Well, crap, this is a roller coaster too....

I NEVER for one minute thought building our family through adoption would be easy. In fact, I believe it will be more difficult because of all the legal aspects, possibility of a failed match, and other issues. However, I never expected our journey just to get started to be so overwhelming. I mentioned in my earlier post that I began reading Adoption for Dummies. I've since read 4 more books about adoption, and DH and I have made a complete circle. Our initial thought was to pursue domestic infant adoption. I would not mind an older child later on, but for my first I would like the infant experience. So I started researching agencies, attorneys, etc. Then DH and I had a conversation about domestic adoption (DA) and all the what-ifs and how unpredictable the timeline is. One of my adoption books has a section on your personality and how it can influence your decision to choose domestic or international. We discovered that an international adoption (IA) follows a much more specific timeline and you are a lot less likely to have a failed match. We initially ruled out international because of increased cost and travel. Then we got excited- we are such Type As- maybe international is a better choice. So I began researching all the different countries and educating myself on IA. My brother hooked me up with a wonderful woman who runs a nonprofit and had a lot of advice.

After researching different countries we became very discouraged. With IA we may be required to travel to a country more than once for up to 3-4 weeks at a time. This is just not possible with DH's job. It would be possible for me in the summer, but not during the school year. And who knows when we would receive our placement? We discovered that the wait in many countries is several years. I'm still not giving up on IA, but we determined at this point it's not for us. Maybe later on if our circumstances change.

So now we are back to our original plan- domestic infant adoption. My mom reconnected me with a couple from my hometown who adopted domestically 2 years ago. I've been emailing back and forth with the wife and she has been extremely helpful. She even sent me a copy of their "Lifebook" so I can see what goes into it. It's going to be a lot of work, so I'm glad summer is coming. This couple used a consultancy firm to help them navigate through this scary process. It is basically someone to hold our hands throughout everything until we bring our baby home. They agreed to take us on and we have our first consultation on June 6. I am so excited to get the ball rolling, but overwhelmed at how much it's going to take to get there. I'm just trying to take it one day at a time.