WHAT an amazing two days!
Chris and I had our pre-adoption classes this past week on Thursday and Friday. I'm pretty sure that our heads haven't exactly stopped spinning yet. We were given SO much great information and have a lot to think about and process. All in all we had a great time learning more and meeting some amazing people who have chosen adoption as a way to grow their families.
We were assigned a small group and I have to say that our small group had to be the best! There were three other couples, all with different stories and all great people. We really had a great time getting to know them and learning from their questions and insight. I look forward to following their journey's to their little ones.
The next step of the process is to complete a packet of "self study" questions. We've only breifly looked at the questions and I'm itching to get started, but really want to process more of what we learned this past week before I start diving in. We've already learned so much about ourselves and I'm pretty sure that's just begun. :) We're learning that we have a lot to talk about and a lot to think about as we begin this process so that we're ready to be the best parents we can be.
We hope you are all well!!!
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Saturday, February 2, 2008
ADOPTION UPDATE!!!
YAY!!! Here's the important stuff!
A while ago Chris and I decided that it was more than time to add to our little family. It's seeming as if God's plan is a bit different in this area that what we had anticipated so we've begun the adoption process. I spent some time looking at different adoption agencies and requesting information from a few so we could compare a bit. On Saturday December 15th Chris and I went to a three hour informational meeting at Children's Home Society. It was a great overview of adoption that included information on both international and domestic adoption. Both of us felt such a huge sense of peace during that meeting and after praying about it we decided that we were ready to formally start the process and turned in our first paper and fee that following Monday, Dec 17th.
Shortly after that we received the first bigger packet in the mail. We worked on this packet through the holidays and turned it in with our second fee on Thursday, Jan 17th when we went to our first individual meeting at Children's Home Society. We had initially signed up to attend a class on openess in adoption but since the class was cancelled, they offered to meet with us individually. It was SO great to sit down with two of their social workers and just chat about adoption and their program. We felt so free to ask all of our questions and became even more excited about our decision to adopt and about the choice we had made to go through Children's Home Society. The next step is to attend PAC (Pre-Adoption Classes) on February 21st and 22nd. I can't wait to learn more and start the next part of this journey!
The first packet...
Those of you who have gone through the adoption process are going to laugh, but WOW is there a lot of stuff in that first packet? I think both of us had a touch of carpel tunnel after that! :) We did our physicals, had our fingerprints done, had three amazing sets of people write reference letters, signed off on many background checks, gave them a copy of our birth certificates and our marriage license, our taxes, and enclosed a recent picture of us and Tigo. Hmmmm what else. I can't even list what else was in there, but I'm pretty sure they know more about us than we do ourselves!!! We were going to take pictures of the finger printing, but forgot our camera. :( Sorry! It was a great time though!
Domestic or International...
We've decided at this point that we want to pursue a domestic adoption. Financially this is more reasonable for us at this point as the cost for most international adoption is much greater than domestic adoption. We'll learn more at our PAC classes and make our final decision at that time. We do know that with domestic adoptions many times you are matched with a birth mother prior to delivery. In such a case we could possibly even attend the birth and even be with the birth mother in the delivery room. How amazing would that be?
Open Adoption...
Children's home society only facilitates open adoptions. This would mean that we would have information on the birth mother and would more than likely create the adoption plan with her. The degree of openess would be something that we and the birth mother would agree on together and may include just letters and pictures or could include her visiting the child. One of the advantages of open adoption is that we will have information on the birth mother and possibly even her family including a medical history that may be very helpful to our child someday.
Timeline...
Even though, as I commented before, the first packet included a LOT of info on us, the process has really only begun. We have a long way to go. Nothing really is happening at this point as we wait to attend the PAC classes, and I'm sure that this is the first of many long waits. We were told that the process in total takes about 3-4 months to complete the home study, and then we could be matched with a birth mother in as little as 4 days to longer than 2 years.
We'll first attend PAC classes and then we'll have three more meetings with a social worker that is assigned to us. During that time we'll create our profile which will include pictures and our "Dear Birth Mother" letter. When our home study is complete we'll be placed on the "Waiting Family" list and our profile will go in a book and on-line for birth mothers to read. Typically the birth mother will look through the files and choose who they would like to meet. We'll meet with her and she will choose if we are the family that she wants to create an adoption plan with.
