Time to catch up...

We spent many years and tears getting to this place. This wasn't the first time we looked at ways of growing our family that were natural and reflected our ways of thinking. We had looked at our options before and considered them  upside down, backwards, sideways and inside out. We thought about the various options so much that we decided to stop thinking about them. This time it was different. This time, the foggy "what ifs?" didn't resonate as strongly. This time, we were sure we were ready. To all of you who have bounced down this rocky road with us, thanks for your patience. Now, hang on for the ride!

In January, 2012 we met Jude Simmons with Adoptions: Advocacy & Alternatives. It just felt right. We said it driving home that day and have said so many times since. The various concerns we had about the process, the costs, the perceptions and the reality of adoption just formed into a big ball of certainty. We immediately sent in our application.

our application waiting for the mailman after we first met Jude

A week later, we made the trip to the agency again to begin the paperwork required to get the ball rolling. We went through each page with Jude so we knew exactly what to do next. After a long meeting on all of the next steps, we ended with holding hands and focusing on our chosen path. We each spent some time concentrating on the "seeds" we wanted to plant in this garden. In her wisdom, she knew to hope that our birth mother was treating herself well in her pregnancy. We just wanted the patience to handle whatever was to come.

The paperwork involved background checks, financial statements, fingerprints, identification of a pediatrician, a legal guardian, references and a plan for daycare. We were to develop a bulleted timeline of our lives individually, a two page summary of our lives and a longer version with all the details. We had separate multiple choice questionnaires required by the state asking about our upbringing, our thoughts on discipline and our roles in our relationship. Additionally, we developed a thorough description of our lives together and our plans for the future with a growing family.

We had a lot of homework to do!

One unique thing about our agency is that six to seven couples are formed into a group of adoptive parents. We are part of a team of support for each other. We are grateful for this despite not having met any of them yet. The next step was to coordinate the schedules of seven busy couples to find three full weekends we could get together for the required training in order to be licensed. We were anxious to begin this process, so we responded immediately. Then, we had to leave for Hawaii.

us forgetting what we were doing for a week and simply watching the water lap the shoreline

When we came back, we had our training dates and plenty of energy to get going on our life stories. We had a blast reliving our fondest memories, reflecting on our relationship and sharing our favorite stories with each other. We're not supposed to like the paperwork, but we really enjoyed the time together. We valued the moment we were in within this huge, new adventure.

Once our entire lives were summarized into a packet about half an inch thick, we began our home study process. Jean Noblitt is conducting our home study on behalf of the state of Colorado. She visited our humble abode at the end of February and passed our home upon inspection. She was another reassuring force in this whirlwind of emotions. We meet with her again tomorrow when she'll hold individual interviews with each of us.

Our intention is to use this page to update all of you. We hope it's a fun way to answer your questions about where we are in the process. When we're finally licensed and waiting for a match (hopefully by May) the rambling, waiting thoughts might get really interesting. Thanks for following along and for your support.