Wait one more day...

Sorry folks! Can't let you know how the personality test went until tomorrow. Due to a work conflict the test had to be scheduled for tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. In the mean time, thought I would share this website that I found that is really neat for those people who are adopting or for adoptive children. Cool that they make something out there for those expecting children with 'no bump required' :o) www.notshowing.com

Monday, Monday...la la...la la la...so good to me!

So we were a bit miffed when we found out that we weren't gonna be able to get in and get our physicals done next week because our goal is to get all our paperwork and first payment mailed and post-dated Aug. 6th as an anniversary gift to each other! However, after emailing our case worker she was fired up that we have everything ready and she said just send it everything in and we can wait for the physical paperwork so we can get our home assessment visits scheduled and get things rolling! YAY!! It's really all starting to happen! Monday at 8 a.m. we both will be heading over to The Village Family Service Center where we need to each take a personality test. The test will be roughly 1 1/2 hours and we'll be in separate rooms for these tests. Man we're gonna have to do some major cleaning around here to get this place white glove test and social worker ready!! Yikes! The thought of a social worker coming over makes me a bit crazy. Actually our worker, Kristin, is a really nice young gal and we got a chance to interact more with her and the other workers together over our two day workshop which helped so we're a bit more comfortable with her! What a great way to end the week! Lotta stuff happening...lotta stuff to get ready for! Cant wait :o)

Primetime ABC Family Secret's last night

So we were flipping through channels last night and came across this Primetime special on ABC that shared the stories of two birthmothers, ages 15 and 18, who decided to make a better life for their children by seeking out an adoptive family for them. It gave more insight as to what these young women go through from the time they find out they are pregnant, through the counseling, making one of the toughest decisions of their life to actually placing their child in the arms of the adoptive parents. We have actually listened to a birthmother tell her story, but to be able to watch it all happen during that show, for two different girls, was very touching. Below is a link to the ABC website that tells a little bit about the story in case you might be interested in reading up on it. This should couldn't have come on at a more better time! The signs are all around :o) http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/story?id=3394560&page=1

Yay Fingerprinted!!

So something to add today is that Dan and I jumped in the car after I finished work and headed over the the Fargo Police Department offices just down the road from us. We met a very nice lady who marked up our cards with fingerprints which we must turn in to our agency as part of our criminal history check. Then me, being the nerd that I am, brought our camera with to document the occasion; taking shots of both of us with black fingers (or sort of black fingers) and with our print cards! Woo hoo! One more step out of the way...now, on to scheduling physical and filling out criminal record papers!

We took another step along the road to adoption this past week by attending a 2 day training session at St Johns Church in Fargo on Monday and Tuesday. We started at 1pm on Monday with 3 social workers and 5 other prospective couples. The 2 day session was full of information and emotion.

We did a language exercise to help eliminate some words and phrases that are barriers and can be short sighted. Words and phrases like"keep the baby" and "real parents" are no longer considered politically correct. Adoption of today aims to eliminate the negative stigma that in past has surrounded the adoption process and the children involved.These changes and others have occurred in the past few years and have helped changed the face of adoption to make it more mainstream and accessible to parents and children.

We had a group of speakers which represented all parties that can be involved in adoption. We heard from a birth mother who wasn't ready to raise a child and wanted to give her child everything she couldn't. We heard from a couple who has recently adopted a newborn from ND and are very much like us in terms of where they started in the process and where the ended up. We also heard from a woman who was adopted 20 years ago and she shared some of the problems she had struggled with not knowing much about her birth family.There was very little "openness" in adoptions back then.The 2 day session opened our eyes to what an open adoption can mean to the child and two the adoptive parents.

The 2 days was a great experience and very informative. we were able to see other couples who have similar situations and listen to people who are going through some of the same things. we were enlightened to say the least. The 2 days seemed to have put a spark in us and we are very eager to get the ball rolling faster.

Our next step is to turn in our paperwork and do the home assessment which is 3-4 visits with our case worker and can take about 3 months.

Thank you all for sharing in our journey. remember to ask us if you have any questions about adoption or the process.