Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Adoption


 

 
After 6 years of marriage, we finally decided to start a family and after waiting we were faced with some choices. We had always talked about adoption being a part of our family plan and when the time came there were many things that made it clear adoption was the path we should take. We knew no matter what decision we made to start our family it would not come without challenges, but we were hopeful when we began the adoption process. We knew becoming parents was what really mattered to us, regardless of how we got there.  We decided to pursue domestic adoption as it seemed to fit with our lives right now (vs. traveling to a different country) We began working with The Cradle agency in Evanston, IL in December of 2011 and after a lot of classes and preparation we received our approval to be an adoptive family in June 2012. The Cradle believes in open adoptions which is one of the reasons we chose to work with them and by doing this we put together a "profile" that birthparents would view to choose a family for their child. The best way to describe this process is like online dating - we wanted to put together a profile and a book that would really let people know who we are and what we are about so when we were chosen, it would be the right "fit." We were chosen many times throughout our months of waiting and unfortunately we had several ups and downs along the way with a few potential situations that fell through as well as several more who just did not choose us as the family. It was a long and stressful process, especially with how frequently we were viewed as a family, which meant we were constantly waiting...and waiting. We both tried to stay positive knowing that even though there were a lot of disappointments along the way, that things would eventually work out and it will be the right situation for us. I found a quote during this time and had to remind myself of it each night "Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end" - unknown. And now here we are 9 months after our approval and things are more than okay, but it's not the end......just the beginning!
 

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