Pics from OH... (Gord and Ma'kai, Coleen and Marla, Coleen, Mia, L and Marla).
Coleen
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Home From OH!
Hi! We're home and things went great!Well we arrived 10 min late for lunch because we took a wrong turn! this put us in a tizzy, for sure. They didn't seem to mind at all. When we walked in, there was the lawyer, Birthmother (Marla), and her friend who placed a baby for adoption 7 yrs ago. Marla gave us a long hug, it was much more than a hug of obligation! It was very welcoming. As soon as we sat down, the lawyer advised us that Marla was awake since 5 and very nervous. So, this helped me a lot, as SO WAS I!!! Talking flowed pretty easy, thanks to Gord. He is great with this stuff. Lunch was about 3 hrs. After that, she took us to a teen outreach center that she volunteers for. After that, we went to another friend of hers house and ending up going to see a band in a park. We were with her a total of 10 hrs on Saturday. We got to meet her 2 children. They do not know about the baby so we didn't talk about it around them. She knows her time is running out and the way her belly is popping, she will tell them next week. Her ultrasound in 8/21!! She said she will call me after. Her kids are 11 (girl) and 2 (boy). She seemed very confident with her decision and wanted to talk about how everything will happen in December. After the birth she wants pics and letters and we already have each others cell numbers. She said she doesn't want to get in the way and be confusing for the child, but we can keep in touch. It all sounds so great. I feel much more at ease with the situation.
Thanks for all the calls, cards, text messages, emails, prayers and wishes of luck before we left and while we were there. It was a very exhausting weekend for us emotionally and physically. The reminders of the people that love us at home helped get us through. I have pics from the weekend but am having issues loading them.
"Whatever doesn't kill you, makes you stronger" Gord and I should look like body builders by now : )
Thank you!!
Thanks for all the calls, cards, text messages, emails, prayers and wishes of luck before we left and while we were there. It was a very exhausting weekend for us emotionally and physically. The reminders of the people that love us at home helped get us through. I have pics from the weekend but am having issues loading them.
"Whatever doesn't kill you, makes you stronger" Gord and I should look like body builders by now : )
Thank you!!
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Anxious and Excited!
Tomorrow we are leaving for OH. We are both very anxious and excited. We plan to meet her at Chili's at Franklin Park Mall at noon on 8/16. I spoke with her lawyer yesterday and she advised me to bring photo albums. This will be a great way to spark conversation!
Monday, August 4, 2008
Catching up!
The adoption process is a long and complicated one. Many people have suggested I start a blog so it will be easier to update our loved ones on the process!
A recap of the progress thus far...
10/19/07 - Called out to the social worker we met at an adoption seminar to start the process. This call was bitter sweet as it was the day after we found out that our 4th invitro cycle had failed. Although disappointed, we were ready to jump on a new rollercoaster with a happy ending and less medications : )
10/22/07 - Gord and I were fingerprinted for a thorough background check.
Month of November - Doctors appointments for both to deem us healthy enough to parent.
11/27/07 - Turned in application with all appropriate documentation.
Due to the holidays our meeting with the social worker will not be until January.
1/10/08 - 1st meeting at the house with social worker. Although we were really nervous, this meeting went very well. We just sat on the sofa and discussed our vision of adoption, family support, parenting thoughts and type of child we see ourselves with.
1/17/08 - My meeting with Social Worker. This is where she just asks for our bio. How I was raised, how many siblings, experiences in school etc...
1/23/08 - Gord's meeting with Social worker.
1/24/08 - Social worker submitted our report to the juvenile courts and we will wait to hear if we are certified. Should be about 6 weeks.
2/6/08 - First meeting with Adoption Attorney. This was an Attorney we met at an adoption seminar. She went through our "profile" and gave us suggestions. For those that don't know ... our profile is a document we put together to introduce ourselves, our values, our home and families to a prospective birth mother. This is the document that the lawyers will supply the bith mothers with when they are trying to choose a family to place their child with. Once we are certified, we will send copies of these profiles and a copy of our certification to all the Adoption Attorneys in town (6). And Wait!
2/14/08 - We got a call from the lawyer above. She misunderstood from our meeting that we weren't certified. she was calling about a potential situation for us. Because we did not have our certifiication we could not discuss any further. This was eye opening for Gord and I to see how quickly something could happen. We went out for dinner, as it was Valentines day, and they made a trip to Babies R Us to see what we would buy, immediatly, if this should happen. Our first baby window shopping experience!!
2/19/08 - Call from social worker that we needed to provide the courts Gord's green card. We supplied it quickly, but this seemed to put us at the end of the line.
3/28/08 - We had a call from the social worker that we have been certified!!! She is putting our copy in the mail to us. That night we were out to celebrate. We went out for chinese and Gord's fortune read "the laughter of children will soon be in your future". We both teared up. Pretty cool. Gord still carries that in his wallet.
First week in April - We made all the copies of our profiles and put together the packages for all the lawyers. Some we mailed and some we hand delivered. We gave one to our social worker and she called us and said she loved it. That was good to hear because our feedback on the first draft was not so good.
5/14/08 - Our first call. It was from a lawyer's office in town. there was a situation in FL. Baby was due in 10 days and we had reason to believe it would have some health issues. The cost of this adoption was very high compared to most provate adoptions. Gord and I felt this wasn't right for us. Through this whole process, no one ever told us how to say no to a baby. I took this very hard and then knew this was not going to be easy!
