All I know right now...

In my last blog, I said that if we didn't hear anything Thursday night, we probably weren't picked. Well, it seems I don't ask enough questions to even know how this works! First of all, I got an email on Friday saying that they got all my updates and would show the birth mom. I don't even think she saw anything on Thursday night. I just got off the phone with the agency secretary. She said that she wasn't sure that they even looked at profiles at the last appointment. She hasn't spoken to the lady who is working with the birth mom, but she said that if someone was chosen, she would have been notified. It seems to me that at this point, she hasn't made a decision, and we haven't been ruled out. I do know now that she wants a childless family, but the only childless families they have don't want open adoptions. I guess she will have to decide which is more important to her. We haven't written our letter to the birth mom, yet. We're going to get that done today. Hopefully, we can convince her or any other birth mom that we will love all our children the same. We also hope they understand that even though they won't be choosing a family with no children, they are choosing a family with a little boy whose parents can't give him any siblings, and he really wants some! We will be called as soon as they know if we are chosen or not chosen so NO call means NO news. I will keep repeating that to myself! Thank you again for all the prayers and support. We feel very loved!
Patiently Waiting,
Andrea

Still Waiting...

Well, here's the deal...We received the application in the mail for the agency in Indiana on Saturday. I had it all filled out by Tuesday night, except for a few things I had questions about. I called the agency yesterday morning to have my questions answered. I spoke to the agency director, Nancy, and the first think I asked was about putting on the application that we were ok with an open adoption. Nancy told me that she had a young girl right now wanting an open adoption, and she has not chosen a family, yet. She's having a boy in 6 weeks. Nancy also said that she would start a profile for us as soon as she got the initial application and picture in, and she would show it to the birth mom. We were not expecting our profile to be shown this quickly! Our other agency will not show our profile until everything is done. The birth mom had an appointment tonight at 6:00. I think she was looking at a few profiles. I scanned all of our paperwork before I sent it in so that I could email it all. By 6:00 tonight, the agency had the application, our testimonies, and pictures. They told me that they would definitely show us. I assumed that they would call us and let us know one way or the other. However, we haven't heard from them. We feel like that if the girl chose us, they would have called us, as soon as her appointment was over. We don't know how long she was there, though. They may think it's too late to call. We would be very surprised if this first opportunity went through. We're really just feeling like this is God's way of telling us that this agency might be a better fit for us. No matter what, we know that God has a plan, and His plan is the only one we're interested in!
Stay Tuned...
Andrea

Lots going on!

Hi Everyone!
We've had such a busy couple of weeks! Sunday before last, one of my best friends set up appointments for me to take pictures of 5 families whose sitting fees were donated to our church for the adoption. ALL money from my photography business from now until the baby comes will go towards the adoption. The sitting fees can be written to the church so that it's a tax deductible donation. Time to take pictures for your Christmas cards! Anyway, I am so appreciative to those that were a part of the shoot on Sunday. I spent all last week getting ready for the French Market at church and the yard sale. Both were successful! Thank you so much to all that donated time and items!! A friend of mine told me that I needed to put a picture of the items that I sold at the French Market so I've attached one. I have lots of inventory left. I'm hoping to have a another booth set up soon for a mom's night out at a school here in Franklin. I'll let you know! I'll also be set up at a friend's home in Franklin during a jewelry sale on October 26th at 10:00am-12:00pm and 6:00pm-8:00pm. Let me know if you're interested in coming, and I will give you more info.

In other news, we are now going to be using an additional agency in Indiana. I got an email from a college friend who is going through them. There are several babies needing families right now. The first of them is due on December 28th. We are getting our profiles together quickly because they are already showing the birth moms the profiles. Who knows? We could have a baby a lot sooner than we think! We're not getting our hopes up, though. If one of those babies is not the one God has chosen for us, then we will wait patiently. God has already been so evident in so much that has happened this week. We continue to put all of this in His hands and rest in the fact that He has a plan for our family.

We went to more adoption training last night in Kentucky. Lots of information to absorb! One thing that really stood out to us was the fact that we have to throw our "Baby Wise" book away! This will be hard for us because it worked so well with Hudson, but our new baby will need to be nurtured in such a different way. This nurturing also includes that fact that no one should help take care of the baby for at least the first 3 months but 6 months is recommended. This is important for the baby's attachment to us. We have so much help with all our family so that will be hard! However, we'll need lots of help taking care of Hudson, while we take care of the baby.

