From One Journey to the Next...

If you haven't read our blog in a while you might want to read the one below. I just posted it today. I'm trying to catch up. Last you heard was that we had some praying to do regarding our next step on our journey to Baby Wagner. The IVF failed in early August. Thats been a while now to research and more importantly pray about our next step. We also took our second opinion from Dr. Ryley into consideration and thought and prayed and discussed some more. Our conclusion: IVF is not out of the question forever, but for right now taking a chance on spending MORE money on a chance is not feasible. We hope that one day we will have insurance that will cover IVF. Or that one of our dear friends will win the lottery, haha. We are still wanting to be pro-active though and so we have concluded that we are being led to adopt. YAY!! it was certainly not an easy decision, harder for me than it wasfor Jarrod. Of course I want to be pregnant and enjoy every moment that comes with that, but if that doesn't happen ever I will be ok. I just want a child to love and nurture. Jarrod has been pro-adoption since day one of the infertility diagnosis. I have too... I just wanted to adopt after we had a successful IVF. My plan. Not Gods. His plan ALWAYS wins and I praise Him for that. So. Our final decision was made on Saturday January 8. Over the previous months I had been researching agencies and such just in case. Over that weekend I looked over my info and researched some more. We had not decided whether to adopt internationally or domestic. There are arguments for both as there is for about anything. We really didn't have a preference. (Just FYI our opinion on the argument why adopt international when there are so many children here to adopt: A child from another country has a lot less of a chance to hear about Jesus Christ than children here do. And thats what we are put here on earth to do. Spread the gospel. Also, international children in most cases have a much greater chance of dying due to not having the medical technologies that we do here.) We researched both and made a few calls. I found a place that weekend I had never heard of in my previous searches called "An Open Door Adoption". My search criteria was that they be non-profit and Christian. This place was and it is located in Thomasville, GA only 2 hours from us. They do international and domestic adoptions. I called them to inquire and the person I needed to speak with was on the other line. I found out later that the person on the other line was more than likely my husband:-)
I spoke with the lady that afternoon and after speaking with her and talking with Jarrod we decided on domestic adoption for this time. We have 2 main reasons, 1)its basically impossible to get a newborn or very young baby internationally and 2) you have to travel to that country and be there anywhere from 2-4 weeks or more. That may be a possibility down the road, but right now we are prime candidates for a newborn baby domestically and we cannot afford to both take off work that long to travel to another country.
Another thing I found out was that this particular agency was in need of childless white couples (that's us!!) for their Caucasian program. They estimated our wait would be 6-9 months- no more than a year. All the other places said 2-3 years and the costs are all pretty much the same. We got all the details and sent our application in. The next day we were approved. The first thing we have to do is have a home study done. This is basically paying someone $1000 to find out every little detail about you- emotionally, physically, financially and they put it together in a study. I made a call to a friend in Dothan and asked her for any connections she may have. She gave me a name and that lady gave me a name and 2 days later our home study began. Our social worker came and interviewed us together and toured our house. She gave us a list of about 20 things we have to gather up and or complete. Some of which includes a physical signed by our doctors, financial statements, names and numbers of our family, friends, clergy, and employers, letters of recommendations, proof of insurances, proof of marriage, birth, that the dogs are up to date on their vaccinations, and much more. We also had to interview with the social worker (SW)
 individually at separate times. We had to go get fingerprinted and fill out back ground check forms. We sent those to DHR and tothe FBI and ABI. The fingerprint and background check is what takes the longest. It can take anywhere from a month to 4 months. When those reports get back and the SW has all of the other info she can then complete our home study. As of right now we lack getting a couple of forms to her and we are waiting on the FBI, ABI, and DHR. There is a number I can call and check on the progress. As of yesterday FBI had processed our info and we were cleared. They were waiting for the ABI to get the info. They said the ABI has a new system so they are slow getting the info. The SW talked to her contact at DHR who said they are running 2 months behind of background checks. They did say they would be looking for our info and try to speed it along. Jarrod has a friend of a friend at the ABI and they are going to try to hurry the process along there too. We know it will happen the way it is supposed to because God is in control.
On top of all that we have to go to a meeting at the agency in GA on Feb 11 to make our final decision on whether or not we want to commit to them. Nothing can be done with that agency until we go to that meeting (and put money down) and our home study is completed. In the meantime however the agency has sent us a load of paperwork to be completed and signed and they requested a picture. I asked where the picture goes and the lady said it just for her to have a mental image of what we look like. The agency also sent is info on putting together our "lifebook". The lifebook is what the agency gives a birthmother when the time comes for them to pick a family for their child. This happens when they are 6 month along in their pregnancy. The lifebook is like a scrapbook with pictures all about our life, family, and home. It also has a letter to the birthmother, An about Lindsey page, about Jarrod page, and an informational page answering alot of specific questions about us. They sent us 2 examples to go by. The kicker is we have to have 25, yes TWENTY-FIVE of them. I am in the process now of trying to figure out where to make the book. They suggest online sites like shutterfly, etc. The books range anywhere from $10-30 bucks each not to mention shipping. My original plan was to make one and get the individual pages copied. Well I cannot find, but 1 place to make individual pages and they are $3 each page. Copying them will not be cheap either. The easiest thing to do would be to make a photo book that all the sites have now, but then I have to look at shipping. We're talking 25 books!
Also, I have found the sites that are user friendly are the more expensive ones and the cheaper ones would take FOREVER to layout the pages and download all the pictures I need for the book. Any recommendations would be appreciated! It looks though, however we do it it's going to cost a lot
 more moolah. Finances will of course be an obstacle, but we will follow the Lords will and He will open doors for us. We have already had gracious friends volunteer to do fundraisers.



Thats it for now.... I will keep you updated on our new journey!!!