Meeting Adjourned

We met with Jen (birthmom) today for the first time.  I wasn’t nervous at all, except for about a half an hour before we got there, and then only a little nervous.  It was nice, having one adoption under our belt, knowing kind of what to expect.  I think Jen was pretty nervous at first but she opened up some as the meeting went on.  She’s pretty shy and quiet, but very sweet.  She has the most beautiful eyes and smile.  Her mom came with her to meet us and it was really nice to get to know her too.  We’re really excited to get to know both of them better over the next month and then more over the next 18 years or so, too.  Jen said that she was okay with us picking a name – something I’m super excited about.  We have a middle name picked and have it narrowed down to two first names and she liked both of them, so yay!  Now we just have to chose one!  She also said that she would like us to be as involved with the hospital process as much as we want and asked me to be in the room with her when she delivers.  I’m really excited that she wants me to be there.  I want to meet this little guy as soon as I can!

When John and I started researching adoption, openness in adoptions seemed so intimidating and scary.  You (somewhat selfishly) think you don’t want to have to commit keeping in touch and possibly meeting with some strange woman for the next 18 years, but the truth is she’s not some strange woman.  She is your precious child’s birthmom and you end up loving her, because you and she – you dearly love the same baby.  You end up waking up at night worrying about her, wondering if she’s okay.  You end up in some weird way wanting to ‘mother’ her.  I wish I could somehow tell other potential adoptive parents how much you end up loving the fact that you know your baby’s birthmom.  It’s not scary, it’s not inconvenient, it’s a blessing.  I am so grateful to have the privilege of knowing my son’s birthmoms.

So anyway, thank you everyone for your prayers today.  I know they helped!  Both John and I felt like things really went smooth and we’re excited to hopefully meet with Jen again soon.  Please keep praying for her too, her family has not been very supportive (other than her mom), and it’s been really hard on her.  Also she has some health issues that could make labor and delivery unsafe for her, so pray that the doctors will have wisdom in treating her.

 

~Katie

Details

So as most of you know from our Facebook status or an email – the birthmom who looked at our book last Wednesday chose us!!  We are beyond excited!

At this point I don’t have a ton of details, but I’ll share what I can.  The birthmom (we’ll call her Jen for now, to be respectful of her privacy) is due on June 21st with a baby boy. Lincoln’s going to have a baby brother!  She and the birthfather are both 21 years old.  Jen’s mom supports her adoption plan, but some of her other family members haven’t been as supportive, but she says that she won’t change her mind because she knows adoption is the right thing to do for her baby.  Throughout the pregnancy, Jen has smoked about 5 cigarettes a day, please don’t judge her, but pray that the baby is growing safe and healthy.  Also she’s only been getting prenatal care since March.  I read up a little on how smoking affects the baby during pregnancy and it’s some scary stuff, but I know that God is with him.  Jen wants to meet us, so we have a meeting set up for May 21st at 3:00 to meet with her and her pregnancy counselor.  We’re really excited to meet her.  A little nervous, but very excited!  The birthfather was hesitant about adoption at first but the last time the pregnancy counselor talked to him he seemed more open to it, so that’s good.  After what happened with Lincoln’s adoption, it’s a little hard not to worry about the birthfather contesting the adoption.

That night after we found out, to celebrate, we got McDonald’s for a picnic and then to a local baby clothes store.  We didn’t buy much but we did splurge on swim trunks (who could resist such tiny swim trunks?), and the outfit on the right, which is for Mr.Baby to come home from the hospital in!  Since getting the news, my nesting instincts have gone into overdrive – there is so much I want to organize, and sew, and do.  I’m feeling the pressure to get everything done that I thought I’d probably have a year or more to work on!  Last Friday I did a big day of freezer cooking and got about 10 meals prepared(2 lasagnas, 2 beef enchiladas, 3 chicken enchiladas, 2 bourbon chicken, and 16 breakfast burritos).  I don’t want to have to think too hard about dinner once the baby’s here.  Then this past weekend, John and I have been trying to work together on some things around the house.  Installing baby gates, setting up the Pack & Play sleeper next to the bed, stuff like that.  Today I got out all the newborn clothes out of storage.  Since Lincoln was born in February, I didn’t think I’d find very much that we’d be able to use but I was pleasantly surprised.  I ended up with a decent sized pile of clothes, so today is all about laundry!  I love how tiny newborn stuff is – it’s just ridiculously cute!  

Please pray over our meeting on the 21st, it can be a little nerve wracking and awkward for everyone involved.  Also pray for Jen, that she would continue to have peace and receive more support from her family and friends.

Thank you guys for all your prayers and support! 

~Katie

So it begins…

Hi everyone!  We wanted to share some news with you.  We're adopting again! 

We contacted our case worker about six weeks ago, excited to get started with another adoption only to find out that the fees had nearly doubled since Lincoln’s adoption last year.  The fees have gone up to $21,000 compared to the $13,000 in fees we spent for Lincoln’s adoption.  When we found that out, I pretty much cried for a week straight.  And then one morning I just told myself that God must have something different for our family and I was okay with that, I really was.  I had peace and I didn’t really spend too much time thinking about it after that day.

Then out of the blue two weeks ago, our caseworker contacted me and told me that she had talked to her supervisor and convinced the branch manager, to discount our fees of $3,750 which would bring our fees down to $17,250.  To us that was huge!  We pretty much immediately said “Let’s do this!”  So even though that’s still a lot of money for us we feel like this is God’s will for our family so we’re stepping out in faith.  We’re going to apply for just about every grant we can find but there’s no guarantee we’ll get one or any for that matter, so we’re also going to be doing some fundraising.  If you have any creative ideas for fundraising let us know!

John had that week off right after we found out about the fees and we were able to get all of our paper work and appointments done in just one week!  Usually that takes a couple of months to do, at least!  Plus our case worker case worker got our fingerprint clearance back unusually fast and I was able to get our profile book done and ordered in record time!  I feel like I can see God’s hand moving things along so smoothly for us.  Makes me wonder if there’s a baby out there that needs us sooner rather than later, but I don’t want to jinx it! :)  So our home study is almost completed, our case worker has her report written, she’s just waiting on a few of our references (you know who you are:)) and then we’ll go into the waiting pool again! 

We actually heard from our case worker yesterday and there's a baby boy due in June who's birth mother will be looking at our profile book (among several others) on Wednesday! We didn't expect to have our book shown before our home study was (technically) complete but we're excited about the possibility.  So please pray, if you would, for this birth mom on Wednesday. Even if she doesn't choose us she could use our prayers. Also pray for us as we are starting this journey again. It's a little intimidating but we feel confident that God is with us and this is His plan for us. If you have any fundraising ideas or want to donate $17,000, please let me know.

 

Katie