I have never been good at keeping up with any type of blog or journal, but I felt the need to document our journey through the Open Adoption Process. We chose to go through an agency instead of a private adoption lawyer. The agency we chose was Open Adoption & Familly Services (OAFS). We chose them for many reasons; 1) they truly believe in open adoption 2) they are local 3) they are gay friendly 4) we really enjoyed the people and 5) I feel they put enough hurdles in the way that it weeds out the prospective parents who may not be truly committed. They were the agency that sex columnist, and Seattle local, Dan Savage and his partner used to adopt their son (as documented in his book "The Kid").
As it stands now we have jumped through many hurdles of our own. The steps we have completed so far.
1) The informational meeting.
2) The pre-adoption mandatory meeting
3) The background check
4) The paperwork! (Which includes; the autobiography, the dear Birth Parent letter, and photo collage)
5) The writing of progressively larger checks ($$$)
6) Finally entering the Waiting Pool
7) Attending "waiting" family meetings
8) The waiting........(current process)
It has been a process, but one that I am very proud to have began. We are doing this for the right reasons, and hope to begin our family very soon. We have been filling our time with sports (soccer!) and family. We have tried to steer clear from getting the house too far ready for baby, but can't help the urges to nest. It makes the process that much real. It is also a large possibility that we may be given a "last minute placement". Which is basically when you get a call from the hospital that a mother has chosen you and you need to come NOW!
That sentence right there, scares Misty. Mosty because she freaks out over not being ready. But between our amazing friends we have already obtained most of what we need to be prepared. And admittingly we have already partially prepared our nursery. We painted the nursery based on one of our friends daughter's (Mackenzie) favorite book. It is "Thats not my Monkey" Green. Or at least thats what it has been nicknamed. Mackenzie's mom, Gretchen (aka one of my bffs) provided us with a changing table and rocker. Misty's mom is buying the crib (once we finally agree on one!) and my family has given us so many baby items that the garage is overfilling! We are prepared. I blame Misty, she was a scout.
So that is our backstory. And now you will see the rest of the story. Hopefully this journey will be filled with smiles, tears of joy, and happiness very soon.
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