Hi everyone! I haven't blogged in awhile because there really hasn't been any good news about the adoption, and with the recent passing of Mother's and Father's Day, it was even harder for me to blog because this time of the year is very depressing for me.
I have found that, although I love spending time with my own parents on Mother's and Father's Day, these are still my 2 least favorite holidays of the year. Most of you probably won't or can't understand why. For an infertile like me, it is a yearly reminder that it is impossible to get pregnant. Impossible to give my parents that grandchild they deserve. Impossible to have a baby shower. Impossible to enjoy getting together with friends when 99% of them have children. Impossible to share pregnancy and childbirth stories with other women. Impossible for people to fathom that I have been with the same man for over 10 years and still don't have children. Impossible to have the one thing that I want the most. Do you know what that's like? Any of it? Probably not.
Many of you heard that we selected two children-one 7 year old boy and one 10 year old girl for adoption. We were told in May that our caseworker had contacted each child's caseworker and we would be receiving the full medical and psychological background on these children, and could then move forward. Just over a month ago, we talked to our caseworker's supervisor because we had not heard from our caseworker regarding these children. To make a long story short, she never contacted either one of these children's caseworkers! So, we never even had a shot at either one of these children. Now, we are potentially looking at 2 sisters both under the age of 7. If we are one of the couples that these children's caseworker is interested in, then we will be invited to speak to the caseworker. It's kinda like a job interview, because they ask us so many questions. And no, I do not know what the questions will be.
Happy Summer!
-Taryn
Showing posts with label waiting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label waiting. Show all posts
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Monday, April 23, 2012
Getting Closer!
Happy Monday everyone! Hope you are all having a great start to the week so far! Today, Russell called our case worker to inquire as to the status of the adoption, and we got some great news! One of her colleagues is mailing us paperwork on children that need to be adopted. Once we get the paperwork, we can choose a child we are interested in adopting and will go forward with meeting the child and pursuing adoption.
We will be sure to update you all when we receive the paperwork. We are so excited!!! Finally getting closer!!
We will be sure to update you all when we receive the paperwork. We are so excited!!! Finally getting closer!!
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Let's play Match Game!
Hello all! I know it's been awhile since we've blogged but there has not been alot to blog about lately. Well, anything worthwhile, anyway. During the last month, somehow pieces of our paperwork got messed up (Again?!?!?!?!) and the ages of the children we wanted were confused. The ages we have requested are 0-10, and we have told the case workers that from day 1. At one point, they had that we would only accept children ages 1-4 or ages 0-5. We have never said either of these ranges so we don't know where they came up with this craziness. :)
Fast forward to this past Monday, the 19th. We called the case worker to find out the status of our paperwork, and we were able to get everything straight over the phone. For example, we confirmed (again) our age range (0-10) and discussed the level of special needs we will accept for a child. We will not go into this publicly on our blog because it violates our future child's privacy.
According to our case worker, our file for the State Adoption Unit has been updated to reflect these changes and the case workers throughout the state begin finding us a matching child (or children). Here's a cool dialogue of part of our conversation:
Case Worker: "We will begin finding a matching child or children for you starting next Monday."
Us: "That's great, but that will probably take awhile, right? Like, 6 months or so?"
Case Worker: "Actually, no. This part usually moves quicker than you think."
Wow! Maybe quicker than we think would be less than 6 months, lol. On a serious note, it is so exciting that case workers around the state (and especially our case worker) will be working hard to match us with a child (or children)!
If you remember that old game show "Match Game", this is where we got the title of this blog post from. We are so ready to be matched!! Not only are we playing the Match Game, we are also playing the Waiting Game. We certainly hope the matching game will be much more fun then the waiting game has been!
Fast forward to this past Monday, the 19th. We called the case worker to find out the status of our paperwork, and we were able to get everything straight over the phone. For example, we confirmed (again) our age range (0-10) and discussed the level of special needs we will accept for a child. We will not go into this publicly on our blog because it violates our future child's privacy.
