Paperwork is Done!!!!

Whoo hoo!  Our paperwork is complete and we mailed it today!  I (Andrea) thought it was fitting that I used my "Brave" pen to write the address on the envelope.  It felt like I was giving the woman at the post-office counter a piece of our hearts.  I almost felt like telling her to be careful with it, it contains trust, hope, and pain.  It was hard to let it go, not knowing what would happen or wondering if it would make it there.  This paperwork process was tough and long.  They ask you many personal questions that require you to be vulnerable. We needed to be brave in order to press in and remember what our end goal is, to build our family. Since we are doing the embryo adoption track, our paperwork is triple the work. 

First, we needed to finish the paperwork for our home study.  This included information for the agency, the state, and a 7 page autobiography from both Jon and I.  This was the paperwork that we sent in today.  

Second, we needed to complete "paperwork" for the application to the place that conducts the embryo adoptions, Snowflake.  Since they are based out of Colorado and California, we will do most of our interaction with them online or over the phone. We have completed this application, but we are waiting to send because we need to save enough money for the application fee.

Lastly, our final "paperwork"  was with our fertility clinic.  We will actually have our first appointment with them tomorrow, November 3rd! 

Even though this process was long, and at times we did not want to even look at another piece of paper, it was full of hope.  Each letter, every word, brought us one step closer to building our family.

Jon and I continue to be surrounded by truly wonderful family and friends who cheer us on as we complete each step of this process.  We are also changing our vocabulary from "if" to "when".  When you want something to happen in your life, changing your "if" to "when" is vital.  Instead of "If we have a child" to "When we have a child" brings us closer to HOPE.  There are no guarantees, and there is uncertainty abounding, but your mindset can change your course in life.  

Our next steps in the process is to WAIT and READ and PREPARE.  

WAIT. Once New Life Family Services approves our home study application, the process will take 3-5 months to complete.  We will meet with them about 5 times.  Four times at their office and once in our home. 

WAIT.Once Snowflake gets our application fee, we will wait to get more information on the next steps with them.  We will at some point need to create an online portfolio that genetic families will look at to choose us as a recipient of their embryos. (Little more to it than that, so let us know if you want a more detailed explanation.)  We cannot afford much as far as Jon and I getting current professional pictures done, so if anyone would like to suggest an affordable photographer or would like to gift some of their services to us, that would be a huge blessing.

READ. We will also need to educate ourselves in this process of embryo adoption.  We need to understand how this decision impacts our future children and how we will approach communicating with them about this whole process.  The New Life and Snowflake are amazing at telling you the information you will need to get in order to be ready.  We have books and articles to read, online seminars to watch, and we will need to do one face-to-face seminar.

PREPARE.  As we get more information, we look forward to preparing our home and our hearts for our future children. 

As our first post said, we will continue to need encouragement and love from our family and friends.  Prayers are MORE than welcome as the emotions with adoption are so VERY real.  A hug, a smile, a word, all mean so much to us.  We have felt it from the beginning and will continue to need it as we take these next steps. 

Also Jon and I have many fees coming up with application fees, medical expenses, and home study fees.  If you are able to, please consider donating money to our Go Fund me site.  Anything you are able to donate is a blessing! 

http://www.gofundme.com/jonandrea2adopt

Thank-you to all of you for your love and support and we will keep you updated as new things begin.  God bless!