We survived last week. Monday night was an awesome adoption fundraiser for our great friends that are hoping to go to Ethiopia in January to pick up their second boy. (lucky!) Tuesday was our final home study meeting. It went great -- much easier and more relaxed that we thought it would be. Friday night our agency had a "reunion" for all the couples that have gotten their babies from Ethiopia, as well as the couples that are waiting. Awesome experience because we got to share stories, learn about traveling to Ethiopia, and play with some of the cutest kids. Can't wait to go back to that meeting, some day soon, with our own child!
I know I'm way ahead of the game, but I had to start looking at airfare to Ethiopia. Any guess on what a flight from Springfield to Addis Ababa costs? Somewhere around $2500.00/person -- unless you want to go First Class. So far the best deal on First Class is $15000.00/person. What a deal.
All of our paperwork is basically done -- so hopefully we'll start updating more and share more fun stories. I just realized this blog is pretty void of photos and video. Right now this is the kind of stuff that cracks me and Abby up...Don't worry, we'll post OUR OWN child as soon as we can!
Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers. Stay tuned...
(rog)
Monday, November 24, 2008
Saturday, November 15, 2008
One step closer
No pun intended. But we finally got one of the biggest obstacles out of the way for the adoption. For our home study we were told that we would need a fire escape ladder for the second story of our house. The one area of our house that we never go to. The one area of the house the baby won't be in for 2-3 years. It took many hours of phone calls, internet searching and other means -- but we got the Fire Escape Ladder today. Just another hoop to jump through. Final home study meeting this Tuesday. Stay tuned.
Friday, November 14, 2008
And I'm Back
Okay, I'm finally back to add a blog. It's been a while, I know. After many comments (aka complaints) during our trip to Iowa last weekend from our very supportive and interested friends about us not keeping up with the blog, I thought I should get back on the horse, at least in an effort to appease our audience. By the way, it was so much fun seeing so many old friends last weekend. It was very therapeutic for me to go back to Des Moines and Garner and see so many faces I haven't seen in, oh, probably 8+ years.
Anyway, I'll try not to talk in circles here since Roger has already been so kind as to update the blog on what we're doing since our failed attempt at in vitro in August. No, we are not doing any more IVF. Yes, we have decided to adopt a baby from Ethiopia. For any Texans out there reading this, that is in Africa. (Sorry, inside joke.) I know it came as a somewhat shock to many people to hear that we decided so quickly to do an international adoption after only our first attempt at IVF, but we actually had been seriously contemplating adoption before we ever decided to do IVF. When we first realized we were having problems conceiving (like late '06) we said "if we can't do this naturally, we will adopt." Then we decided to try an IUI....and then a second time. Then I decided I should try IVF. See how nothing ever goes like you think it will? We set limits for ourselves and then busted right through them anyway. Well, after one round of in vitro, I realized enough was enough. AND, the funniest thing about all of this is way back this past spring (man, that seems like a long time ago) I told Roger we would take the year off and then start the adoption process at the end of '08. Well, we're still right on track with that original plan. We just ended up not taking '08 off and threw in the roller coaster ride of in vitro instead. So now we're off that roller coaster ride and have hopped on the adoption ride. So far this ride is much more fun. It involves me buying baby clothes and a Johnny jumper instead of poking myself with needles every day. Yes, shopping for our future baby may be a little premature, but I really just can't help it. I am limiting myself only to things that are exceptionally cute and also on sale.
Why Ethiopia, you ask? Well, if you had told me five years ago that I would someday adopt a child from Africa, I would have told you you're crazy. All I can say is God works in mysterious ways but ultimately has a plan for each one of us, and we finally feel that we (me and Roger) have realized what our plan is. As soon as we decided we weren't going to do any more IVF, we were introduced to some really amazing people and their really amazing kids who happen to be adopted from Ethiopia. All living here in Springfield, MO! We had no idea. There's actually quite a few families in our community who have/are adopting from Ethiopia, and it's been so much fun and so exciting to learn of this amazing support network that already exists! As one door shut, another door was opened to this wonderful opportunity. So that is how we came to learn of Ethiopian adoptions. And, of course, there's always the factual statistics of Africa -- like how there's literally millions of children orphaned by AIDS, hunger, tuberculosis each year, and the numbers just continue to rise. No, adoption is not the solution to this world crisis, but we can make a difference to at least one.
