The Penguin and the Soccer Ball

I never thought I would dread the weekend. I love the weekend, even though i'm usually working.  Weekends are for garage sales, parties, and flash sales at the Kate Spade outlet.  Well, since we started into this adoption process. I hate the weekend.  Why would I hate something so innocent and pure? What did it ever do to you? Well, I'll tell you what's wrong with them, they give people an excuse not to go to work.  Sure, that's a little selfish, but i don't get progress emails when people don't work.

We have big news though.  We've decided on a country.  As long as everything in the next few days goes as planned, we will be...

We had our first real conversation with an adoption agency on Friday.  It was nerve racking, exciting, informative, and terrifying all at one time.  They were so sweet, and did an amazing job at answering all of our questions.  No one ever tells you about this part of the adoption process. When you're ready to go, but it's just not quite time. That point where you and your partner are ready to roll right into the process, and some nice lady on the phone runs up and kicks the ball out from under you.

Exhibit A: we're the first penguin and the nice phone lady is the second. 

We only have one little thing stopping us from a bright green light.  As many people who are close to us know, about a year ago Cory was places on Antidepressants by his general care doctor.  Sadly, depression and other mental health issues are stigmatized even more in other countries then they are in the U.S.  Countries such as Taiwan and Poland will not even look at an applicant with any sort of mental health issue.  However, the person we spoke to from the agency was very honest and helpful when it came to our family and adopting.  She made sure she knew it was not a no go item. Before she had even called us, she had already sent two emails out to contacts in Hungary to see if this will be an issue for us.  Before we can get any official paperwork filed with an agency, we have to wait to hear from Hungary on Monday.  We're hoping and praying that we get nothing but good news.

Lucky for me, she must have known i'm an obsessive researcher.  She made sure to give me something to google till my finger bled before hanging up the phone.  Just in case, she suggested we check into both The Republic of Georgia and India as possible other countries if we don't get the news or the referral times we want from Hungary. We also need to do the pre-application, and fill out the hardest part of all of this, the special needs consideration checklist.  It's literally a list of birth defects and childhood disease.  We had to go through each an every one, and decide what we are capable of handing.  At first, it was hard to do without filling guilty.  Researching these things and realizing there are real children with these real conditions out in the world was heartbreaking.  For every disease we didn't select, it was hard not to feel like you were keeping a child from having a home because of something they were born with.  In the end we had realize that we have to work within or means, no matter how much we feel for these children.  Taking on something way out of our capability range wouldn't be fair to us or the child.  Despite it being hard, I am so glad the agency asked us to do it.  It's a big reality check that you will probably adopt a child that isn't healthy or completely perfect.  It also helped us to realize what we were and weren't capable of. They say if something is easy, it's not as worth it.  I'm hoping this is one of those things!

What was the point of this post you may ask? Well, it was to let you know that nothing has happens, but also that so much has happened! We have an actual email about us sitting in someones inbox in Hungary.  The little things have become such joy!  We will also be starting our home study soon.  I'm currently grilling a handful of them in Arizona to make sure they're a right fit.  As soon as we find one, we will have officially started the process!

 At this point I think it's safe to say we are all in with this adoption adventure.  We want a family, and we feel so strongly that this is the way our family is supposed to begin.  We're currently deciding on when we want to announce our plans, and it's a tough decision.  When you're pregnant, you know it's safest to wait till you're out of the first trimester to announce anything.  With adoption, there is no such rule as nothing is ever guaranteed.  When adopting a newborn from inside the US, it's customary to wait until you've been placed, or until the child is born.  Going internationally there are no such rules.  You essentially need everyone to know before hand.  You need a good support group to handle the paperwork, fundraising, and endless number of character referrals you need. For now, our plan is to wait until we've been official accepted by the agency. Though we'll see how long we last once our home study is started.  So I hope everyone is prepared to hear us ramble on about our adoption journey for the next year or so! Even though nothing is official, we're already having too much fun with it.  We've been throwing around names, walking through the Disney Store and quietly day dreaming, and trying to comprehend what we're getting ourselves into.  In about a year, we could be adding a toddler (or even two) to our family.  We can't wait, and I can't wait to finally tell everyone about it!