Waiting...

All documents are currently in.. Well.. as much as possible. We're currently waiting till the background checks come back and then can start the home study. When I call the State of Oregon to find out how long it'll take, the automated system states that they are currently processing Jan 4th and later.. Does this mean they are 4 weeks behind.. hum? Guess I'll just sit back and appreciate that we're moving forward.

In the mean time.. I'm going to start painting the nursery.. YEAH.. I've finally decided what colors and how to paint it. I've been pondering it for about 4 or 5 months now.. it feels good to know what I want to do. Mom and I went to Rodda a couple weeks ago, and picked out colors and I bought the paint this week. SO.. now it's just get to work and GET-R'DUN! Woo hooo....

Also.. next week I'll start to research doctors that specialize in international children.. hope we can find someone in our area.. and not have to drive across town.

More Progress!

Today is a new day.. we have our individual 15 page packets done.. YEAH. We have half our medical information done, we have our birth certificates and marriage licenses on their way, and employment info finished. So, basically we're waiting for our background checks to come back and then we can start the home study.. YEAH! So exciting. Everyone has received their reference paperwork in the mail, and sounds like they are on their way back to Holt as we speak.

I don't think I've mentioned who we listed as our references, Jeff Lathrop, Mary Priss, Dan Lacy, and Michelle Levesque. They will truely make a difference to our journey, and I'm glad that they can be a part of it.

We went to dinner last night with Mom and Stac and celebrated us becoming a family of three or four. There was discussion about what we're excited for most. I think my favorie thing is just the plain old day to day things but, there is so much excitment to think of taking our son or daughter to fun events like the parade (JDP). I can hardly wait. Mom got us the cutest little doggie towel and baby socks. WOW, if that didn't make it feel real.

Back to our time frames and what we're waiting for. It sounds like the Oregon background checks are around 3 weeks behind.. so maybe in a month or so ours will be complete. I was able to do some detective work and find out who we need to call to see if our paperwork was received.. so that was a good feeling. That's the big hang up for now.. and then we move on to our home study. Not sure why we can't move on with our home study.. we're paying for it, so what do they care if our background checks don't come back. Oh well such is life, we must play by the rules.

And the Journey Begins

Hello World- This is my first attempt at blogging.. I've done myspace.. I've done facebook.. how hard could this be? My main reason for starting this blog is to keep people in the loop with our journey through adoption. I believe I'll need to go back a bit to explain how we came to this decision.

First off.... Chris and I met 8 years and 17 days ago.. that would be January 8th, 2002 and our first date was two days later on the 10th.. we've been together ever since. (My sister worked with Chris for years before she introduced us). We've been married for 5 years, 6months, and 15 days.. to be exact.

We always knew that being parents was something that we wanted, we never realized at the time how long of a process it would be and what paths it would lead us down. We made the excited decision to start trying for babies after our one year anniversary. We were very relaxed about it, and always talked about the future and what becoming parents would be like.

After a year of trying we decided maybe we should go get checked out. After about 6 months worth of testing they agreed that we were healthy and didn't see any problems with either one of us. My doctor suggested that we try clomed. No luck with this drug, and since my regular doctor had exhausted all her options she suggested we head off to the fertility clinic.. At this point none of my family or friends really knew what was going on because we wanted it to be a surprise when I got pregnant. However, since it was starting to become emotional, we decided it was time to get the family involved for their support.

We stayed with the fertility clinic for about six months, we did a number of unsuccessful procedures. To be honest.. whenever I left the clinic I felt absolutely miserable. Overall, we didn't feel that continuing with fertility treatments was something we wanted to pursue.

THEN.. I decided I would give natural medicine a try. I met with a naturopath and started acupuncture. I worked with the naturopath for about six months and met with the acupuncturist for probably a year or so. I loved Tracy my acupuncturist.. she was awesome. I also loved acupuncture.. it's a great relief and if I ever have any medical issues in my future I will definitely try it again. I also tried some crazy food things like liver cleanses, cut out all dairy & meat. I mean HELLO.. I grew up in Tillamook, how am I not supposed to NOT eat cheese. By the way during that time I was the coldest I've ever been.. I was constantly freezing. After a while though.. we just needed to try and get life back to normal and not worry so much about all the doctor appoints and schedules.