We have had so much support already and are so thankful for it! 90 puzzles pieces have been bought. There are 1,410 to go though, so we would love for anyone who doesn't have one yet to get one and be a part of this gift for our baby. If you are reading our blog for the first time and don't know about the puzzle, be sure to read our first post! Thank you again for all the love, prayers, and support!

Much Love,
Andrea (Adam and Hudson, too!)

WOW!

We have gotten so much support already, and we feel so blessed!! A big thank you for all the prayers and donations!

I wasn't sure how Hudson would react to having a yard sale with some of his toys in it. I explained to him what we are doing, and he said, "I want to have my own yard sale with all my stuff". I guess he will do just about anything to have a brother AND (he says) a sister. I asked if he had to choose, what would he want. He says a sister, and he wants to name her Dora! Well, a sister is possible. Dora...not so much.

Well, I have to get back to work on pricing items. Really just wanted to say a big THANK YOU for all the support!![

Much Love,
Andrea

Welcome To Our Journey!

Hi Friends, Family, and Followers,

We have decided to start a blog so that everyone can stay up to date on our adoption journey. The blog site is "HudsonHopes" because Hudson hopes for a baby brother or sister. Well, really he wants both. :)

For anyone who doesn't know our story, here it is in a nutshell, a very small nutshell...

A little over 2 years after having our son Hudson, who we now know is a complete miracle, we started trying to have a second child. We were expecting 2 times. The first was an abdominal pregnancy. The baby was attached to the outside of the uterus and had to be surgically removed. The second pregnancy also ended in surgery. The doctors thought it was a tubal pregnancy, but they did not find the baby in the tube. However, they determined that pregnancy was no longer an option because the ovary, tube, and uterus are compacted too close together.

We have always wanted to adopt. It's just happening a little sooner now! We are adopting domestically through Bethany Christian Services. They are a very large agency, and we are choosing to make ourselves available to a child anywhere in the U.S., not just Tennessee. Right now, our preliminary and formal applications have been approved. We have been to an orientation meeting and are starting to fill out all the home study paperwork. There's lots of it! We will start 6 weeks of training on October 14th. If everything goes smoothly, we should be on a waiting list in 3-4 months. Once we're on the list, it's just a matter of being chosen by an expecting mother. We've been told that only about 1 in 4 moms actually go through with the adoption. We know that there may be some disappointment. We are praying that we can be patient and know that God is bigger than all of this.

Another piece of this journey is, of course, raising the money. The total for our adoption is $25,000.00. We have lots of ideas! For our local friends we are selling a picture called "My Franklin". It's a collage of 25 of your favorite places. Hopefully, we'll be able to expand our towns soon! On Friday, we'll have a booth of personalized gifts set up at The French Market at Fellowship Bible Church from 4pm-9pm. We're also having a yard sale this Saturday from 8am-12pm. If you have anything you would like to donate, bring it on by! As soon as we can get a spot, we'll be having a pancake breakfast at Applebee's in Spring Hill. They do it every Saturday morning to raise money for all types of charities. Tickets will be $6.00. Stay tuned for that...

Our biggest fund raiser right now is something everybody can be a part of. A man at the orientation we went to gave us this idea. He and his wife adopted a little girl from China and did this. We have purchased a 1500 piece puzzle of Noah's Ark. We are asking that you purchase a piece for at least $5.00. We are going to put your name on your piece and on a list. The puzzle will be framed and given to our child with all the names of the people that helped he or she be a part of our family. We have a Pay Pal account set up. All you have to do is click on the button below and purchase your piece. It's that easy! However, if you would like to make a tax deductible donation, you can write a check to Fellowship Bible Church with "I Choose You" in the memo line. Mail it to us at 3154 Winberry Drive, Franklin, TN, 37064, and we will make sure it goes towards our adoption.

Thank you so much for all your support. Most of all, we need your prayers! We'll continue to keep you updated on what's going on!

Much Love,
Adam, Andrea, and Hudson