Our First Two Situations

In the world of adoption there are two main things you focus on which are situations and matching. Just so you know what I am talking about in my posts I will explain both.
Situations- Are each baby that is up for adoption born or unborn.
Matching- In the adoption process the adoptive parents are given information such as the sex and race of the baby, the cost of the adoption (because all situations are different prices), and the medical history of the birth mom/family. In the medical history we are given as much information as she will tell. It also has her drug history during the pregnancy. After looking at the cost and medical information as a couple me and Stephen decide if it is a situation that we either want to present on or we do not. Presenting means that our adoption profile will be given to the birth mom so that she can choose who she wants her baby to go to. Our adoption profile is a lot of pictures of us, our family, our house, and our community, it also has different general information about us.
So far since we started this process we have been presented with two situations.
Situation 1- The first situation was presented us last week. Even though our consultant knew we probably would not present on this situation, she wanted us to make that call. The birth mom was due this week in Utah. It was an African American girl which is what we want and the price was perfect. But the medical history is not a situation that we were willing to take on. There was a long line of mental illness that ran in her family. It broke my heart that we had to turn this one down because I really liked what the Mom had to say in her interview questions.
Situation 2- The second situation was presented to us last Wednesday night. The birth mom had already delivered the baby in Louisiana on Monday. The baby was an African American girl which was perfect. The price of the adoption was a little more than we wanted to pay but the baby was healthy and the medical history looked good. Automatically Stephen and I decided to present on it. Our consultant told us that the birth Mom wanted a couple that is under 35 and wanted the family to have another adopted child. We knew from the beginning that we were not exactly what she wanted but she could always change her mind. She was suppose to get our profile on Thursday so we waited all day to hear something but we heard nothing. Then we were told on Thursday that she had the profiles but wanted to sleep on it. So we waited all day Friday on pins and needles to hear something. Later Friday our consultant called to let us know that the agency did not give her the profiles until late Friday after she signed the papers. Her choice was between three families. One of the other families we knew about but the other family we knew nothing about. The family we knew about was over 45 and had 6 kids. So pretty much it seemed like it was between us and the unknown couple. Finally at about three o'clock on Saturday afternoon we got the call that the birthmom had choosen the other couple. It turned out that the unknown couple was under 35 and had another African American adopted child. So they were exactly what the birthmom wanted.
Honestly as much as I wanted that baby we are ok that we didn't get her. First of all since it didn't work out then it was not meant to be our baby. Second I really wanted to meet the birthmom and I was sad that we had missed 6 days of the baby's life. I know that our little Elle is still out there. So right now we are just waiting on more situations :) Hopefully there will be some more this week. Until next time love and baby dust!

Woo Hoo!!!

Woo Hoo!!! Our FBI finger prints came back today. They normally take 10-13 weeks but thanks to my mom the miracle worker they were back in 8 business days!!! Now we are all done with our paperwork for our home study.
Now we are on to filling out paperwork for the adoption agencies.
Mom and I also started painting the babies room and started paint the crib :) So excited it is all coming together!!
Until next time love and baby dust!!

Maybe May

Let me first start out by saying that I am sorry for not updating as often as I used to. I have been getting in trouble by people wanting to hear updates...LOL. So here is the update. On my last post I said it would be around June when my finger prints came back from the FBI. Through my Mom the miracle worker it looks like they could be back a lot sooner...like maybe this week. (FINGERS CROSSED)That means if that happens we can present our profile too birth moms that are due in May.
In a previous post I said that we were open to any sex and any race. But being the planner that I am I could not stand not knowing if it will be a boy or a girl. So Stephen and I talked and we decided that we are going to get a girl. We are still not picky about race. To us a baby is a baby :) We also decided on a name. Her name will be Elle Elizabeth Jakse. I have wanted to use the name Elle for a long time because I am obsessed with Legally Blonde if you didn't know. Elizabeth is Stephen's Moms name so we also wanted to use that. So there you have it...that is her name :)
So to get ready for Elle's arrival we have been quite busy getting her room ready. Her room will be my old craft room. We have to replace the flooring because I spilled turquoise all over the carpet..oops. We decided instead of replacing the carpet we will put down wood laminates. Last weekend we took out all the carpets and repainted the base boards. This week we are painted the walls. Then this weekend we are putting in the floors. Oh, I also picked out her bedding and went to Lenox to get it at Pottery Barn Kids :) It is so cute it is called Penelope. I have also been getting outfits here and there and Stephen got her his favorite books. LOL can you tell we are excited!!
Well I think that is all that is going on now. I promiss to update more often :)So until next time love and baby dust :)

Update on Our Adoption Journey

I have to start by saying THANK YOU so much to all our friends and family for their support!! Everyone is so excited about the adoption. Our future baby is going to be so lucky to have so many people that love and care about him/her.