After all of this... it was time for me to begin to heal my heart.. I wanted a baby so badly. It was really difficult to give up the idea of having my own child and not experiencing what being pregnant meant. I don't think I've ever been so sad in my entire life.. it was brutal. I understand what it means to not want to get out of bed. Luckily, I have the best husband in the whole world.. he has been a rock through this whole process. We've talked till we're blue in the face. It's obviously a different kind of grief but, let me tell you.. I was the lowest I've ever been in life.. it was very very difficult for a very long time.

Through this entire process we've always talked about adoption. We actually met with Holt a couple different times and inquired with another agency. It seemed we always came back to Holt. Holt's home office is in Eugene.. and well since we're HUGE Duck fans.. Eugene is starting to feel a bit like home. I loved the history of the company. Mid 2009 we said that if nothing had happened by the first of the year.. we'd seriously talk about adoption.

Well.. now here we are January 24th, 2010. And this is where the adoption story begins. Last Tuesday, the 19th we were in the kitchen chatting about adoption and cooking dinner.. when we decided to put in our application with Holt and adopt a baby from Ethiopia. Wow.. this is exciting I thought. We've been in limbo for so long.. it was such a relief to have a plan and begin the journey. Fertility issues feel like a long road of nothing.. I never felt like there was an end in sight. With adoption.. in 12-18 months.. we're going to have a baby. Yeah.. it's not the conventional way.. but, this baby is going to be loved something fierce.

So.. we put in the application.. then I called Holt the next day to ask if we can come and pick up our packet. With my research I thought that after we submitted our on-line application we'd get a packet to start the process. Wrong.. we had to pick up a contract, have it signed, and notarized. We turned in the contract on Thursday.. then we were told we needed to get a welcome call before we could get the packet. Good Lord.. does this packet contain secure data or what.. I mean it's all blank forms.. just give it to us.. so we can get to work. The time frame for "the call" was a day to a week. When Chris dropped off the contract and understood that he couldn't get "The Packet" he asked if there was anything we could work on in the mean time. SO.. she gave us our background check info and our finger print cards.

By this time I'm completely driving the assistant crazy, asking all kinds of questions. I asked if she would need copies of our drivers licenses when we turn in the background check forms and finger prints. She said no, no licenses needed, however if the branch manager is available when I came in to the office I could just talk with her instead of waiting for "The Call". I figured the odds were slim.. I was very worried about being gone from work too long, worried about traffic, and who knows if she would be available to talk with. However.. the stars were aliened because, she was available and we were able to have our meeting.

After the meeting I received "The Packet". Here's what the packet included and what we needed to fill out a 15 page personal data forms for each of us, financial statement sheet, medical report release for our doctor, we need to make a map and directions to our house, employment verification letter, 1600A form, and vital record copy information. Well.. we pretty much completed all this information this weekend. However, this week we'll go to our doctors and have some blood work done and we'll have to wait for the vital records to be sent to us.

I currently have an email in to find out what is next. I believe that we have to wait until our background checks come back before we can start on anything else. By the way the 1600A form is the government application to get the ok with them so we can adoption internationally.

I just remember I missed a step.. and need to back up. After we put in our application on Tuesday evening, on Wednesday morning when we were getting ready for work I asked Chris if we could tell people that evening. This was SO much fun. We stopped by my Mom's house after we had gotten the contract notarized and showed her the contract.. she just started crying. When we got home we started in on the phone calls.. and have been telling people ever since. Such a fun time.. everyone is SO excited for us. We're blessed with so many great friends and family.

Stay turned for more information... This is going to be an awesome journey.. I can't even imagine!!!