Seems it has been awhile since I have posted anything. But there really isn't much to update at this point. Brian and I are still working on gathering some pictures for our profile. If any of you have any of us together, or with a group of friends, that you can share, it would be greatly appreciated!
Our garage sale pile in the basement is getting HUGE! I can't believe the amount of stuff we have gotten, and it's not even all at our house yet! We have people hanging on to stuff until the sale as well, so the week before is going to be crazy. It's also the end of May so I will find our soon how much support we have gotten through my two great friends that raised funds through their home parties in our honor for the month of May. It's still amazing to me that any of this is happening. I have a very hard time just accepting the help and not feeling guilty or like I owe somebody something back. I'm slowly getting there, but it's very HARD for me to do.
We are on the waiting list for THE BOOK with our agency. We were the 10th couple on it, so they say it could still be a few months before we are asked to join the book. This is the book that every potential birth mom will look through to find the perfect family for her child. I really would love to avoid going in the book all together. It's one of the most expensive parts of this whole process, and if we could save the money for diapers... that would be ideal. However, I know that this journey is going to take whatever course it's suppose to, so if/when we get the call saying they are ready for our profile, then we will jump for joy at the chance to find our match that way.
I guess the last thing to update is that we are going to start working on the future nursery a bit. Nothing too major, but we just want to be more prepared for what might come. As of lately we had NOTHING for a baby... not a single thing. Just this weekend we were given a barely used infant car seat... so the process had begun. We are going to start keeping our eye out for deals on any furniture, maybe do some painting in there and start hunting for the bedding we want. I am torn about the whole process really. I don't want to have a room sitting there empty for too long, but I am such a planner that I hate to not be prepared as well. We could literally get a call tomorrow saying our baby is waiting for us at the hospital... if we were a little be ready I might have a melt down!
I guess I had more to say then I thought. Thanks for your continued support, thoughts and prayers. They mean the world to us! I'll be updating again soon to keep you posted on more fund raising efforts. We have at least one more idea up our sleeves, we just have to work out the kinks of it all. :)
Monday, May 31, 2010
Friday, May 14, 2010
Approved!!!
We are home study approved!!!! We did it! I'm so excited and thrilled to know that at any moment, our phone could ring! While I feel a huge sense of relief that that part is over, there is still plenty that we need to work on.
We are still collecting things for the garage sale happening next month. I'm excited at the items people have donated... we are well on our way to having a huge sale with lots of different things to choose from. I need to nail down if we are going to BBQ and sell hot dogs and pop, or just pop, maybe some candy. We also need to get some fliers made up to start hanging up to advertise. I need to figure out how the heck we are going to hang up all the clothes (we need lots of hangers and something figure out to hang them on... ideas are welcome!).
We need to start working on our adoption profile. We are going to go on the waiting list to get into "The Book" of waiting families. In the mean time we have to design four pages of pictures and information that will capture the attention of our future birth parents.
Our social worker also talked to us about making up some business cards to hand out as needed. We need to set up a separate email address and phone number so that potential birth moms can contact us directly if they are thinking about setting up an adoption plan for their child.
We also have outreach training in July. This is a one day work-shop to help us brainstorm way so to find a match on our own, not through the book of waiting families. Basically a day on how to market ourselves and find our own match outside of the agency.
So yes, we are approved, but I feel like our work is just getting started! Brian and I are also just starting to talk about getting the room ready. We don't have a single thing and want to be prepared for the best case scenario... which is a match right away! I'll continue to keep you all posted!
We are still collecting things for the garage sale happening next month. I'm excited at the items people have donated... we are well on our way to having a huge sale with lots of different things to choose from. I need to nail down if we are going to BBQ and sell hot dogs and pop, or just pop, maybe some candy. We also need to get some fliers made up to start hanging up to advertise. I need to figure out how the heck we are going to hang up all the clothes (we need lots of hangers and something figure out to hang them on... ideas are welcome!).
We need to start working on our adoption profile. We are going to go on the waiting list to get into "The Book" of waiting families. In the mean time we have to design four pages of pictures and information that will capture the attention of our future birth parents.
Our social worker also talked to us about making up some business cards to hand out as needed. We need to set up a separate email address and phone number so that potential birth moms can contact us directly if they are thinking about setting up an adoption plan for their child.
We also have outreach training in July. This is a one day work-shop to help us brainstorm way so to find a match on our own, not through the book of waiting families. Basically a day on how to market ourselves and find our own match outside of the agency.
So yes, we are approved, but I feel like our work is just getting started! Brian and I are also just starting to talk about getting the room ready. We don't have a single thing and want to be prepared for the best case scenario... which is a match right away! I'll continue to keep you all posted!
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Scrapbooking Fun!
