Adoption Update

I thought I would do a quick update on where we are at in the process and what needs to be done.

Although I previously said I would be doing much complaining about the profile, I haven't simply because it really came together easily. The profile is multi page, scrapbook-y (is that a word? but I did use a digital scrapbook program to make it) introduction to us. We wrote a "Dear Birthmother" letter that just shares about our lives, our history, how we parent, etc. Think of a really long letter of introduction. Then add a bunch of "action shots" pictures (look! there is Kevin riding his bike! look! there is Alisa baking cupcakes!--yeah, I'm serious) along with a few good, professionally taken ones. Tag on some letters of recommendation written by friends and family and there is your profile. Of course, if you are like me and over think things, you can become hung up on every word choice and picture selected. Especially since this profile will be presented to pregnant girls considering adoption and trying to find a right fit for their baby. No pressure. Still, I feel like our profile is an accurate representation of us (oddly enough, the color scheme I ended up with mirrors the blog, totally by accident) and while it was strange to talk so much about myself, I pray that it is a window into our lives.

That window has currently been submitted for review, and, if all goes well, we will spend part of spring break making 50 more. Those the agency will use them to send out to potential birthmother who match our criteria and who also have us match theirs (ahhh, I always wanted to do a dating service, but married too young. This is kind of like that.)

Our homestudy, which is a big background check done by a place that is accredited by the government, is also progressing. It is the piece that scares me the most and with which I feel the most judged about. I agree with the homestudy, I am so glad that they do them, I just really hope I pass! Friday I took a personal day from work and did a bunch of homestudy stuff with Kevin. We basically sat around and typed on two laptops at the dining room table, writing short answers to what felt like a 100 questions. Afterwards, Kevin got more homestudy information in line while I worked on our web profile. At the end of the day, we had made HUGE progress on the adoption and feel confident that by the end of April (when we clear the homestudy, when the profiles are ready to be mailed to birth moms) we will enter the second stage of the process -- the waiting time.

A quick something to share:
One of the questions we had to answer was why we are doing this. It is something that is very deeply felt by both Kevin and I (and honestly, it would have to be because for us the traditional route was fairly simple) but which we don't clearly articulate well or often.

We believe each child is precious in God’s eyes and deserves a loving home to grow in.

I could add to that because there are other reasons that go along with it, but that is the heart of it. Every child is precious in God's eyes.

(There will be a post later this week about another one of God's precious children--Hannah turns five on Tuesday which I'll cover in more detail later!)

Pretty pictures!

On Saturday we got some pictures taken for our profile. The agency wants professional outdoor shots of Kevin and I and we figured to just do the whole family since, why not? The photographer is still working on them (hopefully airbrushing me beautifully), but here are a few she posted on her website.

Big Girls

Hannah recently took a step forward into big girl-hood. Tied shoes. Sure, an unimpressive step, but one that makes her ecstatic and leaves me wondering what happened to baby girl Hannah (I guess luckily, baby Hannah has been gone for so long I might not recognize her).
At about a year and 1/2 of age, I discovered that shoes that tie are torture on a mama of a high energy, can't sit still for even 1 minute kid. So, Hannah has literally not had tied shoes in years. Praise Jesus for Velcro! Still, with kindergarten looming and me reading that this is a readiness skill, I thought maybe she should learn. But how to learn when you don't have anything to practice on? To remedy the problem, we had a little bit of fun at Target yesterday. Hannah was thrilled to the bone -- could not contain her joy. Over a pair of shoes. Should have saved them for her birthday. At any rate, she now has something to practice on and her mother is left scratching her head at this almost jr. higher. (okay, an exaggeration, but it doesn't feel like by much). Bouncing for joy.

(And the whole time I'm thinking -- why a kindergarten readiness skill? If I keep just buying Velcro, what do they care? But then I was asked to tie a 2nd grader's shoe... so, yeah, let's learn now.)

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On the Abby front, all I can say is thank goodness she is at least taking potty training serious (esp. since we aren't). Yesterday while on our trip to Spokane (and Target), we totally forgot the diaper bag. I think I have a brain block on it or something. Abby was wearing a diaper, but we had no spares (back in my hyper-anal days I always had spares in the car, just in case!). Well, Abby kept her diaper dry the whole afternoon and evening, even with sleeping, went potty at stores several times and basically was incredible. I don't get that girl.