Slow Down Tiger!

Well, after hearing more about the situation out in Oklahoma, we decided against pursuing it.  I think that one factor for both of us was that we were feeling like it was all happening just a little too fast!  I think it will be good for us to be a little more ready (nursery-ready and mentally-ready!) before jumping right in.  We would like to have a few things settled first.  One of the things that I wanted to have worked-out in my mind is about adoptive breastfeeding.  (now you know that Jeff is not the one posting this one.  Ha!)  Sometimes it takes a little preparation to accomplish this feat.  I'm still collecting info and hoping that it can happen for me.  At any rate, my wonderful mom talked through a bunch of this stuff with me yesterday and assured me that she will help get everything ready if the need arises and we aren't there yet.  So, I am feeling much better about everything.  Thank God for supportive moms!  So, we are now waiting for the next available situation that matches us and we will let you know when it happens!  

On another note, we finally got our family profiles finished and sent off to the 4 agencies.  Getting that completed was a load off of my mind.  And the profile is amazing!!  The consultants we are working with did a GREAT job putting it together.  Wish I could post it somehow, but haven't figured out a way to do that yet.  

We are so appreciative of all of you who are praying for us and sending us emails of encouragement.  We are so glad we have such supportive friends and family!

We Will be Presented to Our First Birthmom Tomorrow!

Hey Everyone,

Please be praying for us!  A situation just came up with a birthmom in Oklahoma who is expecting on September 19th!!  Oh my goodness!  Our consultant, Amy, just emailed to let me know and to ask if we wanted the birthmom to see our profile.  They are going to email it and our homestudy (a document from our case worker stating that we are approved as adoptive parents) over today since we haven't gotten a chance to send all of our applications out yet. Craziness!  We know that God has picked out the perfect child for us and that He is working on our behalf behind the scenes with all of the timing.  Jeff and I are definitely learning how to rely and trust in Him for the outcome.  We know that He knows what is best for us as individuals and as a family.  So glad for God in our lives!

Our House Needs to Sell!

As most of you know, we are in the process of selling our home.  This house has been a labor of love.  It is somewhat hard to sell because we have lived here since getting married and have put so much work and effort into it.  It has somewhat felt like our own "baby" for the past 4 years.  We attached a few photos for those who haven't seen it since Jeff's bachelor days! : ) Feel free to check out our entire home tour here.  Now it is completely finished and we need to move!  Hopefully, we will be in our new house for a long, LONG time!  

We would love to be able to sell and move before our baby arrives, but this may not be a reality.  Once our house does sell, we are considering moving to the Roswell/Alpharetta area since they have such a great school system plus great friends!  It will be quite the change from living so close to downtown!  We would love to buy a house with a big backyard and a guest room on the main for my mom to get around easily.  But, step number one is to sell this house!  

The Crib is in the House!

My wonderful mom came into town on Saturday and she went with me to Babies R Us to begin the registry process.  While there, I also checked out a crib that I found in the book "Baby Bargains".  I loved it!  So, Jeff and I went back after lunch to buy the crib.  It turned out that the crib was in stock, so voila!  We now have a crib in the house.  Sure, it is bare right now, but soon enough, it will not only have a mattress and sheets, but a baby too!

Our Family Profile

Jeff and I are waiting on our family profile to arrive and then we are ready to send off all of our adoption paperwork to the 4 agencies we will be mainly working with.  A family profile is a creative way to share with a birthmom your life as a family and couple.  When Jeff and I are interested in an available situation, our profile is then presented to the birthmom for her consideration.  We can't wait to get our profile out there!  There are a lot of available situations right now on the websites of the agencies we are working with.  One situation is for a baby to be delivered next month (yikes!), gender unknown.  We have been thinking about adopting a boy (since we will have a China girl), but we may be open...  We will keep you posted!

Applications: A Necessary Evil

It's easier to get pregnant if you can....if not, then expect a mountain of paperwork and a need for openness (bordering on intrusive) in the giving of personal information and your life history. After about three applications, it becomes tedious answering the same questions over and over again....what are your hobbies, what are your talents, what is your marriage like, what is your partner like, what is your salary, what is your net worth....you get the point. Anyway, the end justifies the intrusiveness and it will all be worth it when we can finally hold a little one in our arms.  -Jeff

China Adoption Detour

Some of you may know that our Chinese adoption has balloned to an undefinable timeline. Our best guess could be our worst, but it could be 2010 before we get our little girl (who is likely not to have been born yet). We submitted our dossier in October of 2006 and the timeline keeps getting longer. So, Tracey and I have decided to pursue a domestic adoption in tandem with our China adoption.

Having met with our adoption consulting agency, Christian Adoption Consultants, we could potentially have a referral in 4 months! WOW! This timeline is based on their experience with those couples starting from scratch. Since we are pros at this (Home Study done), it potentially could be in the next month! Double WOW!

We created this blog to help our friends and family understand where we are in the process and to document our adoption as things progress and new members are added to our family! We definitely need your prayers as we are in the process of a lot of change. Thanks so much for keeping in touch!- Jeff