What a Relief

My coworker told me yesterday that the birthmom was "forced" to choose another adoptive family. I don't believe it for a minute but I'm relieved. It turned out that it really wasn't a situation that we wanted to be involved in. Isn't it funny how things always work out like that? I was so upset that we couldn't get our homestudy done any faster to make it all work, but I know now that there's a reason we weren't legally ready to adopt.

Great News!!

Rima emailed me and told me that our background checks and Central Abuse Registry checks are back! (And for those who were waiting to find out... we both have clean records!) :-) One more thing off our list! Now we just have to do our home visits next weekend.

Home Visit Scheduled

Yesterday, I decided I needed the day off from thinking about adoption. I decided I wasn't going to talk about it, look at my usual websites, email anyone, etc. I wasn't expecting any emails and Nick had already said that he'd make some phone calls today if I needed any to be made. After the last few days on the emotional rollercoaster, I was ready for a break. That lasted until about noon. LOL. I got an email from Sara at Adoption Connection. She told me they had spoke with the birthmom the day before and wasn't sure what she was going to do. I wrote back and told her that I didn't know what she was going to do either but the last I heard, she (the birthmom) was waiting for Nick and I to finish our homestudy so she could look at our profile. However, I also told Sara that stories were being changed and that Nick and I had decided to stop all communication with the birthmom and let Adoption Connection handle it. Sara wrote back and said that she agreed and she'd let us know if and when the birthmom made a final decision. I felt so much better after getting Sara's email.



Then, around 4:00, Rima wrote and said that our first home visit was scheduled for Oct. 6 at 10:00am! We also have to keep Sunday opened as she might be back to do the 2nd and final home visit. It will then take about a week for her to type everything up. If our background checks come in by then, our homestudy will be finished!!

Took a Turn for the Worse

Well, it's not going to happen. All communication between my co-worker and her neice (at least according to my co-worker) has stopped. I'm done asking about it and will just have to accept that it wasn't meant to be. I guess it would have been too easy. It's a huge letdown after all the excitement yesterday but the journey continues...

Very Eventful Day Yesterday

Wow... yesterday was interesting. I was at work and was getting ready to walk across campus for a meeting when one of my co-workers told me she wanted to tell me something. She walked outside with me and told me her niece's friend delivered a baby on Sunday and had decided to give it up for adoption. She had told her about me and Nick and the girl was interested! Apparently, another agency was trying to force the mom to sign the paperwork, but the birthmom wasn't comfortable with the agency and hadn't met the adoptive parents even though she wanted to. She said she felt uncomfortable giving her baby to strangers and would feel better if someone knew the adoptive parents. I told my co-worker that it was awesome but that our homestudy wasn't ready and I didn't know that it would work out logistically (sp?). I told her I would call Adoption Connection when I got back from my meeting. I told her that even if we weren't meant to be the adoptive parents, it was unfair that she was being treated so poorly by the other agency and that I knew that Adoption Connection would take care of her. I'll make a very long story as short as possible.... Adoption Connection said that there wasn't anything we could do unless the mom specifically said she was interested in us by name. They had already received a phone call from the birth mom and the social workers were on the way to the hospital. The birthmom told the social workers that she wanted to know more about Nick and I and they said "no problem". I got an email from Adoption Connection later wanting to know where we were in our homestudy process. I also called Rima and told her the situation and she basically said her hands were tied because even if she completed all of her part of the homestudy, our FBI, BCI and Central Abuse Registry stuff wasn't back yet.

After a thousand phone calls, emails and near panic attacks, yesterday ended with even more questions than answers. My co-worker's niece was going to go visit the birthmom last night and tell her that if she wanted us to adopt her baby, that she needed to tell Adoption Connection that and see if they would work with us to make it happen. If they weren't willing to work with us, we might be able to pull it off through private adoption. However, I also wanted to make it perfectly clear to the birthmom that if she chose to look at other families, that we were 100% okay with that... it was whatever she wanted/felt comfortable with. The baby (a boy) was born 2 months early and is in the NICU. As much as I hate to say it, that may be our only saving grace. If he stays in the hospital, that would give us time to get all of our stuff done. If he doesn't stay in the hospital and our paperwork isnt' done, then he would have to go into foster care until our homestudy was complete. My co-worker was suppose to call me last night to tell me what happened when her niece went to see the birthmom and she didn't. I'm not sure what that means.

I'll post more as I know it. Please keep the birthmom and the baby in your prayers. Even if it doesn't work out, I pray that the mom gets the help she needs and the baby is placed in a family who would love him like I know our family would!

Got 2 reference letters in the mail!!

Well, I got reference letters in the mail from the 2 school districts I've taught in. Let's just say that some things never change. The one from Mt. Healthy was an entire paragraph long about how my teaching and how they were sad when I left the district. The one from Richard Allen was 2 sentences long. I'm so happy to know that I left in "good standing." (note the sarcasm in that statement!) I didn't expect anything more from them though. They are as corupt as they come. I could start a whole new blog on that subject!

Nick and I also received our second training yesterday and read though it this morning. No word yet on when our home visits will take place yet. I'm going to email Rima to let her know that we've finished reading the training and ask about the dates.

Oh My Gosh

I was looking over the list of paperwork we have to gather and we are so close to being done with it!
*We have to wait for our background checks to come back.
*We also have to wait for our Central Abuse Registry reports to come back.
*We have to sign a paper that Rima needs to give us (but all we have to do is read and sign.)
*I have to receive my job references in the mail.
*I need to make a copy of our fire escape plan (that Nick and I drew up last night... that was not fun!)
*We have to get Nick's medical paper back.
*We have to wait to get his new Social Security card in the mail (he couldn't find his so he had to order a new one!)
*We have to copy Nicks SS card and driver's license.
*We also have to get our safety audit done, but that's done during our homestudy visits.

