Our Journey towards Parenting!

As I said in my last post, God was working on my heart with a few things. The first and hardest thing that I had to surrender to him was the idea of being a mom to a new fresh out of the hospital just days old baby. I have always wanted to bring the baby home straight from the hospital. We learned that some people opt to put the baby in a foster home until the termination of rights court date. This usually happens several weeks after the baby is born. Matt shared on the way home, that this is something he would like to do. I know that Matt and I would be devestated if we brought baby home, cared and fell in love with him or her and then have the baby ripped out of our arms if the birth mom changes her mind or dad wants the baby. I really struggled with the idea of not getting the baby until a month or two after it was born. God really was gentle with me and showed me a lot of things through the infants I work with. The day after our meeting, it was really hard to be in there with the y...

So last Thursday we had our informative adoption meeting. It was kinda boring, kinda long, and somewhat pointless but we did learn alot. They sat us all down in this tiny conference room which got really hot, really fast. Then they proceeded to give us a presentation via powerpoint...think back in highschool when you gave reports with powerpoint. Thats what it was like...pretty much they just read us a bunch of info and added a few personal blips here and there. I said it was somewhat pointless, because they could have just mailed us all that stuff, made us read it and then take some sort of test or something to prove we read it. I was dissappointed that they didn't leave time to ask questions. We could have asked them questions afterwards, but there was one person representing international and one person representing domestic...we would have been there all night if we waited to get to talk to the domestic person. After the meeting, I was feeling completly overwhelmed...informatio...

So I've learned quickly that how adoption really works and how I thought it worked are two very different things lol. So I always thought that it was kind of like it is in the movies. The bioligical mother give birth to the baby, the baby is swept away, and all ties are completely severed. Apperantly this is the way it used to be in the old days but now it that is pretty rare. For those of you who are like me and don't know much about the subject I'll explain the three options for today's adoptions: The first is closed adoption, which means all ties are severed, no contact with birth parents after the baby is born like in the movies and old days. The second is semi-open adoption, is this case the adoptive parents have some contact with the birth parents, they send letters about the child and pictures. From what I understand this is the most common type now. The third is open, in this case the birth parents in addition to letters/pictures, they may even come for visits. ...

So, yeah the meeting was very informational but, honestly...kind of pointless at the same time. They gave us this big old packet of info and then pretty much just read every thing to us and did a power point presentation. So other than meeting two staff members it was pointless because we could have just read it ourselves at home, but whatever. Any ways the next step is doing the formal application which sounds like fun (haha not)! We have to fill out all kinds of forms, compile a bunch of records, get medical exams, get back ground checks, all kinds of crazy stuff, not to mention that there is a $550 fee we have to pay just for this step! The good news is they work with a bank out Michigan that gives loans to cover all the fees which will eventually end up being atleast $15,000 by the time we actually get a baby. The other good news is we'll get almost all of that back in tax credits once the adoption is finalized. So we're excited, but also suffering from major information ov...

So tonight was our informative meeting. We had a panic before leaving. I went to check the website for the address and next to the meeting information it said FULL. I didn't realize that we had to register for the meeting! *insert panic attack here* Thanks to my hubby, he called them and explained that we took off work for the meeting and didn't realize we had to register. The lady said that we were in luck and a couple had cancelled, meaning that we could attend! Anyway, the meeting was very informative and gave us a lot to think about. That being said, I know that I'm at least overwhelmed and need to process things before writing about it. I promise an informative update by monday!

So its been awhile since I've (Christel) have updated. Our informative adoption meeting is next thursday the 13th! We are really excited for it but also nervous. Once we find out more info about whats next, I'll update again. The past couple weeks have been like a rollercoaster and I've wanted to update many times but never did. I had a bit of trouble at work last week with somebody acuseing me of something I would never do. I was so heartbroken, and all I could see was our future being slammed down. I haven't heard anymore information on whats going on but I'm not worrying about it. My God is bigger than this. Last week or something, my husband and I were in a store and walked by the baby department. It took all I had to keep back the tears. They were happy tears though! For years, I've gazed at those baby departments, secretly picking out what I would buy or want, and God did a little knock on my heart and showed me that in the very near future, I won't ha...