One month......

Well it's been a month since we were official, and now we are officially on another agency wait list. Mother Goose Adoptions/Creating Christian Families, which is the agency we got Isaiah through. We applied to the two to have our name out there as much as we can. The two agencies we picked have a minimal charge up front to hold profiles and present you, so why not right? This agency does things a little different then the first. Our first agency will present you to birth families that match your criteria and they don't tell you. You will find out only if you are picked. This 2nd agency only presents you if you request it.  They send email blasts out letting you know about situations they have available and if it is one you are interested in you let them know. I have gotten probably 3-4 emails so far but none of them were for African American girls:)

With this being the process, you may hear more about possibilities when they arise. The other agency we won't hear from at all, so it's more of just waiting blindly.

Well this was a short update, but I felt like writing something!! Today we are off to meet Xavier's birth mom and sister for lunch. This is a new adventure for us:-) Isaiah is a bit sensitive about it, but after a good talk with him he seems to be ok with it. He's such a great big brother!!!

Have a Merry Christmas!!!  See you in the New Year!!

We are OFFICIAL!

This is part of a note we received today:

Dear Emery & Cristy,

 

               Thank you so much for your interest in our agency. We have received your application and supporting documents and are pleased to add you to our adoption program. We look forward to assisting you on your adoption journey and hope to make your experience as positive as possible.

 

WOOHOO!!  Ya'll, that means we are officially waiting for a birth mom to choose us.  Our home study is complete and application has been accepted by the agency.  A very nice lady came out to visit us a little over a week ago to check in with us.  She asked about anything that may have changed since our last adoption, spoke to the boys briefly and took a tour of our home.  About a week later we received a draft of our home study to review.  We immediately approved it and a few days later the agency signed off on it. 

 

We sent in our scrapbook, to be reviewed.  We were given a few instructions on how to make it better.  It was sent back in a few days later and that was approved as well.  Apparently I am unable to attach a PDF file to this blog, so I can not post it.  I will figure out a way to post it some day! 

 

I packaged these hard copies up a few days ago and sent them in as well.  The agency keeps a digital copy and hard copies on file.  These scrapbooks are used to show birth mothers when there are families who meet their criteria in a family they would like for their child.

 

Tonight I packaged up an application to send to another agency.  It is the agency who got Isaiah placed with us.  The agency who completed our home study is the agency Xavier was placed through. We have enjoyed working with both agencies in the past, so why mess up a good thing!  We are so very excited about the latest news. 

 

So, now we wait.  We wait to be chosen.  This is where all my emotional posts start.....the anxious, impatient posts.  This is the hard part.

 

Thanks for all the prayers and support!  We truly appreciate it.

 

Happy Halloween!

Wow, it is amazing to me how many of you are keeping track of our progress on this adoption journey, not to mention how excited you all are.  A few of you have even mistakenly taken a TBT post by Emery the wrong way.  He posted a picture of Isaiah, Xavier and I from when we got Xavier and I had several texts that day congratulating us on the new little one.  Took me by surprise:)  Anyway, no we do not have a new baby.  To clarify, our home study is not complete yet, therefore we are not even on the list to get a baby yet. That is the purpose of this post.......

We are almost there, people....almost have our name on the list.  We have one more step in the home study process left.  THE VISIT.... dum dum dum.  It's not really that bad, actually.  Someone will come out to our house and chat with us about our lives, probably even talk to the kids about what awesome parents we are.....now I have to worry about what they will say:-)!  KIDDING!  We are on the schedule for that visit.  A very nice lady will come out next Wednesday evening.  After that, our home study, should be complete and approved!  Then the real wait begins.....

Last night we filled out an adoption application.  This form is to officially request to be on the waiting list.  This is where we also choose gender, race, whether we would accept any drug exposure, or if we are willing to accept any kind of health issues etc.  It is very specific and there is a lot of research that needs to be done to be fully able to answer the questions.  Luckily, we have been through this in the past and we filled it out pretty similar to how we have in the past.  With one minor difference........the box next to female was checked!  As you already know, this time we are requesting a girl. 

I guess that is all for now.  Visit from social worker Wednesday and get our application into the agency....probably 2 agencies.  Those are the next steps.  And just to clarify and avoid any future misunderstandings, we will be very specific in our posts.  That is my goal with this blog, a step by step account of this journey.  I would never skip to ....here's the baby.  There will be many phases between now and then.

In honor of Halloween and TBT.....

Pictures, pictures and more pictures

So as I stated in my last post, I have been busy making our profile.  The profile is a small scrapbook of your family.  It is what the agencies show to birth mothers, so they can make a decision as to who they want to place their child with.  I can not even begin to imagine what it must be like to make a decision like that.  The courage it takes, is more than I have, that's for sure.  It's easy for us.  A birth mother chooses our family, we gain yet another blessing and get to pour our love on them.  The birth mother, however, places a child in our arms and goes home. They make this decision looking at pictures of families and possibly speaking with them on the phone a few times.  Can any of you imagine doing that? I am humbled by these women who make the ultimate sacrifice for their child......and for our family.  If it were not for women who make the decision to place their child for adoption, our home would be childless.  I am forever grateful for the 2 women God has put in our lives to help us build our family. 

This post sort of took a turn of sorts.  Started with me mentioning making our profile......  Our profile is complete.  I sat down at my scrap booking table a few days ago to begin.  I got as far as cutting all my paper into the correct size.  I then got distracted and went online to look at other families profiles.  It was then I realized, I needed to be doing this digitally.  Funny right? I was making it by hand and then went to look at others online.  Should have realized earlier I could do it online!  Then I began searching programs to help me make it.  This turned into hours of research on how to do it digitally.  I fell asleep at my computer working on it. 

