"Everybody Do the Crazy Dance"

Woo hoo!!!!!!  Family profile is DONE!  I ordered 2 copies last night to be express delivered by Monday.  And just in the nick of time...because there are 2 babies in the hopper, so to speak.  One of which is due 11/25!  We'll see whether God matches us up with either of these kiddos.  In the meantime, we wait and pray!  :)

Photo Card

Traditional Damask Christmas

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View the entire collection of cards.

Adoption Video is Finished

Yippee!  Not only did Ryan go back to school for a full day today (first time in 2 weeks), I also posted our adoption video to YouTube.  Hopefully this link will work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTeXyJUQMIc
That means the only step left is to finish the Long Profile.  My goal was to complete it by the end of the month, but Ryan's battle with pneumonia put a slight crimp in my plans.  Still...we're getting closer!  :)

We're "Live"

Woo hoo!  I just found out that our family profile has been posted on the Bethany website.  Which means we have the potential to be chosen by a birthmom at any time now!  :)  Here's the link:

http://waitingfamilies.bethany.org/home/illinois/alan-and-julie

And Now We Wait!

What an exciting week!  Our Home Study was approved!  We are an official "Waiting Family."  Picture me doing the Snoopy Dance to celebrate.  :)

I have submitted our Online Profile and our Short Profile to Bethany Christian Services.  Very soon they will add our information to their website, and their on-site book of families...which means that we could get chosen at any point now!  I still haven't finished the Long Profile.  I need to get cracking on that.  It's just been extra hard with Alan out of town.  My goal is to have it finished by October 7th.  We'll see! 

1 Down, 2 to Go

Short Profile, check!

Online Profile & Long Profile still to go.  I should have worked on them last night, but I took a break to see The Help.  Great movie, even though one part hit too close to home.  Just ordered the book from Amazon - since I can't get it from Borders - Boo. :(

Busy, Busy, Dreadfully Busy

That title comes from a VeggieTales song which unfortunately, pops into my head way too often.  Since I last posted (back in March?  Yikes), I've been dreadfully busy.  So much for the lazy days of summer.  There isn't much that I would have done differently though.  We took a fabulous trip to DC, and ended up seeing Geraldo report from the White House the morning after they announced Bin Laden's death.  VBS, both here and on the Mission Trip, was awesome!  Cousin Camp at Grandma's house was a lot of fun again this year.  I've been chauffering Ryan to swim lessons and camp at the Magic House (which he loved).  The list goes on...  However, much of my busyness has been completing more steps in the adoption process!  :)  Here's where we stand:

1.  The mountain of paperwork (including 3 book reports) that was due by June 11th got completed and submitted...in the knick of time.  We had been mailing "chunks" of paperwork back little by little, but apparently we should have started reading the books earlier in the process.  Between prepping for VBS, which started June 13th and Alan's heavy work schedule...we postmarked the last reports on the 11th.  Phew!

2.  We've attended several "Family Fellowships" at Bethany, which not only gives us a chance to discuss important adoption topics with other adopting families, it also counts toward our 10 required training hours that must be done while we're in the waiting stage.

3.  I frantically pulled our house together (for the most part) for our home visits.  Luckily the visit did not include checking under beds or opening junk drawers.  The house wasn't perfect, but apparently it was considered safe, because WE PASSED OUR SAFETY CHECK!  WOO HOO!

4.  The home visits occurred once a week, for three consecutive weeks.  The first week included the safety check, and an interview with the two of us.  That was our first chance to really meet our new adoption specialist, since we had "graduated" from our time with the intake specialist.  The second week included our individual interviews - all 3 of us.  Alan & I were each interviewed separately for about 45...Ryan's was only about 5 minutes.  The third visit brought us back together for a final interview.  So we are finished with the home visits!  (And I must ashamedly admit the house has gone downhill since). 

So what comes next?

1. Our was on vacation this week.  When she returns she will write up all of the home study information into a report.  Then she and I will meet, so I can look it over for mistakes before she turns it in to the Director of Bethany Christian Services.  The director will read it over and approve it.  (I asked if they are ever non-approved, and was told we would have known by now if there was going to be a problem).

2.  My next big task is to work on our Family Profile - a scrapbook type book full of pictures and information about our family.  I need to prepare a Long Profile (the book) and a Short Profile (a 1 page summary with pictures that we can also post on Bethany's website if we want).  We can also prepare a photo slide show or video on YouTube if we choose.

