A reminder....

We have been waiting for a couple days to hear more details about how the meeting with the expectant mom, C, went, and when the next meeting will be. Today we were told that C was struggling with feeling very overwhelmed and the meeting was rough for her. So she wants to take a few weeks before making any decisions. What will her decision be? Will she narrow the families down? Will she want to meet with any of us? Or will she chose one of us then? I don't know. But I do know, that as much as I would LOVE for her to chose us and for this baby girl to be our Butterfly, I know that this isn't really about us right now. Right now, it's about C and her baby. I have had C on my heart since getting the profile call last week. Hearing her background and current situation as well as her desires for a REAL relationship with the adoptive parents she chooses, has opened my heart to her and has made me want to be able to give her what she wants and needs not only for her baby, but also for herself. But, I honestly can say that I want her to make the right decision for her baby and for her, and so I am glad she is taking her time. The wait will not be the easiest for us, but her journey to this decision is a million times harder for her. I will keep her and her baby in my prayers and try to leave our desires out of it. I truely hope she finds what she is looking for in one of the families. Maybe it'll be us, maybe it won't. But if I know anything, I know that things work out the way they should, and this baby will find the family she is meant for. I am sad for C. And as hard as it is to know that on one side of the decision is sorrow and loss, and the other side is celebration and joy, I am glad Jay and I were reminded of her side. It helps put things into perspective a bit better.

SURPRISE opportunity!

A couple of weeks ago we sent in our entire homestudy packet. I still needed to finish and fine tune our profile. And Jay and I talked about working on our video profile. But we were pretty much on schedule to where we wanted to be. Our plan was to be officially homestudy ready by October 1, 2013. That was the plan. Then this past Friday (August 16), I received a call from Shannon, our family advocate at STAR. I was shopping in Target on my lunch break. I didn't think anything of seeing her call because we had just spoken the day before about incoming references. But then she said, "I actually am calling you about a profile opportunity.". Um, WHAT?! Seriously?! I mean, we are not even officially waiting yet. I started thinking, well, this has got to be an extremely risky situation, because why else would they be calling a family that isn't yet homestudy approved? Shannon asked if I had a pen and paper, and since I was in the store I didn't. I quickly checked out and rushed to my car and found a pen and paper. I called Shannon back and started scribbling down the details as quickly as she provided them. To sum up- expectant mom is 21 year old Hispanic/Caucasian young woman. Expectant dad is 27 years old and African American. She wants an extremely open adoption and for the adoptive family to see the open adoption as a welcomed relationship, instead of a burden. I waited for the "bad" news, the risks, the reason they'd call US and not just use already waiting families. But there were no red flags. Nothing that even brought me pause. Shannon told me that because of C's focus on a good open relationship, and because of our family's experience with, and love of, open adoption, they thought this would be a great match! Um, YES! The catch - we had to finish up our profile and get it to STAR by Tues August 20. Totally doable. So, I very excitedly called Jay and relayed all the info. He was a bit in shock at the fact that we even got called. Again, we are not officially waiting so in no way were we ever expecting any calls until at least October. But we very quickly agreed that we wanted to be profiled. I quickly called Shannon back to let her know and then I started sending a few obnoxiously elated text messages to my sister and a few friends. That evening after work, we got together with Jason's family, including some out of town relatives. It was a nice night. But Jay and I both had a hard time not being distracted by our utter excitement and nervousness. I just kept thinking about how I needed to get home and finish the profile. One other call I made was to Andrew's birthmom. She had wanted to include something in our profile so I had to tell her she needed to do it ASAP. She could tell how excited I was and agreed she wanted to contribute some words. Fast forward to the rest of the weekend. I finished the profile, including some sweet words from Drew's birthmom and his birth great-grandmother. I am happy with the end result. I put a big focus on open adoption, and hope that C sees how committed we are to these relationships. She will view our profile, along with possibly 8 others, tomorrow afternoon. EEEEEK!!!!