Two years ago today, we were approved by our adoption agency to become a waiting family. Two years ago, we thought we might get a call at any time. Our agency certainly tried to ensure we were prepared for that in case it happened. And here we are, still waiting. In fairness, they also tried to prepare us for the other side of things, the side of things we're on right now - a long wait.
A lot of people ask why there is such a long wait and have we thought about changing agencies. In general, domestic adoption (or any adoption for that matter!) has become more challenging and time-intensive. Domestically, adoption numbers are down somewhat. Add to that our agency has been slow at times during our wait and suddenly 2 years makes a bit more sense. They can only match their waiting families with birth families who come to them. In terms of changing agencies, that really isn't an option for us. For one, we would forfeit all of the fees we've already paid to our current agency and we'd have to start over. And secondly, we really truly trust the process our current agency uses. They work with the birth parents and the adoptive parents and they have the best interests of both in mind. While disruptions are still possible with our agency, they are minimal and we feel secure in their process and efforts to prevent that from happening and that alone is worth a longer wait. Of course, I don't always think or feel this way, but when I'm being rational and logical, I firmly believe this.
As of 11/1/11, we are #15 on the waiting family list, though I happen to know we've moved up. It's just not official yet. Families we have gotten to know through this process and wait are starting to be matched. In fact, one couple we are friends with brought home their baby girl just last weekend and they were just ahead of us on the list. I guess what I'm saying is that it is feeling more real and like it is going to happen sometime here in the near future. Seeing our friends get matched gives us hope and optimism that our turn is coming. In fact, this latest turn of events has me feeling a little bit anxious about how much more we need to do to prepare for when that call comes.
With that in mind, we will probably start working more diligently on the nursery. The previous guest room will become the nursery and now that our basement is newly finished (yay!!), we have the space freed up to start thinking about what we want to do for our newest addition.
Here are some pictures of our finished basement. We added a bedroom, bath, play area, small bar, media room and exercise room, plus some good storage space. We are loving it and we can't wait to get everything fully set up the way we want it. For now, we are just basking in the enjoyment of finally being done with the project!
P.S. I've been a bad Mommy and haven't taken many pictures of Sam worth posting lately. I'll do better the next few weeks!
