Bathroom Remodel--98% done--Plus More!!

I realized that we never posted pictures of our 98% done bathroom remodel! The only thing we have left to do is finish the baseboards...so 98% done...let's hope that last 2% will be done soon!

In addition to completing the bathroom remodel we have gotten a lot accomplished, including some fun!

We just finished the last of our paperwork for the agency...our service plan which turned out to be 14 pages long was turned in and approved the agency. I guess that means we passed the long take home test. Our service plan required us to read a bunch of books, take some classes, and talk with friends and family about our adoption.

We also have been busy preserving the harvest (and making baby food)! A few weeks ago we processed the following: 20 pounds of pears, 16 pounds of plums, 11 pounds of blueberries, 25 pounds of peaches, made 20 quarts of dilly beans and pickles and are now preparing for a last process of tomatoes (we are aiming to can around 40 quarts). I think just maybe we will have food for the winter!

My birthday weekend was a blast too! We went to the coast and spent three lovely days enjoying the sun, watching whales and having some quiet time before the little lady arrives. Here are some pics of the aquarium...




























It has been a busy last few weeks! We can't wait for the little lady to arrive...only three more weeks!! Off to our shower!

And the waiting period officially begins...

I know, I know, I have mentioned the waiting period as if we were "really" in the waiting pool, but I swear now we are officially waiting. Hurry and wait - that has been our motto and our life lately. Now that the paperwork is turned in, our family book is complete and sitting on agency coffee tables and baby gear is being collected from garage sales and craigslist - we have an opportunity to be carefree and revel in spending time with each other and our lovely pup, Ursa. The calm before the storm as the saying goes.

As I mentioned in a previous post, we just got back from an adoption class weekend. I could tell you all about how amazing it was, the incredible stories we heard, the extremely useful advice we received, the inspiring people we met, how much the class confirmed our commitment and excitement for this journey and so much more, but instead I am going to share some powerful words with you that I think reflect some of the important lessons we learned last weekend.

Adopted Children's Rights
From Making Sense of Adoption by Lois Melina

1. Children have the right to know who they are and how they joined their families, and how to grow up knowing the truth.

2. Children have the right to freely ask questions and express their feelings about being adopted.

3. Children have the right to a positive attitude about their birth parents.

4. Children have the right to be accepted as individuals with a unique genetic heritage.

5. Children have the right to be recognized by society as full and equal members of their adoptive families.

6. Information about our children's origin is private and belongs to them. They have the right to choose to share certain information.

7. Transracially adopted children have a right to a positive sense of racial or ethnic identity.

These are important rules to live by and David and I are committed to them as I hope you are too.

Now off to get some more weeding done in our garden before the sun goes down. I love summer.

A new look

Hello out there in blogger world. It has been a long time and now we have a new look, but don't you worry it is still about the same great adoption. Things have been fairly quiet in our adoption world, which we are very grateful for. We finished our interviews for the homestudy and it has been turned in to the agency. The next big milestone is our class which is coming up in two weeks.

There has been a lot of talk about the class and we are really looking forward to it. First, we will meet other prospective adoptive parents in our area. It has been amazing connecting with all of the bloggers out there. We love being part of a community even though we don't see you face to face (just screen to screen)! It will be equally amazing to meet some folks in person at our class.

In addition to meeting new folks, we also are looking forward to hearing the panels...adoptive parents, adopted children, adopted children from a transracial adoption, the list goes on. Hearing the stories will be amazing. We also are reading books that are required by our agency. Here is our reading list:

Making Room in our Hearts by Micky Duxbury

Inside Transracial Adoption by Gail Steinberg and Beth Hall

20 Things Adopted Children Wish Their Adoptive Parents Knew by Sherrie Eldridge

Family of Adoption by Joyce Pavao Maguire

All great books!

We have been enjoying sunshine and dry summer weather here in Oregon and haven't had much time inside. Our vegetable and flower beds are producing copious amounts of food and beauty and we just couldn't be happier right now.

Must run outside and pull more weeds before the sun goes down. Pictures of new crafts soon!

Moving on up...

So we finished the darn family book...finally! We ordered our first copy a few days ago and are waiting to see the copy before we order all of the others for the agency to start showing families. They already have a brief letter and a few pictures of us that they printed out to show a birth mom, but now we will soon have a real family book. It feels good to have that done.