Well, we had our first fundraiser for the Adoption Fund! It was so overwhelming to be surrounded by people who want this SO badly for us. No matter what amount of money is raised, I think it was a huge success! Final numbers won't be in until the end of the month because my friend, Marit, is still taking orders through the end of the month for us. I'm thinking I need to get a "ticker" made up to post on my blog that will show the amount of money that people have so generously donated to our cause.
I am truly struggling to find a way to thank everyone that has helped out so far. It's so hard for me to just accept the support for what it is and not feel like I "owe" people. I hope that it will get easier as time goes on.
Here's a picture from the wonderful night! I'm pretty sad though... Marit had to leave for a bit to pick up her girls and I really needed to get home because I had an early morning. So, this is ALMOST everyone that showed, minus Marit who organized the whole thing!
I am truly struggling to find a way to thank everyone that has helped out so far. It's so hard for me to just accept the support for what it is and not feel like I "owe" people. I hope that it will get easier as time goes on.
Here's a picture from the wonderful night! I'm pretty sad though... Marit had to leave for a bit to pick up her girls and I really needed to get home because I had an early morning. So, this is ALMOST everyone that showed, minus Marit who organized the whole thing!
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
In just 9 more days...
We will be officially approved and waiting for our match.... I can't even describe how incredible that feels.
Our first meeting with our social worker went great today. We basically just sat around and talked for two ours about our lives and she answered a lot of questions we had. It was awesome. I feel so great about the path we are on and just can't wait for each step to be here.
At the end of it all, I tried to ask a question and it just didn't come out right. She knew exactly what I was getting at though. I wanted to know if she thought people would like us, if we would seemed appealing to a birth mom and how quickly she thought things would happen. She completely reassured me. Granted I know that we might still have a LONG road ahead of us, but I feel much better after her comments. She says we have a lot going for us (our ages, jobs, openness, etc.) and that if she had to guess our wait probably wouldn't be longer than a year, IF THAT! I'll update more after the next visit!
We have our first fundraiser tomorrow night - scrap booking! And then we are going to start focusing on our profile and getting the garage sale organized. Lots to do!
Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers... they are working! I hope so badly that with the continued support from our friends and family that we will have a baby in our house by next summer :)
Our first meeting with our social worker went great today. We basically just sat around and talked for two ours about our lives and she answered a lot of questions we had. It was awesome. I feel so great about the path we are on and just can't wait for each step to be here.
At the end of it all, I tried to ask a question and it just didn't come out right. She knew exactly what I was getting at though. I wanted to know if she thought people would like us, if we would seemed appealing to a birth mom and how quickly she thought things would happen. She completely reassured me. Granted I know that we might still have a LONG road ahead of us, but I feel much better after her comments. She says we have a lot going for us (our ages, jobs, openness, etc.) and that if she had to guess our wait probably wouldn't be longer than a year, IF THAT! I'll update more after the next visit!
We have our first fundraiser tomorrow night - scrap booking! And then we are going to start focusing on our profile and getting the garage sale organized. Lots to do!
Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers... they are working! I hope so badly that with the continued support from our friends and family that we will have a baby in our house by next summer :)
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Dates!
We have some dates to share with you all!
Our friends have offered for us to have our garage sale at their house. Their neighborhood is much more established than our new one and they also have a nice neighborhood sale that we are going to join in on. So, that means our garage sale will be Thursday, June 17th and Friday, June 18th (with Saturday being a possibility). We don't have times set up quite yet, but I'll be sure to keep you all posted.
We have had a lot of response from people wanting to donate some things to the sale. We are so thrilled that so many people are able to help us out. So far we have a fair amount of clothing. If you have any other things to help us bring variety to our sale, we'd really appreciate it. Let us know if you have something large that will need to be hauled with a truck. We'll have to make arrangements with some family or friends to help us out with that.
AND.... we have our home study dates set!!!!!
May 5th and May 14th, the social worker will be coming to the house to interview us and check things out. I'm so excited!!!!! After the first meeting we will know for sure if a third is necessary, so keep your fingers crossed that we won't need to set up another date. If all goes well, and we are approved, then we will officially be WAITING FOR THE CALL in 24 days!!!!!!!!!!
I'll let you know how things go, I'm not too worried about the house, more so if they will like us or not. But I'm a worry-wort... it's what I do best :)
Our friends have offered for us to have our garage sale at their house. Their neighborhood is much more established than our new one and they also have a nice neighborhood sale that we are going to join in on. So, that means our garage sale will be Thursday, June 17th and Friday, June 18th (with Saturday being a possibility). We don't have times set up quite yet, but I'll be sure to keep you all posted.
We have had a lot of response from people wanting to donate some things to the sale. We are so thrilled that so many people are able to help us out. So far we have a fair amount of clothing. If you have any other things to help us bring variety to our sale, we'd really appreciate it. Let us know if you have something large that will need to be hauled with a truck. We'll have to make arrangements with some family or friends to help us out with that.
