Still moving forward!

Well everyone, we are still here. Still moving forward in our adoption process.

We have booked our official consult with our agency for Tuesday next week, a couple hours after that we will finish our home study, and I'm sure it will be moments after that that I will drop off all the required paperwork at Social services to be sent the agency ASAP. So, we're moving ahead quite quickly. Last week we printed off our profiles, or brochures that seemingly sell us as parents. That was a very exciting day for me!

Today I'm trying to get organized and organize our next fundraising, which I can hopefully tell you about soon, just a few more details need to be confirmed. But at this point in time the tentative date is Oct 26 in the afternoon. So keep your calendar open!

God continues to bless us and stretch us as we journey through this. I feel like I'm really starting to reach a point of complete impatience - or maybe that's just this week and it will wear off in a few days. In the meantime I'm trying to figure out lovely things like citizenship and immigration which seems to be not fun at all. And all at the same time I'm dreaming (and tearing up as I dream) about the day I get to meet my baby. I'm telling you all now that it will be the best day of my life!

Keep praying for us as we try to figure out all our fundraising efforts. It takes a couple minutes of thinking about it for me to start freaking out so..... pray, pray and pray some more please!

We love and thank you for all your support, sorry the blog is a little lame today.... brain is still trying to workout some fundraising details.

Wait list.... uh, what wait list?

Hey everyone, I just have some really exciting news that I wanted to share. My heart is full of so much joy and hope today, so I just had to share it with you guys.

So, our home study will be complete on Oct 1, but thankfully our adoption agency is allowing us to get some of the logistical stuff out of the way now. We will be sending in some fees (thank you adoption fund) and application papers so we can have our formal consult with the agency. Usually, they like for your home study to be complete, but they are letting us do ours a bit early. This way we can hopefully get everything else to them as soon as our home study is done.... so, like, Oct 2 (at least in my mind).

My biggest news though, is about the wait list. After we apply to our agency people are first put on a waiting list. I have been informed that typically you are on the wait list for 4-6 months before you are 'actively waiting'. Well I spoke with our agency this morning and apparently they only have 2 couples, THAT'S RIGHT, TWO, on the waiting list. So it's expected that we will be going onto an active list almost immediately after we apply. This makes my heart really happy. My baby could already be growing in someone's belly.

God is good to us. He puts up with me as I am so ridiculously impatient, and still blesses us.

So I'm very excited as I go to the bank to get a money order for our adoption agency. That adoption fund has been wonderful as we haven't had to pay any out of pocket expenses yet. Today we're taking out our biggest withdrawal yet.

So excited to be getting so close, and feeling incredibly hopeful for the months to come.

Fantasy #95 : adopting a child.

So today I'm brainstorming for our next big fundraiser for our adoption and I'm googling all sorts of stuff, then of course I make my way onto Jack FM's website as they are having a big contest called 94 ways to get your Jack on. They are giving away 94 fantasy prizes. Some of them of pretty awesome and I would definitely be ok winning one of those, although I must say I was hoping that there was a prize for an all inclusive adoption.

I'm deeming prize #95 an all expense paid adoption. Or at least I was hoping it would've been on the list. But then again maybe that's not what people want these days.... to take care of the orphans. Maybe that would be more appealing if it didn't come with such a huge price tag! Well no matter how lame of a fantasy this is - it's my fantasy and I'm working towards it.

Don't get me wrong - fundraising has been incredibly humbling and necessary process. And although I wish I could win the lottery or meet some stranger like on those secret millionaire shows or like undercover boss who would love to give me money - that's just not reality. I'm the kind of person who is aware that things take work. I know that although we love to believe we are going to win the jackpot, that it doesn't happen regularly. So here I am back at the drawing board. Fundraising... fundraising, and more fundraising.

After only thinking about this for an hour, I've become frustrated and stressed. No wonder this cold sore is taking over my entire mouth. The truth is, I hate selling stuff. I hate bothering people. That's why I don't sell stuff for a living. Fundraising is an incredibly humbling, frustrating process. And it's a necessary evil that we need to do if we don't want to take out a second mortgage in order that we can have kids.

Fundraising is so interesting because to me, everyone's selling crap you don't want. Here buy this t-shirt or this bracelet, etc, etc. It'd be nice if I could sell something that people needed in order to live. Buy these groceries and help us get a baby - well that'd be easy. I need these groceries, and it will help crazy lady get a baby. Bonus! Unfortunately unless I sell the groceries that I just bought from Costco and starve my current family - myself, my husband, my Dalmatian and my wiener dog - I won't be able to sell groceries or other things that people buy in order to live. Sigh.

