Please find our story on the blog of the agency that did our Home Study that we were using for pursuing adoption. We hope it inspires others out there that are pursuing adoption, miracles do happen and adoption is a WONDERFUL thing.
I cannot thank you all enough for your amazing support and love and prayers. Liam is ours and we still have to pinch ourselves every day.
http://flsadoption.blogspot.com/2011/02/one-tiny-miracle-liams-adoption-story.html
Our family
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Friday, January 14, 2011
Home Study is complete....
Our home study is complete! We had a wonderful experience with a great social worker, Deanne. Who has come to our home 3 times since November, and wrote a very, very nice home study up on us....just a short 30 pages :) She emailed us the completed Home Study last night for us to proof. That's the joyful news we needed this week. We now will continue to market ourselves through AIS, our "consulting firm", but we also are applying to 3 or 4 other agencies that have no up front costs, until matched to a birth mother. Locations are scattered around the country from FL, OH, OK, NV, UT and a couple other states. We were initially cheering for our baby to come from UT or FL because we have family homes in both states - but truly, we are just ready for our baby to join this family and we are fine with him/ her coming from any state, obviously.
I just finished reading an amazing book - very short and VERY good for anyone interested. "The Gift of Sam". This book was written from the birth mothers side - true story. She made me realize a lot more than I have in the past, about what happens on that side of the adoption. It was a very tearful book but I am so glad Deanne gave it to me to read.
I just finished reading an amazing book - very short and VERY good for anyone interested. "The Gift of Sam". This book was written from the birth mothers side - true story. She made me realize a lot more than I have in the past, about what happens on that side of the adoption. It was a very tearful book but I am so glad Deanne gave it to me to read.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
A friend sent me this....a good motto for me to live by right now
"It doesn't matter how much you are knocked down on the ground, it matters how many times you get up." - Vince Lombardi.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
As of today....we are officially "for sale" :-)
We just received this email from our Adoption consulting services folks - our profile is out there and we're "for sale" to a birth mother - WOW!!!
"Tami/ Bill - It's official, you are available NOW. This time of year with the Holidays is slow and emotions run high and low with birth mothers, so it's a little more quiet always at this time of year. But be ready and watch your inbox, I'm sure we'll have a flurry of activity after the new year. You never know when we'll see a new opportunity for you".
"Tami/ Bill - It's official, you are available NOW. This time of year with the Holidays is slow and emotions run high and low with birth mothers, so it's a little more quiet always at this time of year. But be ready and watch your inbox, I'm sure we'll have a flurry of activity after the new year. You never know when we'll see a new opportunity for you".
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Really?? All of this to become a parent again?
I don't know how to describe the way I'm feeling today. Excited because the ball is in our court right now - one of the very few times of my infertility journey/ adoption journey that "we're in control" but overwhelmed and scared because the ball IS in our court right now and we have so much to do, it's surreal. And we have to do it right and want all this paper work/ home study part (the part we control) done before Christmas so we CAN enjoy the holidays and just relax and pray that our baby is out there and will be coming into our home in 2011.
Why doesn't everyone who wants to become a parent have to do this absurd amount of paper work, and be questioned to death....we wonder (just kidding)! And this is our second round at becoming parents, so we would like to think we have ourselves in "order" to be good parents. I don't know....maybe we should ask Sophia :)
We chose a Home Study Agency this week. That's a big relief - and now that's why the ball is in our court. We've paid our next lump sum of dollars to these folks and they get to come into our homes and our lives and "interrogate" us! Kidding, sort of. That's what we think but actually I know the best interest of the social worker is to see us successfully adopt a baby. So they send us a packet of information that requests more information than the hardest college exam I can remember. Let me not bore anyone with details (call me if you want more, ha) but we are seeing phrases and words like this:
Application (50 pages at least)
FBI Fingerprints
"Getting to know you" form - Bill and I need to spend hours talking to each other about "each other". This one is where we may fail :) Not really, kidding of course - we have learned A LOT about how each of us can/ does/ does not handle situations, etc through last few years actually.
Monthly budget
W2 forms
Bank statements
Criminal history/ sex offender registry (REALLY??)
Physical
TB Tests
HIV Tests
DMV driving record for 11 years (I think I had a speeding ticket, but not sure how long ago!)
Credit report (you'd think a lot of people go into debt after all the infertility costs and adoption costs)
Explanation of Sworn Statement or Affirmation
Letters of reference that we are suited to be good parents!!
Floor plan of our home - who is a good artist?
1040 tax forms - 3 years worth
Do your smoke detectors work? Fire extinguishers? Carbon monoxide detectors?
