The phone call

Hello Everyone!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!  Many things have happened since my last entry....I will try to recap the last 6 weeks!  There have been rumors swirling around that Korea's international adoption program is shutting down.  As you can imagine, we were concerned by this.  Our heart has always been to adopt a child/children who are in need of a mommy, daddy, family and forever home.  After some thought, we decided to meet with an adoption attorney to inquire about domestic adoption.  Around Thanksgiving we met with the attorney.  She gave us some advice and told us to prepare a "profile" book to show potential birth mothers.  I distinctly remember leaving her office and feeling pretty discouraged...the meeting didn't go as I expected.  To be honest, I'm not exactly sure what my expectations were in that meeting, but we both left feeling overwhelmed and overall discouraged. Mickey and I had a conversation on the car ride home about how we felt our adoption didn't seem it would ever happen.  I think its pretty safe to say, when you pursue adoption there are a multitude of emotions, feelings and concerns that you encounter.  I thought I had prepared myself for it...clearly I had not.  There is no preparing yourself for having to look at a referral, praying he/she is your baby and receiving a call from the pediatrician with unexpected bad news.  Or, inquiring about a baby on a photolisting and he/she goes to another family and of course the waiting.  Though there have been some lows in this journey there have also been many highs.  Mickey and I are experiencing this together.  Adoption is uncharted territory for us and it has strengthened our marriage.  It has taught me patience (which is still a work in progress:) and how desperately I need to take my worries, concerns and fears to the Lord.  I have found peace in knowing that God has a plan and purpose in all of this. 

Thanksgiving came and passed and Mickey and I diligently worked on our profile book.  On December 9th, I received a call from our homestudy specialist.  She advised us a birthmother would like to look at our profile book. Her adoptive family backed out and is due to give birth soon.   As you can imagine I was ecstactic and then panicked...we had just finished our profile book, but had not ordered it yet.  Mickey and I scrambled to print out our profile book and turned it into our specialist.  We knew the birthmother would look at our book along with other family's profiles the next day.  As you can imagine, there was a lot of anticipation as we waited for that phone call. By 8 pm we had not received it...we assumed she picked another family.  Mickey and I were getting ready for a Christmas party when my phone rang...it was our homestudy specialist.  It was the phone call that literally changed our world.  The birthmother had chosen us! There were still a lot of unknowns and we made plans to meet with the her on December 12th.  By Monday Mickey and I were a ball of nerves.  We were so excited to meet the birthmother who had chosen us!  On the way there, we received a call from our specialist.  Birthmother was not going to be able to meet with us...she was in the hospital.  The doctors had decided to schedule a cesarean for the next day!

On December 13, 2011 we met our baby girl.  She weighed 5 lbs 12 oz. and measured 19 inches long.  In a matter of days, God revealed His plan for us.   

Life with our baby has been surreal.  I'm still in awe that this little bambino is mine.  Though she has only been with us 13 days, we love her unconditionally!  Our entire family has welcomed her with open arms and they are overjoyed she has found her forever home with us. 

Once we got home from the hospital I called Holt ( our placing agency) to find out what this meant for us in terms of our international adoption.  As long as Korea's international program is still open we wanted to continue to pursue it.  We were informed that Korea announced they would not close the program in 2012 and that we would be on "hold" for six months then could go back on the waiting list to pursue our Korea adoption.  By May 2012 our holding period will expire and we can go back on the waiting list.  What wonderful news!  All this was truly a good and perfect gift from above.



James 1:17

New International Version (NIV)

¹⁷ Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

Hello Everyone!

It has been over a month since I last blogged...I'm definitely not receiving the  "blogger of the year" award!  In my last post, I stated that Holt ( our placing agency) sent an email stating their quota had been met for the year.  This meant that even though we could still receive a referral, our process and travel time would be delayed even more.  As you can imagine, this was heartbreaking, but expected.  Since receiving that email, I continued to check Holt's website daily.  A couple of weeks ago, I noticed a familiar face. A little round faced baby boy that I noticed several months prior, but had already been matched with a family when I inquired about him.  Now, he was back on the photo listing and I didn't waste any time calling Holt.  I reminded myself to be cautious and not to become emotionally attached, but that is so much easier said than done.  I couldn't help but fall in love with his round face, almond eyes and hair that naturally stood up like a mohawk:)  I received his medical records and asked for a pediatrician to review them.  We were aware of this little boy's medical condition(s), but the pediatrician's professional opinion was very encouraging. I followed up by calling Holt hoping that because he was on the photo listing that we would have the opportunity to travel sooner if we were to be matched with him.  Unfortunately, that is not the case.  We were told we would be lucky to travel in 2012.  Since that phone call, we have been made aware that another family has inquired about him.  We are now in the process of filling out a questionnaire, which will be taken to "committee" at Holt.  They will review each family's questionnaire and make a decision on which family would be best suited for this little guy.  We are praying we are his forever home.

Holding Period

This evening  I logged into my email and noticed we received something from Holt International.  I was praying it would be a referral, but unfortunately, it was not.  We have been informed that Korea has met their quota for the year.  We are now in a "holding period" until January.  I will be calling Holt tomorrow to see where we stand with receiving our referral and what this means for our family.  Please pray this is a small speed bump in our adoption journey.

A Baby Changes Everything

Last night I was feeling a mix of emotions....sadness, frustration, and impatience.  Earlier in the day, I went to the store and  it seemed like everyone woman I passed was pregnant ( and looked absolutely adorable) and/or had children.  I could tell I was becoming moody (Mickey would probably say this is an every day occurrence:), but I didn't understand why.  I realized that moodiness stemmed from our experience with infertility and our adoption process.  I will be the first to admit, I am a very impatient person.  So, right there in the middle of the store I was having myself a little pity party.  Why couldn't I get pregnant? Why haven't we received a referral yet?  All I could think about were the superficial things; like, how fun it would be to dress the baby up for Halloween or our first Christmas with our little one.

Later that evening, while watching TV a commercial came on.  I honestly felt like God was throwing out a little reminder in regards to my little pity party I had earlier in the day.  This commercial just made me smile and tear up a little.  I realized I should be praising the Lord for giving Mickey and me the opportunity to adopt!  Not feeling sorry for myself and doubting Him!  He has an amazing plan for us I am certain.

Jer 29:11: For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.


Below is the commercial I saw last night.  

Having a baby changes everything - "Sink"

Fingerprints and Festivals

Hi Everyone!

What a busy weekend!  On Friday, Mickey and I had our fingerprints taken for our I600a forms.  Later that afternoon, I went to Indiana to start off our third festival.  Overall, we had a great weekend and Madison Court Days proved to be a success!  We appreciate everyone who stopped by our booth to purchase items and encouraged us through the process.  Our next festival will be in Bethlehem IN. at Autumn on the River.  That festival will be held October 15th-17th.

Just to let everyone know, I called Holt International this past Wednesday.  Unfortunately, the Waiting Child coordinator could not give me a time frame on when we might receive a referral.  She also advised that if we were to receive a referral soon, we would be looking at 6-8 months before we could travel.  God continues to remind me that our perfect baby is out there and on His time we will receive him or her:)

Commiskey Days

Hello!

I'm a little delayed in posting about our second fall festival...oops!  We are in Commiskey Indiana this weekend for Commiskey Days!  Thank goodness for Mom and Aunt Beckie for  running our booth again, due to Mickey and I having to work.  Hopefully, we will have another beautiful fall day tomorrow for the festival.

For anyone who plans on coming to the festival, we will be at space 107...come visit us:)