Happy National Adoption Day!

One Year

I just can't believe that it has been 1 year of waiting! At times, it seems like it's gone really slow and some days it seems to have flown by. We just recently updated our homestudy report with our caseworker. Let's hope we don't have to do that again :)

We recently got a call from the agency about a potential birthmother who will be looking at our profile. We are currently waiting to find out if we were chosen or not. Let me tell you, there is nothing like the feeling of waiting to find out if someone likes you enough to choose your family to parent their baby. The anxiety level is through the roof!

All we can do is continue to wait.....and pray A LOT!

7 Month Update

We're planning another fundraiser for August 14th, 2010. Friends and family: we would like to ask for any donations you would be willing to give for a Yardsale Fundraiser to help with funding our adoption. Every little bit helps. We can pick stuff up, you can drop it off, whatever is easier for everyone! Let me know if you'd like to help out! :) THanks a bunch!
Love Carie & Jason

6 Months...and counting....

Feeling a bit discouraged but trying to keep the faith...

"5 Months of Waiting" Update!

We had another successful yardsale fundraiser! Thanks to all our fantastic friends and family that donated items to help us out! It has now been 5 months of waiting on the list...and the time seems to go by fairly quickly. Our agency has merged with the Idaho Youth Ranch to work together to find families for babies. This is very good news because it will bring in 9 to 12 more birthmothers to ANB! As of right now, not much is happening and we're waiting to find out news on new birthmothers. They are currently working with 2 that aren't due until September and November...so they have quite a while before they will choose a family. So we will continue to wait.....

Month 4 Update

I can't believe it has been 4 months already since we've been on the waiting list. The latest stats from our agency: 5 placements in the last 2 months, 3 of them were surprise babies! So that narrows down the "competition"! :) They are currently working with 2 new birthmothers who have not chosen families yet. One is due in April and has been shown our profile so we wait patiently to see if she picks us! They have started a new support program for birthparents by putting together "self-nurturing bags" for the birthmothers to leave the hospital with. Its a difficult time for them and it is a nice gesture to give them something just for themselves. So I will be collecting items such as lotions, shampoos, soaps, bubble bath, self-pampering items, etc to donate to the agency to help with getting these kits together. If anyone would like to donate some items, let me know and I would love to deliver them with the bunch I am collecting. What a great way to pamper these scared, selfless individuals.

Fundraiser Date Set!

I've decided to do our Adoption Fundraiser the weekend of April 17th and 18th. So friends and family who would like to help out or donate some goodies, please let us know. Thanks so much!

Fundraising for Adoption

Thanks to our many family members and friends who have helped us along the way, we have been able to gather some funds to help us through the adoption. Even though Idaho has one of the lowest fee schedules for adoption, it is still a large expense. Last spring we held a yardsale fundraiser that was a HUGE success! We raised enough money to pay for our homestudy! So this spring, to raise money for other expenses, we are planning to have another yardsale. We would greatly appreciate any help that we can find: donations to the yardsale, help with setting up, or simply stop by and make a purchase! Any little bit helps tremendously! Last year was such a success, we are excited to try it again! When we set a date for the fundraiser, I will post more info.

Nursery Completion!

I think the nursery is FINALLY complete. We just got a rocking chair from my mom the other day that matches the crib and fits beautifully! The cushion even has a foliage pattern on it to go with the "Zoo-fari" theme! And today I added a tall vase with some fake foliage to make it look more like a jungle! :) So fun! I'll have to take some current photos of the room because I re-arranged just a bit.

We've been on the waiting list for over 2 months now. Our agency sends a monthly newsletter of how everything is going. They are currently working with 4 birth-families, two of which have not chosen a family yet. We will know in a few months their decision. There was a surprise placement a couple weeks ago, one family had their baby within hours of getting the call! Can you imagine?!

Sammy, the moody but oh-so-loveable Chihuahua, is happily awaiting the arrival of a new family member!

It seems like we've come a long ways since this picture was taken! We were just newly married here and looking forward to starting a family.

The Waiting Game

Now that we're on the waiting list for our agency, we face the hardest part of the adoption process....waiting for THE CALL! We've already had our profile shown once but we were not chosen. Just over a week ago we got a call from the agency. They were looking for couples interested in adopting two baby boy's in Georgia that were due in just a matter of days. Unfortunately, we couldn't pursue them because the placement fees in Georgia are almost double compared to Idaho. So we continue to wait....