep moving forward.
Lewis: And what if I can't fix this, what are we going to do?
Wilbur: Keep moving forward.
Lewis: Why do you keep saying that? And don't just say keep moving forward!
Wilbur: It's my dad's motto.
Lewis: Why would his motto be keep moving forward?
Wilbur: It's what he does.

Image from Amazon

So, we are stuck. We're sort of in a limbo state while we wait for documents that are needed to move on with our home study. We've run into other problems as well, but we keep moving forward.There's other paperwork to prep for, other pieces that need to be obtained and we're doing it. We're moving forward.

Yard Sale Success!

Saturday morning I was up at 5:15, coffee in hand and ready to bust a move on the yard sale. I got to my parent's house bright and early, before the sun was even awake. The setup took about an hour and a half. All of the items had been sorted by likeness and staged in the garage. We setup all the tables and started dragging stuff out. I broke a sweat before 7 AM! We even had people come in to look 30 minutes before we were even officially "open."

I wish I had taken pictures of all the stuff we had. There were 3 8 foot tables were full of nick-knacks, kitchen wares, holiday items, crafting stuffs, and a multitude of other things. 3 smaller card tables with glass ware, plates, table clothes, towels, and other linens. Our clothes table was overflowing and we had a whole line dedicated to hanging clothes and jackets. All of it was donated.

Saturday proved to be both fun and stressful. All of the hard work put into the yard sale was well worth the end result. Over all, the yard sale went smoothly. We received a few donations in our 'Bring Home Baby' jar. Lots of people wanted to talk about the adoption, which was cool.

So, the question I keep getting is 'how much did you make?' All I will say is that we made more than half of our home study fees. I was really impressed and never thought we'd make that much. I'm so very grateful for all the help my amazing aunt and my parents gave me. Without them, it wouldn't have been possible!

If there's any interest, I can certainly put together another post, outlining what we did for our yard sale.

We're already looking forward to the next fundraising event! More details to follow.

Lots of Love,

What Do You Think Will Change?

As we filled out the home study application, this question was in a series of many. Without skipping a beat, I wrote, "Everything." That answer is easily the most honest way I have ever answered. I did wonder, after looking over all of our information, if anyone else had ever answered in the same way.

I walked into the home study's office to drop off our paperwork. It's amazing how nice people can be, how understanding a complete strange can be when you look them in the eye and they show that same glimmer of giddiness over the promise of a new family member. The assistant, right after I introduced myself and we said hello, asked me to step back so she could see my tattoo. They were so nice and I could tell that it was going to be great, hopefully, to work with them. Talking to these ladies, they knew what my husband and I were getting ready to embark on.

We waited for the e-mail to come through. What if they didn't like our answers? What would they think of our unorthodox ways? Well, we got our answer today:

We're one step closer.