Baby Watch 2006

Some of you may or may not know that Daniel and I have become friends with another couple who is also going through Holy Family Services. Their names are Rob and Marie. I came across a Baby Blog that they started when they first began their journey. I was searching under Holy Family Services and their website popped up.

Their website chronicled their adoption journey, which was way ahead of ours and way more intense. Marie has gone through invitro a few times and they have really been through alot. They were chosen by a birthmother right out of the gate who changed her mind at birth. We have watched them the last year and in the process, we saw God's hand as Rob converted from Judaism to Christianity.

We met Rob and Marie one night when we were on our way home from visiting Jim and Amy in Castaic. Rob and Marie live in Sylmar which was a hop, skip and not quite a jump down the 5, so we called them and asked to meet somewhere and hang out. We met at Claim Jumper and had a fun dinner and discussed Holy Family and how the process was going for them. We told them of the walls we hit with our intake person, Anne, and we commiserated together.

We had dinner with them this last Saturday. Had a really tasty dinner ... but that's beside the point. We were talking about alternative ways to get our profile books "out there" and Rob said they were considering making a You Tube video. I thought it was a great idea, especially with myspace reaching millions of people worldwide. I think a Holy Family myspace site would be an effective way to make the agency available to millions of people. Yesterday, Rob sent me the link to their YouTube adoption profile and I immediately forwarded it to 100 people on my friends list & told Rob to do the same thing. He posted it on their adoption blog and then a woman who does profile books advised him to send it to Oprah, Dr Phil, the local news stations, etc. Here is the link to their video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Crk97pLTFzg

Around 9pm, I get a very excited call from Marie: "the news people are in front of our house filming!!!! they just interviewed us and we will be on TV after the Lakers!" WOW! That was fast - incredibly fast! So of course, Daniel and I stayed up and watched as the guy on KCAL9 interviewed them and they showed snippets of their YouTube video. I looked them up on the news website and the story was there, and had also aired on channel 2 news. In the video, Rob and Marie do not name Holy Family, but they do give the name and number to the social worker, Roxanne. If alot of people call, then that is good even for us, because once Rob and Marie get their baby, if the agency gets more calls, there will be more babies for the rest of us.

I wonder what will happen.

Please pray for our friends, that they get their perfect baby and that the Lord will protect them from any scams or bad situations that may arise from such exposure.

Pray also for the birthmom of our little one, that she is taking care of herself, and our baby.

Thanks!

HOMESTUDY!

Danielle showed up at 1 o'clock. Not 9 am or 2:30 .... which were the 2 times I thought I was confusing, but 1 pm on the dot.

She asked us what order we wanted to show her the stuff and we went for the profile book first. She said she liked it and we did a great job. She was telling us of a couple who was so nice and the agency really wanted them to get a baby but their profile isn't that good and they are going to talk about it with the couple, but she thinks ours is perfect as is, no changes required. I know it is God's gift that gave me the talent to put it together.

We walked her through the house and she said, "thank you for having that done" about a few things and said that she has "seen it all." She said that she went to a house once where some people used duck tape to cover up the fireplace and ropes to block off the stairs, so we felt pretty good about our custom made jobbers!

She said that everything is in order and she said there is no problem, all she has to do is type up the report and pass it to the executive director and then we should get a letter saying we're approved. She did ask us if we prefer a boy or a girl, and then she said our choices were pretty narrow and she wanted us to open up our minds about taking rape babies and a drug baby. We talked and went back and forth and made our decisions and sent her on her way. So we'll see what the future holds. Now we are officially in the WAITING process. They now have 3 copies of our profile book and it should start being shown within 2 weeks. I am excited, and able to finally let go and be relieved, because now I have done all I can do. I should say WE have done all WE can do, so now the ball is back in GOD's court and back to His timing and His ways and His will. Nothing depends on us anymore except answering the phone and saying yes or no.

THANK YOU for all the prayers and moral support! We feel so blessed. Can't wait to post the next posts, which will hopefully be: "we're approved" "we've been chosen" and "here's a picture of our new baby!"

Looking forward to it!

The fun is JUST BEGINNING!

Okay - so the water has somewhat subsided. We now have the city involved because when the plumber got here, he tried to turn off the water at the meter and it was flooded and leaking as well. 3 totally UNRELATED incidents within 4 feet of each other! Now, the city guy said they have to bring in a backhoe and tear up the whole alley and fix it underground. We'll have to notify the neighbors that they need to find parking for their cars because they won't have garage access for awhile. Lovely. I asked if he could please wait until after Thursday. He obliged.

So, I am having this conversation with Debbie this morning and it sure is good to have a friend who just "gets it" like she does. Amy's that way to. Always a step ahead and finishing the sentences I can't even come up with the words for. Anyway, Deb and I were talking and I was telling her how yesterday, Daniel had come home and asked if we could watch Kevin & Jen's 3 kids for 5 days next month while they go to Texas. I said sure, it'll be a hoot. Then last night, I talked to Charlene and let her know we'd be able to watch Luis and Sierra for a couple days while she and Hector go to a Marine's Ball in Vegas. Debbie said, "way to go - you just secured a child ... because you KNOW that while these people are out of state and you have their kids, THAT is when the agency will call and say "we have your baby, can you pick it up?" And we laughed and said, stuff like, "not only did we secure a baby, we probably secured twins!" And had the best laugh - and yet, also a nervous almost prophetic laugh it was ... because as we all know by now, nothing ever just goes as "planned."