According to our case worker, our file for the State Adoption Unit has been updated to reflect these changes and the case workers throughout the state begin finding us a matching child (or children). Here's a cool dialogue of part of our conversation:
Case Worker: "We will begin finding a matching child or children for you starting next Monday."
Us: "That's great, but that will probably take awhile, right? Like, 6 months or so?"
Case Worker: "Actually, no. This part usually moves quicker than you think."
Wow! Maybe quicker than we think would be less than 6 months, lol. On a serious note, it is so exciting that case workers around the state (and especially our case worker) will be working hard to match us with a child (or children)!
If you remember that old game show "Match Game", this is where we got the title of this blog post from. We are so ready to be matched!! Not only are we playing the Match Game, we are also playing the Waiting Game. We certainly hope the matching game will be much more fun then the waiting game has been!
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
It's Official!!
Hello wonderful blogger family, friends, and followers! We wanted to share the most exciting news with all of you! Today, we received a call from the case worker to let us know we have officially been APPROVED!!! She will be sending us an *official* letter next week to inform us of our approval and we will then be transferred to a new case worker, R. (Sorry, I can't disclose this person's name due to privacy reasons.) R. is great because she is the one who works directly with children and adoptive parents!! We are being placed into the state adoption database now, so the case workers who are responsible for the children in state care can see that we are potential adoptive parents.
What happens now? When a potential match is found, R. will contact us with as many details about the child (or children) as they have. If we decide to proceed, then we meet with R., the child's case worker, the child's foster parents (if they are in foster care), and several managers from the local DFCS to discuss this further. If we still decide to proceed with meeting the child (or children), we will meet the child and spend hour-long visits with them. The hour-long visits then turn in to an afternoon, then overnight, then a weekend, and then possibly a week-long stay. If all of the above visits are successful, then the child (or children) will move in with us and then we will begin the process of finalizing the adoption and the child (or children) will be legally ours!!!
When is all this going to happen, you ask? Well, we're not really sure. Our current case worker told us we could get a call as early as next week, or 6-8 months from now (or even longer). For now, we have decided not to make any long-term plans and to take everything one day at a time. We don't know what's going to happen, so taking it one day at a time is all we can do.
We are soooo happy!! We have waited so long to become parents and we know that we have just a small amount of time left. This is the beginning of the end of the process!
We will post again soon!
What happens now? When a potential match is found, R. will contact us with as many details about the child (or children) as they have. If we decide to proceed, then we meet with R., the child's case worker, the child's foster parents (if they are in foster care), and several managers from the local DFCS to discuss this further. If we still decide to proceed with meeting the child (or children), we will meet the child and spend hour-long visits with them. The hour-long visits then turn in to an afternoon, then overnight, then a weekend, and then possibly a week-long stay. If all of the above visits are successful, then the child (or children) will move in with us and then we will begin the process of finalizing the adoption and the child (or children) will be legally ours!!!
When is all this going to happen, you ask? Well, we're not really sure. Our current case worker told us we could get a call as early as next week, or 6-8 months from now (or even longer). For now, we have decided not to make any long-term plans and to take everything one day at a time. We don't know what's going to happen, so taking it one day at a time is all we can do.
We are soooo happy!! We have waited so long to become parents and we know that we have just a small amount of time left. This is the beginning of the end of the process!
We will post again soon!
Thursday, December 29, 2011
2011-a look back
Hello! No new child news yet, but I thought I would take this time to reflect back on our year. It has been an eventful year, full of ups and downs. Here is a (brief) list of things I consider important that happened to us this year.
January-I traveled to New Jersey/New York with my Mom to help her with arrangements for my Uncle's funeral. He was my Mom's only brother and they were very close. It was difficult, not only to see everything, but it was hard to watch my Mom get upset knowing there was nothing I could do to help. The positive side was that I got to meet alot of my New York family that I didn't know so that was great. I got to meet my Great Aunt who is one of the most wonderful women on this planet. She is just a terrific lady who, at 81 years old, is more feisty than I am at times!
