A Trip Down Adoption Lane

I would like to share how we adopted our precious little girl Lillian Adare. Chris and I had six horrible years of infertility. Precious time that I cannot get back. After our IVF (invitro) falled and after spending thousands and thousands of dollars, we decided that we needed to look into another way of having the family that we always had dreamed about for years. In October of 2005, I search the internet about adoption. At first we were a little scared but we knew this was the only way to have a family. I started asking people that had adopted what we need to do. Mellanie Barksdale and Dana Pressnell helped us a whole bunch. Dana put me in touch with a woman in California that she knew that was a member of the church that dealt with birthmothers. Then Mellanie told us of an adoption agency that she had gone with for her first child that was located in Gainesville, FL. We first thought that we would go to Russia and adopt but we didn't like the thought of traveling outside the U.S. and plus it would cost a tremendous amount of money. So after much discussion and talking with the director of C.F.S. (Christian Family Services) in Gainesville, FL, we decided to go with them. We started paperwork in March of 2006. We had to be fingerprinted and have a homestudy where a social worker comes in to visit and also learns about your past. Then we started filling out all of the agency's paperwork. I have never seen so much paperwork in my life. They really get up close and personal with you. Then on August 28th of 2006, we were active on the waiting list with the agency. Oh, also we had to have a scrapbook in which I had never done anything like that before in my life. If it wasn't for my two coworkers I don't know what I would have done. It took me two full weeks of my dining room table being covered with pictures, papers, and stickers. Once we were active that meant that if the agency had a birthmother that matched our profile (meaning our comfort level and her comfort level with semi-open adoption) they could show our scrapbook to her along with several other ones that matched too. We didn't know how long it would take for a match. It really depends on how many birthmothers they are working with or if that birthmother really like your scrapbook. I let you know more later.