AND.... we have our home study dates set!!!!!
May 5th and May 14th, the social worker will be coming to the house to interview us and check things out. I'm so excited!!!!! After the first meeting we will know for sure if a third is necessary, so keep your fingers crossed that we won't need to set up another date. If all goes well, and we are approved, then we will officially be WAITING FOR THE CALL in 24 days!!!!!!!!!!
I'll let you know how things go, I'm not too worried about the house, more so if they will like us or not. But I'm a worry-wort... it's what I do best :)
Friday, April 16, 2010
Lots to think about...
Yesterday and today we spent 16 hours completely immersed in adoption. It was so great, but somewhat overwhelming. Thursday we learned about the entire IOA (Infant Open Adoption) process, about dealing with grief and loss (our own and our child's), moving on from infertility, and met with a panel of families that have been through adoption before. It was wonderful just sitting in a room full of people that could relate to pretty much everything that came out of your mouth. We just understood, no questions asked.
Today we had a speaker come in and talk to us about making our profile. It was quite interesting and so much fun to think about what ours will look like when we are done with it. We talked a lot about outreach and trying to find our birth mother on our own. This is an area that I am always thinking about. I would be thrilled if we were able to find a match through someone that we know. I hope that everyone reading this blog knows that YOU can be an advocate for us. YOU can help us spread the word about our adoption plans, the more people that know, the faster this could all come together!
The second half of the day was spent on inter-racial adoption. We talked about the differences between race, culture and ethnicity. How our child will be able to find cultural identity in our family and in our community. It really gave us a TON to think about. Brian and I talked non-stop about this topic all the way home. It really struck a cord with us!
The key points that I took away from these classes were that 1) WE are the gift for the child, the child is not a gift for us, 2) the birth mother (or parents) have the same exact fears as we do, and 3) that no matter what we choose to do, adoption is going to enrich our lives in ways we didn't even know it was possible.
We are going to be in contact with our social worker this next week to set up our meetings (2-3 of them) for our home study. Once that is done, she makes a recommendation about us and if we are approved... then we are officially ready to accept a match!!!
Today we had a speaker come in and talk to us about making our profile. It was quite interesting and so much fun to think about what ours will look like when we are done with it. We talked a lot about outreach and trying to find our birth mother on our own. This is an area that I am always thinking about. I would be thrilled if we were able to find a match through someone that we know. I hope that everyone reading this blog knows that YOU can be an advocate for us. YOU can help us spread the word about our adoption plans, the more people that know, the faster this could all come together!
The second half of the day was spent on inter-racial adoption. We talked about the differences between race, culture and ethnicity. How our child will be able to find cultural identity in our family and in our community. It really gave us a TON to think about. Brian and I talked non-stop about this topic all the way home. It really struck a cord with us!
The key points that I took away from these classes were that 1) WE are the gift for the child, the child is not a gift for us, 2) the birth mother (or parents) have the same exact fears as we do, and 3) that no matter what we choose to do, adoption is going to enrich our lives in ways we didn't even know it was possible.
We are going to be in contact with our social worker this next week to set up our meetings (2-3 of them) for our home study. Once that is done, she makes a recommendation about us and if we are approved... then we are officially ready to accept a match!!!
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Doubly Blessed
I don't even have words to describe how grateful I am. After reading my last post, another good friend of mine offered to do something very similar through her candle business. I was floored and am still pretty shell shocked with the amount of support we are getting. Here is what she had to say:
"Hey Kari! I just saw your blog about your friend who sells Creative Memories doing a fund-raiser for you this month, and I would LOVE to do the same thing for you with my Gold Canyon business!!! I will donate the same percentage from all my sales (Internet AND parties) through the end of May. That way if someone wants to support you, but doesn't scrapbook, they'd have another option. I just want to help you out any way I can!!
I know that what goes around comes around, and you so deserve this baby!"
So here is a link to the website where you can place orders online:
www.mygc.com/mandyrtaylor
All I can say is THANK YOU SO MUCH MANDY!
I can honestly say that I have some of the greatest friends around...I am forever thankful to have you all in my life!
"Hey Kari! I just saw your blog about your friend who sells Creative Memories doing a fund-raiser for you this month, and I would LOVE to do the same thing for you with my Gold Canyon business!!! I will donate the same percentage from all my sales (Internet AND parties) through the end of May. That way if someone wants to support you, but doesn't scrapbook, they'd have another option. I just want to help you out any way I can!!
I know that what goes around comes around, and you so deserve this baby!"So here is a link to the website where you can place orders online:
www.mygc.com/mandyrtaylor
All I can say is THANK YOU SO MUCH MANDY!
I can honestly say that I have some of the greatest friends around...I am forever thankful to have you all in my life!
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