So close...

The home study has been sent! Hooray!! That's the good news. The bad news is that our contact at Journeys of the Heart is out sick today. But I see nothing stopping us from getting on the list tomorrow. I plan to follow up with Journeys and get the official okay. For now, I guess we can say we are unofficially official!

Waiting to Wait

Technically speaking, our social worker has until November 30th (which is tomorrow!) to complete our home study. I never imagined it would take a month. But it has. And until now I would consider myself patient. Very patient. But now I am ready to scream. I am so ready for the next step. I saw a rough draft of the home study and some minor changes are being made so I am really counting on seeing it completed tomorrow. When this happens we will be on the official list! There is no one ahead of us in our program because we are hoping to adopt a toddler around the age of two. Most people are in other programs adopting infants and that's where the waiting lists are. So once we have our home study turned in, we could receive the referral of our daughter any day after that. Most likely the wait could be around three months but I am remaining optimistic.

On the home front, Ila went to dance class today. Complete with leg warmers. I was really expecting potty training to keep me busy for the next month or so. But she has graduated. I'll have to come up with something else. In the mean time, I will just continue to spend money and gain weight. Scott is going to kill me. But what else is a girl to do?

Progress!

But not on the adoption front.

The Thursday before Thanksgiving I received an email from our social worker telling me it would take another week to get our homestudy typed up. And with Thanksgiving being the following Thursday, I was wishing, hoping and praying that the typist that had our home study sitting on their desk would get the urge to go the extra mile and get the work done before Thanksgiving break. Well, I was wrong.

So, to pass the time and keep my mind off of the process I decided to potty train Ila. I pulled out her little potty on Wednesday evening and put it in the kitchen. We ran to the grocery store and when we got back Ila sat on her potty. I was putting away groceries and she asked me to come and look. She had done it! Not potty -- the OTHER! I was in complete disbelief! We sang songs as we danced around the kitchen and celebrated with M&M's. I was so proud of my little girl. I mean, what a way to start!

The rest of the weekend included dragging the porta-potty to Grandma's house, asking Ila every five minutes if she had to go potty and countless bribes. We had an accident here and there. But by day 3 she was doing it all by herself. Then on day four while out at Target she asked me if they had a toilet. We went to the restrooms and she went potty! My sweet little lla! She totally comes through for me in time of need. I needed something like that to get me through this weekend. There's nothing like a little pee in the potty to make me forget about all else and put a smile on my face! Thank you sunshine.

Baby Steps

"Mommy, is my new baby sister coming on Saturday?"

"No honey, we'll have to wait a little longer."

"Oh, pickles!"


Throughout the adoption process, any little piece of the puzzle that you can complete is a milestone. Whether it's a phone call from your social worker or something that comes in the mail, you feel like you are actually doing something and you feel accomplished. Even if it's the smallest baby step. Today we received our appointment for our fingerprints (yes, we did fingerprints once already at our local police station) but these are the ones done through Citizenship and Immigration Services that will be cleared by the FBI. We go in next Friday...yeah! In the meantime, we wait. I'm thankful for the holidays coming because we all know how it will be January before we know it. And since it's 68 degrees outside in November in Minnesota, I have nothing to complain about.

Big-Sister-To-Be Ila Marie

Our Adoption Journey So Far

"The family is one of Nature's masterpieces." ~George Santayana

For anyone who knows me, you know that I have always had it in my heart that I would someday adopt. I have known since I was a little girl that I wanted children, I wanted to be a mother, and I definitely wanted to adopt. Thankfully I met and married Scott who shared those feelings with me.

One Sunday last April while in church, I looked over at a little boy playing with his mother. The image stuck in my mind and I came to the realization that the time to adopt was now. As we left church, Scott and I discussed the possibilities regarding adoption. I made some phone calls (thank you Andrea!), started collecting information, and we started planning for another child. We have decided to journal our experience here so that family and friends can stay informed with the latest information and more importantly, experience this journey with us. We know it will be filled with emotion, excitement and love.

The initial steps of the adoption process included lots and LOTS and LOTS of paperwork. We had to provide copies of our birth certificates, marriage certificate, fingerprints, letters of reference (thanks to those of you who did this for us!), doctors reports, background checks and family photos.

Next we had to attend a two day seminar at our adoption agency. It was two long days filled with so much great information that we were overwhelmed and even more excited. We had to make a decision about which country we would adopt from. After some soul searching and restless nights, we decided that Taiwan was the country for us.

We then had homework to complete which consisted of writing a paper about yourself. In the end, mine was about 12 pages long and Scott's about 10! The questions covered everything -- from your childhood and upbringing to your coping skills and parenting styles. It took us ten days to answer all the questions. Once it was turned in we were assigned our social worker. We met with her twice. Once at the adoption agency and once in our home. Now that our home study is complete, we are waiting for it to be written up and turned in to our placement agency, Journeys of the Heart. Our social worker has until November 30 to complete this step. Of course, we are hoping it happens sooner. The next step will be to get on the waiting list. And I guess that sums it up because then we wait. It should take about 3 months to get a referral for a little girl from Taiwan. We will receive her picture and medical information and once we get the referral, there will be more waiting. It takes about six months for the court process to take place in Taipei. We will then travel to Taiwan to bring our new daughter home.

We have been talking to Ila a lot about her new baby sister and she couldn't be happier. We have been working on the nursery together and every time we go out she wants to buy something for her new baby sister's room. She has already picked out a name for her and can't wait to teach her to dance and share her M&M's with her. She has been wonderful through this whole process and we know that she will be an amazing big sister!

Thank you to all our family and friends that have been so supportive of us. We couldn't be happier or more excited about this new chapter in our lives and we are glad to share it with all of you.


FROM GOD WITH LOVE

Children are a blessing sent from God above
For us to care and nurture and most of all to love.

God calls us to be parents and gives us all the tools
And when we feel like giving up, our strength He will renew.

Children are a gift from God that He so freely lends
To make it through the childhood years, on Him we must depend.

From childhood days to a child full grown
Their joys and hurts are a parent's own.

Times of joy and laughter and those times of tears
The times spent raising a child are surely the best of years.

There comes that time in life
when a child will leave the nest
We must send them off with love and a prayer
and leave to God the rest.

We've shared the Word of God,
we've taught them right from wrong
Now it's time to let them go
and let them write their song.

The faith instilled, the examples lived,
and the lessons taught
All gifts that we've given our child,
which will never be forgotten.

There are many paths a child can take,
right or wrong will remain unknown
But rest assured that in the end,
they all lead back to home.