Just a short update

Our April 6th meeting is coming up! The "main" topic that meeting is  our                              ****RELATIONSHIP***

We will meet together some and maybe tell our story together and then they will "separate" us and ask us questions.  So this meeting is said to be a longer one.

The family profile is coming along and we are pleased with how it going...so I am happy to say that Powerpoint and the Buhay's have been working real well together :)

Busy weekend to start off a busy 3 weeks...

This weekend was very productive for us. We got some things organized a little better ( still a little more to go!), wrote a letter to the birthmom,  got some pictures looked through/together for our profile, and is getting to know powerpoint a little better since that is what our profile will be shown on. It is going well...I personally hope power point will like us and want to be our good friend in the days to come! :)  :)
Just a special note of thanks for praying for our writing of the birthparent letter...I will not go as far to say it was "easy" ...but the words came and we are thankful to God for His guidance!

Yesterdays meeting

Thanks everyone for the prayers...to be honest we were nervous but really had a sense of calm and peace throughout our meeting. So in one word our meeting went ...GOOD. 
 Here is a little how the meeting went...
 Our meeting yesterday focus on our infertility....what was the cause, our steps to seek treatment and the process, how we felt, how we feel now ect.  Not "fun" conversation but the agency needs to know that we are doing "okay" personally and in our marriage over the topic. 
  We then went on into talking about our Adoption Service Plan...the form that tells what we are looking for in a child, level of comfortable contact with birthparents, what we want to know about the birthparents, what we are okay not knowing,ect.
Our next meeting is on April 6th down at the Bethany Office and the last visit of our homestudy ( and this one is in our HOME) is on April 14th!!!!

More another day on will be happening at the last 2 meetings and prayer request.
Thanks!!

*****Time Change*****

Not that it is a big deal but know some of you wanted to pray while we were at the meeting tomorrow..the time has changed from 10 to 10:30. Carrie said the meeting is about an hour and 30 minutes roughly...so we should be done around noon she said.
Thanks! :)

Praying for...

Just wanted to drop in and say "Thanks " for your prayers for our upcoming meeting on wednesday the 23rd. We are excited to see "what is next" and get more info. but also nervous of the unknown. So thank for your prayers!
Also, our hearts have been drawn to the birth mom(s). Tom and I have been really been praying for them. What is an emotional up and down process for us,sometimes exciting, nervous time for us/adoptive parents...there is also someone else/ another family who is going through a hard and emotional decision...adoptive parents celebrate the very baby that birth moms grieves and so we ask you to join us in praying for the birth mothers/fathers and their families. This music clip I added is a song by Mark Schultz who was adopted many years ago.

Prayer Request for the 3/23 meeting

Wanted to give a little information about our meeting coming up.We will be going over our "Service plan". We will be talking about :

1.What kind of child we would be open to adopting-are we open to medical conditions, impairments,ect

2. Social/medical history of birthparents are we open to-Mental illnes, mental impairment, drugs/alcohol during pregancy,ect

3. Our Openess plan-how comfortable/open w/ birth family contact.( example: sending pictures, written updates,videos or meeting them at a neutral location,ect)

We would appreciate your prayers as we talk with Carrie and share with her our "answers"/thoughts and move forward with our Service Plan.

Homestudy and other things

Just to clarify, Home study is a series of 3 meetings with the caseworker and the adoptive parents. Though the word “home” is in home study... the caseworker actually only comes to the home once in the 3 part home study visit process. So, our first visit is at the Bethany office and believe me when i find out when they are coming to look at the house I will let you know. :)

Also, I know some friends and family may not be used to the "blog" world so if you would like to leave a comment and do not have a username just use the anonymous  button [and just comment who you are  : ) ]and that "should" work. I hope...I am also one of those people who is in the process of getting use to the blog world.

Adoptive Family Testimony - Domestic Infant Adoption

This is a video that i watched way back and thought i would share.

First homestudy visit date

Tom and I will be meeting at the Bethany office in Elkins Park on March 23rd @ 10am!

Semi Vs. Open Adoption

OPEN ADOPTION

• The expectant parents meet potential adoptive families before making their selection.
• The birth and adoptive families fully disclose identifying information (names and addresses) at the appropriate time.
• There may be ongoing contact, such as: attending the birth of the child, attending physician visits together, visiting the home, gathering as extended family members during special occasions, etc.
• There is direct correspondence between the families.
• The families contact each other directly by telephone.
• There are face-to-face meetings during the child's lifetime.

SEMI-OPEN ADOPTION

• The expectant parents choose a family from written, non-identifying profiles.
• An adoption agency or third party mediates the contact between the parties before and after the birth.
• Birthparents and adoptive parents know each other only by their first names.
• Adoptive parents may be present at the birth and may have met the birthparents before the birth.
• All correspondence is sent through the adoption agency or third party.
• Post-placement meetings are arranged and supervised by the mediator.
• Adoptive parents often share the child's pictures and letters with the birthparents, but may also include gifts, videotapes, etc.

( In some cases there isconfidential adoption but those cases are very rare present day..most birth families want to know at least something about the adoptive family or how there birth child is doing)

Hello All...some friends had some questions about the different levels of adoption contact between adoptive parents and birth parents so i got some descriptions off of some sites to help with that question. This is also a prayer request...we are not too far from having to "kind of" commit to what route we want to take before we start meeting birth families. We have the right to decide how comfortable we feel with contact...but so does the birth family and there are no set rules for you have to follow this exact plan. SOOO....we could use your prayers....we have really been praying about it but still hard to make a plan for something "unkown" and do not not know the situation yet,ect. Any other questions let us know!

Bethany Christian Service

Here is a history about Bethany Christian Service:

"Bethany Christian Services began in 1944 as the fulfillment of a dream shared by two young women, Marguerite Bonnema and Mary DeBoer, who wanted to establish a Christian residence for homeless children. With the assistance of businessman Andrew VanderVeer, they established the Bethany Home. Their humble ministry has grown into an international team of nearly 1,000 dedicated staff actively ministering to children and families.

Bethany Christian Services is the nation’s largest adoption agency, and we provide care for orphans and vulnerable children living on five continents. We are called to care for children of all ages and in all stages of life. We serve children at conception by counseling women with unplanned pregnancies and by providing frozen embryos a chance for life through our embryo adoption program. Our commitment extends to children and teens who are living in foster care or in orphanages.We are committed to finding the best families for children in need around the world.

With over 75 locations nationwide and international ministries in more than a dozen other countries, Bethany touches the lives of more than 40,000 people each year. Our mission calls us to demonstrate the love and compassion of Jesus Christ. "
( From Bethany Christian Service website)

Thank you!! and vision

      
We just wanted to start the blog off by saving THANK YOU for your thoughts, love, and prayers for us as we go through this adoption process. God has blessed us with such a wonderful support group and we are so blessed!
Our vision for this blog is to keep people informed, post status updates on what is going on, and most important prayer request.
The first status is we are waiting to hear back to get a date to meet with our caseworker ( Carrie). We need to meet with her a total of 3 times for the homestudy part( one of those times will be in our home). I am also working on a scrapebook of our lives for our agency to show birth families a little about us. So once we finish our homestudy we will be ready to be put on "THE LIST" :)