If she chooses us and we feel that it is a good match, we will then begin the process of determining the degree of openess and write a "script" of sorts for the delivery day. The birth mother has to wait 72 hours after the birth and can wait for up to 60 days to sign the adoption papers. She then will have 10 days after signing to change her mind. During that time, she decides where the baby is to be. She can choose to have the baby go with us to our home, take the baby to her home, or can place the baby in a Children's Home Sociey foster home.
We pray of course that the process will go smoothly for us and that we will be chosen quickly by a birth mom who is sure that this is what she wants to do. Children's Home Society is more than an adoption agency in that they are a pregnancy counseling center. The women who choose to do adoption plans have been counseled extensively and this gives me peace knowing that by the time of the birth they have thought deeply about their decision. God is amazing and is in charge. He has an ultimate plan for our lives and for our family. May we remain strong in our
faith and patience as he reveals His plan for us.
We'll keep you posted more regularly as we journey through this amazing process. :)
God Bless!
A while ago Chris and I decided that it was more than time to add to our little family. It's seeming as if God's plan is a bit different in this area that what we had anticipated so we've begun the adoption process. I spent some time looking at different adoption agencies and requesting information from a few so we could compare a bit. On Saturday December 15th Chris and I went to a three hour informational meeting at Children's Home Society. It was a great overview of adoption that included information on both international and domestic adoption. Both of us felt such a huge sense of peace during that meeting and after praying about it we decided that we were ready to formally start the process and turned in our first paper and fee that following Monday, Dec 17th.
Shortly after that we received the first bigger packet in the mail. We worked on this packet through the holidays and turned it in with our second fee on Thursday, Jan 17th when we went to our first individual meeting at Children's Home Society. We had initially signed up to attend a class on openess in adoption but since the class was cancelled, they offered to meet with us individually. It was SO great to sit down with two of their social workers and just chat about adoption and their program. We felt so free to ask all of our questions and became even more excited about our decision to adopt and about the choice we had made to go through Children's Home Society. The next step is to attend PAC (Pre-Adoption Classes) on February 21st and 22nd. I can't wait to learn more and start the next part of this journey!
The first packet...
Those of you who have gone through the adoption process are going to laugh, but WOW is there a lot of stuff in that first packet? I think both of us had a touch of carpel tunnel after that! :) We did our physicals, had our fingerprints done, had three amazing sets of people write reference letters, signed off on many background checks, gave them a copy of our birth certificates and our marriage license, our taxes, and enclosed a recent picture of us and Tigo. Hmmmm what else. I can't even list what else was in there, but I'm pretty sure they know more about us than we do ourselves!!! We were going to take pictures of the finger printing, but forgot our camera. :( Sorry! It was a great time though!
Domestic or International...
We've decided at this point that we want to pursue a domestic adoption. Financially this is more reasonable for us at this point as the cost for most international adoption is much greater than domestic adoption. We'll learn more at our PAC classes and make our final decision at that time. We do know that with domestic adoptions many times you are matched with a birth mother prior to delivery. In such a case we could possibly even attend the birth and even be with the birth mother in the delivery room. How amazing would that be?
Open Adoption...
Children's home society only facilitates open adoptions. This would mean that we would have information on the birth mother and would more than likely create the adoption plan with her. The degree of openess would be something that we and the birth mother would agree on together and may include just letters and pictures or could include her visiting the child. One of the advantages of open adoption is that we will have information on the birth mother and possibly even her family including a medical history that may be very helpful to our child someday.
Timeline...
Even though, as I commented before, the first packet included a LOT of info on us, the process has really only begun. We have a long way to go. Nothing really is happening at this point as we wait to attend the PAC classes, and I'm sure that this is the first of many long waits. We were told that the process in total takes about 3-4 months to complete the home study, and then we could be matched with a birth mother in as little as 4 days to longer than 2 years.
