Saturday, November 26, 2011

Baby Project

Over the last couple weeks we have been working on our first baby project.  This is aside, of course, from the actually project of the adoption itself!  We found an antique dresser on Craigslist which was in great need of repair and re-finishing.  It's been fun working on the dresser and seeing it transform into a really neat piece of furniture.  Additionally, it's been nice having something to work on for the baby while we are in this waiting process for our remaining paperwork.  Here are some before and after pictures of the dresser.


Dresser before any touching up.

The finished project!

Friday, November 11, 2011

Waiting...

Last week we finished all of the paperwork within our control.  It is such a great feeling!  However, now we are waiting for things to come through that are totally out of our control.  We are still watching the mailbox for our background checks, fingerprinting and insurance verification.  Once we get these three things we will be able to turn our whole stack of paperwork into the agency and start the homestudy interview process.  Even though our mound of tasks was overwhelming and daunting at least it was up to us how fast it was completed.  I'm not enjoying waiting on other people to complete these last couple things! 

Today I started working on our scrapbook the birth mothers will look through when they are deciding on an adoptive family.  I knew this would be a hard step and my feelings are proving true!  How on earth are we supposed to pick only a handful of pictures that portray our life?!  I just keep asking myself, "What would I want to see in a family if I were placing my baby up for adoption?". 

While we're waiting we continue living our lives as a family.  This past week my mom and sister came to town for a quick visit.  We officially started our baby shopping by making our first trip to Babies "R" Us.  It's so exciting to me that we finally get to begin our preparations for baby!  As with any adoption there are many unknowns with the timing of when we will bring our baby home.  There is no waiting list, we are put into a pool and chosen by the birth mother.  They have told us the average waiting time is 11 months but that we should also be prepared to get chosen right away.  We know everything happens in God's timing and that He already has the perfect baby in mind to join our family.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Training

This past weekend we attended a two day training course put on by our agency.  The state of Colorado requires adoptive parents to complete 16 hours of training before they will place a child in your home.  I went into the training with an attituded of just wanting it to be over so we could cross another thing off our list.  Boy was I surprised and impressed with our agency and the production they gave!  They addressed issues I didn't think we would be confronted with since we are adopting from birth.  Even infants can suffer trauma from being separated from their mother, the only voice and heartbeat they have ever heard.  We were taught ways to diminish this anxiety and how we can be involved to develop the trust the baby will need. 

The second day they had a panel of birth mothers who gave their story and how they came to the decision to place their baby for adoption.  I didn't know it would get so emotional!  This part of the training was the most meaningful to Karl and I.  We had planned to pursue an open adoption with the birth mother but without having met her, it's hard to know what this relationship is going to look like.  And while many people have concerns about keeping the mother involved, studies and experience have shown the child to be a more adjusted individual if they know their birth mother and the story of where they came from.  These women have made an amazingly brave choice to place their child up for adoption and they just want to know what their child's life looks like. 

We left with an abundance of information.  It was also very neat because there were two couples at the training who we knew!  It's such a small world.  One of them we knew in Phoenix 7 years ago and didn't even know they lived here!  We left the weekend with new friends and reunited with old friends, all of us in this journey together.