Another Beginning
The last adoption update I gave was a while ago, and it was that we were waiting to find a new agency. Our original one was Shady McShaderson, so we quit them. We found a new agency, but they needed a representative in Moldova before they would sign us.
This summer was a very emotional time for me- you might want see the previous post for an insight into my mindset before reading the rest of this.
At the beginning of August I was leaving the hospital when I got a phone call from our "new" agency. She told me how they tried multiple times to find a Moldovan representative, but none of their candidates ever felt comfortable with the Moldovan government, AKA Grandfather McShaderson. Because of this, they wouldn't be able to facilitate any adoptions in Moldova.
And just like that our adoption was over. Again.
Kyle and I didn't talk about adoption for a long time. School started, school sucked, and I hated it. This semester was the worst I have had in the 5 years I have been teaching, and the status/lack of our adoption only added insult to injury. People kept asking for an adoption update, and I was too embarrassed and overwhelmed to say what really happened, so I would just say that we were still waiting to hear. We were so invested in Moldova, and didn't know how to let it actually be over.
This lasted for a few months. Kyle and I both knew we should do something on the adoption front, but we didn't know what. We weren't adopting internationally just to adopt internationally. People kept telling us to pick another country, but that wasn't what it was about for us. Not only were we mourning this loss, we didn't know where our next beginning was.
A couple of months ago Kyle got a text from a friend of ours that changed our life. They know someone who… well, long story short… there was a kid that needed a home. This was the kick in the butt that we needed to quit wallowing in our sorrows and get back on adoption bikes that we had fallen off of earlier. We started the process to become foster parents and had that little baby's face as our reason to complete everything as quickly as possible.
Very few people knew about this part of our lives, and even less knew about this child. Every time we told someone that we weren't adopting from Moldova anymore we had to relive that sad time in our life, and we didn't want that to happen again with this situation. We wanted to protect our hearts from another loss.
Well, we don't have a kid right now, so it obviously didn't work out. That was rough. Even though it was a very short period of time that we thought there was a possibility of getting her, it was still incredibly hard to have to hear that we wouldn't be adding her to our family.
Cue the crying and sorrow-wallowing.
When talking to a friend about why these things kept happening to us, she made me realize something. She told me that these children were only part of my story- just not the whole thing. If these past heartaches wouldn't have happened, then we wouldn't have been where we are right now.
And right now we are foster parents waiting for our first placement.
We want to foster to adopt, but not every child that comes to us will be eligible to be adopted. CPS, if at all possible, wants to reunite the children with their parents. If not, they want the child to live with a relative that is willing to take care of them. CPS will search for up to a year and a half for family members to take the child after the time it takes for the parent's rights to be terminated- if they even are. The point of me saying this is for you to know that this could be a long road. Our first placement probably won't be our last.
Thank you for going on this journey with us. We covet your prayers.
Because of all of the adoption stuff that was going on when school started, we decided not to host a foreign exchange student again. We had an amazing experience last school year with Laura, but thought we would take a break this year since we didn't know where we were headed.
But then this beautiful Norwegian came into our life, and we didn't hesitate when we had the chance for her to join our family last month. She has been in my 6th period class all school year, so she knew what she was getting herself into when she said "yes" to us being her new host family (lots of tv watching, frozen pizza, and more sarcasm than may be able to handle). We love Julie- she's awesome!
This summer was a very emotional time for me- you might want see the previous post for an insight into my mindset before reading the rest of this.
At the beginning of August I was leaving the hospital when I got a phone call from our "new" agency. She told me how they tried multiple times to find a Moldovan representative, but none of their candidates ever felt comfortable with the Moldovan government, AKA Grandfather McShaderson. Because of this, they wouldn't be able to facilitate any adoptions in Moldova.
And just like that our adoption was over. Again.
Kyle and I didn't talk about adoption for a long time. School started, school sucked, and I hated it. This semester was the worst I have had in the 5 years I have been teaching, and the status/lack of our adoption only added insult to injury. People kept asking for an adoption update, and I was too embarrassed and overwhelmed to say what really happened, so I would just say that we were still waiting to hear. We were so invested in Moldova, and didn't know how to let it actually be over.
This lasted for a few months. Kyle and I both knew we should do something on the adoption front, but we didn't know what. We weren't adopting internationally just to adopt internationally. People kept telling us to pick another country, but that wasn't what it was about for us. Not only were we mourning this loss, we didn't know where our next beginning was.
A couple of months ago Kyle got a text from a friend of ours that changed our life. They know someone who… well, long story short… there was a kid that needed a home. This was the kick in the butt that we needed to quit wallowing in our sorrows and get back on adoption bikes that we had fallen off of earlier. We started the process to become foster parents and had that little baby's face as our reason to complete everything as quickly as possible.
Very few people knew about this part of our lives, and even less knew about this child. Every time we told someone that we weren't adopting from Moldova anymore we had to relive that sad time in our life, and we didn't want that to happen again with this situation. We wanted to protect our hearts from another loss.
Well, we don't have a kid right now, so it obviously didn't work out. That was rough. Even though it was a very short period of time that we thought there was a possibility of getting her, it was still incredibly hard to have to hear that we wouldn't be adding her to our family.
Cue the crying and sorrow-wallowing.
When talking to a friend about why these things kept happening to us, she made me realize something. She told me that these children were only part of my story- just not the whole thing. If these past heartaches wouldn't have happened, then we wouldn't have been where we are right now.
And right now we are foster parents waiting for our first placement.
We want to foster to adopt, but not every child that comes to us will be eligible to be adopted. CPS, if at all possible, wants to reunite the children with their parents. If not, they want the child to live with a relative that is willing to take care of them. CPS will search for up to a year and a half for family members to take the child after the time it takes for the parent's rights to be terminated- if they even are. The point of me saying this is for you to know that this could be a long road. Our first placement probably won't be our last.
Thank you for going on this journey with us. We covet your prayers.
Because of all of the adoption stuff that was going on when school started, we decided not to host a foreign exchange student again. We had an amazing experience last school year with Laura, but thought we would take a break this year since we didn't know where we were headed.
But then this beautiful Norwegian came into our life, and we didn't hesitate when we had the chance for her to join our family last month. She has been in my 6th period class all school year, so she knew what she was getting herself into when she said "yes" to us being her new host family (lots of tv watching, frozen pizza, and more sarcasm than may be able to handle). We love Julie- she's awesome!
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