We'll first attend PAC classes and then we'll have three more meetings with a social worker that is assigned to us. During that time we'll create our profile which will include pictures and our "Dear Birth Mother" letter. When our home study is complete we'll be placed on the "Waiting Family" list and our profile will go in a book and on-line for birth mothers to read. Typically the birth mother will look through the files and choose who they would like to meet. We'll meet with her and she will choose if we are the family that she wants to create an adoption plan with.
If she chooses us and we feel that it is a good match, we will then begin the process of determining the degree of openess and write a "script" of sorts for the delivery day. The birth mother has to wait 72 hours after the birth and can wait for up to 60 days to sign the adoption papers. She then will have 10 days after signing to change her mind. During that time, she decides where the baby is to be. She can choose to have the baby go with us to our home, take the baby to her home, or can place the baby in a Children's Home Sociey foster home.
We pray of course that the process will go smoothly for us and that we will be chosen quickly by a birth mom who is sure that this is what she wants to do. Children's Home Society is more than an adoption agency in that they are a pregnancy counseling center. The women who choose to do adoption plans have been counseled extensively and this gives me peace knowing that by the time of the birth they have thought deeply about their decision. God is amazing and is in charge. He has an ultimate plan for our lives and for our family. May we remain strong in our
faith and patience as he reveals His plan for us.
We'll keep you posted more regularly as we journey through this amazing process. :)
God Bless!
Updates on life....
I'm sorry that I haven't posted for SUCH a long time... here's a rundown of what's been happening since I last took the time to update here.
The holidays were great and we've been surviving winter. We were able to celebrate both with Chris' family and with my family in Iowa. The few days before Christmas are always spent with Chris' family making home-made Tamales. Chris is the mole (mo-lay) king and succeeded once again this year by making one of the best pots ever. The day before Christmas Eve we missed Ann and Mike, but the rest of us spent the evening putting the tamales together. Barb soaks the corn husks ahead of time so that they are moist and ready to go. She also mixes the masa so that it can be spread on the husks to form the outside of the tamale. I graduated to being able to help mix the masa this year. WOW is that ever hard. I think I've decided that I'm not "Mrs Mendez" enough to take responsibility for that job! :) Barb can keep that one for a while! When the first bowl of masa is ready, we all spread the masa with spoons on the husks, pile them, and give them to Vicky. Vicky is both quality control and the "filler." She ensures that each tamale is filled and has at least two pieces of pork. The tamales are then all placed in a huge pot to steam for about 3 hours. All in total we made about 300 tamales. Some are eaten right out of the pot that first night, but the majority of them are eaten on Christmas Eve after church. The rest are frozen to enjoy later. What a great tradition that we'll be able to share with our children someday!
Most of New Years Eve weekend was spent at my parent's in Iowa. We got to see a lot of my family and shared a great meal with them as well. It was nice to have a longer weekend to really spend time with my parents. I wish we were able to see them more often than we are able to. We also were able to see many of my siblings and their family's as well. One of my personal highlights was to be able to see my niece Nicole just before baby Chloe was born! What an AMAZING thing!
We drove back to the cities on New Years Eve day and spent the evening at Mike and Ann's with friends! Good snacky food, good people, adorable little ones, and the Nintendo Wii!!! How much more fun could you ask for? I'm a bit ashamed to admit, but we didn't make it to midnight! I think we actually went to bed around 10pm. Are we old or what? :)
We've had a great visit with our friend Steven who also is a proud owner of the Wii. He brought it along with him and we literally spent ALL weekend playing it. We took a short break for meals, but spent the majority of the time playing Rayman rabbits. (I think that's the name!)
Ohhh and Guitar hero! We can't wait to see Steven again and play again! We are SO close to getting enough plungers so Rayman can get out of his cell at the collaseum!!! PLEASE come back soon Steven!!! :)
Work is going well. It seems like with the economy being unfortunately what it is right now, that work for me is SUPER busy. However, Chris isn't working right now. No one is building and so there isn't a huge need for electricians. We're praying hard and trying to discern what God has for him. He's an amazing electrician and it's hard to think about doing something else but God's plan is perfect. We're willing to follow it, we just have to decide what that is! :) He is faithful and won't leave us stranded. Please pray for wisdom for us and direction.
