[thornbird]

I'm not new to these forums - I've been reading here for ages but just signed up for an account today. We've been looking into adoption for quite a while & finally mailed our application last Saturday.

I had a phone call from the agency yeterday to set up an initial consult appointment; I have to phone her back once I get a handle on our schedule over the next few weeks. But I do know our homestudy classes will begin in the middle of October.

Very glad to have found this site; seems like a lot of really supportive people with good advice.

[StorkWatcher]

Meggie - Congratulations on your big decision and your leap into the beginning of your adoption journey!

Good luck!

And you're right - this is a GREAT place!

[thornbird]

Thanks, StorkWatcher.

It's all very exciting. And somewhat intimidating. And it looks like I'm going to spend the next little while fairly drowning in paperwork. But I'm told it's all worth it in the end.

We've been at the whole "trying to start a family" thing for a long time; it's nice to be on the last, albeit long, leg of the journey.

[StorkWatcher]

You know, I felt the same way. In fact, I liked the paperwork portion, because I finally felt like was doing something productive (and in a paper way, REproductive!) .

Then when we finished the paperwork and were just in the WAIT mode, I felt like I'd done everything I could do up to that point to become a mom, and the rest was in God's hands. I felt like a great weight had lifted from my shoulders, and I was finally allowed to just sit back and be an expectant parent and do all those things expectant moms get to do!

Enjoy it! I would recommend keeping a journal of this time. Some time, you'll be able to look back on it and laugh at some parts, be glad other parts are over, and share a very special story with your child!

[thornbird]

Originally Posted by StorkWatcher

Enjoy it! I would recommend keeping a journal of this time. Some time, you'll be able to look back on it and laugh at some parts, be glad other parts are over, and share a very special story with your child!

I went out the day after we mailed our application & bought a new journal.

I always thought I'd keep pregnancy journals so I could someday share with my kids how I felt about expecting them, the things I was thinking, etc. It's a different kind of "expecting," but someday I'd like to share my thoughts about it just the same.

I think I'll feel the same way about the paperwork - for the last several years I've felt better about everything when I felt I was doing something rather than just sitting around waiting. (We did a lot of waiting for our insurance company to approve procedures & whatnot.) And once the paperwork is done I think I'll have plenty to keep me busy - we live in a fixer-upper and what will eventually be a baby's room is now a big empty room with turquoise paint, yellow trim, and huge cracks in the walls. I'll have to do some extreme nesting just to make it look like a habitable room, never mind a nursery...