The Beginning... kind of....
I'm reminded of a song that says "Let's start at the beginning, it's a very good place to start." What is our beginning? Could be our marriage, beginning of a new life together, the beginning of our fertility journey, trying to bring a new life into the world, or our adoption journey, where we are now. All of these things are so closely related that pinpointing our beginning means weaving them all together.
I'm creating this blog for all of our family, and friends who want to know about our story and journey, but may not know the questions to ask. I'm also hoping that someday others will find this blog who are searching for information on adoption, foster care, fertility, or other information they can gleam from our journey. This first post is a mix matched glob of information about us, what we are doing, and why we are doing it. To give all of the current information would take a lot longer to type than you are probably willing to read! I promise, more is to come!
We are currently going through the process of "fostering to adopt." This concept is foreign to many people and up until about a month ago was foreign to us. We are still in the early stages of this process, but man has it been a ride! My husband Tony and I both agree that we have no doubts in our mind that this is God's plan for us. No doubts that we are currently in the middle of His will for our lives. Let me tell ya, there is no better place to be.
Anyone who has adopted or done foster care can tell you about the excitement, the joys, the fears, the exhaustion, and oh the paperwork! We talked with several friends who had done this and felt like we were decently informed about what a process it can be. However knowing and doing are two very different things. The amount of paperwork is daunting, but the amount of knowledge and experience we are receiving is even greater. In the state of Illinois you are required to do several things before you can adopt. One of those things is taking a nine week PRIDE course. (Each letter stands for something specific.) We are done with four of our nine classes. We are truly enjoying these classes, I often find myself looking forward to Tuesday nights more than any night of the week! I love being able to go and feel like we are one week closer to our goal. Being able to talk through the process with our amazing social work trainer who is so honest with us. Being able to learn and process all that we should expect, and all that will be expected of us. We are training and getting a license to be foster parents. Wait a minute, I thought this was an adoption blog, you may be thinking. Ah and it is....
We had looked into several options for adoption. International, way expensive and so risky right now with countries closing their borders. Domestic adoption, still expensive if you end up doing infant adoption, and the possibility of the 72 hour waiting period for a mother to change her mind was daunting to say the least. Add in a three to four year waiting period and we weren't very optimistic. Domestic adoption for older children, was that something we really wanted to do? How old were we willing to consider? So much information! But you know what really made our stomachs churn? The thought that this was more of a baby market with way too many people making money off of innocent lives that needed a home. Yuck! Now please don't misunderstand, if you have gone that route or are thinking of that route, AMEN! More power to you! But for us, something didn't feel right about it.
So I emailed a friend who I knew had done domestic adoption. She agreed to meet with me over Christmas break for breakfast. We arrived at nine am. TWO O'CLOCK pm rolls around and we were still chatting at the restaurant!!! She and her husband had adopted through the foster care system. What?! I said. You can do that? I asked. Isn't it risky and at any time your child can be ripped away from you? I am so thankful that the Lord put this woman in my path! She opened up a whole new world of adoption to me. I honestly believe we wouldn't have been on this journey if it wasn't for my chat with her.
After coming home, being way to excited, and nervous, and anxious I talked about a mile a minute to my poor husband. My husband will tell you he is the analytical one. He likes to have all of the facts. He doesn't get excited about new things as easily as I do, because he likes to look at all sides. I was SURE this would take some convincing. Well... it didn't. My wonderful analytical husband looked at me and said, wow that sounds like a great idea, it really makes sense. We are helping out kids who need it and not going through all of the processes of an expensive adoption agency.
BAM! Our minds were made up.
I'm creating this blog for all of our family, and friends who want to know about our story and journey, but may not know the questions to ask. I'm also hoping that someday others will find this blog who are searching for information on adoption, foster care, fertility, or other information they can gleam from our journey. This first post is a mix matched glob of information about us, what we are doing, and why we are doing it. To give all of the current information would take a lot longer to type than you are probably willing to read! I promise, more is to come!
We are currently going through the process of "fostering to adopt." This concept is foreign to many people and up until about a month ago was foreign to us. We are still in the early stages of this process, but man has it been a ride! My husband Tony and I both agree that we have no doubts in our mind that this is God's plan for us. No doubts that we are currently in the middle of His will for our lives. Let me tell ya, there is no better place to be.
Anyone who has adopted or done foster care can tell you about the excitement, the joys, the fears, the exhaustion, and oh the paperwork! We talked with several friends who had done this and felt like we were decently informed about what a process it can be. However knowing and doing are two very different things. The amount of paperwork is daunting, but the amount of knowledge and experience we are receiving is even greater. In the state of Illinois you are required to do several things before you can adopt. One of those things is taking a nine week PRIDE course. (Each letter stands for something specific.) We are done with four of our nine classes. We are truly enjoying these classes, I often find myself looking forward to Tuesday nights more than any night of the week! I love being able to go and feel like we are one week closer to our goal. Being able to talk through the process with our amazing social work trainer who is so honest with us. Being able to learn and process all that we should expect, and all that will be expected of us. We are training and getting a license to be foster parents. Wait a minute, I thought this was an adoption blog, you may be thinking. Ah and it is....
We had looked into several options for adoption. International, way expensive and so risky right now with countries closing their borders. Domestic adoption, still expensive if you end up doing infant adoption, and the possibility of the 72 hour waiting period for a mother to change her mind was daunting to say the least. Add in a three to four year waiting period and we weren't very optimistic. Domestic adoption for older children, was that something we really wanted to do? How old were we willing to consider? So much information! But you know what really made our stomachs churn? The thought that this was more of a baby market with way too many people making money off of innocent lives that needed a home. Yuck! Now please don't misunderstand, if you have gone that route or are thinking of that route, AMEN! More power to you! But for us, something didn't feel right about it.
So I emailed a friend who I knew had done domestic adoption. She agreed to meet with me over Christmas break for breakfast. We arrived at nine am. TWO O'CLOCK pm rolls around and we were still chatting at the restaurant!!! She and her husband had adopted through the foster care system. What?! I said. You can do that? I asked. Isn't it risky and at any time your child can be ripped away from you? I am so thankful that the Lord put this woman in my path! She opened up a whole new world of adoption to me. I honestly believe we wouldn't have been on this journey if it wasn't for my chat with her.
After coming home, being way to excited, and nervous, and anxious I talked about a mile a minute to my poor husband. My husband will tell you he is the analytical one. He likes to have all of the facts. He doesn't get excited about new things as easily as I do, because he likes to look at all sides. I was SURE this would take some convincing. Well... it didn't. My wonderful analytical husband looked at me and said, wow that sounds like a great idea, it really makes sense. We are helping out kids who need it and not going through all of the processes of an expensive adoption agency.
BAM! Our minds were made up.
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