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Friday, June 29, 2012

Praying for B-ma :)

One of the things that I've been able to do while we're in this slight holding pattern is pray for the birthmother that God will match us up with. I have officially nick named her B-ma. *teehee* I have so much respect for her, whoever she is. That she would choose to entrust her baby to us, and bless us with the very gift that we have been hoping and praying for. I don't know her name, how old she'll be, or what she'll be like, but I already love her. Yes, I am dying to meet Baby Miller, but the more I think about and pray for the person Baby Miller will come from, the more excited I am to meet her. I have been praying that God would comfort her in what must be the most difficult and heart-wrenching time her life. That He would lead her to the right people to help her through this. That Ryan and I would be an encouragement to her heart, and be a testimony of God's love. 

Below is another birthmother's story. I will never fully know what their side of the story feels like. But I hope that as I continue to listen to their perspectives, God will work a heart of understanding, compassion, and respect in me. I want to be a blessing to B-ma. :)


Wednesday, June 27, 2012

::twiddles thumbs::

I've been emailing the other adoption agency that we want to check out, but it doesn't look like the social worker is able to meet with us for another three weeks or so. We could do a phone conference but Ryan and I would much rather go to the office and really get a feel for the people we would potentially be working with. So yeah, I'm kind of annoyed with the delay. I had a mini melt down about it last night. I just feel like nothing is happening! I want to hurry up and get going with our application and home study. Apparently infertility hasn't cured me of impatience. ;) My husband has lovingly reminded me that we are not done waiting for a baby, and I need to be ok with that. We need to make a wise decision on our agency, and if that means waiting another three weeks to meet with the last one, then that's what we have to do. ::sigh::

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Back and fully rested :)

Vacation was wonderful. :) The Flamingo Hotel gave us a free upgrade when we checked in last Monday. I thought it would be a better view of the strip or something small like that. But no, we ended up on the top floor in a full on double-door SUITE. We spazzed. Especially since the only reason we stayed at the Flamingo was because it had the best price. haha. :) Anyway, we saw Blue Man Group and Cirque Du Soleil's Mystere. Both were fun, but Blue Man Group was our favorite. The venues are pretty strict about their no photo policy, so I don't have any pictures from the show. Poo. We also cruised over to Hoover Dam while we were in town. Was I blown away by the size of the bridge? The beautiful water contrasted against the mountainous desert landscape? The incredible accomplishment of the engineers who built this historic landmark? Nope! I had a hard time taking my eyes off the electrical towers that were built at an angle on the hillside. lol. This is what happens when you, your dad, and your brother all work(ed) in the power industry. ;)


On Wednesday, we headed down to the San Diego bay area, which has officially become our favorite vacation spot. 


The weather was gorgeous, and we were able to do a lot while we were there. We went to Sea World, USS Midway, a Padres game, walked around Coronado Island, and did our usual movie watching and eating amazing food. :)

It was so nice to get away, just the two of us, for a whole week. We had the best time together. :) 


Wednesday, June 13, 2012

::content sigh::

Kinda quiet around these parts lately huh? :) June is a very full month for us, so we will probably not have any solid progress on the adoption front until July. I have been doing a bit of research on various agencies, and I gotta say, I just haven't been taken with them. We have one more agency that we would like to meet with, and then we will probably choose between that one and NightLight. It is nice that we were able to narrow down our options quicker than we thought! :)

In other news, I am completely enjoying my new job as a full time homemaker. :) For those of you who don't know, things changed at the office and my last day was Friday. This week I started "sleeping in" till 6:30 (*teehee*), spending time in my Bible, exercising, cooking, cleaning, organizing, and all the other little things that I just did not have time for before. I feel totally rested and productive. It's been wonderful. :)

Ryan and I realized the other day that we have not thought about infertility in a while. Weeks. How awesome is that??! haha. Moving away from treatment and transitioning our attention to adoption has been such a relief - we're so happy with our decision! God has always been good and has continued to pour out His blessings on us, even through the hardships we've dealt with. But after struggling for what seems like such a long time, it's so nice to hit a point where it is actually quite easy to be content, thankful, and just plain happy. :) Thank You Lord!

Monday, June 4, 2012

Adoption seminar recap

I think in my mind, I kinda pictured the adoption seminar to be in a hotel conference room type atmosphere with anywhere from 25 to 75 people. It turned out to be much more laid back than we anticipated. Long story short, three couples missed the memo that the scheduled seminar time had switched from 2pm to 9am. Oopsie. :) They were very gracious with us, and did not turn us away. :) The director's name is Victory, and she has been involved in the adoption world for almost 50 years. She was very down to earth and the small setting allowed us to ask questions and have more of a conversation than a presentation. Here are a few of the key points that we walked away with-

The flow - In a nutshell this is how it all happens -  application, lots of paperwork, meeting with a social worker in our home, waiting to be matched, meeting with birthmother, baby is born, birthmother's rights relinquished once discharged from the hospital, take baby home, finalization in court a few months later. :)

The agency size - Perhaps it is because I understood this to be a well known and respected agency, but I assumed that there would be one to two hundred couples being matched every year. Not the case! On average, Night Light works with about 20 adoptive couples every year. It was comforting that we will not just be a number in a large organization. They are very personable and want to really know their adoptive families. I really liked that.

The compassion - NightLight Christian Adoptions helps women dealing with unplanned pregnancies to understand their options, and get counseling and support with the decision that they feel is best for them and the baby. They typically counsel about 75 girls a year, most of whom end up keeping and raising their child. The 15 or so who decide to give their babies to adopting couples have literally had their hand held through their pregnancy, and rarely change their mind at the last minute. Ryan and I both really appreciated the love that this organization has for the girls that they come in contact with.

The matching process - Birthmothers are able to narrow down their criteria for the couple that they would like to raise their baby. Adoptive couples are able to present their criteria for a baby/birthmother as well. NightLight takes those two lists and pairs up accordingly. Since the number of pregnant women and the number of adopting couples is fairly small, a birthmother will typically have 3-5 couples' profiles to look through and she will select one that she would like to meet from there. Profiles include a letter to her from us and information and pictures of us, our home, our families, church, etc.

The convenience- all of the legalities of this process are taken care of within the agency. It's a one stop shop. We do not need to find our own social worker or attorney. whew!

Overall, everything seems pretty straightforward even down to the schedule of payment. Although adoption is not a simple thing to go through, going over the order of events made it seem less daunting. Ryan and I have been a little unsure if we would be accepted by an agency, since we are younger than the typical adopting couple, and we have not been married for an extended amount of time. Would they take us seriously? We don't need to worry about that anymore. :) As we were walking out, Victory looked at us and said, "You seem like a very nice couple. You're going to do just fine." ::sigh of relief::