February-We officially begin the adoption process by attending orientation at the local DFCS office. We were so excited that we could not hold in our news and we began telling family and friends our good news. This is when we officially became "paper pregnant". Also, Russell began his new job!
March/April-Slowly begin paperwork, first home study completed. On April 20, our new niece Kylie was born! On April 25, our baby Sunny turned 8!
May-We unexpectedly lose Russell's mother on May 20. This was definitely, by far, the most difficult and saddest event of the year for both of us. It is extremely heartbreaking knowing that our child will never get to know either of their paternal grandparents. However, Russell's mother knew about and supported our adoption very much. She was one of our biggest cheerleaders. I am grateful that my parents have been supportive of both Russell and I through this ordeal.
June-Taryn's very busy summer reading program at work. Parenting classes start at the end of June. We meet some wonderful couples and single people who we hope, for their sake, are farther along in the process than we are. We hope that they have not had to deal with as much loss of paperwork and miscommunication as we have! During the classes, we received over 100 pages of paperwork to fill out.
July-Complete our 100+ page paperwork "Bible" for the adoption. Our first great nephew, Aiden, is born! Taryn breathes a sigh of relief as the summer reading program is over....until next year. :)
August-Nothing exciting happens because our paperwork was stuck under someone's desk for a month!! Talk about miscommunication...
September-Taryn turns the Big "3-0". Ouch! More miscommunication and paperwork from the case workers.... We begin going back to church and are enjoying the services, pastor, and meeting new people.
October-All paperwork is completed. Home study #2 is scheduled for November 1! Russell and I celebrated 8 wonderful years of marriage on the 11th.
November-Home studies #2 and #3 completed and passed with flying colors!
December-Case worker says we are in the middle of the approval process and everything is going as planned.
So what does 2012 hold in store for us? I'm not sure, but I hope that, by this time next year, I will posting about the cute things our child does or says, and hopefully asking advice from other parents!
Russell and I hope each and every one of you have a happy and safe New Year's holiday!
-Taryn
January-I traveled to New Jersey/New York with my Mom to help her with arrangements for my Uncle's funeral. He was my Mom's only brother and they were very close. It was difficult, not only to see everything, but it was hard to watch my Mom get upset knowing there was nothing I could do to help. The positive side was that I got to meet alot of my New York family that I didn't know so that was great. I got to meet my Great Aunt who is one of the most wonderful women on this planet. She is just a terrific lady who, at 81 years old, is more feisty than I am at times!
February-We officially begin the adoption process by attending orientation at the local DFCS office. We were so excited that we could not hold in our news and we began telling family and friends our good news. This is when we officially became "paper pregnant". Also, Russell began his new job!
March/April-Slowly begin paperwork, first home study completed. On April 20, our new niece Kylie was born! On April 25, our baby Sunny turned 8!
May-We unexpectedly lose Russell's mother on May 20. This was definitely, by far, the most difficult and saddest event of the year for both of us. It is extremely heartbreaking knowing that our child will never get to know either of their paternal grandparents. However, Russell's mother knew about and supported our adoption very much. She was one of our biggest cheerleaders. I am grateful that my parents have been supportive of both Russell and I through this ordeal.
June-Taryn's very busy summer reading program at work. Parenting classes start at the end of June. We meet some wonderful couples and single people who we hope, for their sake, are farther along in the process than we are. We hope that they have not had to deal with as much loss of paperwork and miscommunication as we have! During the classes, we received over 100 pages of paperwork to fill out.
July-Complete our 100+ page paperwork "Bible" for the adoption. Our first great nephew, Aiden, is born! Taryn breathes a sigh of relief as the summer reading program is over....until next year. :)
August-Nothing exciting happens because our paperwork was stuck under someone's desk for a month!! Talk about miscommunication...
