... unfortunately, we were not picked for either situation. instead, other deserving families were chosen by the birth mothers in arkansas and in colorado.
it's hard to make a connection with the birth mothers by reading a few pages about each of them... so the little bit of "excitement" that we're able to feel about these situations is by what positive we can gain out of the experience in the particular state in which we'd be in for 2 - 3 - 4 weeks in.
the arkansas situation would've been cool. it would've given us a chance to visit Fay Jones' Thorncrown Chapel (beautiful!). http://www.thorncrown.com/architecture.htm
the colorado situation would've been cool because we could visit denver (i used to work there some and i really loved that town) / my cousin lives there / i've always wanted to take todd and show him some things. (also... we have a girl's name picked out which is a city in colorado that I've always loved the name of... so I was hoping to visit that city b/c I've never been! maybe it's better that we not visit that city - what if I didn't like it?)
i'm bummed of course, but todd was able to keep me in check and remind me that it was not meant to be. "our" baby is still out there waiting for us.
i should run. we have a lot to do before we fly out tomorrow morning.
good night. c
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Monday, January 28, 2008
A short post
The end of Soup Night has arrived. We didn't have a "blow-out" crowd at any one event (week 3 was supposed to be it, but b/c of the snow -- we lost a number of attendees). That's ok, though, because we were able to really catch up and spend some quality time with the folks that did come. This past weekend was an average-sized gathering and was a nice finish. ('til next year's soup night!)
We did receive some bad news over the weekend. Todd's aunt in Pennsylvania passed away Saturday night so we are flying up the day after tomorrow. His mom and sister are very upset (as are his cousins)... and we are wanting to go spend some time with family during this time. We will hold onto the great memories that we had of Aunt Freida. She will be missed -- and will hold a special place in all of our lives.
There has been no news on the baby-front. We have our profile book out to the woman in Colorado, but we do not know when we will hear back about that situation (if she decides to choose us or another family). It would be wonderful if this situation worked out, not only for the sibling connection of the biological child who lives about 30 minutes away from us, but I have a cousin in Denver who I've been wanting to visit. I used to do work in Denver and think it's a fantastic town / want to spend some there and show Todd around.
We have finished with our work, really, on the home study. I've been researching and compiling a "READY-GO" list of things that we'll need in order to hop on a plane in a moment's notice and be prepared for taking care of a little one. I am trying to purchase organic and/or natural products when I can. I've been buying things here and there and am getting close to having the READY-GO package together.
g'night for now. c
We did receive some bad news over the weekend. Todd's aunt in Pennsylvania passed away Saturday night so we are flying up the day after tomorrow. His mom and sister are very upset (as are his cousins)... and we are wanting to go spend some time with family during this time. We will hold onto the great memories that we had of Aunt Freida. She will be missed -- and will hold a special place in all of our lives.
There has been no news on the baby-front. We have our profile book out to the woman in Colorado, but we do not know when we will hear back about that situation (if she decides to choose us or another family). It would be wonderful if this situation worked out, not only for the sibling connection of the biological child who lives about 30 minutes away from us, but I have a cousin in Denver who I've been wanting to visit. I used to do work in Denver and think it's a fantastic town / want to spend some there and show Todd around.
We have finished with our work, really, on the home study. I've been researching and compiling a "READY-GO" list of things that we'll need in order to hop on a plane in a moment's notice and be prepared for taking care of a little one. I am trying to purchase organic and/or natural products when I can. I've been buying things here and there and am getting close to having the READY-GO package together.
g'night for now. c
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Soup AND Snow
We finally got snow that "stuck." It started around 10:30 (while I was at yoga) and went 'til mid-afternoon. It was probably 1 1/2" +/- and it was NOT accompanied by ice (as usually happens here). So it was perfect. {I'll elaborate on how perfect things started off for the day: at yoga, my teacher was playing some GREAT chill / ambient music.... and I had a spot near the window, so I got to lay there & look up at snowflakes above me. How Awesome!}We had soup night again, but it was a smaller crowd than we expected -- largely b/c the temps were dropping throughout the day and after the sun went down, folks were predicting all of the wet stuff on the roads would ice up.... but I don't know that they did. We had some folks coming from across town & would definitely have to go over bridges, so I'm glad they didn't chance it b/c if it turned to ice -- that would be the place for it. We had 12 neighbors and a few people who we used to work with who live somewhat close by show up. There was only 1 child at this one (there were supposed to be 7 more if it hadn't snowed & at least 6 more adults!).... so we felt kinda bad for her. Most of the adults took turns playing with her. She does really well with strangers, so it was all good (but you could tell she was bummed she was the only kid.) I made an Italian Tomato Bread soup which was inspired by a meal our friends Mike & Sara made on our trip to Italy last year.... and also made our "award winning" Chicken & Black Bean soup. Yum. Oh yeah -- we had someone from Mississippi drive all the way here for Soup Night. (ok, not entirely true... our friends Scott & Shelli who still have a house here on our street for sale came to take care of a few things & joined us at soup night while in town.)