In the meantime, I'm hoping that Jack FM will soon be revealing their 95th fantasy as adopting a child! I can always hope right?

Anyways, it's back to my fundraising drawing board. Hopefully I can think of something that doesn't sell you crap you don't need. Just thought I would share some of my random thoughts (or rant) with you.

On a positive, less depressed note - what is FREAKING amazing to me is that we have raised nearly $17,000 for our adoption! People - that is nearly half way there! in about $700 we will be half way to our goal of $35,000 which has blown me away. So I want to continue to thank you for your generosity and support. Even though I complain about my fundraising frustrations and discouragement, I want you to know that I NEVER take for granted how far we have come and the generosity of all of you!

Stay tuned for up coming fundraisers!

Continually loved.

Throughout this entire process Justin and I have felt nothing but love from pretty much every person who has been following us through this experience. We are continually blessed and humbled by the love that everyone continues to give us, all the time.

As many of you know, I play roller derby. My league (Pile O'bones Derby Club) is freaking amazing by the way. I played in our last bout this past weekend and was completely blown away as our league donated the proceeds from the night's 50/50 draw to our adoption fund! Justin and I were both completely shocked and felt so incredibly loved. So again I want to thank my amazing, wonderful league for your generous contribution. You guys have all been so incredibly loving and supportive as we have walked this difficult road, so thanks and lots of derby love to you all!

I know I had mentioned it a thousand times before, but I am FINALLY posting a picture of our puzzle front and back. Is your name on there? Minimum donation of $5 buys you a puzzle piece! Let's get this puzzle full of names!

I just want to, again send a huge thanks to everyone who has supported us prayerfully and financially. Since we decided to be open about this process we have only felt love and encouragement from those around us. We thought it would be tough to be open about all this, but it has truly been so freeing and has allowed us to grow and heal in ways we never thought would be possible. I lately have been thinking about the day that I meet my baby - I really should stop doing this because it usually makes me cry. But I am getting so excited for the day that all of you get to meet our baby too. This hasn't been a road journeyed alone, but rather a journey that you have all joined us on. We thank you so much for all your support and know that our family is so blessed with every single one of you.

THANK YOU!!!

Home study... Almost... done.

Hey everyone. So I thought I would quickly update you on how our home study went yesterday. It went well - consider yourself updated. Just jokes. It was good, we talked about parenting styles, discipline, money and openness in the adoption. We also touched on what we would be willing to accept - which is a really hard thing to say. We need to decide if we would accept babies that their moms used alcohol, marijuana, and other drugs - our choices are no use, small amounts or large amounts.... it's so hard to make decisions like this. So please pray for us as we make our decisions on what we will or will not accept in our child.

We have one more visit, it's on October 1. I have to admit I had a little bit of a meltdown after our home study. When we started this process it was like, "oh ya the home study takes like a month or just over a month to complete in Saskatchewan". Well ours will take three months. We started our home study July 2 and will finish it Oct 1. I thought I was doing good at being patient but I guess yesterday kinda threw me off. I know the woman conducting our home study is busy, but to wait a whole month before our next visit - our next visit is simply reading the report that she is going to write up - that's just really frustrating for me. I was really hoping to get in with our agency by August, and now it's looking more like November. I know I just need to calm down a bit, but I'm ready to be at the point where I am actually just waiting. And the actively waiting part is about 9 months from now....and we've been doing this for 9 months already.... ugh. I'm a little discouraged with our timeline, but I know that God has already chosen the child that will be coming into our home, and that gives me enough hope to get through today.

On another, less frustrating note. I wanted to share with you all that I recently just got a permanent part time job on the labour and birth unit! I'm so excited. I am really looking forward to getting my baby fix! I honestly feel like that is where I was meant to work. I don't start until Oct 14 (hey our home study will be done by then, look at that) but none the less, I'm excited. So if you are having a baby later this year, you may very well see me there!

Thanks for keeping up with the blog and sharing in our experiences, joys, frustrations and one day - our excitement as we get our baby. It really keeps us going that you guys care and share encouraging things with us through this process. Love all of you so much and thank you for your prayers.

A new perspective.

Well, today is the day that our social worker who is conducting our home study actually comes to our home and does more investigations into who we are. The control freak in me (thanks mom for this wonderful characteristic) wishes that the basement full of the boxes we haven't unpacked yet and other crap was organized, but I know she won't be judging us on how organized our home is. This happens in about three hours, so keep us in your prayers. I'm confident it will go just fine.