They will visit our home 3 times in the next 60 days to be sure are/ will be good parents and our home is "in order"....then 4-6 visits post-placement - once the baby is in our home. Not for free of course. The social workers first visit in less than 2 weeks - 11/22.
We leave to take our angel to Disney tomorrow for our first trip! We are ecstatic and you can imagine how excited Sophia is as well. We can't wait for this vacation, perfect timing. Hopefully our last vacation just the 3 of us :)
Why doesn't everyone who wants to become a parent have to do this absurd amount of paper work, and be questioned to death....we wonder (just kidding)! And this is our second round at becoming parents, so we would like to think we have ourselves in "order" to be good parents. I don't know....maybe we should ask Sophia :)
We chose a Home Study Agency this week. That's a big relief - and now that's why the ball is in our court. We've paid our next lump sum of dollars to these folks and they get to come into our homes and our lives and "interrogate" us! Kidding, sort of. That's what we think but actually I know the best interest of the social worker is to see us successfully adopt a baby. So they send us a packet of information that requests more information than the hardest college exam I can remember. Let me not bore anyone with details (call me if you want more, ha) but we are seeing phrases and words like this:
Application (50 pages at least)
FBI Fingerprints
"Getting to know you" form - Bill and I need to spend hours talking to each other about "each other". This one is where we may fail :) Not really, kidding of course - we have learned A LOT about how each of us can/ does/ does not handle situations, etc through last few years actually.
Monthly budget
W2 forms
Bank statements
Criminal history/ sex offender registry (REALLY??)
Physical
TB Tests
HIV Tests
DMV driving record for 11 years (I think I had a speeding ticket, but not sure how long ago!)
Credit report (you'd think a lot of people go into debt after all the infertility costs and adoption costs)
Explanation of Sworn Statement or Affirmation
Letters of reference that we are suited to be good parents!!
Floor plan of our home - who is a good artist?
1040 tax forms - 3 years worth
Do your smoke detectors work? Fire extinguishers? Carbon monoxide detectors?
They will visit our home 3 times in the next 60 days to be sure are/ will be good parents and our home is "in order"....then 4-6 visits post-placement - once the baby is in our home. Not for free of course. The social workers first visit in less than 2 weeks - 11/22.
We leave to take our angel to Disney tomorrow for our first trip! We are ecstatic and you can imagine how excited Sophia is as well. We can't wait for this vacation, perfect timing. Hopefully our last vacation just the 3 of us :)
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Bittersweet
I keep going back to this quote I have read recently in Secret Thoughts of an Adoptive Mother....but it is okay, we will take one day at a time.
"Adoption is a bittersweet solution to a two-way problem. Sweet, because a baby in need of a home finds a home in need of a baby. But bitter because it is nobody's first choice, and the baby will grow up one day to understand that".
ps.....November is National Adoption Month - another sign for us that we're doing the right thing :)
"Adoption is a bittersweet solution to a two-way problem. Sweet, because a baby in need of a home finds a home in need of a baby. But bitter because it is nobody's first choice, and the baby will grow up one day to understand that".
ps.....November is National Adoption Month - another sign for us that we're doing the right thing :)
Monday, October 25, 2010
Our journey has brought us to adoption......
I find it to be good therapy for me to journal, so I thought I would do so via a blog so our family and close friends could follow along with this next chapter of our lives that we are about to begin.
Most of you are somewhat aware of the long and painful journey we have been living to bring a second child into our family. Well, the disease of infertility has "beat me", or it has given me the opportunity to experience becoming a parent in another miraculous way. I truly go back and forth on that. I'm sad to move on from trying for our own child and I will probably mourn this for some time, but infertility has been a part of our lives for our entire marriage basically - and it has now gotten the best (or worst) of me. So, the happy news is that we have decided to explore a different route to growing our family - a very special one....and that is adoption.
Without going into all of the horrendous detail, after a difficult time getting pregnant with Sophia (IVF) and then this last 2 1/2+ years has been consumed with trying to conceive - and the last 1 1/2 years has included 2 surgeries, too many IUIs and clomid months to count, many started but cancelled IVF cycles, 2 actual IVF cycles, and now the miscarriage- and nothing but an empty heart (and wallet) to show for it.....we know it is time to move on.
We count our blessings literally every day for Sophia - and I feel so fortunate to have been able to experience carrying her and giving birth to her. But it's our hearts desire to have a second child and now we get to experience something also miraculous and completely different, and of course special.