3.  The goal is to get both of these the Home Study approved and the Family Profile finished by the end of August.  Then we have to pay our Home Study Fee and administration fees...and that's it.  Then we wait...and wait...and possibly wait some more.  Whenever a baby becomes available, Bethany will let us know and tell us any information they have about the birthparents and the situation.  If we want them to show the Birth Mom our Profile, we let them know.  And then we wait some more until hopefully we are chosen.

Please pray for me as I work on the Profile.  It's hard to decide which pictures and narratives say "pick us, we'll be a great family for your baby."  I'm kind of afraid to get started. 

Sorry, folks.  I know this was a huge entry to read through...but I wanted to get all caught up.  It sure is comforting to know we have family and friends who care about us and will pray for us!

Time Flies When You're Busy!

Where to begin?  Between this, that, and the other, and a few flu bugs mixed in, it seems like I have a lot of updates to include.

• Unfortunately, we were unable to attend the all day workshop in February.  There just wasn't enough time to process our application (must have been reading all those wonderful answers we wrote).  The next meeting we can attend will be in May.
• They called us my birthday and told us us our formal application had been approved!  Woo hoo!
• Next we mailed them our deposit check - no turning back now!
• On Friday, March 11th we met with our Intake Specialist at Bethany.  We left with a file folder a good inch thick full of papers we need to complete and instructions to get physicals/fingerprints/etc.  We also have about 45 open-ended essay questions to answer!  Plus we have to read 3 books and write book reports on them.  And it is all due on June 11th.  WOW!

The next three months are going to be busy, busy, busy.  All the adoption stuff in addition to the usual everyday school, scouts, & home stuff.  Plus planning VBS.  And ISAT online scoring.  And Alan's work trip to Florida.  And allergy season is approaching.  And...and...and...PRAYERS PLEASE!  :)

What an exciting time!  Please don't think I'm complaining.  In fact, as I type all of this I've got "I've Got the Joy" by the Go Fish Guys going through my head.  I've got the joy of the Lord in my heart!  Let the fun begin.  :)

Falling in Love All Over Again

Last Friday afternoon I discovered that we still needed to turn in three more forms before Bethany could process our formal application.  One was a brand new form we had never seen!  That night we sat down and answer thousands (ok, maybe that's a hyperbole, but if felt like thousands) of questions about the baby, the birthparents, and the post-adoption procedures that we had never even thought about before.  They all had to be answered with yes, no, or will consider.  Turns out, that was the easy part.


Then we each had to complete a personal statement of faith, which included five short answer questions:

1. What do you believe about Jesus Christ and what is your relationship with Him
2. How is the work of the Holy Spirit active in your life?
3. How is your personal growth in faith and obedience to God nurtured and encouraged in your life?
4. How would you describe your involvement with your church or parish?
5. What are your plans for your child's Christian development?

Anyway, I just wanted to share that after reading my husband's short answer responses, I have fallen in love with him all over again!  God is so good!  What an unexpected blessing.

***Note: I thought this post was lost in cyberspace, but I just found it today!  I'm still posting it.  Better late than never!

Submit Button

I did it!  I did it!  I just clicked the Submit Button on our formal application!  It has officially been transmitted through cyberspace to Bethany Christian Services.  One more item checked off of the long list of things to do.  I have to admit I am quite excited.  Then I saw, "Thank you! We have received your formal application. It can no longer be edited, however you are welcome to reference it as needed."  GULP!  Hope I didn't make any mistakes.  Next we need to complete the Personal Statement of Faith, which contains five essay questions.  One step at a time...  :)

Baby Steps

I tend to have an "all or nothing" attitude.  I jump into a project and neglect everything else.  Planning for VBS?  I'm all over it - but push laundry to the side.  Prepping for the Chirstmas party in Ryan's classroom?  Love it - but fall behind in housecleaning.  One of my New Year's resolutions is to work on tasks a little bit each day.  If I set the timer and do a portion of the project each day, eventually they will be completed.  On that note, I am happy to announce that I just spent about 20 minutes on adoption paperwork!  I would love to keep going, but I have other things to do.  I am putting it aside and will come back to it later.  Baby steps.