Realistic Excitement

I am so very excited about starting this adoption process, but unlike our last journey, I am trying my best to be realistic. Yes, I am ready to add to our family, but having Nate makes the wait easier to deal with. We have a lot to do before we're ready to bring another child into the family and I don't want to let my heart get too far ahead of my head.

I haven't made any more calls since I made the last post. I have plans to call Hampton Social Services (when I called earlier, they had just closed) and I look forward to what they are able to tell me. Most of the agencies that I did call will provide a home study if you join their agency. I'm just not sure that is something that we want to do. Why? If we do join an agency, most of them require a large sum of money up front and then that money is tied up into that agency. That is all well and good if you do adopt from that agency, but if we were to "find a baby" from another agency or attorney, we lose the money that we put into the agency. Just one of the many decisions that we will have to make in the following months.

**We "found" Nate through a connection with a friend and ended up not going with the agency were were using.**

I know there are some blog followers that are just joining us and I wanted to include this blog link for anyone that wanted information about what a home study entails: http://home-study.adoption.com/nuts.php  While it is much more complicated than what is posted here, this will give you some idea of what we will have to do in order to be ready if a situation comes along.

Again, thank you so much for your support and prayers.

The Journey Continues

If you're my Facebook friend, you know that things are happening in our family. :)

Before the end of last year, Dave and I came to the conclusion that we were ready to start thinking about adding to our family. We do want to adopt again and we knew that once we got settled into the new house that we wanted to look into getting our homestudy done. For those of you that don't know, a homestudy must be done before an adoption can happen. We had a homestudy done when we lived in Florida, but since the move and the adoption of Nate, we need to start the whole process over again. This is an overwhelming thought, an expensive process (probably costing around $2.000), but something that must be done if we want to add to our family.

I called a few leads today about getting our homestudy completed. Mostly, I left messages for people, hoping that I will receive a call back. I'll make some more calls tomorrow

At this moment, we are leaning toward another private adoption, much like Nate's. We're not opposed to an adoption from the foster care system, but we have decided to keep Nate as our oldest child. Because of this, it makes adopting from the system harder since most children are not free for adoption until they are older. As someone told me, it's rare to find children younger than three, but not impossible.

As far as finances, I wish we could adopt through the system. Private adoptions like Nate's are so expensive and let's face it, we aren't rolling in the dough. :)

I am so thankful for all of you that read this blog and have not only followed our journey to Nate, but will join us on this new journey.

Home Is Where Your Heart Is

They say that home is where your heart is and in less than two weeks, my heart and family will be in a new house.

We started looking for a new place quite some time ago. The place we have is nice and we've been happy here, but Nate needed a backyard and some space to run. We looked at quite a few houses and had pretty much given up on the search when, during a conversation with one of my student's parents, I learned that the house they were living in would be available in February. The new house has three bedrooms, is on a cul-de-sac, has a great backyard, and a two car garage. Oh, and they have a kid size trampoline in the backyard.

One thing led to another and needless to say, we move into the new house on February 1st. We are busy packing, cleaning, and preparing for a move. I had forgotten how much I dislike boxes and the feeling of everything being a bit chaotic. I am, however, looking forward to a new house and the promise of many good memories made in the new home.

As soon as we get settled, I'll try to post some pictures. :) 

Richmond Half Marathon

True love is getting up super early on a Saturday morning and going to stand in the cold for hours. That's exactly what I did while Dave ran the Richmond Half Marathon in November. Nate stayed with Gramma and Papa, so it was just Dave and I.

The race started with the bikers.

After the bikers left, some special teams started.

 Then, it was time for thousands of runners to start. I was hoping to get a picture of Dave at the start, but I missed him.

Dave's cousin's wife, Mike, also ran the half marathon and I was able to find him in the crowd and get some pictures.

 After I saw the start, I made my way to the finish and was able to see them cross the finish line.

 Here's the winner of the full marathon. I'm always amazed at how quickly they can run 26.2 miles!

 Mike did a great job and finished strong.

 Very proud of these two half marathon runners.

Halloween 2012

On Halloween, we took Nate to the local town center to do some trick or treating. If the store had a pumpkin on the door, you could go inside and get candy. Nate loved going in the different stores and if they do it again next year, we will definitely go again.  

At GameStop, he had to try out the video games.

Pictures of Nate's pumpkins.  The one on the left says VBK and the one on the right is a Phinneas and Ferb pumpkin.

 After the Town Center, we headed over to Gramma and Papa's.  Some of our friends were meeting us at there house to go trick or treating in the neighborhood. Nate had a blast hanging out with the big kids.

Pictures with Gramma and Papa!

More pictures of our pumpkins.

 I had gone to school that day dressed up as a farmer. 

 I love the waves that the braids left in my hair.