2nd meeting with Birth Mom

Hello Everyone,
I have been meaning to write all day about our meeting last night.  It went really well despite a stressful start for everyone.  The traffic was so horrible again in the Twin Cities, Kevin, Connie, Jessie and her dad were all 30 minutes late.  They were feeling terrible, but it was unavoidable.  Janet, Jessie's mom, Eli, our social worker, Tiffany and I all had a nice visit while waiting for them, and I think the fact that the latecomers were all there at about the same (albeit late) time, it kind of broke the ice, complaining about crazy MN roads!!!

This was the first time we met Jessie's dad, and Eli hadn't met Jessie yet either.  It was really nice for everyone to get a chance to talk and get to know each other better. Connie (my sister) was there to take Eli out to dinner after the beginning part where we all chatted.

After they left, we went over the birth plan, which had already been written up by Jessie and her social worker.  The plan is for us to be notified once Chelsi is born, and when Jessie is feeling up to us visiting. We will get to spend alone time with the baby at the hospital and she will spend time with Jessie and her family as well. This is a time that is definitely more about the birth family, and we understand and respect that.  We will have a special ceremony after discharge that the social workers from our agency will perform, called an Entrustment Ceremony.  It is an important step in the adoption process for birth families and adoptive families.

We talked about some ongoing contact, specifically their family visiting us here at our house sometime during the holidays, hopefully Jessie's siblings will be able to join us for that. They were excited about seeing where we live and being able to see Chelsi's room.

The other thing we discussed was the Child Dedication (like a baptism-what our church does for babies) and they are very interested in attending and inviting some of their extended family, who we are also excited to meet.

All in all, our meeting was wonderful. We really enjoy Jessie and like her parents very much too. Eli was so brave and grown up, introducing himself, talking about hobbies and things he likes in school.  He also asked Jessie a few questions about her responsibilities at their house caring for their dog, and he also asked if he could take a picture of her with her parents.  It is a picture we will treasure.

So, be praying for a safe and uneventful delivery of our sweet baby in about 5 weeks!!!  Can't wait to get that call!!!  Happy Holidays everyone!  We aren't sending Christmas cards, but look for something in the New Year, when we have a new family member to add to our family photo!!!!

Quick update

It's been about awhile since I've posted, but not much has happened with the adoption since our face to face meeting with the birth mom.

We have moved into the house and we LOVE it. We got our old place on the market last week and have had a few showings. Pray that it sells quickly!

Just yesterday our social worker came to our house to update our home study, which needs to be done once a year, so even though we've been chosen, we still needed to update it since Chelsi will be born after our old one had expired. It needs to be current at the time of placement.

We are meeting with the birth mom again next week, on Tuesday. Eli will get to come and meet her as well, then he'll hang out with my sis, Connie, while we discuss the hospital plan and a bit more of what our open adoption will be like.

We are so excited! It seems so hard to believe in a few short weeks we'll have a new baby in our home. Finally!!

Thanks for all of your thoughts, prayers and kind words!!!

Great Meeting tonight!!!

We have just left our meeting with the birth mom, Jessie. It went SO well!!! After about 1/2 an hour she asked her social worker what she needs to do to PICK US!!!!!!! Woohoo!! Her social worker said she likes her clients to take at least a day to think about it, so she will officially decide tomorrow.

She was smart & kind, and we're very excited to be starting this relationship with her!!!! We're on our way home to tell Eli!!

As I've mentioned before, nothing is for sure until the baby is born, and she's entrusted her with us, but she is very confident in her decision to place Chelsi for adoption. Please continue to pray for Jessie and Chelsi and all of the birth family!!!!

Yay!!!!

Quick update

Just got an email asking if we could change our meeting to Monday instead of tomorrow. :) Just wanted to let people know so you're all not wondering tomorrow! Thanks for all of the nice messages and prayers!!!!

Exciting News!!!

Ok, so we've gotten super exciting news!  Last Thursday we got great news...our social worker called to say that the birth mom who looked at our profile Wednesday wants to meet us!!  She brought our book home that night and only ours, and she only wants to meet us, no other families!! This doesn't mean she has chosen us officially, but it is a really good sign!!!

So, this is a young woman from the Twin Cities, and she is interested in an open adoption, which we also really want!  She was adopted herself, into a Caucasian family, she is African American, and so is the birth father.  At this point, he is not involved.  He is aware of the pregnancy but hasn't had contact with our agency.

The baby is a girl, due Jan 15th.  The birth has named her Chelsi and it is important to her that we keep that as her name.

Kevin, our social worker & I will meet with her and her social worker on Wednesday evening.

Sooooo, please keep up the prayers!  We are so excited but are trying to keep cautious as well.  Eli is already telling people he is getting a baby sister and is so excited, but understands she could choose another family if for some reason she feels like it isn't right with us.  

We've got a crazy week, we're closing on our new house tomorrow morning, then meeting her on Wednesday.  I'll try to post again soon after our meeting.

October Update

Hello Everyone,
Not much has been happening on the adoption front these days but we've been busy with other exciting news!  We have decided to move!  We have loved our current house and all that it has to offer (the lake, our dock & pontoon, and just the cute house and yard) but we have not had good luck with neighbors.  Many of you know we've had ongoing issues with crime, bad renters, noisy neighbors and then the main problem, no other children in the neighborhood.  As Eli has gotten older, this has become more of an issue.  Currently his best friend in the neighborhood is our very nice 50ish, Harley riding, AA member, junk collector next door neighbor.  I think it's time to find some friends his own age to be playing with!

We're moving about a mile from our current house, to a neighborhood that was built about 8 years ago...it's where I run & walk a lot and we know lots of families from school and church there.  We are super excited for many reasons!!  As most of you know, I love to decorate, so this will be FUN for me!!  We'll have 4 bedrooms, which will be great since we often have out of town visitors.  We'll have a guest room for them and space for a new baby!!!!! There's also an unfinished basement for my wild, loud boys to play all the sports they want & I can stay sane this winter!!!! And look at that cute front porch!!!!! We'll be closing on October 23rd, and will start moving a few things, but have painters coming in to do some major painting for about 2 weeks.  We haven't listed our house yet, but will do so after we move, probably around the beginning of November.

Eli has been giving us a run for our money with his behavior lately...we're trying to be consistent with our discipline, giving appropriate consequences, etc, but it's tough!

So, I'd been thinking I should write a quick update to say nothing was going on, but we just got a call about a Birth Mother who will look at our profile soon!  She is due in January, so we are excited!!!  Please be praying that this is THE ONE!!  We still have been feeling ok with the waiting, but would love to have a baby soon!!!!!

Thanks for reading, checking in and for all the prayers!!

Update on the 2 possible babies

Hello,
Just wanted to send a quick update...we just heard on the 2nd baby this morning, we weren't chosen by either birth mom.

I'm feeling a bit more disappointed, one of the babies had already been born and was at the hospital on his own for about a week before his birth mom chose a family.  The second was a girl due about the same week as some friend's baby girl in November.  It is easy to start imagining how great it would be when you know real specifics about babies!

All in all, we're doing fine.  It's hard, but we know of at least 4 more women who are making decisions about adoption plans before the end of the year, and there is always a chance for more!

Thanks for all of your prayers and for checking in!

Have a great week!
Julie