It has been a while since we have updated everyone on where we are in our embryo adoption process. We have had some great starts and tough road blocks, but we are excited for what opportunities await us.
On Monday, February 15th we officially started our first home study meeting with New Life Family Services. We are excited to be able to finally start this process that will bring us closer to building our family. Our first meeting was together. The next two meetings will be individual meetings with our social worker, and the final one will be in our home.
Originally we were seeking to work with an organization called Snowflake to match us with a genetic family for our embryos. We started seeing a fertility doctor to help us prepare for embryo implantation. She told us she saw it very unlikely that they would work with Snowflake since they were not familiar with them and did not see them as being accredited. They said if we wanted to work with Snowflake they would have to bring it to their medical board.
Seeing that we had hit a snag in our plans, she did give us two other embryo donation/adoption centers to look into. One in Florida and one in Tennessee. The one in Florida seemed more focused on donation and made it very difficult for us to obtain the open adoption we wanted to have with the genetic families, so that was another closed door. As we looked into the one in Tennessee, the National Embryo Donation Center(NEDC), it seemed to more closely align with our goals of having an open relationship with the genetic family. It also had the same focus on values that Jon and I wanted. We finally saw another light of hope!
After praying and long talks, we decided this was the place we wanted to work with to match us with the genetic family and our embryos. We filled out the application and sent in the application fee. (Which was completely covered by the generous donations of our friends on our Go Fund Me site! Another praise Jesus moment!)
After a few days of finishing the application to NEDC, we received a packet of more paperwork to fill-out for them (oh adoption and it's miles of paperwork). The biggest thing we need to get done in order to start our matching process with NEDC, is the completion of our home study. Once we complete the home study the matching process with NEDC will begin. We do have the option to visit NEDC in Knoxville, TN for our initial consultation before completing the home study. We are still learning about NEDC, how they differ from Snowflake, and what they will require from us in this process. As we find out more information, we hope to continue to keep everyone updated.
Andrea has made significant changes in improving her nutrition and physical health. Through the support of a dear friend, Jillian, whom she met through a woman's bible study at church, she has been able to find encouragement and support in these changes. She also joined Crossfit Holdfast in Owatonna at the beginning of January. Everyone at Crossfit has also been so supportive and it has been wonderful to have a team to cheer her on, even though the workouts can be very difficult to do at times. Through Crossfit, she has learned to push through the mental emotions that so often stop us from believing that we can do more than we know or imagine.
Jon is also starting on an exciting opportunity of a new job on February 22nd in the same field through U.S. Bank.
Please continue to pray for us as we work towards our goals of embryo adoption, pregnancy, and becoming parents. We are so thankful for the outpouring of support from family and friends as we walk through each step of this journey. We love having people we haven't seen in a while give us such warm encouragement and tell us that they are praying for us. We also ask that you consider and pray about supporting us financially on our GoFund me site. Much love to you all and we will continue you to update you when we can!
http://www.gofundme.com/jonandrea2adopt
-Jon and Andrea
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