In My Shoes

ADOPTION ADVENTURES

"We're going to adopt" - About 11 months ago we announced this to all our friends and family!!!!!!

Four simple words, but there has been NOTHING SIMPLE about it!!!

Adoption presents an interesting 

contrast of emotions

* * * 

a juxtaposition of 

UNBELIEVABLE EXCITEMENT  

& 

UNBELIEVABLE DIFFICULTY!!!! 

Of course there is the exciting & emotional side to it. The planning, dreaming, announcing, shopping, crying, praying, sharing, waiting, anticipating,...etc. etc, etc

The Agency we've worked with has been amazing, but sometimes I think...

Can't they tell by looking at us that we are nice upstanding citizens. Cant they tell we are smart capable kind people. We SOOOOO strongly desire to fulfill Gods' mission to care for the fatherless. We have the ability to do it, so you'd think, with ALLLLL the needy children out there, they'd be eager to just throw us a few kids and call it done! LOL

But unfortunately thats NOT how it works!!! 

All our prideful kudos and emotional investment will not get us approved! 
HAHAHAHA!

You gotta WORK! You gotta give some blood, sweat, and tears in the legal side of things to really make it happen!!!

It's been 13 MONTHS now in the process and it's all been to get us to this point...
APPROVAL!!!

13 months of: 

Applications...

Interviews...

Classes...

Background checks...

Questionnaires...

Signing Papers...

Home inspections...

During the process, we've been asked the most probing, personal, and uncomfortable questions about our home, our family, our arguments, our intimate life, our past indiscretions... you name it - they've asked it (although I don't think they asked the name of my fish when I was seven years old - hahaha)

You just sit there and feel vulnerable. You realize its all for a reason and they are just trying to "get to know you", but you feel judged, you feel the need to have lived a perfect life.

Your weaknesses and strengths shed a different light when you feel like you may or may not get a baby based on your answer. And even though you know it's all legal and nothing is really personal, it's still hard. You have to be strong...

You have to think of the end result - 

once that baby is in our arms it will 

BE WORTH EVERY UNCOMFORTABLE SITUATION!!!!

*   *   *   *  

So as we have submitted needed information and participated in interviews, our social worker has created a Personal Profile all about us. This is a legal document and will NOT be shown to the birth family, but is strictly for legal purposes - for us, and also any facilitators or attorneys that will be working with us.

Our social worker recently presented this profile to her state supervisor for approval.

*This profile is what is pending approval right now. 

Again, we have worked for about 13 months to get to this point. Once we are all certified & approved 

we can legally begin the matching process 

to find us a birth family that best fits with our profile.

The Profile is an 11 page front and back DETAILED description of our life.

I thought I'd just share just a few of the thoughts... 

BELOW are 6 pictures of some paragraphs, so I hope you can read them...you may need to click on the picture and enlarge it to read it...

This whole process has just been so interesting - something new - a learning process!!!

~ Our Profile ~

~ Our Psychoanalysis ~ LOL!!!

~ Our Environment & Home ~

~ Family Lifestyle ~ 

~ Neil's Approval ~ 

~ DeAna's Approval ~