Tigo is good. Funny and loveable as ever. He's enjoying Chris being home and has been taking FULL advantage of it. I'm not sure if he or Chris will have a harder time being apart from one another when Chris begins working again. :) Maybe you could pray for both of them in this as well??? :)
Well, that's about it as far as an update. I was a TERRIBLE picture taker and we actually don't even have a picture of our Christmas tree this year! I promise to get some more pictures on here as soon as I can! We've charged our camera and it's ready to go! Read on... I'm going to blog separately for the most important thing that's going on in our life!
Blessings to you!
The holidays were great and we've been surviving winter. We were able to celebrate both with Chris' family and with my family in Iowa. The few days before Christmas are always spent with Chris' family making home-made Tamales. Chris is the mole (mo-lay) king and succeeded once again this year by making one of the best pots ever. The day before Christmas Eve we missed Ann and Mike, but the rest of us spent the evening putting the tamales together. Barb soaks the corn husks ahead of time so that they are moist and ready to go. She also mixes the masa so that it can be spread on the husks to form the outside of the tamale. I graduated to being able to help mix the masa this year. WOW is that ever hard. I think I've decided that I'm not "Mrs Mendez" enough to take responsibility for that job! :) Barb can keep that one for a while! When the first bowl of masa is ready, we all spread the masa with spoons on the husks, pile them, and give them to Vicky. Vicky is both quality control and the "filler." She ensures that each tamale is filled and has at least two pieces of pork. The tamales are then all placed in a huge pot to steam for about 3 hours. All in total we made about 300 tamales. Some are eaten right out of the pot that first night, but the majority of them are eaten on Christmas Eve after church. The rest are frozen to enjoy later. What a great tradition that we'll be able to share with our children someday!
Most of New Years Eve weekend was spent at my parent's in Iowa. We got to see a lot of my family and shared a great meal with them as well. It was nice to have a longer weekend to really spend time with my parents. I wish we were able to see them more often than we are able to. We also were able to see many of my siblings and their family's as well. One of my personal highlights was to be able to see my niece Nicole just before baby Chloe was born! What an AMAZING thing!
We drove back to the cities on New Years Eve day and spent the evening at Mike and Ann's with friends! Good snacky food, good people, adorable little ones, and the Nintendo Wii!!! How much more fun could you ask for? I'm a bit ashamed to admit, but we didn't make it to midnight! I think we actually went to bed around 10pm. Are we old or what? :)
We've had a great visit with our friend Steven who also is a proud owner of the Wii. He brought it along with him and we literally spent ALL weekend playing it. We took a short break for meals, but spent the majority of the time playing Rayman rabbits. (I think that's the name!)
Ohhh and Guitar hero! We can't wait to see Steven again and play again! We are SO close to getting enough plungers so Rayman can get out of his cell at the collaseum!!! PLEASE come back soon Steven!!! :)
Work is going well. It seems like with the economy being unfortunately what it is right now, that work for me is SUPER busy. However, Chris isn't working right now. No one is building and so there isn't a huge need for electricians. We're praying hard and trying to discern what God has for him. He's an amazing electrician and it's hard to think about doing something else but God's plan is perfect. We're willing to follow it, we just have to decide what that is! :) He is faithful and won't leave us stranded. Please pray for wisdom for us and direction.
Tigo is good. Funny and loveable as ever. He's enjoying Chris being home and has been taking FULL advantage of it. I'm not sure if he or Chris will have a harder time being apart from one another when Chris begins working again. :) Maybe you could pray for both of them in this as well??? :)
Well, that's about it as far as an update. I was a TERRIBLE picture taker and we actually don't even have a picture of our Christmas tree this year! I promise to get some more pictures on here as soon as I can! We've charged our camera and it's ready to go! Read on... I'm going to blog separately for the most important thing that's going on in our life!
Blessings to you!
Meet my gorgeous new niece!!!
This is CHLOE!!! Isn't she sweet? Chloe was born to my niece Nicole on Jan 26, 2007!
Welcome to the world little one!
I may be a bit partial, but isn't she one of the cutest babies you have EVER seen?
We're so excited to get to visit her tomorrow and I can't wait to get those little cheeks!
May she grow strong and healthy and know that she is loved more than she could ever imagine by all of us and the One who created her!
Bless you baby Chloe!
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