I can't believe that's it!! Wow! Most of the stuff left is either copying, signing or just waiting!

We passed!

Nick just called and we passed our fire inspection... one more thing we can cross off our list!

Wow... I can't believe it's been almost a week since I wrote last! I'm going to have to get better at this! There really isn't too much that has gone on in regards to adoption. Nick and I got our fingerprints done last Saturday. Our fire inspection is this morning... I hope we pass! Nick is suppose to call me when the fire marshal leaves.

Other than that, we've just been gathering more paperwork. My doctor filled out my medical report and Nick is dropping his off the morning. I know that will be done soon because we have connections... right Mom? haha Even though I've made contact with all of my job references, I haven't received any yet. If I don't receive them by next week, I guess I'll start making 2nd phone calls.

As excited as we were to receive the birthmom situations last Friday, we decided we could not afford the price with that particular agency ($22,000). It was very hard to write that email, but Rima reassured us that there would be more situations that would be more appropriate for us. I also emailed Adoption Connections and let them know that after our homestudy was completed, we'd most likely be sending in our application. Sara, the director, wrote back telling us how excited she was about that.

Nick and I also looked at cribs and car seats this past weekend. We found some that we really like, however, we'll probably be doing most of our looking/shopping online. It was still just too hard to see all of those pregnant women shopping at the stores. I felt I needed to tell everyone, "We're adopting so that's why we're here." (I know, it's silly.) Hopefully, this is just something that will pass with time.

Rima also emailed yesterday and thinks we are ready for our home visits. We have to decide on dates for this.

Update

Another productive day, yea!! We received our first set of training material and sat down and read through it tonight. We emailed Rima to let her know we finished reading it and to find out what was next.

I also called the remaining 3 places of employment where I've worked with children. Everyone has been so nice and it's gone much better than I had thought it would! As soon as I say that we are adopting, everyone turns to mush.. haha.

We also got a rather exciting email from Rima today. She sent us 4 situations. Situations are brief stories/circumstances about birthmoms. Rima wanted to know if any of the situations were something we were interested in. If so, to email her back and she would expedite our homestudy (Goodness... I don't know if we can go any faster!!). I was wondering why we would have to expedite it and quickly found the reason... some of the birthmoms were due in the next month!! I had a brief panic attack and the quote I received yesterday popped in my head: "Fear not tomorrow, for God is already there." There are very few circumstances that would cause Nick and I to turn down a situation and unfortunately, those circumstances were in 3 of the 4 situations. It's so awesome to know that Rima is already looking for us! It has motivated us to work even faster to get our documents together. Nick and I sat down and went through the list again and got a few more items checked off.

It's going to be a busy day tomorrow. We are going to get our fingerprints for the BCI/FBI checks and then finish getting the upstairs unpack and clearing out the room that will be (hopefully soon!) the nursery. I think Mom and Dad are going to come down Sunday evening to help us hang our curtains and pictures. I can't wait to get it all done!

What a morning

Two days ago, I finally hit 100,00 miles on my poor Corolla. I was so sure something would happen on that day, but instead, it happened today. I was on 275 heading to 74 when I got my first flat tire! Thank heavens for AAA! They were there pretty quickly and changed it for me. Luckily, the mechanic said it could be repaired. Nick, who is the best husband ever, let me have his car and he is taking care of it for me.

Someone sent me an email today that said, "Fear not tomorrow, for God is already there." Wow... how powerful is that?!?!

We actually got a lot accomplished yesterday with our list of documents. The fire marshall is coming next Thursday to do a fire inspection. We are both going Saturday to get our fingerprints for the BCI and FBI checks. Nick filled out our financial statement and I made copies of our birth certificates and marriage license. I also called Richard Allen and talked with the principal and she is writing me a recommendation. Today, I need to call the other 3 places where I've worked with kids. This weekend, we have to finish unpacking the upstairs and start hanging pictures and curtains. Should be fun! :-)

Just talked to Rima

Well, I just talked to Rima. She is going to send us a few things that need to be filled out. She is also going to send us some of the training material that we have to read and questions that we have to answer before we meet with her. She told me she's already called one agency that places infants and told them that we would be ready in about a month!!

She also told me that I have to have reference from all of my employers where I have worked with children. So I'm going to have to call both Richard Allen and Mt. Healthy and then I'll have to call the daycare I worked at while I was in college and the one in Lexington where I was employed for a whole 8 weeks! Those should be some interesting phone calls. :-)

Paperwork

Oh my gosh, there is so much paperwork to gather that it's hard to even know where to start! Here is a list of what we have to have:
-BCI and FBI background checks
-affidavit of "no-criminal" statement (I have no idea what this is!)
-fire inspection (has to be done by the fire marshall)
-copy of our fire escape route plan (ummm.. is our plan to just get outside good enough? haha)
-medicals for both of us
-copy of our birth certificates
-copy of our marriage license
-copy of our tax return from 2006
-employment verification for both of us
-releases of information
-residency verification
-a financial statement (that won't take long..haha.. just kidding!)
-copy of our social security cards
-copy of our driver's licenses
-copy of automobile insurance
-our safety audit (done by the agency)
-central abuse registry check (also done by the agency)

Alright.. I'm off to start finding this stuff! :-) I mean... I'm off to start working (since I am at work after all..haha)

I'll let you know if I learn anything after I talk to Rima in a little bit.

We've Been Approved!!

Rima called this afternoon and told us our applicaton was approved! I'm suppose to call her tomorrow morning and discuss paperwork and decide when to do our training! Let our homestudy begin!!