We've been in our pj's all day. We never changed. We never went outside, but the majority of snow has melted. We have been doing more "homework" for the adoption home study. Organizing papers & filling out a few more forms, etc. We're getting very close to finishing. At this point, we're mainly waiting for certificates and documents to come back from other organizations and people. We're 95% done with the work that we have to do. We found out, too, that this has to be re-done every 6 months now (b/c of the new laws here). Hopefully something would happen before then so we don't have to repeat these efforts, but we'll see.
Here's a pic of the pond & stream. A nice winter shot for ya. Man - the fish must be COLD!
Time to go warm up some soup for dinner. Later, C
Friday, January 18, 2008
Another opportunity
Yesterday, I was hanging out at work -- and up pops another email from our consultant. There is an opportunity with a birthmother in Colorado that we were presented with. Todd & I were both conflicted b/c we already had one book out -- and how do we know which may be the right opportunity?! Which is the right one to pursue?
We analzyed the pages that were presented about the birthmother and birthfather. I talked to a neighbor awhile about it, which was helpful... then slept on it. We decided that we would pursue the situation IF our consultant thought we could. There's two "preferences" that the birthmother had of the prospective adoptive parents: that they're fluent in 2 languages and that they already have children. I speak a little bit of french... and would LOVE to brush up on it & teach a child another language... but we don't have children. I believe that the birthmother wants the child to be raised not as an only child, but with siblings. We do plan to bring 2 or 3 children into our home, so I hope that this will suffice!
Our consultant said not to let the "adoptive parents with children" deter us from submitting a profile. If the birthmother feels moved by our profile book and makes a connection with us, they have seen birthmothers stray from their original preferences. Our consultant also green-lighted the sending of the profile book because the one we sent out last week to the prospective birthmother in Arkansas was not shown. She postponed (or cancelled?) her appointment with the social worker.
It has been hard for us to connect with the birthmothers in reading some paperwork that is submitted to us because there's not much information about personal things -- mainly medical information and family history is included. But, there was something that we feel is a unique opportunity with this birthmother (excerpt from our consultant's email): The baby is actually the biological sibling of another client's adopted daughter. Unfortunately, our client is unable to adopt the second child because of financial reasons. However, they greatly hope that they can maintain contact with the adoptive family since their daughter would be a sibling. They are a very nice family who live about 1/2 an hour north of you.
Isn't that cool?! We would be SO willing to share in this little girl's life b/c that would mean that the baby would have an automatic connection to a sibling! For both of the children's sakes, we really hope that this situation will work out! It would be AMAZING for them to be a part of each other's lives!
We got our FBI fingerprint cards in the mail yesterday -- no arrests. whew. (kidding - we knew it would be clean, but it's good to have them back. This was to have the longest lead time on our homestudy process.) Todd also had his full medical exam yesterday. I re-scheduled mine from the end of February (with my doctor) to the end of January (with his doctor).
We are taking online training this weekend (one course called "The journey of attachment" and another dealing with adoption of a multi-cultural child, since we are open to this.) We're getting close to finishing the homestudy process!
I was volunteering at a street clean tomorrow morning, but it's been cancelled. We're supposed to get snow starting around 6 am / continuing through lunch. Yay! I wonder if my yoga class will still be held? We are still planning Soup Night for Saturday, and have a number of people coming from various parts of Atlanta. I bet the snow will deter some of them from coming. I think we've had ice at one of the Soup Nights & our only guests were neighbors -- which is understandable. We'll see what happens! That's the beauty about Soup Night. It's always a surprise!
Stay warm, C
We analzyed the pages that were presented about the birthmother and birthfather. I talked to a neighbor awhile about it, which was helpful... then slept on it. We decided that we would pursue the situation IF our consultant thought we could. There's two "preferences" that the birthmother had of the prospective adoptive parents: that they're fluent in 2 languages and that they already have children. I speak a little bit of french... and would LOVE to brush up on it & teach a child another language... but we don't have children. I believe that the birthmother wants the child to be raised not as an only child, but with siblings. We do plan to bring 2 or 3 children into our home, so I hope that this will suffice!