September-Taryn turns the Big "3-0". Ouch! More miscommunication and paperwork from the case workers.... We begin going back to church and are enjoying the services, pastor, and meeting new people.
October-All paperwork is completed. Home study #2 is scheduled for November 1! Russell and I celebrated 8 wonderful years of marriage on the 11th.
November-Home studies #2 and #3 completed and passed with flying colors!
December-Case worker says we are in the middle of the approval process and everything is going as planned.
So what does 2012 hold in store for us? I'm not sure, but I hope that, by this time next year, I will posting about the cute things our child does or says, and hopefully asking advice from other parents!
Russell and I hope each and every one of you have a happy and safe New Year's holiday!
-Taryn
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Hoping and waiting...
...And waiting some more. This morning, Russell called the case worker to find out what's going on since we hadn't heard from them lately. We mailed the remaining paperwork 2 weeks ago. Supposedly, we are going to get a call from the agency that does the home study this week. If it happens, we will be so excited!! I do hope this is going to happen this week. Our case worker told us to call her next Tuesday if we don't hear from the agency by then. Until then, we are just hoping and waiting....
Friday, September 9, 2011
What's going on?
Yeah...you're all asking me what's going on with the process. Until a week ago, it was absolutely nothing. Last week, I was beginning to get worried because I hadn't heard anything from our case worker in over a month. So Russell called our case worker last Wednesday and found out that our paperwork had been sitting on a person's desk in Thomasville for A MONTH!!! COLLECTING DUST!!! (As you can see, I'm pretty upset about it.)
We then found out that our paperwork was FINALLY transferred to this woman in Thomasville's boss in Albany for her staff to review. She told us that her aides were reviewing the paperwork, and that they would get back with us in 1-2 weeks.
Well, we received a letter last night from the DFCS office in Albany. It was pretty thick so we were excited. In it was a letter stating they need another copy of our driver's licenses and auto insurance cards. OK-no big deal. Also, they wanted us to fill out the enclosed paperwork. When we started looking through it, it just didn't seem right. There were sheets on physicals that needed to be done on our own children. Considering we don't have children, we were concerned. As we were looking at the paperwork they sent, we received someone else's paperwork!! Of course, it wasn't everything, but there were 6 pages of someone else's paperwork!! And none of the forms we needed to fill out were in the envelope.
This morning, Russell called our case worker to find out what was going on. The person from Thomasville drove up to Albany to find out personally what had happened. The person who was responsible for sending us the paperwork blamed it on her assistants. That's ridiculous, because she should have made sure the correct paperwork was going out to the right people. They called Russell around 11 a.m. and explained that we did not need to fill out any of the paperwork that they sent us (Duh!) and that they sent us the correct paperwork on Wednesday. We are seriously doubting that statement. We are giving them until Saturday to receive the paperwork, and if we still do not receive anything, we are taking action on Monday.
If they send us the correct paperwork, we are planning to fill it out and send it back to them on Monday. The case workers have told us that we should hear from the company that does the home study within 1-2 weeks of their receiving our paperwork. If I do not hear from that company, we will be calling in exactly 2 weeks.
We are so upset over everything that has happened lately, but are still optimistic and anxious to meet our child. This will all be worth it in the end.
We then found out that our paperwork was FINALLY transferred to this woman in Thomasville's boss in Albany for her staff to review. She told us that her aides were reviewing the paperwork, and that they would get back with us in 1-2 weeks.
Well, we received a letter last night from the DFCS office in Albany. It was pretty thick so we were excited. In it was a letter stating they need another copy of our driver's licenses and auto insurance cards. OK-no big deal. Also, they wanted us to fill out the enclosed paperwork. When we started looking through it, it just didn't seem right. There were sheets on physicals that needed to be done on our own children. Considering we don't have children, we were concerned. As we were looking at the paperwork they sent, we received someone else's paperwork!! Of course, it wasn't everything, but there were 6 pages of someone else's paperwork!! And none of the forms we needed to fill out were in the envelope.
