Decided!

So, I had hoped and hoped that going in to this we would just know which agency was right for us, and that turned out to be the case!  We met with both agencies today, and while we thought God's Children was great, we just felt much more comfortable with LSS.  They really took the time to get to know us and tell us all about their program.  They have a lot of experience.  The social worker (who will also be our social worker when we go through the process) was super nice, and she even lives semi-close to where I'm from.  I don't know, I guess we just felt like right now, this agency was the one to go with.

I honestly thought we would've ended up with GC before meeting with them.  We know of people that went with them, and they had really fast placements.  But they were also quite a bit more expensive than LSS, so for those reasons, I just assumed that we would probably like GC better and then be bummed about having to pay more.  But we really did just click with LSS. 

I sent the SW an email just now letting her know what we had decided, so we should be paying for our application soon to get started on it.  :)  Can't wait!

TWO meetings!

I just heard back from Lindsey at God's Children, and she is actually going to be in town on Friday, so we are going to be able to meet with her as well!  Hopefully having these two meetings this close together will help us to really see which agency is right for us.  :)

first meeting with an agency!

We finally officially have our first meeting scheduled with an adoption agency!  We had some lined up earlier, but they didn't work out because of a family emergency (not ours) and another agency we were going to look at didn't actually serve our area.

We'll be meeting with Lutheran Social Services on Friday afternoon to talk about their agency and decide if it's the right one for us.  We also plan to meet with God's Children and possibly Catholic Charities.  If we haven't been matched by the time Ben is done with school, we may also look into some national agencies more that are known for their fast placements.  So excited to get this process started!

starting our journey

Why adopt?
After a miscarriage last fall and way too many negative pregnancy tests, we decided to start the adoption process.  We had always talked about adopting, but we thought that we would adopt a child or two way down the road, after our biological children were a bit older.  Since we haven't been able to have any children, we have decided to start the adoption process sooner.  We are open to open, semi-open, or closed domestic infant adoption and foster to adopt. 

Why not fertility treatments?
Frankly, they're just not for me.  I have zero desire to go through all of that.  To us, it doesn't matter if our children are biological or adopted.  We just want to be parents, however that may happen.

This may take awhile...
Since Ben is still in school, we are only wanting to do so much right away.  We will be getting the process started now so that things can move more quickly when it's time, but we won't be active until most likely at least next summer.  The plan is to buy a house after Ben completes school and gets a full time job, and then we will do the home study after we move into our new house.

What do we need from you?
First and foremost, prayers!  We know we will be parents when the time is right.  Pray for our patience, our families' patience, our future child, our child's birthparents, etc.  With God, all things are possible.

Second, we need you to help us to get the word out that we're adopting!  Often times, matches are made through word of mouth! Maybe your pastor knows of someone who wants to put their baby up for adoption.  Perhaps your boss or a coworker knows of someone.  Anyone and everyone can be of help in this journey.

And third, recommendations!  Do you think we would make good parents?  Let us know if you would be willing to write us a recommendation letter!