We're Adopting!

We're Adopting!

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Home study approval!

Woo hoo! We have now officially been accepted into CAC and have a wonderful consultant and today received the email that our home study application was approved and its time to get started. I opened an email with 50+ pages of paperwork to fill out, information, and appointments that need to be made! We plan to try to complete all the paperwork together over the weekend and we have sent the request to schedule our first home study visit! Tomorrow I will call and get us both appointments for a medical examination which is also required! Trust me, our intentions are to stay on top of this so we can get our kiddo in our arms as soon as The Lord wants us to! 

I want to also take a minute to thank each and every one of you who has sent a message, text, shared our blog, "liked" our announcement, etc. it was so overwhelming to see the encouragement and love pour out. We've had a ton of people offer help, ask about a baby shower, and promised us prayer... I don't know what we ever did to deserve such amazing people in our lives but God sure has blessed us! 

7/31/13 is a big day! We're approved!


Sat 7/27/13: Filing out the application to begin our home study! We hope to stay on top of things and get this completed within two months... Once it is done then we are done until we find our match! I think every person that I know that has adopted referred us to this agency!! They have a WONDERFUL reputation and our social worker has already been SUCH a blessing! Once again... another step down, which means ONE STEP CLOSER to our little boy! 
 BEYOND excited!!! I actually don't mind paperwork right now because every completed file means were CLOSER!

Application SENT!

Today 7/29/13 WAS another big step! Obviously, after months of prayer... committing was step #1. Then we had to select an agency and select a home study agency, therefore we have taken many steps before actually applying! We have officially applied to Christian Adoption Consultants. We are extremely happy about this decision because we have been matched with a lady who will guide us through our entire journey. We are not working with one agency, we have the privilege to work with multiple agencies! Our consultant looks at the things we have requested and will work with other agencies across the US (adoption friendly states) and will match us with the best one. Of course, the birthmom must chose first then we decide whether to accept or decline but with her help we have access to multiple places and birth mothers!! We were referred to them by a friend, and after tons of research this agency, I believe, is exactly who God wants us to work with!


 The application is now out of our hands and into theirs! ADIOS! Let the paperwork begin!!


I am so blessed to have married my best friend! He is going to be an AMAZING father! Here he is filing out the first of many papers... which means we are one step closer to our baby boy!

Saturday, July 27, 2013

We're expecting!

 I took some pictures with my sister in law who is also expecting and is due in October. I don't have the baby bump to show, but I used the plane ticket for now :) It is going to be so exciting have these kiddos close to the same age!


The Announcement




We were thrilled to be able to give both of our parents a grandbaby for their birthday! We told my mom at her birthday dinner and figured it was the best present she could get, and we told Cory's mom at the family reunion on her birthday!A dear friend, Chelsea helped me with the idea to make plane tickets since we would be flying to get our sweet baby. So, we made a ticket that looks so real and it has departure: Texas Destination: Hamby residence! It felt so good to tell everyone and share the joy with our friends and family!  Lets just go ahead and say... this is going to be one spoiled baby!!












Friday, July 26, 2013

Minority Domestic Adoption

We planned to pursue an international adoption because of all the stories we had heard, apparently if we wanted an infant overseas was the only way to go. We didn't want to fall in love and raise a child and fear every day that the parents would come fight back for him or her.... This is what we thought adoption was in the US so we decided to stay far far away!

Cory and I have learned so much through this process. We went to apply for pre approval applications for international adoption and little did we know the ONLY locations in this entire world, other than the US that we were eligible for was Uganda and Ehtiopia. WHY?!? The eligibility requirements blew us away. To adopt from China, both parents have to be 30 years old... to adopt from Haiti, both parents must be 35 years old. Other countries had marriage requirements so we either had to be married 3 or 5 or 10 years... Fortunately, Ethiopia was a top option for us so we chose it! Full of excitement, we found an agency and told our family and was ready to start this long journey. The agency we chose was estimating 14-19 months and the baby would be home.

Ethiopia started having issues a couple years of go and there are a lot of unethical adoptions going on that is making things harder and longer. We received an update from our Agency that there was a new law going into affect so now we are looking at 2-3 years before our baby comes home or before we are even matched. This was not something we wanted to continue, so before we paid the agency and begun we backed out and found a new plan....

HERE WE ARE! We have officially chosen the adoption route, one I NEVER thought I would do but that was because I had NO knowledge of it! We could not be anymore excited about our decision to pursue minority domestic adoption! This means we will have a newborn and we will be adopting within the US.


We have applied with All Blessings International to begin our home study. So, once that's done we submit papers and wait for our match, we are going for a minority child and the agency is in the US so once our birth mother is in labor well go to the state to get our baby and spend a few days in the hospital with it then bring home our newborn! Yes there are risks of the mom changing her mind but they are lower because the agency counsels them. The mom picks us using our profile, then they send us her info and we decide if we want to accept. I plan to share alot of information about this journey but our birth moms information will not be shared, we feel that it is important to protect her and our baby. The mom could be in third trimester, just found out she is pregnant or due in a week it could be quick or a few months! But because minority adoption is needed so badly and were first time parents we should get selected quickly (we hope at least!).  It's a Christian agency that is in desperate need of parents for minority children. There is a risk of emotional letdown if the mom changes her mind (once the papers are signed in 48-72 hours there is no turning back), which is less risky if you find a good agency that counsels the mom, so support through prayer is all I could ever ask from anyone! 

Thank you for taking the time to learn about how we are adding the new addition to our family! Now time to hurray and get the nursery done!!

Monday, July 22, 2013

Beginning our Adoption Journey

I couldn't be anymore excited to write this first post because it means that we are EXPECTING! I cannot wait until the day that this "adoption pregnancy" is final and we get to hold our sweet baby in our arms forever! One of the best parts about this process is that Cory and I have an entire community with friends and family supporting us through prayer and encouragement. We are so blessed!

Now, let's back up. I'm sitting here telling you about the excitement of the end of our adoption but I haven't even told you about how we decided to pursue this journey.

Cory and I have been together since I was 14 years old. He is my love and high school sweet heart and of course my best friend!! We could not wait until we were stable enough with jobs and finances to get married and quickly start a family. We discussed adoption years ago and always said we would adopt 1-2 as well as have our own biological children. Well, we attempted to expand our family as soon as we for married. Months and months passed and we were getting negative pregnancy tests and negative news. We then found out I had PCOS, which isn't the end of the world but it is one of the leading causes for women infertility. After months of meds, we still had no luck. I started additional meds and we went through testings and every month it seemed like something new was found out that required more meds to be able to get pregnant. After 14 months of trying we found out are more than likely looking at artificial insemination, which doesn't have the highest chances of working or in vitro. So yes, we can have biological children...our baby makers work, just not very good... It's just gonna take lots more work and many months. It has been so emotionally exhausting that we were ready to take a break... It's so hard to want a baby so bad and not be able to have one we planned... But this is why I continuously turn to the bible and remind myself that it's not about MY plans it's about GOD'S plans. 

Why not adopt first? For months we discussed when we should adopt... do you adopt before or during or after biological children, or does it even matter? All this trouble kept making me realize that God has called us to adopt first and we are totally fine with this calling!  I started praying about whether or not to adopt first back in January and we now feel that it is time to pursue an amazing journey. So here we are! 

Through friends and coworkers, God has led some wonderful people in our lives, ones that have adopted and have become a wonderful resource to us. So we begin.... the lives of parenthood....