Monday, April 10, 2006

And so it begins

After 16 months of unsuccessfully trying to get pregnant, enduring tests, blood draws, procedures, bad news, more tests, surgery, donor inseminations, and month after month of negative pregnancy tests, we've decided to end our TTC journey. We realize that maybe God has different plans for us than we thought. The more and more we thought about it, the more we realized adoption was our chosen path. We will now begin down this path with hope in our hearts and a lot of love to give to our forever child.

We mailed our application off today to Children's Hope International. We selected Vietnam as our country of choice. There are a few reasons for this. One, you only have to make one trip to the country. With some countries, you make an initial trip to meet your child, then come back without said child, then go back a few months later to finalize the adoption. Two, the age of children adopted out is younger, on average. There is no minimum wait in an orphanage, so we could get a very young infant (2-6 months old). Three, they're just so darn cute! LOL. Ok, that's not a real reason, but they ARE really cute! Four, looking through the choices, we just felt something in our hearts pushing us towards Vietnam.

Now we just wait to hear back from CHI that our application was accepted. At that point, they'll send us some paperwork and tell us what we need to start getting together, as far as documents. They'll assign us a social worker to begin the homestudy and we'll get to endure a stranger examining every tiny aspect of our lives. Luckily, there's nothing bad to find!

As we begin this journey, we'd appreciate all thoughts, prayers, vibes, etc., that this goes quick and smooth and that we can come up with the money, or raise it somehow. It's going to be a long journey, but every second will be worth it when I hold that baby in my arms.

3 comments:

HawkOwl said...

Hey Steph, I don't know whether to be happy or sad for you... It kinda feels like when a relative dies of cancer. It's sad, but at the same time, it's a weight lifted off, isn't it? I think it's great you guys are adopting and I totally understand about being just drawn to a certain country... For me it just has to be Ethiopia if I end up adopting. I hope everything goes smoothly for you guys - it sure didn't seem to take Adria very long. I'll be checking your blog. :) :) (Darn, no "bigarmhug" smiley.)

HawkOwl said...

I've made up my mind. I'm happy. :) :)

Heather P. said...

Hi Steph,
So sorry I haven't been to blogland in awhile. I hope that your trip down into adoptions proves to be a big blessing! I know it will be!!