Waiting Child

I received the following email today through an adoption list serv.  I do not have personal experience with the agency or facilitators.  Please practice due diligence and research the postings.

___________________________________________________________________________________
I wanted to inform you of an adoption situation in Florida.

Both birthparents are Caucasian. The mother is 27 has three other children that have been adopted by her husband's parents. She denies drug use and admits to alcohol prior to knowing she was pregnant in the first trimester.

She has Hepatitis B and C. Her youngest child, born with the infection, needed additional vaccines to prevent having the infection. All three of her previous children are developmentally on task, with no delays or birth
defects.

Birthmother is married but the husband is not the father. Both her husband and her boyfriend support the adoption plan and are willing to sign paperwork necessary.

We are estimating that the cost for this adoption will be around $25,000 with $10,000 budgeted for birthmother expenses. This price does not include attorney fees and ICPC fees (applicable only if you live outside the state of Florida). The birthmother is 5 months pregnant and ready to be matched to adoptive parents.

She is currently living on a boat, with no heat--this is why the expenses are a little on the high side.

She has been receiving prenatal care, including a songram that shows this child is a boy.

The birthmother is looking for a heterosexual, married couple who wants an open adoption and are Christians. She prefers the adoptive family have no children, or much older children.

We are submitting parent profiles for her to review on Sunday, December 26, 2010. If you are interested in having your profile shown, due to the time crunch we would need you to e-mail us no more then a 2 page word document or pdf file with a few pictures of your family and a description of your family. If after she examines the brief profile and would like more information, we may contact you and ask for a hard copy of your parent
profile book.



Please e-mail your picture/family summary to:
info@theadoptionauthority.com


Thanks!
Thea Ramirez, MSW
The Adoption Authority, Inc
www.theadotionauthority.com

Waiting Children

I received the following email today through an adoption list serv.  I do not have personal experience with the agency or facilitators.  Please practice due diligence and research the postings.

___________________________________________________________________________________

URGENT -- LOOKING FOR a Family for a Cau Girl due Jan 6, 2011 --- Code: Bobby-Jo
Name & Due Date: Bobby Jo – January 6, 2011
Sex (If Known): Girl
Race: Caucasian
Location: Need a family from SC, KS or UT
Birthmother's Health: She is Hep C +; has Manic Depression; she did use Meth a little while she was Pregnant; says she doesn't drink; she does smoke less then a pack a day.
Other Info: We need a family from Utah, South Carolina or Kansas; she wants pictures and letters after.
Total Estimated Fees: $ 16,700 plus legals
Case Worker: L

IF YOU ARE PAPER READY AND INTERESTED, please contact Sarah sarahjdalia@gmail.com (sarahjdalia @ gmail.com - No spaces) or Adamadambodily@gmail.com (adambodily @ gmail.com - No spaces)

We are looking for families to match with our birth mothers.

****NOTE**** We have many Hispanic, Afro American and Biracial situations. We are working with several birth mothers and are looking for families to match them with. – If you are interested and paper ready Email Sarah sarahjdalia@gmail.com (sarahjdalia @ gmail.com - No spaces) or Adam adambodily@gmail.com (adambodily @ gmail.com - No spaces)

You may also go to our webpage WWW.Adoptionadvertising.org, download the adoptive parent intake form, fill it out and email it toadambodily@gmail.com (adambodily @ gmail.com - NO SPACES) Adam will call you after he gets the intake from the web page. It is important that you also email Adam or Sarah because the link from our web site that sends us your intake is not always reliable.

Kathy Finch kathrynmfinch@hotmail.com
"Adoption Advertising" Adoption Administrative Assistant
WWW.Adoptionadvertising.org

Happy Holidays!

2010 Wrap Up

Another year down for the Mitchell family.  We had a few major events this year.

1. Neuens Mitchell and Freese opened their doors.  Brian opened his law firm and we are thankful everyday for that decision.
2. Brice started school.  He officially became a preschooler.  He continues to enjoy school and looks forward to going.  He is making a lot of progress and we are very proud of him.
3. We decided to expand our family through adoption one more time.  We are still waiting for our family to be blessed.
4. We experienced a failed adoption.  Everything happens for a reason, even reasons we may never understand.  We continue to hope and pray the little girl that was not meant to be ours is being raised in a loving home.
5. Rogan turned two.  Two years old is officially a toddler, he is no longer the baby.  Our boys are growing up fast.
6. The Griswolds hit the road.  We had a few short vacations or long weekends and a major road trip through Colorado.   We all survived!
7. We renovated our home.  After living here for 8 years we have made a few updates.  It was a challenge but we are happy we did it.  We plan on updating our kitchen and bathroom next.
8. December 18th, Brian and I celebrate our 11th wedding anniversary.  We made it another year and looking forward to many more.
9.  I continued to blog about adoption.  My followers grew and I added a Facebook page for my blog.  I continue to try to get the word out and plan to do so in 2011 too!