On Tuesday Stephen and I met with C to talk about her possible being our adoption consultant. It was an easy decision because we loved her. She was so nice and knew a lot about adoption. I truly felt like we were in good hands! We had a list of questions and she had all the answers that I was hoping for. She brought us many different adoption profile books to look at so we know what kind of pictures she needs and just to get an idea of what they are like. All I can say is thank God I have taken so many pictures throughout the years because see needs 80-100 pictures. After Stephen and I decided to use C as our adoption consultant, we completed all the paperwork that she needed so she can compile our book. The next step is for her to start sending them to birth moms on the situations that we want to present to.
Other than that I have been doing a lot of research about the different state laws for adoption and what all is involved in the adoption process. I have to say that the book I got the Idiots Guide to Adoption has been wonderful. I have learned a whole lot!
We have also been finishing our paperwork for our home study. We only have three more forms to get to her and we have everything done that we can do. Then we just have to wait on our FBI prints that normally take 10-13 weeks. Luckily I have a few things in the works to try and speed that up so we will see what happens!! Keep your fingers crossed. The sooner we get those prints back the sooner we can be parents :)I am getting more excited by the day and so is Stephen. I have been busy looking at bedding and other things for the baby. It is so awesome to think that we could be parents in the next couple of months!
I think that is all the news I have right now so until next time Love and baby dust!!!

Our Homestudy

On Saturday we had our four hour home study. When she said that it would last four hour before hand Stephen and I both thought there was no way possible that it would last for four hours. Well I can now say that we were totally wrong! It lasted a little over four house. I had been talking to her on the phone so I knew that she was really nice so I was not that worried. Honestly I was just ready to get it over with. She got there right at 10 am. After introducing ourselves we sat down out of kitchen table. She asked us questions as a couple such as
* Why do you want to adopt?
*When did you starting thinking about adoption?
*Which one of us brought up adoption?
Those were all easy for Stephen and I to answer because we have always talked about adopting even if we could have our own kids. We have always truly known that we wanted to adopt. After finishing the questions together she asked us questions about each of us. She asked us questions such as
* Where did you grow up?
*What was your childhood like?
*How does your family feel about the adoption?
After that we talked about discipline and how we will tell our children about their adoption. We also talked about a timeline. She said that our home study will be done most likely at the end of June. She will be done with her part and we still have a few More things to do. But we will mainly be waiting on our FBI prints to come back which can take 8 to 12 weeks. She also said the baby that we adopt is most likely already in the birth moms tummy. That is so exciting! She also said that we can go ahead and start looking at babies that are due at the end of June early July. That is so amazing that we could be parents by summer! We also talked about sex and race preference. Which was an easy conversation because we are open to either sex and any race. Just a note- it is important to let them know what because it has to say on your home study what sex and races you are willing to adopt.
Next she went over all of our paperwork that we had filled out. That part was easy because I put it a three ring binder with tab dividers that I put all our paperwork in.
Last but not least she went on a tour of our house. She made sure that we had a fire extinguisher, that all the smoke alarms were working, and then she looked at all of the rooms in our house. We had to show her what room was going to be the baby's room and what our plans were for that. We already have a crib so that is the only things that was in the room other than a few stuffed animals and a hat that My mom and I had bought :) I think that is pretty much all that happened.
Stephen and I are both super excited and talk about it all the time!!!
I also went to the book store yesterday and looked at a lot of adoption books. I ended up getting The Idiot's Guide to Adoption because to me it had the most helpful info in it :)
Well that is all I have for today. Until next time love and baby dust!

My Beautiful Sunflowers

After our homestudy my husband brought me home these beautiful sunflowers :) I am so lucky to be married to such a thoughtful and sweet man!

Our Big Home Study Tomorrow

Tomorrow at 10 a.m is our four hour home study interview. This week has been a crazy week getting ready for our home study. All I can say is Thank God it was spring break or I never could have gotten it all done. I had to get a lot of paperwork filled out which everywhere I went they looked at me like I was crazy and had no clue what I wanted. At this point almost all the paperwork is done but we are still waiting on a few things. We finally got everything around the house done with a lot of help from my Mom. Stacy also came and helped today which was so sweet of her. Thanks Stacy!!! As much as I did not enjoying doing all that we did around the house...it was all worth it because I am so happy with how everything turned out.
We have also decided to work with a local adoption consultant (who I will call C in my posts) instead of going with a large agency. Working with C. will allow us to see what a lot of adoption agencies have instead of just one. We are going out to dinner with her on Tuesday to talk about everything. I am super excited :) Well that is all for tonight. I have to get up early to make sure everything is perfect :) I will update as soon as it is over :) Until then Love and Baby Dust!!!