Spring Update

Well, it's been a while since I've posted so I thought I'd fill you in on what's going on, or really, not going on.  There is nothing really to report.  We've had monthly updates from our social worker a couple of times since I last posted.  In March, the news wasn't great, our agency really didn't have any clients or possible clients.  Our most recent update from mid-April was a bit better, there are 7 women either having decided to place their babies or are in decision making counseling right now, due dates ranging from June to November. None of these are ready to choose an adoptive family, but we're praying that one of these could be our match!  There are currently 12 families (including us) who are waiting to adopt at our agency.

We're doing ok with the process...Kevin has 3 classes left (last class May 16th) so he is really excited to be done! My diet & exercise have been going really well, I'm down a little more than 28 pounds & have been exercising most days. I'm feeling really good.  Eli is done with hockey & is on to baseball...he's playing on a coach-pitch team and is loving it! All in all, we're staying busy & enjoying spring...we're so thankful that we have Eli, it really makes the process a lot easier to stay focused on him.  Colten (my great-nephe, who I do daycare for) is also such a blessing.  He is such a sweet, happy baby, I love having him here.

We'd appreciate your prayers about this, and also, if you ever know anyone considering adoption for their baby, we'd love to be connected.  This is often how adoptions happen.

Have a great spring!!!

Update

It's been a while since I've posted and I've gotten questions on our adoption progress.  At this point, nothing has been happening.  I would think we'll be getting a monthly update from our social worker soon, and our last one pretty much said that not much was happening at the offices.  2 of the 5 offices of our agency didn't have any "decision making clients." (Birth families)

We are doing okay with this...as always, we are keeping busy.  Kevin's work has gotten super crazy and he is in his final weeks of school.  He will be done with classes in mid May, which we are all really looking forward to!!!  He has done so well with all of his classes and has learned a lot that is helping him in his job.  (His degree will be a BA in Organizational Leadership.) 

I have been dieting and exercising and have thankfully lost 17 lbs in the last 6 weeks.  It feels good to be making some progress in this area, where I always struggle.  I hadn't been looking for a new diet to try, but while at Costco, came across a book, called "The Simple Diet."  It really is simple!  3 meal replacement shakes (like Slimfast) 2 frozen entrees, (Lean Cuisine, etc) and then at least 5 fruits and veggies per day.  There is a 2nd phase and then a long term phase that adds other foods back in.  Exercise is always the key to losing weight and I just hate getting started.  Once I am doing it, I can keep it up, so thankfully I've gotten back into it.  I have been using our elliptical, doing some weights, Just Dance 2, and now, thanks to this crazy warm weather, run/walking outside.  I'll be able to inline skate and bike now too!  

Eli is as high energy and busy as ever.  He played hockey this winter and totally loves it!  We signed him up for a short spring league that goes until the beginning of April.  He'll be playing baseball this spring and them some other camps (Lacrosse, basketball and tennis) this summer.  He is definitely his father's child with his LOVE of all sports!!!!!!!  He just can't get enough! 

We're praying that we get a call soon about a baby.  Please pray with us that our agency has more clients coming in for counseling about their pregnancies and that one of them chooses our family.  Enjoy this beautiful weather and have a wonderful spring!  Thanks for reading!

February Update

So not much has gone on with the adoption lately. We had our profile shown to one birth family last week, but they chose another family.

We got an update from our social worker today and there are a couple of birth moms thinking about placing their babies over the next few months, but 2 offices don't have any birth parents considering adoption, so that limits our chances for the time being.

Things have been really busy here at our house...Kevin is in the last fee months of school and it is really a lot of work. His job is going really well, but it is sometimes overwhelming.

Eli has been really enjoying hockey and is doing well in school despite not loving it. He'd rather be playing than at school, but comes home happy very day!

I'm getting started on a new diet and exercise plan...I'm feeling good and committed right now. I am praying I can stick with it! I've got a pretty big goal-to get to my target BMI, which means I need to lose 55 pounds. Yikes!!!

Thanks for reading, I'll post again if we here any news!

Happy New Year!

Hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year.  We were busy, traveling to Duluth for some skiing/snowboarding and water park fun the week before Christmas.  Then we were home for Christmas with the Ecklunds on Christmas Eve, at our house Christmas Day with Kev's parents, then up to Akeley to celebrate our sweet God Son, Noah's 5th birthday on New Year's Eve.  We celebrated Christmas with the Kramers on January 2nd, so we really stretched out the party! We had lots of fun, but it's going to take me a while to get this house back in order!

On the adoption front, we are now an active "waiting family" with our agency.  We got a call on Dec. 16th that our Home Study had been approved, so that next Monday the 19th, we went into the waiting pool.