This morning, Russell called our case worker to find out what was going on. The person from Thomasville drove up to Albany to find out personally what had happened. The person who was responsible for sending us the paperwork blamed it on her assistants. That's ridiculous, because she should have made sure the correct paperwork was going out to the right people. They called Russell around 11 a.m. and explained that we did not need to fill out any of the paperwork that they sent us (Duh!) and that they sent us the correct paperwork on Wednesday. We are seriously doubting that statement. We are giving them until Saturday to receive the paperwork, and if we still do not receive anything, we are taking action on Monday.
If they send us the correct paperwork, we are planning to fill it out and send it back to them on Monday. The case workers have told us that we should hear from the company that does the home study within 1-2 weeks of their receiving our paperwork. If I do not hear from that company, we will be calling in exactly 2 weeks.
We are so upset over everything that has happened lately, but are still optimistic and anxious to meet our child. This will all be worth it in the end.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Classes!
Hello all! It's been awhile since I've last blogged, but there really hasn't been anything going on. When not much happens, it makes me wonder "Is this really happening? Are we really adopting a child?". But yes, it's happening, and we couldn't be more excited!
Today, we received a letter regarding our parenting classes, which is the next major step in the process. They will be held all next week! We are sooooooooo excited! It will be interesting to see what they teach us next week about the children in the process.
I'm not 100% sure what will happen from here, so I'm not going to publicly speculate the next step on this blog until something happens.
This is just another step closer to getting our child-we cannot wait to be parents soon!
Today, we received a letter regarding our parenting classes, which is the next major step in the process. They will be held all next week! We are sooooooooo excited! It will be interesting to see what they teach us next week about the children in the process.
I'm not 100% sure what will happen from here, so I'm not going to publicly speculate the next step on this blog until something happens.
This is just another step closer to getting our child-we cannot wait to be parents soon!
Friday, May 13, 2011
Update!
Yesterday, we received a call from our social worker/resource coordinator regarding the timetable for our adoption. The next step is parenting classes in June; however, they have moved them to July due to budget cuts. I certainly hope this does not put a major delay in the date we will be able to get the child. I can't wait for this fall-it's going to be so exciting!
Also, we have our drug screening scheduled for May 31st in the afternoon. That is the last major test we have to do. We still have to get some other paperwork finished, but it should be pretty easy.
Oh yeah I finally announced our adoption on Facebook! It was great to see so many positive comments and likes from family and friends.
Until next time...
Also, we have our drug screening scheduled for May 31st in the afternoon. That is the last major test we have to do. We still have to get some other paperwork finished, but it should be pretty easy.
Oh yeah I finally announced our adoption on Facebook! It was great to see so many positive comments and likes from family and friends.
Until next time...
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Nothing yet...
Some of you have asked me whats going on in the process since I haven't blogged lately. We are still waiting on a call to schedule our home study. The one thing about these adoptions is that they take a VERY long time. But we don't care, we know all the waiting will be worth it when we get our child.
I'm not worried about the waiting yet, because there is still so much to do before the home study. The major things we still have to do are:
In other news, I am going to a baby shower this weekend (We will have a new niece near the end of April! Yeah!!) and it will probably be the first baby shower I've been to in over 5 years that I don't come home feeling depressed and wonder when (or if) we will ever have a child.
Until next time...
I'm not worried about the waiting yet, because there is still so much to do before the home study. The major things we still have to do are:
- Get Georgia driver's licenses
- Get fingerprints
- Take a drug test
- Have our car insurance changed from FL to GA
- And of course, get ready for the home study!
In other news, I am going to a baby shower this weekend (We will have a new niece near the end of April! Yeah!!) and it will probably be the first baby shower I've been to in over 5 years that I don't come home feeling depressed and wonder when (or if) we will ever have a child.
Until next time...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)