Switching Gears

After much thought and prayer we have decided to switch gears and adopt through the foster care system. This is something I've have always wanted to do and we are really excited to get started.

Its funny how we've been so set on private domestic adoption, but God just kept tapping on my heart. We have our orientation on Monday and I am ubber excited. We had actually started the process a few years ago through Fresno County but it wasn't really good timing for us at that point. I'm finally ready to finally see this dream become a reality.

Keep us in your prayers as we know this is not an easy road but are preparing for the challenges it has in store for us!

See what happens when I look?

I finished my autobiography and my questionnaire! Woo Hoo! Now I'm just waiting for Alex to get his done (which he's halfway finished with and I'm amazed. He has finals next week and I've been sweating him getting it done by our May 22nd deadline.)

As a way to congratulate myself for my hard work (it took me 2 FULL days to finish all those stinking questions), I decided I would just LOOK at baby stuff. You know, get ideas for what kind of crib I want and the type of bedding I'd like. I know I want something with yellow in it because its my favorite color. And while I was web surfing I found this...



The entire set is here

Do you SERIOUSLY know how hard I'm am trying to stop myself from buying this!!! One is because I'm worried about buying anything until after my homestudy is approved. Also because I'm debating on whether this is gender neutral. If you've seen what they consider "gender neutral" you'd probably think this is pretty close...

This would be ADORABLE in the "Lion's Den Nursery". Ughhhhh. Why did I ever even look!?!

Expectations?

I can't sleep.

I've been up for the last hour working on one of the home study questionnaires. The question I'm stuck on is:

What do you expect from your children?

Um, I want them to be happy and healthy..... right? Is that enough?


I want to put something eloquent and profound. Nothing is coming.


The other question I'm stuck on:

What aspects of child-rearing are important to you?

Can someone define child-rearing? That's "raising children" right?

This is Websters Definition

1. "The training or bringing-up of children by parents or parent-substitutes. It is used also for child rearing practices in different societies, at different economic levels, in different ethnic groups, etc. It differs from parenting in that in child rearing the emphasis is on the act of training or bringing up the child and the interaction between the parent and child, while parenting emphasizes the responsibility and qualities of exemplary behavior of the parent. "

So how is this question any different than the last 3 paragraphs I wrote on how I want to use positive discipline?!?

Yeah, I really need to go to bed....

Paper Pregnant

We've picked the agency that we want to work with (thank you Kirsten for the recommendation). Alex and I went to the information meeting Saturday and were able to get all of our questions answered and both felt good about moving forward with them. The staff was really nice and very knowledgeable and even though they are a large company they feel like a small office. They have locations in 4 states, but their Bay Area office is literally right down the street from us.

We've just gotten started on the home study paperwork, and boy there is a lot to fill out. I don't remember the last time I had to right a autobiography. Or when I last needed to discuss the things Alex and I usually have disagreements about. But hey, its going to be so worth it in the long run! Of course, I am having panic attacks thinking that we won't pass the home study (apparently that's a pretty common fear, but most people pass). We have a packet of paperwork to do before our weekend seminars at the end of the month. Hopefully I can get these done fast now that we are all moved. The average wait time for a match is 12 months, so we have awhile once our profile is up, but at least we will have our part done.

This is finally feeling real!