The Stuart Clan 2008

The Stuart Clan 2008
Tom and Davina with his 4 children and the grandbaby

Sunday, August 23, 2015

Submitted.. and now we wait

Well, after having my blogs all be pretty dead for a while.. things are picking back up and we might have a solid little busy spurt again...

This week we submitted our home study application. Just waiting on the FBI print background check, which we know will come back clear.. but other then that, I think our home study writer has everything she needs. We will be scheduling our home visits and interviews with her for after Labor day as T is out of town until the 10th anyway for work. She has another case she is finalizing and some court dates coming up for that so she wasn't really going to be free before then, so it worked out for both sides.
So now it's a bunch of hurry up and wait.. and wait.. and wait...

Also submitted our contract with the adoption consultant agency.. They won't match us with a Birth Mother, but they provide kind of a "college class" on how to find your Birth Mother, how to write up your profile, how to spot and avoid scams, etc.. so soon we will be starting that process, too... though, until we get the Home Study finalized, I can't actually start posting our profile anywhere or doing any actual "active" looking...

It's all very exciting, very nerve wracking, and, for me, very panic inducing.. which, for me, leads to questioning myself and, as hubby puts it, self sabotage.. But I'm trying to work on that, and to stay focused on the positives..

Meanwhile, we still have our little foster child.. she's going to be starting up with head start soon, and hopefully they can get her some of the therapies she needs. Her mom should be finding out what the "case plan" is this week, so we can better judge how long she might be staying with us, though I know she's been working very hard already to get the things done the judge told her she needed to be working on previously, so I suspect it won't be all that much longer. A few months more at most.

We would still love to adopt from foster care, but I can't put all my hopes in that one area anymore. We've decided to give this all another 2 years. If we don't have something in the works by then.. well, then I will just have to move on and try to accept that I won't be mommy in this life. It will be hard, it will be sad, and I will be a mess for a while, I'm sure.. But, if that time comes, it will be faced..

Meanwhile, I'm hoping for the best, planning for the day we get our baby, and just waiting for the next step in this process. And cleaning.. and trying to come up with fund raising ideas.. and looking for good photos for our profiles.. and...........

Please keep us in your prayers, and if you hear of anyone considering placing a child for adoption, please keep us in mind.. I'll soon be getting a dedicated email address set up, and eventually a phone line. And please, if you could forward our fund raising page along.. you never know :)
http://igg.me/at/dg6BFdr06TU

Saturday, August 8, 2015

We have a contract..

Just wanted to post a quick update..
The facilitating agency we have been talking to sent us the contract this week. It arrived Friday for us to look over and think about. We have another phone conference on Thursday for questions and everything and then it will be time to decide if we're going to sign and send it in... I'm in a bit of a panic.. part of me wants to wait until we have the home study finished. That is getting close, we just need to finish up bios, get signed forms to OCS (which has just been waiting to have everyone actually home for as they have to have witnessed signatures..) and getting one or two more bits of info for the financial section (mostly all the investment stuff that is scattered between companies.. we really need to get that consolidated..), then waiting..  Have I mentioned I hate waiting? There shouldn't be any problems with that, but, I'm a worrier.. and I just, well, worry...
And I worry about the money as well. I know I just need to let go of all this worry. Place it all in the hands of Heavenly Father, but that is such a hard thing to do right now.. But I am trying..
Please pray for us. If you can, please donate, or spread the word for us. Once the home study is complete we will begin the search for our Birth Mother, and that is just going to really drive my nerves crazy :)

Tuesday, August 4, 2015

First meeting..

Well, we had our first phone meeting with the folks at Lifetime Adoptions. It's all very exciting and nerve wracking.. They are mailing us the contract to look over and we will have another meeting next week. Right now we're kind of debating between them and the one Agency actually in Alaska... Pros and Cons for both, of course... Lifetime helps us get things rolling so we can find our birth mother on our own, from all over the country, help us get our profiles set up, etc.. the other Agency is more of the "full service" sort and finds the birth mother for us in state, but we wouldn't really be able to do much with them until we could take their class in January.. so it's all do something now, or wait until next year.. and well.. I really don't want to wait and put things off any more...  I just really want everything to go smoothly and quickly :)