The next day, after finding a program, I sat down, yet again, to make our scrapbook.  Hours later I completed a draft.  I made 2 different books.  The first one was practice.  I made the whole book, then went to the print options and realized I could only print in one size, and of course, this size was too big.  So, back to the drawing board to find a template that would print smaller.

After completing the draft, Emery checked it and we made a few corrections.  We now have a finished product.  I am going to share some of it with you.  This is not the whole book, but it is a majority of it. There will be a few more pages inserted within this version.  Maybe after I get the whole thing scanned as a PDF file, I will attach it to a post.  For now this is all you get:) Click the link below to have a sneak peak!

Skolfield Family Profile

And the anxiety begins...

I am sitting in the car line at Isaiah's school, so this will be a short post. I said I was going to make you all ride the ride with me right? Well then it's only fair that I share my feelings right now. I sent the paperwork one week ago. All our references have given their recommendations. So now we sit and wait. Wait for the next steps. How Lon you ask? If I knew I wouldn't feel anxious. 😉 this is where things get rough for me. I like being in control, and I am not. Ultimately God is in control of this situation. I have done all I am supposed to do. The agency will let us know when there is a next step. And it's only been a week since I put it in the mail......I have serious problems getting anxious to hear from them already! Ha!

So to help ease my mind and feel like I am taking steps in the right direction, I will start to work on our profile. I need to pick out pictures and make a small scrapbook, which is shown to birthmoms (when we are at that stage!). So that's what I will do....I will have it done so when they tell us they need them, I will be ahead of the game. 

That is all for now....y'all will really get to know how crazy I am through all this.

At least I was distracted a few days with a mini-vacation. Here we are on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River. 

Packaging it all up!

As I sit here watching my DVRed Jimmy Fallon, (because there is no way I could stay up late enough to watch it live!) I am updating our "Prospective Adoptive Parent Biographical Information."  It did not take me long. I sat with our last home study next to me and checked each section.  Many of them will include the same information we gave in 2009, in sections as, child rearing philosophy, our marriage relationship, education, religious/spiritual, family background, health (praise God!) and thoughts on adoption.  The sections I needed to update were home/community, employment (I HAVE NONE!), children (we added one), and leisure/recreational.  What, you ask, may have changed in our leisure/recreational activities?  Oh, just that we are oldER now and may not be playing the sports we used to enjoy as often:-)

Currently Emery is in New York and when he returns he will look over these, to make sure I didn't lie on them. After it gets the editors approval, I will make copies of EVERYTHING....approximately 29 pages.  It will then be packaged up and sent off to the adoption agency.  I plan to have them in the mail Monday (no pressure Emery.)

Then the ball is in their court.  They will need to review all these documents, probably visit with us and update the home study.  So that's where we are right now. Each little step is one step closer to bringing a sister home to these little guys and a daughter for us. 

 

 

 

For now, life goes on.... This weekend we celebrate Xavier's 3rd birthday! 3 years this little ball of energy has been in our lives.  He's so busy and always says the funniest things.  Isaiah, a little shy at first, but when you get to know him he is a goofball.  He has such a dynamic personality and is good at just about anything he tries!  Makes me think about what the 3rd child will be like....Hmmm.......

Back to the drawing board....

There have been many different circumstances that have led to the formation of our wonderful little family. To start, Emery and I met, fell in love, got married......blessing #1.  A month later cancer struck our lives.  I was diagnosed with cervical cancer and after a few minor procedures, the devastating news was delivered. A newlywed and childless, I would have a radical hysterectomy within days of my 26th birthday.  Following a bit of sadness over the loss of being able to carry a baby, Emery and I were very positive throughout my treatment.  I had surgery and was given the all clear immediately....blessing #2.

We both always wanted children, so not long after we chose to begin looking into our options.  I have always been interested in adoption, so it seemed like that was the natural way to go.  So many decisions to make throughout the process......do we want a baby, older child.....black, white, Asian.....boy or girl.......domestic adoption/international adoption......special needs.....accepting of babies exposed to drugs.....medical needs.........wow!  Enough to make your head spin!

Fast forward through this process and a little over a year after it began, we came home with our first son, Isaiah. We had chosen to get an infant and it didn't matter the race.  Life was good.  We had a little guy that we loved more than anything in the world....he was our world. He was blessing #3 from our All powerful God!

Fast forward a few years and after another long process, we are bringing home our next bundle of joy Xavier.  Another little boy to love and nurture.  Blessing #4.....another boy.....we had considered asking for a girl, but in the end decided in God wanted us to have a girl, we would get a girl.  Can not imagine our life without this little ball of energy who keeps me busy everyday.

Fast forward 3 years again.  We have decided to go for Blessing #5!  We are back to the drawing board. Only this time we have decided not to fast forward through it.  We are going to blog this whole experience.  So each and every one of you can ride this roller coaster with us.  It's going to be one heck of a ride!

Starting with the paper chase.  Over the past few weeks, I have chased down background checks, fingerprinting, birth certificates, copies of licenses, central abuse hotline search, employment verifications, physicals and affidavits of good moral character.  After taking Xavier for his physical exam tomorrow, I will have the pleasure of updating our biographical information.  Answering lots of questions about our family, how we spend our free time, how we discipline our children, who will care for our children if something happens to us, education background, and everything about our marriage.

And lucky you! If you decided to follow this blog, you will be there every step of the way.  I hope you enjoy getting to experience how we bring home the next member of our family.  Thanks for reading!  Until next time.......