Before you go to sleep,
Say a little prayer,
Every day in every way,
It's getting better and better,
Beautiful,
Beautiful, beautiful,
Beautiful Boy
- The iconic words of John Lennon from Beautiful Boy
My Show and Tell this week is a bit unorthodox. This was not the post that had been brewing in my head all day, but the afternoon's events dictacted this post. There isn't really much showing, but a good bit of telling. I'll begin at the beginning :D
When I was young, my parents were foster parents. We had around 70 some odd children in our home over a 5 year period. Some came and stayed a short time, others came and were with us for several years. One such child was a little girl who came to us at the age of 4. She was placed in foster care due to neglect on the part of her parents. Despite the age difference between her and myself (I am 7 years older than she), she and I grew very close. We loved one another just as blood siblings and, to this day, she still calls me "Sissy" occasionally.
Fast forward to the present. This same girl is now 23 years old, married and the mom of 2 little boys. She and her family are happy, but they do not have a lot of money (as is the case with many families in rural Georgia). I had not seen her in ages, but approximately 2 months ago, she approached my mom and told her she was pregnant again and she was going to be giving the child up for adoption because she could not financially, mentally, or physically afford another child. That was the last we heard until today.
This afternoon, she approached my mom again and asked if The Hubs and I would be willing to adopt her child. My mom called us and we, of course, said yes! This is a wonderful opportunity for us! My foster sister said she simply wanted to know the child would be loved and she knew that it would receive all the love in the world with us, because she had. She said she could not imagine her child with anyone in the world other than The Hubs and I.
So, we are now in hurry up and wait mode. We are scheduling a meeting with my foster sister sometime in the next few days to discuss the adoption. After that meeting, we will be contacting a lawyer and beginning the proceedings for our private adoption. Assuming the adoption goes through, we want my foster sister to be a large part of our child's life, but we want to be respectful of her wishes too. I feel a bit premature announcing this now, but I was too excited to hold it back. While I know there are many, many things that can change the outcome of this decision, The Hubs and I are cautiously optimistic.
So, if things go to plan, The Hubs and I will be welcoming our son home sometime near his due date of February 3, 2009.
By the way, anyone who has any advice on private adoption (particularly in Georgia) is welcome to leave it!
15 comments:
WOW that is some very exciting news! I am so happy for you!
That's wonderful. Congratulations! Have you been 'home study approved' yet? That's the first thing to arrange.
How amazing! I don't know about a private adoption, but I do know, as an adopted child, how wonderful you are! My mom had been trying to get pregnant, and couldn't and her OB/GYN had another patient who was pregnant, and knew she wanted to give her up (me), and on my mom's annual appointment (they had all but given up), told her to have her lawyer call my birth-mothers lawyer. The rest is history!!
I'm so excited for you both!!
Well that takes the cake for the best show and tell post ever! Congratulations. It is just, well, amazing.
Best wishes to all!
What a turn of events!
There's a small, private board called Forever Parents. The people on there are wonderful and have quite a bit of knowledge that may help you. If you're interested, say BestLight sent you:
http://forums.foreverparents.com/
Wow! Wow! Wow! Now that is a Show and Tell!!!! CONGRATS! What an amazing process you are about to embark on, so exciting! Praying for the process, I am sure there are a lot of hoops but they will all be so worth it! GOOD LUCK!
AMAZING NEWS!!
Oh, Lynn, that is truly wonderful! I know that it won't be easy as far as the process goes, but it will be so, so worth it! I am so incredibly happy for you! :D
Please keep us updated! You are in my prayers!!!
HOW exciting!!! Congratulations and many blessings!
What a blessing! I am so excited for you!!!
Oh my goodness, I am so doing the happy dance for you right now!!! What a blessing!
I have a good friend in Virginia and they adopted her sister's baby (her nephew). They use a private adoption lawyer to guide them through the process!
Your exciting news has made my day!
What wonderful news!!!! So happy for you!
I left you a message on my blog in responce to your comment---Please join us on facebook and think about joining the meetup as a “satellite” member so you can take advantage of the message board and the q+a info on the site. We don’t have to live in the same area to have a network! Best! Shell
http://romancingthestone.wordpress.com
how exciting! we grew up with foster kids all my life too, that's I got four of my sisters (adoption). Congrats!
Wow Lynn! How exciting for you guys! I'll keep my fingers crossed that it all works out for you guys!
Keep us updated! :-)
How wonderful! What a marvelous, unexpected answer to your prayers.
That really does my heart good to hear.
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