You gotta start somewhere

I can't believe I'm doing this. I have entered the world of blogging!!! I hope I can keep up with this the way so many other adoptive families have done. It's not really my nature to do this type of thing. I have made attempts at journaling and scrapbooking in the past, but I never seem to stick with it. Maybe this will be easier for me. I want to be able to look back on this journey and remember all that went into it. I want our daughter to know how much we thought of her before we were able to bring her home. So, this will hopefully be one way I can do that.

We started our adoption journey in July of 2005. I made a phone call to a woman who works in international adoption up in Washington. Doug's sister Jacque referred me to her. She was so kind and answered so many of our questions. She encouraged me to call a local "homestudy" company because she knew we would need a local social worker to do the "homestudy" portion of our paperwork. I didn't know of any and had no idea where to look. I was speaking with my very good friend, Vicki Aadland, on the phone and explained to her what I was trying to do. She told me she knew a family who had adopted from China (it turned out to be Vietnam) and said she would ask them about it if I wanted. So I told Vicki to get the name of the company they used for their "homestudy". Vicki memorized the question and called me back with the information. She said I needed to call Oasis Adoption Services and ask to speak with Kathryn. Thus began the journey of a lifetime.

Oasis Adoption Services is not our adoption agency, nor is Kathryn our adoption agent. Kathryn informed me that the state of Arizona has certain requirements that other states do not have and that it would be in our best interest to work with an agency that has a local agent. She referred me to Marianne Adams of Children's Hope International. Kathryn wished us the best and said she would happy to work with us on the "homestudy" portion of the paperwork when we were ready. So, I made the phone call to Marianne....it was long and full of information. My head was spinning. There were different programs we could chose from, most of which I had never even considered. No matter what options there were, my mind and heart would always go back to China.

So, we submitted the preliminary application and continued to discuss whether or not this was something we were truly ready to do. We were still trying to absorb all the information Marianne had given us...it was exciting, but scary. Then, I got a phone call from Marianne telling me that someone had just backed out of the adoption class (which is required for your paperwork). She said that most people didn't take the class until further into the "paperchase", but that the information would probably be enough to either make or break our decision. So, we signed up for the class. Doug was thrilled (not) we got to spend two days in a classroom listening to a woman talk about adoption, child development, parenting...you name it. It was very interesting and at times emotional. At the end of day two, a woman was coming in with her two adopted daughters from China. She was going to relay her story and answer any questions that anyone had. I told Doug that if there was any doubt in his mind as to whether or not we were doing this, I wanted to leave before she got there. We stayed, and I'm so glad we did. We were sold...hook, line and sinker.
On the way home I looked at Doug and said, "So, are we doing this? Are we adopting a daughter from China?" He said, "I think we are!" Woo hoo!!!!! Decision made! Now for the paperwork!!!

Well, that was the begining. I'll try not to make the rest of my posts so long. It's just a lot to catch everyone up on. Please let me know if I'm rambling. Don't want to bore any of you.