I have lots of people asking, usually people I see occasionally in passing like at work, where we are in our adoption and when our baby is coming. Sometimes I feel like a jerk when I laugh, which I usually do, but we are nine months into a process that is going to take about two years. So at least we're almost half way there? The funny thing is we are pursuing a program which has a real short wait time - so two years is considered short in adoption world. Our society really doesn't know about how long it takes, all the hoops you have to jump through in the adoption process, unless of course you are doing it. So I try to educate people. I keep saying I think 2014 will be our year! And I have faith that it will.

One thing that I have really been blessed with in this entire scenario is the many people that are in our lives that have struggled with infertility and who have, in the past, or are currently in the process of adopting. It's really cool for me to have people share their thoughts, experiences and feelings about everything. And sometimes it gives you a new perspective that you had never had before. I have recently had one of these experiences that I would like to share with you.

A few weeks ago we went to Alberta to go to Justin's brother's wedding. There we were blessed to see many family members we haven't seen in quite a while. Other members of Justin's extended family are also in the process of adopting which is a real encouragement to us. It was really neat to talk with them and hear their experiences and their insights. I was talking with Justin's cousin who lives in Ontario, April (their adoption blog is www.tuiningafamily.blogspot.ca check it out) about fundraising. I have mentioned before how humbling it is to pursue the fundraising route. How heavy it can be to know that people are giving you thousands of dollars - it is incredibly humbling. April shared with me an amazing insight on this topic that I have now taken as my motto in fundraising. In James 1:27 it tells us that we are called to look after the orphans and the widows, the ones that our society has outcast. Not all of us are called to specific things like adoption, but we are all called to do our part. I am giving you an opportunity to fulfill your calling from God - to take care of an orphan. Although it won't be directly you taking care of an orphan, your money will make it possible for us to take care of an orphan! For those who don't believe in Christianity that follow our blog - I would just say that I am giving you an opportunity to take care of an orphan, to make our world a better place. It's a different standpoint to have, but to look at us asking for your money as an opportunity is truly profound, to me anyways. Thanks April for this insight! Thanks to everyone who has already donated to our adoption! We look forward to our future fundraisers, and will let you know once we have everything organized.

James 1:27 "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

Update and some pictures of Africa!

Hey guys! so it's been way too long since I have blogged but I thought I should kind of update everyone on our lives! We have had a busy summer which unfortunately got me behind in our blogging - let's face it I've been falling behind for a while. We have been very blessed to visit with family that we haven't seen in a while and share what God has been doing in our lives.

Currently we are waiting to finish off our home study. We started the process in July and we hope to be done by the end of September at the latest. Our next visit is on September 5th and this visit is actually at our house. After that we will meet to look over the report our social worker will write up and then we will be getting ready to apply to our agency in Florida! It's so funny because stuff always seems to take longer than I would like, and at this point I am just starting to know and expect that everything will take much longer. For how impatient of a person I am, I am definitely getting a lesson of patience through this time. So in our adoption process itself - we haven't really moved much. But hey we are getting there.

I really want to express my gratitude to God and to all of our friends and family. I know that so many people who are experiencing infertility can feel stuck. Stuck in feelings and pain and anger. They can be experiencing this for years and still have all of those feelings feel so fresh and new. I am so grateful that we have been able to move forward and not get stuck. I have my days that are hard, but I feel so blessed that I can openly talk to people about our struggles in this area. It really helps me get through it and accept it. So thank you to all of you who have loved us, followed our blog, supported us financially or through prayer. We feel so incredibly honoured. We are moving forward at a slow, but somewhat steady pace I guess, and we are hoping that 2014 will be our year.

I also just wanted to point out that we have raised over $16,000 for our adoption already! We only have another $19,000 to raise before hitting our goal of $35,000! Hopefully (if I get on it soon), we will have some bigger fundraisers happening soon. Remember our puzzle piece fundraiser that we have going continually. minimum $5 donation gets your name on the back of a puzzle piece. When our baby comes home they will grow up seeing all the people who helped us get them into our home!

Just for fun, I thought I would finally post a few pictures that I had taken in Africa while I was there in June. I only just started going through all my pictures. Hope you enjoy these!

Thanks for sticking with our blog even though we have had a bit of a hiatus! I will be trying to blog more often now that summer is coming to a close and we have gotten more settled into our new home! Love you all and thanks for all your love and prayers!