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Adoption: Let The Adventure Begin

          I still can’t even believe everything that has happened over the past week! Nate and I walked into an adoption agency a week ago and began the process to become adoptive parents! We are so excited and we are already in love with the little one that is meant to be in our family. Some of you may be wondering how we have come to this decision so quickly, but to be honest with you, this is something Nate and I have planned on doing since before we were even married. When Nate and I were dating and discussing what we wanted for our future, I told him I wanted to adopt. He eagerly jumped on board and that was the very first step to get to where we are.
           When Nate and I talked about adoption, we always thought it was something in the distant future. We would own a house and Nate would be in his career. We planned on having a couple of biological children first and then we would begin adopting. This changed after I miscarried for a third time. An exploratory surgery revealed that I have a uterine abnormality making full term pregnancy possible, but difficult and risky. We had two specialists suggest surrogacy and while that may still be an option for us in the future, we prayerfully decided after my fourth and most recent miscarriage that our family will continue to grow through adoption.
            I can’t even begin to find the words to describe the excitement that Nate and I share knowing that we are on our way to adding a bundle of joy to our family. Everything about taking this next step in our lives feels right. My heart still aches over the children we have lost and not a day goes by that I don’t think of all of them. I wish more than anything that Nate and I were the parents of four healthy, happy and messy children instead of four perfect angels. After each loss I wondered if I could love another child the way I loved the baby we had just lost, but each time I got pregnant, my heart seemed to grow and more love found its way in. I knew I was ready to adopt when my heart grew yet again and I began to love a child that I don’t even know yet.
           Anyway, three days after deciding that we were ready to pursue adoption, we found ourselves in an adoption agency. Our application is turned in and our home study has started. The social workers we are working with have assured us that we are the perfect candidates and shouldn’t have any problems being chosen by a birth mother.  I kind of feel like I’m pregnant again! Just without the morning sickness… I won’t complain about that.
            So if any of you have researched adoption then you know adoption comes at a cost. Unfortunately the base cost is $32,000… (I take back the morning sickness statement.  I do feel a little nauseous about this number.) This does not include attorney fees, possible medical expenses for the birth mother, or travel expenses if the birth parent(s) live outside of our area. We have set a goal of $50,000 for the expenses included in the adoption process and so far we are at $4,000 between our savings and help from family. I know it doesn’t sound like a lot, but every little bit counts! Nate and I both work full time and have great jobs, but truth be told, it would take us years to save enough to adopt without doing fundraisers. We will be selling our dirt bikes, applying for adoption grants, doing a chili dinner fundraiser and auction and working as hard as we can to try and save/raise the $50,000 as fast as we possibly can. We would love for everyone who is willing and able, to attend our chili dinner and auction! (More info to come) Let me also say that the biggest way that you can help us is to share our parent profile on social media once it is up and running. The parent profile may take a couple of months to get up and running, so PLEASE share my blog to pass along the word that we are trying to adopt and then prospective birth parents can get to know us! You never know who could see it. You could be the reason a birth mother finds out about us and chooses us to adopt her child!

            We have a ways to go since we are just at the beginning, but we are moving forward. We have our physicals this week to get physicians clearance and our home inspection is next Wednesday. In the meantime I will keep myself occupied cleaning every corner of my house and filling out the next thousand forms required… Ok, so maybe that is a tiny bit of an exaggeration, but there really are a lot of forms! I will try to post frequently, so stay tuned to hear all about our adoption adventure!

Our adoption application is in!!!!

 This is just the beginning of the paperwork involved. It will totally be worth it though. :)

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