May - We received a couple of other calls. All sounded good and we put our hats in the ring and sent out our profiles. Some chose other families, decided to parent the child or we never heard anything more.
6/30/08 - We received a call from another lawyer we met with in the beginning of June. She said they saw a situation posted on the adoption attorney network and she thought it would fit us. It was in OH and the due date is 12/23. We advised her to send our profile. She did say we were the only couple she was sending, but since this was posted, attorneys from all over the country would be seeing and sending clients profiles. Sounded like a long shot but we wanted to get out there.
7/11/08 - We received a message from the above lawyer that the Birthmother has chosen us!! I never knew how we would react when hearing a message like that, but it was awesome. Gord and I were in awe.
Next couple of weeks - Our lawyer was on vacation so it was hard to actualy talk to her. We communicated through emails, mostly. The birthmother's lawyer then went on vacation. DO YOU PEOPLE EVER WORK. : ) It was just difficult because we wanted more and more info!!
8/4/08 - Gord and I have a trip planned to Toledo, OH to meet the birth mother the weekend of 8/15/08. We are excited and nervous. We just hope we live up to our profile!!
A recap of the progress thus far...
10/19/07 - Called out to the social worker we met at an adoption seminar to start the process. This call was bitter sweet as it was the day after we found out that our 4th invitro cycle had failed. Although disappointed, we were ready to jump on a new rollercoaster with a happy ending and less medications : )
10/22/07 - Gord and I were fingerprinted for a thorough background check.
Month of November - Doctors appointments for both to deem us healthy enough to parent.
11/27/07 - Turned in application with all appropriate documentation.
Due to the holidays our meeting with the social worker will not be until January.
1/10/08 - 1st meeting at the house with social worker. Although we were really nervous, this meeting went very well. We just sat on the sofa and discussed our vision of adoption, family support, parenting thoughts and type of child we see ourselves with.
1/17/08 - My meeting with Social Worker. This is where she just asks for our bio. How I was raised, how many siblings, experiences in school etc...
1/23/08 - Gord's meeting with Social worker.
1/24/08 - Social worker submitted our report to the juvenile courts and we will wait to hear if we are certified. Should be about 6 weeks.
2/6/08 - First meeting with Adoption Attorney. This was an Attorney we met at an adoption seminar. She went through our "profile" and gave us suggestions. For those that don't know ... our profile is a document we put together to introduce ourselves, our values, our home and families to a prospective birth mother. This is the document that the lawyers will supply the bith mothers with when they are trying to choose a family to place their child with. Once we are certified, we will send copies of these profiles and a copy of our certification to all the Adoption Attorneys in town (6). And Wait!
2/14/08 - We got a call from the lawyer above. She misunderstood from our meeting that we weren't certified. she was calling about a potential situation for us. Because we did not have our certifiication we could not discuss any further. This was eye opening for Gord and I to see how quickly something could happen. We went out for dinner, as it was Valentines day, and they made a trip to Babies R Us to see what we would buy, immediatly, if this should happen. Our first baby window shopping experience!!
2/19/08 - Call from social worker that we needed to provide the courts Gord's green card. We supplied it quickly, but this seemed to put us at the end of the line.
3/28/08 - We had a call from the social worker that we have been certified!!! She is putting our copy in the mail to us. That night we were out to celebrate. We went out for chinese and Gord's fortune read "the laughter of children will soon be in your future". We both teared up. Pretty cool. Gord still carries that in his wallet.
First week in April - We made all the copies of our profiles and put together the packages for all the lawyers. Some we mailed and some we hand delivered. We gave one to our social worker and she called us and said she loved it. That was good to hear because our feedback on the first draft was not so good.
5/14/08 - Our first call. It was from a lawyer's office in town. there was a situation in FL. Baby was due in 10 days and we had reason to believe it would have some health issues. The cost of this adoption was very high compared to most provate adoptions. Gord and I felt this wasn't right for us. Through this whole process, no one ever told us how to say no to a baby. I took this very hard and then knew this was not going to be easy!
May - We received a couple of other calls. All sounded good and we put our hats in the ring and sent out our profiles. Some chose other families, decided to parent the child or we never heard anything more.
6/30/08 - We received a call from another lawyer we met with in the beginning of June. She said they saw a situation posted on the adoption attorney network and she thought it would fit us. It was in OH and the due date is 12/23. We advised her to send our profile. She did say we were the only couple she was sending, but since this was posted, attorneys from all over the country would be seeing and sending clients profiles. Sounded like a long shot but we wanted to get out there.
7/11/08 - We received a message from the above lawyer that the Birthmother has chosen us!! I never knew how we would react when hearing a message like that, but it was awesome. Gord and I were in awe.
Next couple of weeks - Our lawyer was on vacation so it was hard to actualy talk to her. We communicated through emails, mostly. The birthmother's lawyer then went on vacation. DO YOU PEOPLE EVER WORK. : ) It was just difficult because we wanted more and more info!!
8/4/08 - Gord and I have a trip planned to Toledo, OH to meet the birth mother the weekend of 8/15/08. We are excited and nervous. We just hope we live up to our profile!!
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