Monday, November 29, 2010

It's only been 2 weeks since my last post

Okay, so two weeks seems like a long time for most bloggers.  But remember my little blurb about "hurry up and wait"- well we have had more of that!!!  We have applied with 2 different agencies out of Utah (VERY adoption friendly state) and have finished the nursery.
We have a suitcase packed with gender neutral clothes and I am working on a big hair bow!  If Baby Sanborn is a girl and we can't have people confusing her gender because of the gender neutral clothes we packed now can we??!!  We chose the "gender neutral" because with domestic adoption we truly will not know if the baby is truly ours until we get on the plane to come home.  So if we get a call and it's a boy, we fly to Utah with a bunch of baby boy stuff, and it's NOT God's baby for us we will have a bunch of baby boy stuff we have already used and is non-returnable.  With gender neutral we can reuse the clothes for another baby.  Of course we are hoping this is not the case and we only leave to get the baby one time!!!  But we are trying to be practical.
We have had a few birth moms presented with our profile and I must say it's a little nerve wracking!!!  By nature I am a "people pleaser" and I have a pathological NEED for people to like me.  So imagine, you are like me and want desperately for people to like you.  Your whole life story is laid out on paper for the whole world to see.  Most importantly, the woman who will trust you with her child, she will be reading said life story on paper (otherwise know as a family profile).  Then to have that woman (or anyone for that matter) read your life story and say, "not interested", or "not good enough"...  Talk about a kick to the stomach!
God is using this experience to remind me that none of this is about me.  It's not about what I want, or when I want it (clearly).  It's not about what we wrote in the family profile (or what we left out).  It's not about what pluses and minuses we have as seen by outside observers.  It is about how God is building our family.  It is about Him.  He has our baby picked out, He always has.  It's just our job to wait patiently (okay, so I'm not super good at the patiently) until His plan is revealed.
We covet your prayers and are so thankful that you have come along side us on this journey.

Monday, November 15, 2010

Here is the "More To Come"

So in case you didn't read the last post- WE GOT OUR CERTIFICATION TODAY!!!!!!  This is the piece we have been waiting for so we can move forward with the adoption.  So the court has said we are "fit to adopt" (they obviously haven't read the "mother of the Year Monday" posts from our family blog)!  I guess Andrew and and Annabelle were the proof they needed:)
So next steps:
1) Get pics taken tomorrow of just Bill and I
2) Sent them to CAC so Tracie can complete our "Family Profile" (which is totally complete except these few photos).
3) Fill out applications for as many agencies as we want.  We are focusing on 2 right now(both in Utah)
4) Send our profile, additional paperwork and home study documentation to the agencies we have chosen by Friday hopefully
5) Get matched with a birth mom
6) Bring home baby #3
AAAHHH!!!!  Sounds easy right?  NOT SO MUCH!!!  We have a ton of extra documentation to get together for these agencies (I am filling out 21 page applications after posting this blog).  All of that said, we would like to have this all finished by Friday- MY BIRTHDAY BY THE WAY!!!
(Just a side note, with our first two adoptions, we spent my birthday getting our fingerprints done.  And by the way, National Adoption Day is also on my birthday.  It kind of seems fitting doesn't it??!!)
Getting back to the matter at hand...  Getting matched with a birth mom is also very tricky.  We would like to do this only once, but we know that is in God's hands, not ours.  Please be praying for our family during this exciting time.  We want to make decisions based on God's wisdom and discernment, not on emotion and adrenaline.  Please also pray for our baby's birth mom.  Pray that she would have a peace about her decision even now.  Pray her boldness and conviction in giving her baby to us and that it would be out of a heart filled with confidence and hope for her future.  Thank you for joining us on this journey!

"Brand New Day"

OUR CERTIFICATION CAME TODAY!!!!!  More to follow...

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Restless

We are still waiting for our certification- GRRR!!!!  I did mention (a few times) that adoption is about "hurry up and wait" right?!!  I am feeling so restless as we wait.  I know I was like this waiting for Andrew and Annabelle, but the thought has faded.  I am so excited to see what God has in store for our family- I CAN NOT STAND IT!!!!  I have made lists for diaper bags (halfway done filling it by the way), lists for suitcases (not even close yet, because we don't know where we are going ie. will parkas be required?), lists for registries (check and check), lists for nesting (every time I finish one task, I add two more) and written an in-depth schedule for whoever will be watching Andrew and Annabelle while we are gone.  BTW- the "flying anywhere on a moments notice" kind of adoption is EXTREMELY exciting (what adoption isn't) but not exactly practical when you have two little ones.  Let's just say, I have planned for contingency if we are gone during a weekend (Bill's parents), or during the week (Erin, Amy, Christy, Aunt Frankie, Mimi and UB THANKS GUYS).  So I think it is pretty obvious here I am not doing the whole "waiting thing" very well.  I can say I have had minimal "freak outs" in general.  Both have involved Bill making some snide comment about this "not being a big deal"-well you can imagine how well that went over.  All that being said, I am restless.  I am restless to mark something else off my checklist, I am restless waiting for the nursery to be finished, I am restless wondering what will be.  When I find myself on the edge of restless just about to cross over into anxious, I go into the nursery (pics to come, I swear, when it's done) and sit in the rocking chair.  I DO NOT look at all of the things that need to be done, or packed or finished.  I just sit and pray.   I pray for our baby's birth mom, her health and well being as well as her anxiety about what is to come.  I pray for our baby, as he or she is being formed as I pray.    I pray for all the financial details that must be worked out.  I pray for the chaos that is sure to ensue when we bring another baby into our home (AAHHHH-Can't wait).  I pray for what the Lord must have in store for this little one. I pray for the Lord's will to be done in all of the above because He is the only one who can oversee all of it.  It brought my soul such peace to pray over Andrew and Annabelle in their nursery (before we knew they were Andrew and Annabelle).  I pray over Baby #3 the same way.  Just writing about it calms my restlessness...  Guess what I am off to do?

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Maybe a speed bump, maybe a mountain

We just sent all of our "Sanborn Family Profile" pics to our consultant.  She is a little busy these days with a 13 day old baby boy who is in the NICU (check my previous post for the downlow on this sweet family), but looked at them immediately!  We have a few more pics to gather, as the only pics we have of just Bill and I together are from 5 years ago.  The only pics we have of ourselves alone are from our wedding!  Note to self: "Get more pics of you and your husband!".  So our work on this front is not quite done.

We are still waiting on our recertification notice, it should be coming from the courts any day.  Although it could take longer than expected, as it is adoption paperwork!  HA!!

We were also waiting on one more piece of info- our taxes (boo).  Bill wanted to take our "funding sources" to the tax guy to see what makes the most sense financially as we adopt.  Here comes the "speed bump" or "mountain" part.  After talking to Bill on the phone for  while, he seems to think it's in our best financial interest to wait until Jan 1st to procure the funding.  So we now have more "hurry up and wait" in our future.  I was looking forward to having that part be in our review mirror by Jan 1st.  But it looks like that will not be the case.  GRRRRR!!  I know, it's not that long...especially in "adoption time".  I was kind of looking forward to a baby by Christmas.  I also wanted to travel to get the baby and be home before weather in other places gets really wicked.  I would hate to be stranded in an airport with a newborn and 2 crazy preschoolers waiting on the other end.  Well, God's plans are bigger than all of this!  No lack of pictures of Bill and I together (since 2001), no lack of money, no epic winter storm, nothing will thwart the plans He has for those who love Him.  Please join us as we pray for our baby, timing, finances, our baby's birthmom, El Nino... Well you get my drift!  Thank you for taking this journey with us.