Our consultant said not to let the "adoptive parents with children" deter us from submitting a profile. If the birthmother feels moved by our profile book and makes a connection with us, they have seen birthmothers stray from their original preferences. Our consultant also green-lighted the sending of the profile book because the one we sent out last week to the prospective birthmother in Arkansas was not shown. She postponed (or cancelled?) her appointment with the social worker.
It has been hard for us to connect with the birthmothers in reading some paperwork that is submitted to us because there's not much information about personal things -- mainly medical information and family history is included. But, there was something that we feel is a unique opportunity with this birthmother (excerpt from our consultant's email): The baby is actually the biological sibling of another client's adopted daughter. Unfortunately, our client is unable to adopt the second child because of financial reasons. However, they greatly hope that they can maintain contact with the adoptive family since their daughter would be a sibling. They are a very nice family who live about 1/2 an hour north of you.
Isn't that cool?! We would be SO willing to share in this little girl's life b/c that would mean that the baby would have an automatic connection to a sibling! For both of the children's sakes, we really hope that this situation will work out! It would be AMAZING for them to be a part of each other's lives!
We got our FBI fingerprint cards in the mail yesterday -- no arrests. whew. (kidding - we knew it would be clean, but it's good to have them back. This was to have the longest lead time on our homestudy process.) Todd also had his full medical exam yesterday. I re-scheduled mine from the end of February (with my doctor) to the end of January (with his doctor).
We are taking online training this weekend (one course called "The journey of attachment" and another dealing with adoption of a multi-cultural child, since we are open to this.) We're getting close to finishing the homestudy process!
I was volunteering at a street clean tomorrow morning, but it's been cancelled. We're supposed to get snow starting around 6 am / continuing through lunch. Yay! I wonder if my yoga class will still be held? We are still planning Soup Night for Saturday, and have a number of people coming from various parts of Atlanta. I bet the snow will deter some of them from coming. I think we've had ice at one of the Soup Nights & our only guests were neighbors -- which is understandable. We'll see what happens! That's the beauty about Soup Night. It's always a surprise!
Stay warm, C
Thursday, January 17, 2008
SNOOOOOOOOOOOW !
Ok - it wasn't a huge deal, but I thought the snow we got yesterday was FABULOUS. From about 4 pm 'til 8 or 9 pm, we were getting big fluffy flakes that actually stuck to the ground.
I tried to take a photo to post on the blog, but all I got were up-close & over-exposed (from the flash) snow flakes.... and a little fuzzy house in the background.
This morning, it's only rain.
Oh well! It was fun while it lasted.
c
I tried to take a photo to post on the blog, but all I got were up-close & over-exposed (from the flash) snow flakes.... and a little fuzzy house in the background.
This morning, it's only rain.
Oh well! It was fun while it lasted.
c
Monday, January 14, 2008
Not much to blog about - but I thought I should jot down about the weekend. Went to Yoga / We hosted Soup Night (which was a much smaller crowd - and we got to talk to everyone this time) / Sunday we went up the street so Todd & I could talk to a neighbor about a front porch addition (he'll do this project) / went to an art store to buy some cover stock for our profile books / then went to babies r us to look at car seat / stroller combo (we MUST have a car seat picked out and ready to take with us). We found one we like but we need to research it. We have a consumer reports on its way. Also looked at convertible cribs too. Todd and I both agreed on a style. We'd really like one of those beautiful mission-style hand-made cribs, but cha-ching.... especially for the convertible kinds (so that they don't go to waste after a couple of years).
Speaking of cribs & stuff, check out this bassinet that my grandpa made quite some time ago. My dad gave it to us when we went to visit him at Thanksgiving. (below: pic of our spare bedroom / future nursery)
I'm not sure if the walnut used came from his farm or not -- but he always uses walnut. I suppose that's why I built this table (on the opposite side of the bed) out of walnut and ash? It's the first time that a piece of furniture that my grandpa made and that I made are in the same room. I just noticed that in this picture... cool! Our college begun offering furniture design in the 4th year of our 5 year program. If they had begun it sooner, I may have switched majors. It was so exhilarating making this piece / gluing together the strips of walnut so that I could bend them around the jig I made / sanding down the pieces. ahhhh.....i'd love to get back to woodwork.
