It's June!

Despite how absolutely jammed up the spring was for both  of us, I am feeling relieved that June has arrived and I can finally reflect a bit on what we have accomplished thus far with the adoption process. It is important to celebrate the little  & big milestones of  as a way to feel  proactive in our search and for us, well, we are both over achievers & over committers to whatever projects we are working on  so the time to reflect and acknowledge what we have done is crucial.

According to our big adoption  binder, we are in "Stage 3" the networking and connecting with birthmothers phase. 

 In Stage 1 we attended the information session at the agency to see what the heck open adoption was all about. Basically, we began the process. 

In Stage 2 we attended a weekend intensive , had our first appointment with our Adoption Coordinator, signed the contract and  filled out A LOT of paper work  called a "Home Study ." This included  the following: biographies of both of our lives from childhood-present; interviews with a social worker; finger prints for the DOJ , FBI & CPS ;physicals with blood work; DMV records; proof of our marriage; letters of support; employment verification;criminal records; built a profile; created, revised, printed & distributed the dang letter  which included taking pictures & then taping the  main photo on every single one(which was a whole stage in itself!)  & then there was the website with MORE photos . We attended a workshop about how to prepare for  successful adoptive parenting, had a social worker visit our home to show that a child could not access alcohol, medicine or poison of any kind and the visit confirmed that we had a fire extinguisher! The best part of that visit was f course, showing off Soleil! Finally, we learned about legal issues & began to prepare for contact from a birthmother.

SO here we are in Stage 3... our letter is out in the universe and some birthmothers have viewed it. None have contacted us yet. We have begun networking and  as much as we can while working full time, including linking our web site to some additional  sites that get traffic for adoption or pregnancy. 

The Adoption Center works alongside our efforts to help us top locate birthmothers. They reach 49 states and 700 cities which include over 2800 pregnancy related staff and organizations. They provide services & education about adoption through their 8 US offices as well as place ad's in yellow pages, magazines, newspapers and radio. Other outreach  activities include public speaking to California high schools, pregnancy centers, clinics and hospitals.

So when someone asks us (and we do appreciate it!!) "How is the baby hunt" or" any adoption news" this is basically the  news!  It is a lengthy  process , but just like the art we make and shows  we perform in and/or design we are learning, celebrating, growing, and anxiously awaiting where one process ends and then next one begins!