BIG, HUGE, EXCITING NEWS!!!

Andy & I have decided to begin the adoption process! We are THRILLED! This decision has been a long time in the making...over 6 years actually.

The summer after we got married we led a mission trip to Thailand where we worked with an orphanage. We absolutely fell in love with the children there and new from that moment on that one day we would adopt, we just didn't know when. We always assumed we would have a couple of our own and then adopt a couple.

When we realized that getting pregnant the second time round was going to be a lot more difficult than we expected, we started seriously praying about adoption. We knew we wanted to, we just wanted to make sure it was God's timing. I ordered info packets from several different adoption agencies and began to do a little research.

This past Saturday we attended a seminar hosted by America World Adoption. While I was pretty familiar with most of the info that they shared, that was the first time Andy had heard the process start to finish. He was able to get answers to a lot of his questions. On the way home I asked him what he thought and, much to my surprise, he said, "I think we should go ahead and get started on the application!"

Little did he know, I had already filled out the 8 page application months ago and just stuck it back on our bookshelf until Andy felt like it was the right timing. So today, Caedmon and I took it to the post office. I think Caedmon is slightly confused. And adoption is rather difficult to explain to a 3 year old. Here are some of the things he's said to me:

• "Mommy, is there a baby growing in your tummy?"
• "We're getting our baby from Seepy-opia. (Ethiopia)"
• "When we go to the post office are they going to give us our baby?"

Andy asked Caedmon what we should name the baby. Andy said, "Do you think we should name him Caedmon?" Caedmon laughed and said, "No, Daddy. There's only one Caedmon!"  And we all know that's true!

SO, here's the short version of the details. We are adopting a little boy from Ethiopia age two and a half or younger. The process will likely take around a year and a half. I'm planning on keeping this blog updated on our progress, so if you are considering adoption or know someone who is, hopefully my notes/thoughts will be helpful to you. We should hear back from AWAA within about 10 days and then we will get a mound of paperwork to do. I hear that if you focus on it really diligently, it takes about 6 months to complete and ends up being at least an inch thick! Yikes. Paperwork pregnancy, here I come!!!