I'll try to explain what happens now...when a birth mother (sometimes the birth father/birth grandparents) goes to our agency, they fill out some general health & social history.  She has her own social worker who she will meet with several times (hopefully-this is the ideal, but it depends on how far along in her pregnancy she is-sometimes it may just be 1 or 2 meetings.) and during that time she answers questions regarding what type of communication/openness she would like, if she has preferences about siblings, if the mom stays home, if the family is Christian, etc.  This info, along with due date, sex of the baby, any birth father info, and the health and social history are compiled into a form called a Request For Summary.  RSF.
When she is ready to look at Adoptive Family Profile books,  her social worker contacts the adoptive parent social workers to see if there are families matching her criteria.  If we match, our social worker contacts us, and sends us the RSF.  We receive it by email and are given a certain amount of time to look it over and decide if we want this birth mother to see our book.  We are able to call our social worker to talk about question/concerns.  Some reasons we may decline to be shown would be a known medical problem, drug and alcohol use, or a known special need the baby would have.
If we say yes, the birth mother has a meeting with her social worker where she is shown profiles.  She usually looks at more than one.  If she thinks we'd be a good match, our social worker will contact us to set up a face to face meeting.  (With both social workers present.)

So, that is where we are...we actually received one RSF on the first day we were active, but had to decline.  Our social worker made a small mistake and forgot the one thing that we are not open to as far as ethnicity.  Native American children who are placed for adoption have to go through one extra step, which is a Termination of Parental Rights meeting with the tribe they are from.  It can be unpredictable and we feel like it is one extra set of "what ifs" that we want to avoid.  In the case of the RSF we turned down, both parents identified as Caucasian, but the mother had a small amount of Native American heritage. Even though she doesn't consider herself Native American, the tribe would have the final say in where her baby is placed. It was so exciting to get the RSF, but we knew we had to say no and stick with our original decision.

We really don't have any idea how long this will all take, but we're praying that God has a baby chosen for us, and that he will help orchestrate a smooth, problem free adoption.  And of course, I pray that it happens quickly, but we all know that God has his own timeline!  :)  I'll try not to rush him!

Happy New Year!!!

One step closer!

We got a call yesterday from our social worker that our home study was approved. That was the big step we were waiting for. That means, as of Monday, we'll be an active, waiting family on our agency's list!!!

Now, the hard part begins-waiting. Up until this point, we've mostly had control over this process, moving along as quickly as we could get things done, but now it's out of our hands. I feel good about this, at least for now.

We've been trying to keep Eli in the loop about what's going on as much as possible. Last night I was explaining that birth families would be looking at our book soon, and that maybe we'd be bringing a baby home. I explained there might be a chance we'd bring a baby home & then the birth parents may decide they'd like to parent the baby. I told him it would be so sad for us, but that we'd never be mad at the birth family, but it would be very hard for us. He then said, "Yeah, we wouldn't be mad, we could still talk to them. And then when we got another baby we could all do things together and the babies could play." I was so proud of him for thinking in this kind way. I hope that we are able to explain things to him, as we go along, so that he is able to understand everything.

So, please continue praying! For the birth families trying to decide if an adoption plan is right for them, for our agency to guide these families, and for our process to go as smoothly as possible. We're really trusting in God for this.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!! Enjoy the time with your families!!

It's starting to seem real!!

So today, we got our first "Birth parent update" from our social worker.  Each month, the adoptive parent social workers and the birth parent social workers meet to update each other on their clients.  Since we will be done with our home study process within the couple of weeks, (our last meeting, here at our house is Monday, the 21st.) Tiffany included us in her monthly update.  So, the info we received tells us the number of birth parents at each of our agency's 5 offices who are considering an adoption plan and their due dates.  There are several, with due dates ranging from January to June.  She asked us to join her in prayer for these birth parents as they meet with their social workers to decide if they will place their baby for adoption. It is crazy that we are at this point.  As we struggled through our infertility treatments, I often tried to not get my hopes up, so as not to be disappointed if/when they didn't work.  Since then, I have felt like it would just take so long for the adoption process, but it is moving faster than I anticipated.  At this point, we have done everything we can and it is just a matter of waiting until we are chosen.  I feel at peace about this, (that could change 6 months down the road, but for now I am good with it!) and know God has a plan.  Please pray for those birth parents with us, and pray that our process continues to go smoothly.
Thanks for checking in.

Not much to report

Just thought I'd do a quick post-we are done with 4 of the 6 meetings we need to do. Kevin & I need to meet our social worker 1 more time at her office, then she'll come here for the last meeting to see our house & talk to Eli a little.

I'm still plugging away at the reading I need to do. It's all really interesting but a little hard to get through.

We got our Snapfish books, they look good.

School has been tough for Kevin the last few weeks-tons of homework. His new job is going really well. He's been there 3 months already.

We should have our next 2 meetings done in the next couple of weeks, so I'll post again then!