Back on Track!

He's growing too fast!

This shirt makes quite a statement in public, I love it!

Hi there!I keep saying I need to update this blog on our adoption journey. So here it is :) Many of you have been confused, and quite honestly we have too! That being said we are finally back on track!!!

Back in the summer we went to Orientation for Ethiopia program at the Gladney Center for Adoption. We were excited & began the process. We obtained pass ports, medical exams, & began the gov't paper work. It quickly became over whelming & expensive. My husband got cold feet to be honest. It frightens him to spend money! Plus the process was going to be very time consuming with a big long paper chase for the dossier to be completed & authenticated! So I could see his stress & frustration. We sat down & had the "money adoption talk" we came to the conclusion it was our best interest for our family to drop the Ethiopia program. I was grief stricken.... It took me a few months to grieve over this, b/c I really wanted to help a child in another country. I wanted to travel & bring supplies to different orphanages. I wanted to make a difference. But God had other plans for us. We talked some more and decided we wanted to try the newborn route once more.

We were terrified of this process, b/c of everything we have been through before Daniel. We still are nervous & frightened. How many birth mothers will change their mind before we have our baby in our arms? That being in our minds, we decided to put faith into Gladney. So in October we decided to attend Gladney's ABC orientation for domestic adoption. ABC stands for African American/Biracial children. It is very important to us for our children to relate to one another. So this program fits the needs for our family.

We almost had everything complete and were about to turn in our signed contract, and that's when we received the call about the 1yr old boy. We waited almost 3 months for that to work out, and it didn't . Stories didn't match & we didn't trust the process for adopting him. Once we finally received the paper work from the paternal gp's of the child, they wanted our SS#, dl, all financial, medical, & anything & everything about us sent to a PO Box. Uh, hi Red Flag! There wasn't a lawyer listed anywhere on the paper work. It may have been legit, they ask for autobiographies & everything an agency asked for. They wanted a complete closed adoption from the birth parents, but they could have our address & all our personal Identity. How do we know that it wasn't a personal identity theft or better yet the birth parents could find us & do their own personal identity theft or show up at our door to see the child. So I contacted the email on the paper work, and asked about their attorney. We were told there was one this whole time. I stated we weren't comfortable with this, unless they had an attorney to send this info too. They responded, but only wanted to know "How did we hear about the child?" No statement of their attorney or so forth. Sorry but it's 2009, you have to worry about this stuff & can't trust people. So we dropped it like a hot potato!! I hope the baby finds the right home & is ok.......

We also were told about a sibling group of a 1yr girl & 2yr old boy through Daniel's foster family. This sounded very good to us, we obtained the case worker's info on the children. They are to be available in April for adoption. We thought & prayed about this situation. It would be soo nice for the children to have similar connection with Daniel's story & where he came from. The foster Mom who have them live a few blocks over from Daniel's foster Mom. She also took Daniel whenever his foster family traveled or needed a fill in foster parent. Daniel's foster Mom is best friends with her. So that would be so special, but 3 toddlers!!! We decided it would be too much. With Dallas' schedule I am a single Mom 3-4 days a week. We know they will find the right family for these precious children.

With all that behind us, we have finally moved forward with Gladney!!! Our paper work, signed contract & 25% of program fee have been turned in to Betty our processing case worker! So no turning back! After all paper work is processed, then we will move on to the home study! I will be working on our family profile for birth mothers to view. Once our home study is completed & family profile is ready, then we are on the WAITING LIST!!! We will receive an 800 number for birth Mothers to contact us & a free online profile! So let the journey begin....... Thank you for your support & patience!!! It feels good to finally move forward!