Adoption Meeting

Last Friday, we had our first of two adoption meetings. We decided to go to Raleigh the night before to eliminate any traffic issues, and well to spend some time together away from home. We love to go on little getaways, and we know that we may not have as many once Little Miracle comes, which is fine with us.
We had such a great day on Friday! I have to admit that I was a little nervous and apprehensive meeting other couples in the same place as us, wanting the same thing. I didn't want to feel like it was a competition, but these will be the ones whose profiles will be out at the same time as ours. It is so wrong to feel that way, but I am just being vulnerable.
When we got there and chose our seats, I wanted to introduce myself. I began talking to the couple beside us, and what do you know...they are from Winston too! It was so awesome! We hit it offright away and planned on going to lunch. During lunch, we had a great time getting to know each other and plan on getting together in the future.
It was great to meet all of the Bethany staff in person but what was so special was to see God first in there life and mission. They talked about our motivation to adopt. I love this that they said: "Bethany is not finding families for children, but children for families." We learned about the risk factors of the babies and even as a newborn, they face loss. We have to try and make sense of the past and become realistic of the future. This is our journey, but more importantly, God is on our journey with us.
Another powerful point was in discussing God's perfect plan: "Did God say okay fish, flop around for a few days, I haven't created water yet? No, God created water first for the fish to swim in." love it!
When a birthmother goes through her counseling and then birth, they get a basket from Bethany that includes a journal, devotion book, Bible, and personal needs. They told us that most of them come during their third tri-mester and that they are with them when they make their adoption plan and decisions. The staff told us that we will meet atleast once with the birthmom and then at the hospital. It is so hard to go from theory to reality.
It was most powerful to hear about the open adoption process. Ty and I had many myths and wonders about open vs. semi and even closed. We decided that we want an open adoption...to build trust, have a long term relationship, enable us to keep in touch for the future, and allow our child to know their mother and maybe even father. We thought that an open adoption meant that they had to come to Thanksgiving, etc. It is not the case at all. We have an adoption covenant that we set up together.
I asked lots of questions, especially when four sets of adoptive couples came in, along with a birthmom. It was very touching to see their babies and get to get some answers.
We learned so much about what was coming up next...which is that we should get our financial contract and then our social worker will contact us for the home study interviews. We got to meet them, and we don't know which one will be ours though. Leah (our adoption specialist) complimented us on how fast we have gotten everything done and good all of our paperwork looks so far. She is a hoot I tell ya!
Home Study looks like: 1. joint meeting interview 2. separate interviews 3. home visit 4. pastor visit (usually same day as home visit). They will have thirty days to write up the assessment...then we can show our profile online and at the agencies :) followed by the dreaded wait.
Many of the couples there were doing the domestic newborn program, but a few were pursuing international or older sibling adoption. It seemed as though many of the people there were behind us in the process. The next meeting will be the first of April where we will learn about our profiles and how to make the book/video. I am hoping to get started before then.
We both left and felt that God confirmed our hearts and the perfect plan for builiding our family through adoption. We are so excited about moving forward with this journey. After a long discussion on the ride home, we decided to shift our prayers to praying for our future birthmom. We have been SO blessed this far with our paperwork and now we need to begin praying harder for our birthparents. We covet your prayers for our birthparents too.
When we got home, our financial contract was already in our mailbox! God is good, real good.

Intense but exciting...

Yesterday, mom and I went to register Little Miracle at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. I chose to register there because they have a great baby section and a lot of the things that I want, they carry...and Babies 'R Us doesn't. It was a lot of fun, but yet so intense. I have researched and read reviews of tons of categories/products but I still felt unprepared with some things.

I am very excited about registering here because they have free shipping when you purchase something from a registry! That works out great for out of town family and friends.

One really neat thing was that when I filled out the paper to get started, I had to put my "due date" which obviously we don't know. So I randomly picked June 21st. Wouldn't it be SO crazy if the baby was actually born that day? Cool, huh? I hope it is before then, but Summer would be an awesome time.

Here is a picture of me registering for bottles.