Bill and I have had many more conversations than we'd like to about this extremely big decision - it's not as easy as we had thought. It is a very very difficult decision. But our hearts are guiding us in this direction and the reality of bringing home a baby within a year or so (+ or -) puts a smile on both of our faces - it's time to feel this good again. We have signed paper work and put down "some money" with a company called AIS (Adoption Information Services) who came highly recommended to us by a couple we were put in touch with via mutual friends. Madeline and Jimmy are young, 29, and have spent many years and 4 failed IVF's trying to have their own child. Now - thanks to AIS they have a 1 year old amazing baby boy adopted from FL, and they hope to adopt again soon one day.
We are excited and very nervous as there are A LOT of ups and downs and highs and lows with adopting. But we've had more than our fair share of these times with our infertility journey which has brought us closer in our marriage, and much stronger. So we feel we are prepared to deal with what comes our way and knowing in the end there is a baby that we will be so fortunate to bring into our lives, it will be all worth it - just as Sophia was. We are very excited that Sophia WILL be a big sister, we truly believe it will happen and we just pray sooner than later. I personally cannot wait to tell her that we, as a family, will be growing a baby in our hearts, unlike the traditional way - which she knows all about babies in bellies and asks about it often. But hopefully she will understand it somewhat, and get just as excited. She has a pretend brother named "Puck" that she talks to sometimes at the front door (I guess he's not allowed in the house). Well - maybe she knows something we don't about a baby brother :)
For the first time in years we see the light at the end of the tunnel - even though it won't be an easy journey - we are thankful and feel very fortunate that our lives are leading us down this blessed path.
And most importantly, thank you for your prayers and support and love.
Stay tuned to this site for updates. Later this week we have a conference call with AIS which will teach us a lot more about next steps, timeframe, etc.
xoxo
Tami
Most of you are somewhat aware of the long and painful journey we have been living to bring a second child into our family. Well, the disease of infertility has "beat me", or it has given me the opportunity to experience becoming a parent in another miraculous way. I truly go back and forth on that. I'm sad to move on from trying for our own child and I will probably mourn this for some time, but infertility has been a part of our lives for our entire marriage basically - and it has now gotten the best (or worst) of me. So, the happy news is that we have decided to explore a different route to growing our family - a very special one....and that is adoption.
Without going into all of the horrendous detail, after a difficult time getting pregnant with Sophia (IVF) and then this last 2 1/2+ years has been consumed with trying to conceive - and the last 1 1/2 years has included 2 surgeries, too many IUIs and clomid months to count, many started but cancelled IVF cycles, 2 actual IVF cycles, and now the miscarriage- and nothing but an empty heart (and wallet) to show for it.....we know it is time to move on.
We count our blessings literally every day for Sophia - and I feel so fortunate to have been able to experience carrying her and giving birth to her. But it's our hearts desire to have a second child and now we get to experience something also miraculous and completely different, and of course special.
Bill and I have had many more conversations than we'd like to about this extremely big decision - it's not as easy as we had thought. It is a very very difficult decision. But our hearts are guiding us in this direction and the reality of bringing home a baby within a year or so (+ or -) puts a smile on both of our faces - it's time to feel this good again. We have signed paper work and put down "some money" with a company called AIS (Adoption Information Services) who came highly recommended to us by a couple we were put in touch with via mutual friends. Madeline and Jimmy are young, 29, and have spent many years and 4 failed IVF's trying to have their own child. Now - thanks to AIS they have a 1 year old amazing baby boy adopted from FL, and they hope to adopt again soon one day.
We are excited and very nervous as there are A LOT of ups and downs and highs and lows with adopting. But we've had more than our fair share of these times with our infertility journey which has brought us closer in our marriage, and much stronger. So we feel we are prepared to deal with what comes our way and knowing in the end there is a baby that we will be so fortunate to bring into our lives, it will be all worth it - just as Sophia was. We are very excited that Sophia WILL be a big sister, we truly believe it will happen and we just pray sooner than later. I personally cannot wait to tell her that we, as a family, will be growing a baby in our hearts, unlike the traditional way - which she knows all about babies in bellies and asks about it often. But hopefully she will understand it somewhat, and get just as excited. She has a pretend brother named "Puck" that she talks to sometimes at the front door (I guess he's not allowed in the house). Well - maybe she knows something we don't about a baby brother :)
For the first time in years we see the light at the end of the tunnel - even though it won't be an easy journey - we are thankful and feel very fortunate that our lives are leading us down this blessed path.
And most importantly, thank you for your prayers and support and love.
Stay tuned to this site for updates. Later this week we have a conference call with AIS which will teach us a lot more about next steps, timeframe, etc.
xoxo
Tami
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