going from one to two

Once we decided that it was time to pursue adoption , we weren't sure how to proceed. International or domestic? Open or closed? Newborn or toddler? There are definitely options out there, and we didn't know which made the most sense for us. We requested information on international adoption from a local agency and received a huge folder with profiles on each country, wait times, expenses, and all the rest. We tried to wade through all of it and felt like our best bet was to sit down with close friends who had adopted both internationally and domestically and get their take on all of it.

They, of course, had nothing but good things to say about each experience. But we walked away from the night really feeling like a domestic adoption was the way to go for us. We wanted something that wasn't too close to home, and preferably a newborn. We had absolutely no preference on racial background, gender, or really much else. We just wanted to bring home another baby to love, a sibling close in age to Lute, and to follow God's lead through it all.

not too long after we sent the initial application!

We ended up going with the same agency our friends used. We had to get all of our ducks in a row: applications, background checks, autobiographies, physicals, a home study, a photo book with candid shots of daily life, a letter to the birthmother... It seemed overwhelming at the time, especially for someone like me who might be the world's biggest procrastinator.

We prayed daily about the decisions we were making, but mostly for the little life that would join ours and the mother who carried that life. As we ticked things off the "to do" list, we felt like there were days that dragged by. Waiting for appointments, or paperwork, or background checks. Then there were times, mostly when I was responsible for getting things together, that flew by without warning. Self imposed deadlines would come and go and I would make excuses about my constant busyness (oh how I laugh at the thought of being "busy" back then). 

But then it all happened. I, along with our best friends, convinced Nick to take a last minute trip to London and Paris when tickets were dirt cheap (that is another twenty posts in and of itself). The day before we left - February 10, 2009 - I emailed the final draft of our lifebook  to the agency, along with our letter to the birthmother and our profile. Upon approval from our case worker, we could make final copies and mail them to the agency when we got home. I checked my email almost immediately after we arrived in London to see if we'd gotten word - we had. It was a go... finally, finally, so close to the last step before the waiting really began...