Maybe once all of our "projects" (adoption and finishing a few things around the house) are done, I can get back to it. We've talked about turning our garage into a shop. I bought some old windows at an antique store that was going out of business. I think - if we put those windows in the walls of the wall and brought some daylight / some cross-ventilation in, it would make it a great work shop.
that's all.
g'night.
Speaking of cribs & stuff, check out this bassinet that my grandpa made quite some time ago. My dad gave it to us when we went to visit him at Thanksgiving. (below: pic of our spare bedroom / future nursery)
I'm not sure if the walnut used came from his farm or not -- but he always uses walnut. I suppose that's why I built this table (on the opposite side of the bed) out of walnut and ash? It's the first time that a piece of furniture that my grandpa made and that I made are in the same room. I just noticed that in this picture... cool! Our college begun offering furniture design in the 4th year of our 5 year program. If they had begun it sooner, I may have switched majors. It was so exhilarating making this piece / gluing together the strips of walnut so that I could bend them around the jig I made / sanding down the pieces. ahhhh.....i'd love to get back to woodwork. Maybe once all of our "projects" (adoption and finishing a few things around the house) are done, I can get back to it. We've talked about turning our garage into a shop. I bought some old windows at an antique store that was going out of business. I think - if we put those windows in the walls of the wall and brought some daylight / some cross-ventilation in, it would make it a great work shop.
that's all.
g'night.
Friday, January 11, 2008
Yay!
There are so many things I'm happy about today!
- work was fun today... I attended a breakfast meeting which was interesting... and at lunch I atteneded another presentation (I should have more work days like this - going and learning things!)
- while I was at work, Todd was meeting with the social worker. She came to our house to do an inspection. She found a battery in a smoke alarm that was dead, but otherwise, I think the appointment went well. BIG RELIEF.
- I had a clean house to come home to after work! We have both been working so hard cleaning, but mainly putting the upstairs back in order affter the renovation to the art studio.
- I took a nap when I got home. I love naps! And - I did it upstairs... in the room that we just cleaned out. The reason I did that: when you crack the window, you can hear the stream in the back yard. Total relaxation.
As I was laying there, I was thinking 2 things: 1 -- of the Chalet that Todd & I used to go to in north Georgia on a river..... and 2 -- what a cool room this would be for a teenager. It would be like a suite with a media room (our upstairs den). It's got the fish tank. A computer niche. A karaoke machine! (that was a gift, by the way)
I am definitely chill right now. And happy. ahhhhh..... it's all downhill from here regarding the home study.
---- On a separate note ----
Yesterday, we had another lead on a birthmother situation. Todd & I made the decision to send a profile to the woman's case worker. We're not getting our hopes up that this will pan out, but the timing is good (mid-april is her due date), the location is within driving distance (Arkansas), and there's a famous building in that state we've always wanted to visit... so we'd have something to do while there while waiting.
We are pursuing all options at this point. Our personal network is AMAZING and strong. I'm constantly getting people telling me how they've like the website / how they're passing along our adoption letter / etc. We'll see what happens.... either one of the opportunities that our consultant finds will work out for us or perhaps something within our personal network (or both?!) : - )
Todd & I are about to head out to grab a bite... I think we'll watch a netflix movie tonight when we get home. I'll check in later.
Tomorrow is yoga in the morning and then Soup Night in the evening.
Oh yeah -- Soup Night last Saturday went really well. It was our largest "opening night." Normally we have 8 - 10 people on our first Saturday. We had over 20. That's a little scary -- hopefully all of the Soup Nights aren't double or triple in size like this one was! We served French Onion as the vegetarian and a smokey ham & black bean soup as the non-veg. I got to catch up and spend time with most people there, but there were a handful that I didn't get to spend too much time with. I think Todd got to spend a lot of quality time with neighbors and friends.
Tomorrow I'm making the shrimp corn chowder and either a sun-dried tomato soup or a pumpkin / butternut squash soup as the veg.
ok. now I'm going to run.
Candice
- work was fun today... I attended a breakfast meeting which was interesting... and at lunch I atteneded another presentation (I should have more work days like this - going and learning things!)
- while I was at work, Todd was meeting with the social worker. She came to our house to do an inspection. She found a battery in a smoke alarm that was dead, but otherwise, I think the appointment went well. BIG RELIEF.
- I had a clean house to come home to after work! We have both been working so hard cleaning, but mainly putting the upstairs back in order affter the renovation to the art studio.
