Here we go...

Well, we've been meaning to get a blog/web page up and running now for several months. Finally, I (Emily) sat down and did it. I should be reading/reviewing stuff for my new part time job at the NCAA, but I've been procrastinating all month so what's another afternoon!

Dave and I wanted to start a blog so that those of you who are interested can follow along on our journey through the world of adoption. We started the process to adopt in October of 2006. We attended our agency's general adoption meeting. We left feeling like this was what we should do. We also felt really drawn to the South Korean program for lots of reasons. The children who come from Korea are generally really healthy, well cared for in foster families, and fairly young when arriving in the US. The first roadblock to Korea came when we filled out our application and were then told that the Korea program was temporarily closed to new applicants. You see, Korea only accepts applications from US agencies when they believe they'll be able to place babies during a certain time frame. As a result we decided to pursue the adoption program through China. We spent from November-March paper chasing for our dossier (required paperwork) for our China application. We also had to have a home study done with a social worker to prove that we are 'fit parents' as well as have physical exams, background checks, and references completed. We also had the joy of revisiting the immigration office again :(

So, we got all of our China paperwork done and mailed off and then a huge slowdown hit. You know when you go to the grocery store and you look at all the check out lanes to decide which is shortest and then it ends up taking the longest... well, China was the shortest line when we got in and then within three months of being officially in line the program came to a screeching halt. Dave and I, mostly me, started to panic. They started projecting wait times to increase to 3-4 years from application. I couldn't deal with that kind of a time frame. We started looking into other options and then out of the blue our social worker called us to see if we were still interested in the Korea program. Of course we said yes! They re-opened the program for one month for a new intake of applicants. Since we had done so much paperwork for China we only had to complete one additional home study visit with our social worker and one more background check at the city-county building in downtown Indianapolis. We did that within three days of being accepted into the Korea program. We have officially been in line for Korea since August 1, 2007. That is what is called our home study to Korea (HSTK) date. That is the date Korea uses when deciding who gets matched with the next babies available for adoption.

When we signed on with the Korea program our agency told us to expect a 6-18 month wait. Having of course done an obnoxious amount of research we sort of figured it would take closer to 12 months before we would get our referral (notice of being matched). However, since August the program has been moving really quickly. If things continue at the current rate for the next 4-5 months we could be referred a baby in early 2008!

A lot of people ask us if we get to choose the gender. We do not. Our agency will not allow us to specify gender, so we'll just be surprised when the social worker calls us to tell us we have a child. We'll be thrilled with either a boy or girl. There is a better chance that we'll get a boy as there are generally more boys available for adoption from Korea.

Now that it looks like it will be early next year that we will get our referral we have started explaining to Jack that he is going to be a big brother. He seems to understand the concept and does talk about it from time to time. He tells us that he will be a nice big brother and that he will share his toys. My hope is that we will be lucky enough to get matched to a child that is as sweet and wonderful as Jack.