Open Adoption

Legacy of An Adopted Child
Brenda Romanchik


Once there were two expectant mothers.
One carried and cared for you beneath her beating heart,
She became your Birthmother.
The other carried the hope of you within her.
She became your Mom.
As the days passed, and you grew bigger and stronger,
Your Birthmother knew that she could not give
You all you needed after your birth.
Meanwhile, your Mom was ready and waiting for you.


One day your Birthmom and your Mom found each other.


They looked into each other’s eyes and saw a friend.
Your Birthmom saw the life your Mom could give you.
Your Mom saw how much your
Birthmom loved and cared for you.


They decided that what you needed was both kinds of love in your life.


So now you have two families,
One by birth, the other by adoption.


And you have a home where you can get:
Your questions answered,
Your boo boos bandaged,
your heartaches soothed,
And much needed hugs.


And a place where you can find:
answers to your questions,
your image in the mirror,
a part of yourself,
And much needed hugs.


Two different kinds of families
Two different kinds of love
Both a part of you.


Before we started pursuing adoption, the thought of an open adoption scared us.  It was a foreign idea; one that required education.  The adoption training we attended, along with several different books, have been a great resource and have made us excited about the idea of having a relationship with the birth mother.  How wonderful it would be for our child to know their birth family and have the opportunity to get any questions they have answered.  I think this poem does a perfect job of describing the role each family can play in the child's life. 

We're Official!

We are so excited about this post!  As of Tuesday, we were approved and officially entered the Waiting Pool for Hope's Promise.  As of last night, our profile is now on their website and can be viewed by birth mothers.  We are so thrilled about being in the waiting phase of the adoption process.  The wait could be 2 days, 2 months or 2 years.  We are are enjoying our last days as just the two of us and are excited for our family to grow!  

Here is the link to our profile on our agencies website:

http://www.hopespromise.com/2012/01/karl-amy/

Finished!

This week has been very exciting; filled with interviews and LOTS of questions!  We love our case worker, Rachel, and feel so blessed to be working with her.  She has been so helpful in making us feel at ease and comfortable through these interviews. Our first meeting was last Tuesday with both of us together and was mostly questions about adoption.  Why we want to adopt, how we plan on dealing with certain issues surrounding adoption, ect.  Then this past Tuesday we had our individual interviews which consisted mostly of questions regarding our past, families, marriage, friends, ect.  This one was definitely the hardest as we were separated and didn't really know what types of questions to expect.  But once the interview started and we got going it really wasn't too painful.  We just kept telling each other that it couldn't be that bad, we have nothing to hide!  The final interview was in our home on Thursday.  Basically, she inspected our home to make sure it's safe for a child.  Along with the inspection, we had one final questionaire.  The questions were focused on our neighborhood, methods of discipline and additional questions on issues that may come up with an adopted child. 

All in all, the whole interview process really wasn't that bad.  I was definitely more nervous about it than Karl!  It was so exciting for us to finish these interviews and we can't believe everything is finished!  On Tuesday Rachel will present our case in the staff meeting and will  let us know if we are approved.  She said there will be no problems :)  I will be delivering our scrapbooks to her on Monday, so once we're approved they can start showing our profile to birth families next week!

We were talking with her about how adopting is such a huge step of faith.  It's hard not to think about what type of child we're going to have.  Will it be a boy or girl?  What race will the child be?  What will the birth family be like?  What personality will our child have?  She said it is amazing to see how God always makes a perfect match between the birth family and adopting family.  We know it is ultimately in His control and we can't wait to meet the child He has chosen for our family!