Enjoy the holidays and I'll see you next year!  I'm going to take the next couple of weeks off from blogging and just enjoy what is left of 2010.

Waiting Children

I received the following email today through an adoption list serv that I belong to.  I do not have personal experience with the agency or facilitators.  Please practice due diligence and research the postings.

---

I am trying to help a sibling group of 4 healthy children. A girl age 5, boy age 3, boy age 2 and girl age 1 in Taiwan find a family! Please emailchildofmyheart@aol.com if you are interested

Also tryin to help find a family for a 17 month old girl with AMC and cleft palate, a 5 month old girl with Down Syndrome, a sibling group of 2 a boy and girl, ages 4 and 5 with developmental delays. Please email childofmyheart@aol.com for information on these waiting children :)

Santa

We took the boys to the mall to see Santa today.  Brice was totally into it, Rogan not so much.  Brice sat on his lap and posed for pictures and Rogan didn't want to come within a couple of feet of the jolly ol' man.  Maybe next year?

We asked Brice what he told Santa and he said, "Merry Christmas".

Of course.

He has been telling us this afternoon, "I love Santa."

The "elf" taking the photos tried her best to pose Brice perfectly, tilting his head and crossing his ankles.  When she brought the photos up for purchase she wanted me to buy the perfectly posed photo with the perfect smile, nope I said, "I want that one.  That's my Brice."

Cold Outside...

It has been pretty chilly here in Oklahoma lately so we've been indoors a lot.  We have managed to keep busy...

baking cookies...

 taking the poor old dog for walks around the house (she was not amused)...

...burning off energy in the bounce house.  One of the best birthday presents ever.  Brice received this little inflatable bounce house from his grandparents when he was Rogan's age.  I blow it up in the playroom and they wrestle, jump and play until they can play no more.  It is so handy during the winter.  These boys have energy to burn!

This Time of Year...

During the holidays, I think of our sons' birth families almost daily.  I believe the families are in my thoughts because this is when we pause and are grateful.  There is nothing I am more grateful for than my family.  Without the birth families, infertility, and adoption I would not be so blessed.  Our road was not always an easy one to travel but the trip sure was worth it.

We send update letters and Christmas photo ornaments to the adoption agency for the families.  We include a lot of photos, a drawing or craft created by the kids, and do our best to inform them how the boys have changed and grown over the last year.  We discuss their accomplishments and developmental milestones.  We pick up where we left off in our letters we sent on the boys' birthdays.

I pause and wonder about the birth parents many times throughout the year but over they holidays they are on my mind and in my heart.

Adoption Costs and Timing

How much does adoption cost?  How long does it take? Adoptive Families has surveyed adoptive parents to provide you with this helpful information. See data collected by Adoptive Families, click here!

Adoptive Families

Take Adoptive Families' 2010 Cost & Timing of Adoption Survey...and Earn $500 for the Adoption Charity of Your Choice.

"Each year, AF polls adoptive moms and dads to get the real story on the average cost and length of time it takes to complete an adoption, by country route. Share your experiences: http://www.facebook.com/l/36229J7uFzBby94NjHlPFKy3uQA;www.adoptivefamilies.com/articles.php?aid=1617 

As an added incentive, if more than 1,600 adoptive parents complete our survey, we'l randomly select one and donate $500 to the adoption charity of his or her choice!"

Christmas Photo

I have attempted to snap a photo for our Christmas card this year.  I say attempted because when I take photos of our boys together they tend to turn out like this...

this...

or this...

We have not hired a professional photographer.  We doubt anyone has the shutter speed or the foot speed. There is no need to throw money out the window.  

I will keep flashing photos on sport mode and we will get what we get.  I think these action shots are better anyway, they depict our boys as they really are.  

Grumpy

I tell myself, this too shall pass.  It has become my mantra.

I bought some quiet time today thanks to The Polar Express.  He loves choo choos and I am very thankful for that.

These are the moments in parenting when you have to stop and remind yourself.  I begged God to make me a mother.  I told Him I wanted to experience dirty diapers, sleepless nights and the terrible twos.  I pleaded to become a mommy.

Well, He definitely answered my prayers and has decided He is not going to cut me any slack.

A short time from now we will look back and laugh at his roller coaster of emotions.

We will giggle about him laying down in the aisle of the store and screaming until people begin to peek around the corner wondering if a child is being injured.

He wants to be heard and he doesn't care who's listening.

I promised I would always be the best mommy I could be. So, right now I am going to lay down next to Grumpy to watch some choo choos.

Are we crazy to want to do it all again?  No, we do not think so.  We love parenting.

Despite it all, we are asking God to give us one more chance to experience tantrums, diapers and sleepless nights.

Grumpy- our emotional two year old, the sweet smile and dimples can fool you.  Cute isn't he?  Grumpiness and all.