When thinking about all of the things that we had to do for the adoption (so far at least) the family book really didn't rise to the top as something that I thought would be so hard, boy was I wrong. Trying to encapsulate your life in 20 pages or less, mostly pictures, is really hard. Especially if you are trying to find pictures that make you look like you will be a good parent. I can tell you that all of the pictures I have taken over the years, not once did I ever think, "hmm, will this picture be good for my family book? Do I look like I would be a good parent?" It was hard, but I must say, the book is one fine album and I am quite happy with it. Once we approve it, I will share a link to the online version (in Shutterfly). However, I will warn you, when I do share it with you, they will all be printed and handed out, so if you notice something funny...don't mention it!

In other paperwork, my background and criminal history are all cleared (whew...) and David passed his medical physical (whew again).

Fast Track

So last Thursday our agency called me and asked if we would be okay with quickly (i.e. doing Thursday evening) putting together a profile with a dear expectant parent letter and pictures. They wanted to show a birth mom our profile...huh? We haven't even turned in our contract?!

Apparently since we are from Oregon and completely open to race this birth mom was looking for folks like us. We were on our way out of town to hang with some friends in MT, so our drive there and back consisted of cobbling together a letter and starting to put together a portfolio. Crazy.

We were not expecting to be scurrying around this soon, but I do have to admit it is so exciting. It seems we are on the fast track now. For all of you still writing our reference letters...please get them in!

Fingerprints and Paperwork

Today we spent lots of time waiting in the cop shop to get our fingerprints...check out our great prints!




We also spent a lot of time working on our pile of paperwork...which is a lot!

We jumped another hurdle

It was a busy weekend for us and we are finally able to take a deep breath and write a blog post about completing another big step in the adoption process. Last Friday we became "officially" enrolled in the adoption program with Journeys of the Heart Adoption Services. We had our first in-person meeting/interview with the executive director and a program coordinator and they were wonderful.

The interview was a great opportunity for us to learn more about the adoption process with Journeys and to ask some of our burning questions. The thing that we learned during the interview that overwhelms us was not how much it was going to cost (which is a lot) or even the piles and piles of paperwork we need to complete (which is a lot) - it was how quickly the adoption could happen.

We are already a few months into the process and once we finish this next pile of paperwork and the homestudy (approximately 2-3 months) we will be in the midst of the matching process, which happens anywhere from 1 week to 6 months. This means that we could be bringing our new child home by the end of this year. Over and over we have been preparing ourselves for how long this is going to take, but I think we have been focusing so much on the waiting we didn't seem to notice the time going by.

Of course, we could be waiting much longer, so who really knows.

Anyways, we are full-on in the process and we are so excited. We know now more than ever this is the perfect way for our family to grow. The meeting was such a great first introductions to the staff at Journeys and we couldn't be happier to be working with them. Their devotion to children and placing them in loving homes was so apparent.

We are getting our physicals, fingerpints, FBI background checks, writing our biographies, taking pictures and getting our friends to be our references...you know who you are! Looking forward to our many hours of paperwork over the next month and of course updating you all on our journey.

Journeys of the Heart

The title of this blog post is not just a description of what we are going through (yes as cheesy as it is), but is also the name of the adoption agency we are beginning to work with! Journeys of the Heart Adoption Services is based here in the Northwest and works with families of all shapes and sizes - something very important to us. We submitted our application Mid-March (be sure to check out our handy dandy adoption timeline on the right hand side of our blog) and just finished the second round of paperwork extravaganza! The next big step for us is our first in person meeting April 16th in Hillsboro, OR. This is the meeting where we will formally be accepted into the domestic adoption program and be officially ready to start our homestudy.

Each time we complete a step this process becomes more and more real for us. It is easy to get caught up in the monotony of the paperwork and waiting (there is A LOT of waiting), but then we submit paperwork or have a meeting and that wakes us up that we are moving forward and soon we will be parents! Very exciting.

In addition to completing more steps, we are telling more people about our plans, which also makes this a whole lot more real. Everyone that we have told is so excited and supportive and we couldn't feel any more gratitude for the outpouring of support we have already received...Thank you!

One last thing, in a previous post we urged you all to contact your representatives to support the continuation of the adoption tax credit. If you did, thank you! If you didn't, well you are off the hook. Along with all of the great things that were included in the recently passed Health Care Reform Bill, is the continuation of the tax credit AND and a $1,000 increase! Can I just say that I love our president?

I think I fixed the comments section of our blog as well. You now don't have to be a "registered user" to post a comment. If you want to receive email alerts when we publish a new blog, be sure to use the "subscribe" tool at the top of the right hand column.

Have a great week!