Okay, enough blogging for one day. I have a whole lot more to say. I have lots of different emotions and thoughts each and every day about the adoption process (good, bad, and scary), our future child, etc., and I promise to share more. For now I should get back to my real job so I can make some real money so we can continue to pay for this very real experience.
Anyway, I'll try not to talk in circles here since Roger has already been so kind as to update the blog on what we're doing since our failed attempt at in vitro in August. No, we are not doing any more IVF. Yes, we have decided to adopt a baby from Ethiopia. For any Texans out there reading this, that is in Africa. (Sorry, inside joke.) I know it came as a somewhat shock to many people to hear that we decided so quickly to do an international adoption after only our first attempt at IVF, but we actually had been seriously contemplating adoption before we ever decided to do IVF. When we first realized we were having problems conceiving (like late '06) we said "if we can't do this naturally, we will adopt." Then we decided to try an IUI....and then a second time. Then I decided I should try IVF. See how nothing ever goes like you think it will? We set limits for ourselves and then busted right through them anyway. Well, after one round of in vitro, I realized enough was enough. AND, the funniest thing about all of this is way back this past spring (man, that seems like a long time ago) I told Roger we would take the year off and then start the adoption process at the end of '08. Well, we're still right on track with that original plan. We just ended up not taking '08 off and threw in the roller coaster ride of in vitro instead. So now we're off that roller coaster ride and have hopped on the adoption ride. So far this ride is much more fun. It involves me buying baby clothes and a Johnny jumper instead of poking myself with needles every day. Yes, shopping for our future baby may be a little premature, but I really just can't help it. I am limiting myself only to things that are exceptionally cute and also on sale.
Why Ethiopia, you ask? Well, if you had told me five years ago that I would someday adopt a child from Africa, I would have told you you're crazy. All I can say is God works in mysterious ways but ultimately has a plan for each one of us, and we finally feel that we (me and Roger) have realized what our plan is. As soon as we decided we weren't going to do any more IVF, we were introduced to some really amazing people and their really amazing kids who happen to be adopted from Ethiopia. All living here in Springfield, MO! We had no idea. There's actually quite a few families in our community who have/are adopting from Ethiopia, and it's been so much fun and so exciting to learn of this amazing support network that already exists! As one door shut, another door was opened to this wonderful opportunity. So that is how we came to learn of Ethiopian adoptions. And, of course, there's always the factual statistics of Africa -- like how there's literally millions of children orphaned by AIDS, hunger, tuberculosis each year, and the numbers just continue to rise. No, adoption is not the solution to this world crisis, but we can make a difference to at least one.
Okay, enough blogging for one day. I have a whole lot more to say. I have lots of different emotions and thoughts each and every day about the adoption process (good, bad, and scary), our future child, etc., and I promise to share more. For now I should get back to my real job so I can make some real money so we can continue to pay for this very real experience.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Another week
Another week. Another meeting. Another list of projects to do before the next meeting. We had a great meeting on Monday. Our first "home study" meeting. We are supposed to have 3 face-to-face meetings/"Interviews" -- but we somehow combined the first two meetings into the meeting on Monday. So only one more meeting (November 17th) at our house -- then we're done. We've been told that we should be ready and have everything complete by early-to-mid December.
Abby's rocked this whole project. We've heard stories of initial paperwork, referral letters, Doctor's appointments, etc taking 2-3 months. Abby got everything wrapped up in 2-3 weeks. I'm so lucky to have her as my wife. I'd still be on step 1 if she hadn't taken control.
Weirdest thing for this week: In order for us to adopt we have to be sure we have a rope ladder for our second-story window. Just a small thing to make sure the house is competely safe and secure. It's just another small hoop we have to jump through -- but they keep telling us to jump and we jump. It's getting exciting.
Abby's rocked this whole project. We've heard stories of initial paperwork, referral letters, Doctor's appointments, etc taking 2-3 months. Abby got everything wrapped up in 2-3 weeks. I'm so lucky to have her as my wife. I'd still be on step 1 if she hadn't taken control.
Weirdest thing for this week: In order for us to adopt we have to be sure we have a rope ladder for our second-story window. Just a small thing to make sure the house is competely safe and secure. It's just another small hoop we have to jump through -- but they keep telling us to jump and we jump. It's getting exciting.
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