Guess What Happened Today?

We haven't played a game on here in a very long time, I think we should.   Can you guess from these pictures what happened today (there is a common thread)?

Yup that's right, we are officially matched!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As luck would have it we actually found out about this little guy the day I quit my job 3 weeks ago.  So it has been a crazy emotional roller coaster the last couple of weeks.  We had the official meeting today and are working out a transition plan.   It is all very exciting and about the best birthday present ever!  

I will post more details later just needed to share this exciting update.

Emotional Roller Coaster

I realize it has been a while since I've posted and when two people mentioned that to me I decided it was time to provide a little update.   The last 6 weeks have been a bit of an emotional roller coaster for me and this has very little to do with the adoption.    Things have been pretty status quo there and I have learned to be patient and not let it get to me, at least I thought I was, but I'm getting ahead of myself here.

Over the last couple of months I decided it was time for me to move on from the company I have worked at for almost a decade.  I knew when we moved to Colorado that my career advancement opportunities were limited and after a lot of discussions with Dave we decided not to wait until things moved forward on the adoption front and to start searching for a new job.  Searching for a new job is stressful.   I am very fortunate that the right job came along.  It is a step up career wise which is great and very close to home which is better.

I have enjoyed working from home but I find myself getting lonely.  Days will go by and I haven't left the house or spoken to other people aside from Dave, and he doesn't always want to hear me babble.   I miss the social aspect of working in an office.  The downside of working in an office is I won't have these two to keep me company.

I am sure they will adjust.  

The other big development over the last couple of weeks is having to deal with medical issues.   At the beginning of the month I attended our annual customer and partner conference where I had to present.  This is fairly normal for me and this trip marked the end of about 3 weeks of business trips. On the day last day when I was presenting I wasn't feeling well and just chalked it up to exhaustion.  As I was finishing my last session things got considerably worse and the only thing going through my mind was there is only 5 minutes left in the presentation - DON'T PASS OUT.   There is nothing worse than presenting while you are experiencing chest pains, sweating, and shortness of breath.

I thought sitting down after my sessions would make things better - it didn't.  In the end I called a coworker over and was rushed to the ER.  Not the way I wanted the conference to end.   Good news I didn't have a heart attack - which is what I thought was happening.  Bad news I missed my flight home, and a Cubs game with the family.

Over the next couple of weeks I was back and forth to the doctor and cardiologist trying to figure out what went was wrong with me.   During this time I did very little but sleep and work.   Everything was A-OK with my heart in the end they gave me a diagnosis of anxiety and I  have been on Celexa for the last two weeks.

While I thought I was handling all the uncertainty around the adoption and the job search well I guess my body thought otherwise.  It appears you can have anxiety without actually feeling anxious or panicky.   I am happy to say that I once again feel normal and am starting to get back into a normal schedule.  Of course all this changes in 11 days when I start my new job.

In the meantime, next week I have a week of "Dawn Time" to relax and unwind.  Dave is off on a business trip so this may be the last week I get all to myself.  

Patience is a Virtue

My apologies for not posting in a while.    I know you have all been eagerly awaiting an update on how things are going and having to wait weeks for a post must be killing you.    Well now you know how we feel during this endless waiting game of when will we get updates.  We have no news on anything.  Over the last 2 months our home study has been submitted on 5 children/sibling sets and what have we heard back - nothing, nada, zilch.  That's right - we have no idea if the case workers have made a decision on any of the kids we have inquired on.   In 1 instance we know that the case worker is meeting at the end of the month to review case studies, that will be approximately 2 months since we submitted our home study for consideration.     This is apparently a very slow process.

 My intention when I started this was to post something at least once a week,  in the beginning that was easy but now we  are just in a holding pattern and I find that I don't have much to say unless I post every week that there is no news.   I am frustrated by the lack of communication and updates during this process.  I don't want to nag people but I do want to know what is going on - there has to be some balance.   I'm not sure if this is normal or not.   I would think they would want to place the kids quickly but that doesn't appear to be the case.  

Fierce Competition

Nothing can prepare you for the competition to obtain a match.  Maybe  I shouldn't look at it like a competition but that is what it feels like.   It seems very much like applying for jobs.   You see a listing it sounds good, you do a little bit of research, send in your resume and then you wait for the recruiter to decide whether or not you are considered a potential candidate.    As with job hunting some listings will generate hundreds of candidates and others only a few will apply.

We have sent off a couple of inquiries on kids and some our case worker advised against after finding out more information.  There are certain behaviors we aren't able to consider such as cruelty to animals.    On Friday we inquired on a boy and yesterday I didn't see his profile listed.   I logged into our account and see a message that his profile can only be viewed through our account as there are over 15 outstanding inquiries that the case worker has not responded to.   Once there are that many inquiries waiting for responses the child is removed from the site until the case worker responds to the open inquiries.      I guess that is a good thing to prevent hundreds of open inquiries.  

Weekend Project

I finally got around to working on the photo book project.    To help with the transition I thought it would be good to make a little photo book about us and our family.  This is something we can give to the kid(s) early in the process to help familiarize themselves with what we look like, what the house and neighborhood is like and who is in the family.  

I wouldn't have been able to complete this project without the help of all the family members that sent us photos.   The link to the book will be available for a limited time only.

Click here to view this photo book larger

The new way to make a photo album: photo books by Shutterfly.

You've Got Mail

I have never been so excited to open an envelope - I don't think I was even this excited when I opened my acceptance letter to college.    

We got a redacted piece of paper in the mail yesterday!

This makes it officially official we are licensed and waiting.  

6 Month Check-In

Writing that it seems so strange, it can't possibly be 6 months since we started on this adoption journey but yup the calendar says June so it must be true.  So much has happened at that initial meeting seems so long ago but we still have a long road ahead of us.   I would like to say the hard part is behind us, but I don't think that's the case at all.   What is behind us is:

• The paperwork - oh wait no we still have paperwork ahead of us in terms of tracking visits, medications, and countless other stuff. 
• The presence of strangers in our home ensuring we will be good parents - nope that continues as well.  We will likely have more people through our home to ensure we are doing a good job.
• The training - ugh not that either, we have continuing education to do over the course of the year and for every year that we are foster parents. 
• The waiting - yeah right - longer rights are ahead of us. 
• The uncertainty - will this happen, when will this happen, how will the kid(s) react.  Yeah lots of uncertainty ahead.

Sheesh it seems like we haven't done anything in the last 6 months.   That clearly isn't true here's what we have done:

• Attended informational meetings
• Selected an agency
• Completed 2 rounds of paperwork 
• Attended first aid and CPR training
• Attended foster parent training
• Completed 3 home study visits/interviews
• Child proofed our home - purchased fire escape ladders, fire extinguishers, safety locks for cabinets, covers for electrical outlets, fixed our back deck. 
• Got fingerprinted
• Passed federal and state background checks
• Physicals for me & Dave
• Got certificates of health for Paddy and Koda and made sure they were up to date on shots
• Prepared information and collected photos for our profile

 and this just goes to show that this is a continually evolving process with no end in sight.      

What does keep me going these days is we officially have a profile completed that is being sent out to social workers and we can now submit inquiries on available children.  I'm anxious to see where this goes and a little nervous to actually send off our first inquiries.