Baby steps are good news

I was thinking about that phrase today: "baby steps." In terms of what that means to a child, it's a huge advancement in the way they move around. For parents, it's a moment of joy and affirmation that their baby is making the milestones that a child should.

For Bill and me, we are making "baby steps," too. In my last post, I related the decisions we made recently; today we have confirmation that things are progressing! We got a letter from Bethany yesterday saying we've been approved to go ahead with the next step!

First, we need to have a phone orientation to talk about the homestudy process. Then in March, we'll need to travel to Seattle for a training and to get our formal application materials. That's when a whole lotta paperwork is going to begin! On their website, Bethany gives a really rough outline of the next steps.

We are at the very top, of course, at Preliminary Application. I'm hoping (I could be completely wrong 'cuz I'm assuming here) that we'll have all the steps up to Placement done by the end of March so we can be on the waiting list by April. Once that's all done, we just pray, then pray some more. And I need to get the nursery ready. And baby proof the house. And pray.

Okay, that's enough forward thinking. We need to get through the next step first! We filled out our reservation papers for the training (Formal Application) and mailed them today. Bethany will be sending us an information packet about the orientation, and we'll need to call them to set up a time for a 1 to 1.5 hour phone meeting. So, I'm guessing it will be a couple of weeks before we'll get to that (Informational Meeting, on their steps). Eek! That's about the same time as the meeting with Fairbanks Counseling & Adoption! I guess we really WILL be hurrying up to wait!

Until later!

Now we're talkin'!

After way too much agonizing and foot-dragging, Bill and I decided to simplify our process and just work with an agency, Bethany Christian Services. The lure of "cutting down our wait time" and perhaps "saving quite a bit of money" lulled me into inaction. As Bill put it, "At the rate we're going, we're never going to get this adoption done," and we had barely started!
So, I compromised and suggested that we just go with an agency. We had already looked into several and were taken with Bethany since it has a heavy emphasis on finding Christian families for children. They are also one of the largest (or perhaps THE largest) agency in the country with offices all over the place. They also handle international adoptions, which we are still considering for a future adoption.

The biggest advantage with an agency, at least for me, is that there are specific steps and deadlines to meet. That's a big one for me. I do not, repeat DO NOT, handle self-determined timelines well. Every independent study class I've ever taken - and there have been few 'cuz I'm a quick learner, you know - has been a huge struggle with insanely busy crunch times at the end. I'm great at meeting other people's deadlines, but I will admit that I procrastinate. That's why we (read: I) ended up dragging our feet.

We also made a change in what state from which we would adopt. Bethany isn't permitted to help us complete an adoption in Illinois unless the child is born there. But they CAN help us in Washington. Washington has favorable laws for adoptive parents, and it's a lot closer than Illinois. A direct flight from here to Seattle is relatively easy to get, much shorter, and cheaper.

SO, here we are. We filled out the preliminary application with Bethany, are planning to travel to Seattle for an adoptive parent meeting & start the formal application, and have an appointment on January 14th to start the homestudy process with Fairbanks Counseling & Adoption.

Three small steps for the Howards, one giant leap for our adopted child!