Here we are!

There's at least one typo in it (not our fault), but here we are! It feels really official, now that we've hit the website.

Our short profile

I am pleased to report...

...that after months and months of paperwork, we are officially parents-in-waiting.  Our names were added to the waiting list this afternoon!

Nothing to report

I was just informed that I need to update over here...problem is, there's nothing to update! I got home from Chicago and basically turned around and headed out to Virginia and Maryland for two weeks, so not much has happened, adoption-wise, since my last report.

Let's see...

We have acquired a crib for the nursery.

We are working on our two-page birthparent letter and longer profile to send back to the agency.

Great meeting

We were in Chicago over the weekend, meeting with our caseworker for the first time. We also took a class with our agency - the best class we've taken in this whole process - and took a tour.

I was quite anxious on the cab ride over until we passed a sign on an Episcopal church. It said, "Relax. God is still in charge." It really spoke to me and helped me to let go of my anxieties.

The best part of the weekend? We really feel like we are definitely on the right path. Would it have been much easier, travel-wise, to find a reputable agency in Boston? Absolutely. There was an amazing sense this past weekend, however, that we were in the right place for us.

We have profiles to write and some more paperwork, but we're on the road.

Chicago, here we come

We now have a caseworker out in Chicago!

We'll be going out in a couple of weeks to meet with her and to take (yet another) class.

Perfect.

The color I chose, Benjamin Moore's "Patriotic White," is exactly what I'd pictured in my head. I actually got all teary when I first saw it all painted. Here it is; this is only the first coat.



Second coat will probably go on tomorrow.

Painting the nursery!

Another step towards reality: we are painting the nursery today. It's "Patriotic White" by Benjamin Moore, which is a pale, pale blue - I love it. Possible options are to accent simply with either khaki or pink, depending, or possibly go with a nautical theme for a boy.

We'll just have to wait and see, won't we? :-)

Onward and westward...

Our home study has been sent off (as of yesterday) to the agency in Chicago!  Hopefully by this time next week, we will have a caseworker out there assigned to us, and will be setting up an appointment to go out there.

I just want to take a moment to thank everyone who's following our story here at the blog.  It means a lot to me that people take the time to check in.  Adoption isn't like pregnancy - there are no obvious physical signs that I'm expecting, so people don't ask my husband and me, "Oh, when are you due?" or "Do you know what you're having?" or "Do you have names picked out?" or the million and one other questions that expectant parents get asked.  However, we are expecting, and we're just as excited about it as any other parents-to-be.  

(My answers to the above? "I don't know," "A baby," and "Yes, we do!")

Home study COMPLETE!

Got the draft from our caseworker today!

*does the happy dance*

One more...

Classes are completed.  We just need to review our checklist; I think we're done with all of our home study requirements!

We need to start putting together our family profile for the next step.

Baby steps

We've chosen guardians for our little one, and we now have just one class left to go. Woohoo!

Almost there

We have two online classes to complete, and we have to choose guardians, God forbid anything should happen to us.

Otherwise, we're just about ready to rock and roll.

Home visit completed

Our home visit was this past Friday, May 2. It went very well. Though we don't have the paperwork yet, we have verbal confirmation that we have passed our home study with flying colors.

Steady progress

- Met with my neuro this afternoon, and he dictated the letter that I need as I sat there in the office. Should receive it within a few days.

- Got a positive email from our caseworker. Almost all of our paperwork is now complete (yay!), and she has been in touch with the other agency to see what else we need to provide for them. Hoping we'll be traveling to Chicago sometime in June!

Being a pain in the tush = success!

After the news from my neuro's office on Thursday, I resolved to be a pain in the butt - a polite one, mind you, but a nuisance nevertheless.

I called Friday to ask about cancellations - and promised sweetly that I would be haunting the office daily.

I called this morning (despite my migraine) to ask about cancellations. They had nothing.

They called me this afternoon with a 4:15 opening tomorrow. I told her I would be there with bells on.

There, that wasn't so difficult now, was it?

Ugh.

Most of our paperwork is now in, which is fantastic.

However.

I need a letter from my neurologist for our home study, to state that I'm fit to adopt, despite my seizure disorder. I see my neuro every six months, and have not had a seizure while on my meds since high school (had one off meds, over a dozen years ago). I figured getting a letter was a no-brainer.

We planned to have everything finished up for our home study by the time of the home visit, May 2, so the study would be done by the end of May. However, the doctor wants me to come in to discuss this - and can't see me until MAY 29!

A New Beginning

My husband Chuck and I got married in October 2003, when I was 33 and he was 39. We decided, despite being "older" newlyweds, to take a year for ourselves before starting our family.

Suffice it to say that it wasn't as easy as we hoped.

However, here we are after riding the rollercoaster of infertility treatments, ready to grow our family in a different way: adoption. It's something that's always been in the back of our heads. We're no strangers to adoption. Chuck and his sister were both adopted, and I nannied for a family whose daughter was adopted (and mom was adopted, too).

We are working with two adoption agencies, because we will ultimately be adopting from an agency in the Chicago area. This might seem odd, since we live in the suburbs of Boston, but we are going to adopt from the same agency from which Chuck and his sister were adopted. Kind of an unusual family tradition, but hey - we're an unusual family! We started the ball rolling with the local agency by attending an informational session in February.

At this point, we have been through three of the four necessary home study interviews, and have completed the lion's share of the paperwork (which is considerable). We have some online classes to take, as well as a four-hour class with the agency. After that, we have a home visit. Two months from today - perhaps sooner - our home study should be complete!