- I took a nap when I got home. I love naps! And - I did it upstairs... in the room that we just cleaned out. The reason I did that: when you crack the window, you can hear the stream in the back yard. Total relaxation.
As I was laying there, I was thinking 2 things: 1 -- of the Chalet that Todd & I used to go to in north Georgia on a river..... and 2 -- what a cool room this would be for a teenager. It would be like a suite with a media room (our upstairs den). It's got the fish tank. A computer niche. A karaoke machine! (that was a gift, by the way)
I am definitely chill right now. And happy. ahhhhh..... it's all downhill from here regarding the home study.
---- On a separate note ----
Yesterday, we had another lead on a birthmother situation. Todd & I made the decision to send a profile to the woman's case worker. We're not getting our hopes up that this will pan out, but the timing is good (mid-april is her due date), the location is within driving distance (Arkansas), and there's a famous building in that state we've always wanted to visit... so we'd have something to do while there while waiting.
We are pursuing all options at this point. Our personal network is AMAZING and strong. I'm constantly getting people telling me how they've like the website / how they're passing along our adoption letter / etc. We'll see what happens.... either one of the opportunities that our consultant finds will work out for us or perhaps something within our personal network (or both?!) : - )
Todd & I are about to head out to grab a bite... I think we'll watch a netflix movie tonight when we get home. I'll check in later.
Tomorrow is yoga in the morning and then Soup Night in the evening.
Oh yeah -- Soup Night last Saturday went really well. It was our largest "opening night." Normally we have 8 - 10 people on our first Saturday. We had over 20. That's a little scary -- hopefully all of the Soup Nights aren't double or triple in size like this one was! We served French Onion as the vegetarian and a smokey ham & black bean soup as the non-veg. I got to catch up and spend time with most people there, but there were a handful that I didn't get to spend too much time with. I think Todd got to spend a lot of quality time with neighbors and friends.
Tomorrow I'm making the shrimp corn chowder and either a sun-dried tomato soup or a pumpkin / butternut squash soup as the veg.
ok. now I'm going to run.
Candice
Saturday, January 5, 2008
a quick blog - Saturday
Having a good day today -- went to yoga this morning (haven't been in awhile & needed it) -- making preparations for some cooking later this afternoon (we have soup night tonight) -- and just keep getting a lot of encouragement on the web link as people are (finally) getting their Christmas and New Year's cards. Thanks, Becki (if you read this) for passing along the web link to your friends. Didn't think about that, honestly, just thought about distributing the cards -- but COOL!
For those of you who knew about this, we finished our profile book just before Christmas and our adoption consultant found a prospective match for us. We were asked to FedEX a profile book out the next day if we were interested... and we did. We just found out yesterday that Chelsea S. from Nevada chose another family to adopt her baby. Todd & I are both ok with it... we've been insulating ourselves from getting our hopes up (honestly - the ups and downs of fertility treatments has prepared us for this)... so we're content to keep pressing on. The right baby is out there -- we just have to find the right fit.
Also, I had my 2nd meeting with the social worker yesterday. It went well, but she revealed to me that the state of Georgia has undergone some changes in the adoption laws as of Jan 1 and there is MORE paperwork, training, and tests that we have to do on top of the mountain of things that we already had to do. We thought we were through with the bulk of the work in the homestudy, but apparently we're not. Todd has is 2nd meeting with her on this coming Friday. This one will be at the home. (After Soup night, we'll be cleaning a lot more 'til her visit!!!)
I should run, but just wanted to report the news as of yesterday. C
For those of you who knew about this, we finished our profile book just before Christmas and our adoption consultant found a prospective match for us. We were asked to FedEX a profile book out the next day if we were interested... and we did. We just found out yesterday that Chelsea S. from Nevada chose another family to adopt her baby. Todd & I are both ok with it... we've been insulating ourselves from getting our hopes up (honestly - the ups and downs of fertility treatments has prepared us for this)... so we're content to keep pressing on. The right baby is out there -- we just have to find the right fit.
Also, I had my 2nd meeting with the social worker yesterday. It went well, but she revealed to me that the state of Georgia has undergone some changes in the adoption laws as of Jan 1 and there is MORE paperwork, training, and tests that we have to do on top of the mountain of things that we already had to do. We thought we were through with the bulk of the work in the homestudy, but apparently we're not. Todd has is 2nd meeting with her on this coming Friday. This one will be at the home. (After Soup night, we'll be cleaning a lot more 'til her visit!!!)
I should run, but just wanted to report the news as of yesterday. C
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