I mean, there is never a good time to slip and fall and bust your ankle and knee, but leave it to me to do it while on a 14 hour drive in Florida. There is never a good time for the AC to go out and a flood to happen at the same time, but of course it happened when I was laid up in bed for 9 months after the fall. And now, of course, more water issues happen a couple days before the one and only most important home inspection of our lives ... and here we are, mopping mud out of the garage. So OF COURSE when I say I will watch somebody's kids, they will call with a baby ... it just makes perfect sense ... doesn't it?

Break out your umbrellas for the shower ...

NOT that kind of shower!

When Daniel woke up and went downstairs to go to work, he heard this hissing sound ... our water softener sprung a leak, and not a subtle leak, the kind that you can walk by and ignore. Oh no ... it is on TOP of the unit! We called and called places to fix it before Thursday's homestudy and the earliest they have is Saturday! On top of that, the main valve handle to the water in our condo rusted OFF the pipe! So we can't even turn the water off! We are supposed to show the social worker we can turn on and off the gas, and on and off the water, and the whole handle thingy broke off in Daniel's hand and is now laying on the workbench! He called some plumber guy who said he will call us tomorrow ... let's hope! I am now terrified of going to see if I can turn on and off the gas - I may blow up the building!!! :-O

Please say a prayer for us that we can fix the leaks and the water drama before Thursday.

The Profile Book (part 1)

Click on pages to enlarge...

The Profile Book (part 2)

Click on pages to enlarge ...

The Countdown Begins ...

1 Week from today is the homestudy. After we get approved, it could be any time. Today, the stroller/carseat travel system arrived. We got kinda excited, and kinda freaked out that we have stuff ready for someone who either does or does not exist at this point. Buying this stuff was a step of faith. We got good deals, only bought what was on sale, and were blessed to have it gifted to us by dear friends and family. It is all staying in the boxes with the receipts attached so we can return any of it if we need to, but it will be here if we need it fast.

Still getting the second bedroom emptied out of all the last 18 years of storing extra little things and saying goodbye to the excellent gift-wrapping center I have created. Chromatically arranged bows and ribbons, you will be missed ...

All we need now is sheets for the crib and a baby to fill it! We are full aware that this could take months, if not years, so we are not going all ballistic and draping the room in teddy bears and gingham. It still looks like 2 adults without children live here. We have taken lessons from reading our friends' blog and watched them go through HFS and hit one obstacle after the other. We know the drill of having people ask you over and over when is the baby coming, we think we are pretty rational and patient as we keep saying it could be anytime, and yet it could be a long time.

We are blessed to have such support from those who have watched us over the years ... people saying we will be great parents, and they can't wait for us to get a baby. It's nice when we say "we put down that we are willing to take twins" and people don't point and laugh and say, "are you NUTS?!" We appreciate everyone giving us space, and yet stepping in to help out when they can. We got an e-mail from our friends, Ryan and Michelle and they offered to come over and help with the last stretch of getting the house ready for the homestudy. We will give them the checklist and let them do a mock walk-through and see if they catch anything we missed. Michelle will help me get the last of the stuff out of the second bedroom, and Ryan will help Daniel with some heavy moving in the garage. What a total blessing!

1 week to go and hopefully very soon after we will get a call that says, "you're approved" and then the REAL waiting will begin.

Check me out ...

Once Upon a Time ...

We are SOOOOO spoiled!

Okay, so Saturday, I went to Jeff and Carrie Gage's going away party. They are moving to Colorado Springs. Carrie had a big plastic bin filled with baby-girl clothes that belonged to Sophie that she saved especially for me! She said, "I saved the best for you ..." and it made me feel so special. I know that we can't go out and buy new stuff and go baby crazy, so it was so sweet when she said that. It really showed me that just because we can't have all new doens't mean it can't be all nice. THANK YOU Carrie and thank you Jesus!

Then, Sunday (yesterday) we went to Disneyland for a couple hours to hang out with Hector and Charlene (okay - okay, we admit, we really went to hang out with Sierra and Luis!) Anyway, at the end of the night when we were saying goodbye, Charlene says, I have a surprise for you ..." and she pulls out this pretty gift bag. Inside was a Burts Bees baby bath care kit, all the amazing smells that make you just want to eat up a fresh, clean little baby! And then there were 3 envelopes. One was from Jena, one from Pippi (aka Rachel) and one from Charlene. Inside these magical envelopes were enough money to buy ourselves the crib! WOW! Charlene had gone on myspace and contacted some friends she saw on my list and got together an internet babyshower (so-to-speak) WHAT A BLESSING! Thank you Charlene! And Thank You Jesus!

It doesn't end there ... today I am driving to Lowes and I get a call from Mallory. She said she and Garrett had something for me, a "surprise" and she was going to drop it off with Daniel. So, I get home and it was a FAT envelope. Daniel and I opened it together and in it was enough 20 dollar bills to buy us our new stroller system with the carseat! Now we have all we need for the homestudy and inspections. They will be able to place a baby at any time after the 12th (assuming we pass the homestudy.) THANK YOU Gars and Mally Mal, you spoil us!! And Thank You Jesus!

Here we are, having spent all our time, energy and funds on all kinds of processes, classes, gadgets and tools to make this process go smoothly, and it felt like all the fun got zapped out of us and we didn't know how to get into the swing of getting excited for baby ... well, we have an excellent head start now!!!

I go forth with some trepedation, knowing that this could be yet another "hurry up and wait" time. I hope it isn't, I don't know which way it will go, or how long it will take, but it sure is nice to have the kind of support that doesn't require immediate gratification - the time-tested friendships that *get it* when you are not in a conventional pregnancy. It means alot to us that people can get excited knowing it may not be for months and months still. Thank you all, and THANK YOU Jesus!