Homestudy draft done!

So, we switched to our new agency in late June. This agency had to start over completely with our homestudy. We just found out this morning that the rough draft is complete! Amazing! Truly. It took us 8 months the first time around and less than 4 weeks this time. It pays to have a worker who really loves her job and wants to bring these children home.

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Match Meeting

This morning brought an email stating that we had been selected as 1 of 3 families chosen to go to a Match Meeting for a sibling pair. This is the 2nd time we have been chosen to go to Matching. Last month we were also selected and chosen for a sibling group.

Having to say "no" to any child is horrible. Knowing that you can provide for that child and give them a loving, stable home. It's a part of this process that no one told us about. We were prepared for the long wait and not getting matched with a child. But, this is worse. So saddened for the children and families still waiting and praying they are led to one another....

For Our Little Firefly

Pieces

I wonder if you know

How special you truly are

Or did they make it

So that you only think

You are bad

Do you see that beautiful smile?

That hides behind that fearful eyes

Or has it been so long since you felt joy

That you can't remember

How to be happy

Do you know what magic is?

We felt it when we looked at you

It's when something happens

And it is so spectacular

And so extraordinary

Being a child is magic

And we want you to see what it means to be a child again

It wasn't your fault

I know you've heard it before

And we are here to stay

That, too

But we'll do something more

We'll show you

What it means to love

What it means to find a way

To make it work

To make you whole again

And slowly

One by one

Piece you back together

The Journey

Well, here we are! What a year it has been. For anyone who has happened upon our blog, let me take you back....

12 years ago we had big dreams. We knew 2 things. We wanted a large family and we wanted to adopt. We decided to have our biological children first. We had our sweet Noah in April of 2001. An uncomplicated, peaceful birth in a freestanding birth center. 2 years later, our precious Asher was born after a 2 hour delivery. 2 years following, brought our little princess, Lily, born at home. And last, but but not least, following the same 2 year pattern, our joyful Isaac was born(also at home).

Fast forward 2 years, brought us to the fall of 2009. We felt the call. We knew it was time. My body needed a break from 9 years of pregnancy and breastfeeding. So, knowing nothing....we took a leap of faith. We attended an adoption orientation in September of 2009. Being that we also wished to become foster parents, we decided to adopt from the foster care system and open our foster license, as well.

We took our mandatory PRIDE training in late October and early November. We completed our home study visit on Halloween. Our case worker gave us the go ahead to start looking for a child. She expected an approval by December.

We decided not to limit ourselves to our own state and began making inquiries on National photolisting websites. This would potentially mean an "interstate" adoption, essentially, adopting from out of state.

Mid-November, we fell in love with 2 little girls. I don't know if it was because they were the first ones we happened across or if it was something more. A beautiful 8 year old girl in Oregon and an adorable 5 year old in Texas. We inquired on both girls. Both workers sent back requesting our full home study, which we were still expecting any day. With the holidays drawing near, our agency was very hard to reach and for nearly 3 weeks, shut down. Christmas and New Year came and went. I called and emailed our worker relentlessly. Our home study sat on her supervisor's desk, untouched.

In mid-January, home studies were no longer being accepted for the 8 year. The disappointment we felt was so painful. We still had no clue about the whole adoption process at this time. In February, the supervisor took 3 weeks off for a family emergency. Pushing our home study approval back yet another month. We met with our worker to make changes to our home study.

At this point, our preference for a child was a girl, any race, mild needs, 0-8 years old. We started having insight into the adoption process and seeing that in this age range, we pretty much didn't stand a chance. The fact that we had 4 bio children 8 and under made us less desirable. Workers wanted "their" children to be only children and in our house they would be anything but. And yet, our worker still thought we would be a great family. We had experience, we had patience, we've dedicated so much of our lives to working with special needs children. Around this time our desires started changing. We started to feel led to adopt a special needs child. We opened our age range to 0-14 years old. We changed our special needs to sever. And we felt the first pull on our hearts for a Down Syndrome child.

We had worked extensively with DS children for years. Ron was a volunteer for the Special Olympics and I worked as a Special Education teacher. With each passing day, our longing for a DS child deepened. We registered with the Down Syndrome registry for adoptive parents, adding our family to the hundreds waiting for a child with DS.

We attended our first match party in late Feb. While we did not find a child to match with, this provided us insight and hands on interaction with the children in foster care. It also led us to reconnect with a wonderful couple we had met at our first orientation. These friends would share the frustration of the next couple months with us.

March came and went and with it the promise that our home study would be approved "VERY soon". Another meeting with our home study for editing and reading the draft. A 2 hour phone call to answer last minute questions.

FINALLY on April 5, we went to the agency to pick up our official copy of the home study.

We were relieved. We had a list of children we were waiting on to inquiry. We had stumbled across the website of Adopt America Network. We registered with them and submitted our home study. We were assigned a worker, Karen.

We began working with her right away. She compiled all of our information and any time we wished to inquiry on a child, she would do it immediately. What a blessing. At the time, it was taking our case worker 2 weeks minimum to send in our home study and there was NO follow up with her after doing so. I can honestly say, Karen changed the adoption process for us.

We came across the 5 year old girls picture and our home study was submitted on her, April 15. We never heard back from her workers. We submitted on 2-5 children a day. We had great feedback from case workers, interviews and promising emails. We felt hopeful for the first time. On May 18th, we received a call that changed everything. Karen called and informed us that we were selected as the family for "S" the 5 year old girl. I was shocked! We had no contact with any of the workers from her state. Karen was surprised and called to verify whether we were "one of the matched families" or "the matched family". It was the latter. We had been the chosen ones for the little girl.

2 weeks later we received a call that we were one of 3 families chosen for a sibling pair in WA.

We reviewed the files on all the children. We prayed. We talked. And we prayed some more. After the match meeting with the workers in WA, we learned that we were the selected family for the sibling pair. We prayed some more. In early June, we confirmed that our child was "S", the 2nd child we had ever inquired on. We felt confident that God had led her to us. We knew that He had done the impossible.

Today, we sit and wait. We learned in June that our agency would not be able to complete an out of state adoption. With the gracious help and guidance of Karen, who has gone above and beyond for us, we were matched with a private agency in our state. We have all worked hard to get this accomplished. The new agency and our fabulous new worker have pushed to get everything in place. The ICPC was submitted and a new home study was done.

And now we wait. We pray for our little girl daily. She has been in 10 foster homes. We want to bring her home and show her what a family is. She is our heart and we can not wait to meet her!