Cupcakes and Mud Puddles: Adoption update...

?{me with my newest nephew, Otto--July 8, 2011...what a joy it was for me to hug and love on this precious baby boy this past week}

"Even if you exercise your strongest faith, God will not always reward you immediately according to your desires. Rather, God will respond with what in His eternal plan is best for you. He loves you to a depth and completeness you cannot conceive of in your mortal state. Indeed, were you to know His entire plan, you would never ask for that which is contrary to it even though your feelings tempt you to do so. Sincere faith gives understanding and strength to accept the will of our Heavenly Father when it differs from our own. We can accept His will with peace and assurance, confident that His infinite wisdom surpasses our own ability to comprehend fully His plan as it unfolds a piece at a time."

~Richard G. Scott on the topic of "Faith", you can read more from his talk here
Well my friends, I thought it was time to give you an update on where we are with Adoption #2.?? A lot has happened in the past several weeks.? As many of you know, it's been three years in the making since we started our paperwork for our second adoption. Just a little recap for those of you who are new to my blog, we have been working like crazy the past 7 weeks trying to complete a new homestudy (our 3rd homestudy in three years...argh!!!) with the hopes of being considered as the forever family for two little sisters who are currently in foster care in East Texas. The oldest is 2.5 years old and the baby is 12 months--the most precious girls.? You can read a little more about this endeavor here and here.

Since my last update and almost 8 weeks after meeting the the girls in person, we were able to complete the homestudy through our agency. This particular homestudy differs from our other two we've completed in that it is specifically for a state adoption through CPS. It has been a nerve-wracking experience from start to finish trying to complete the paperwork, classes and homestudy because we are navigating waters we have never been on before. Our first adoption was through a private agency for an infant adoption.? With this particular homestudy, we have been working like mad trying to meet a deadline. We were told in May by the adoption unit coordinator (the committee who will be determining the placement of the girls) that we needed our homestudy completed and submitted by July 1st if we wanted to be considered as their parents. After submitting our homestudy, the committee will then review all the homestudies that were submitted by other hopeful families and narrow it down to 2-3 families for a final decision regarding the adoption placement.

After several scheduled visits and? lengthy interviews by a state caseworker, our homestudy was finally completed in mid-June. On the day that it was to be submitted electronically to the girl's caseworker and the adoption unit, we received a phone call early that morning from our agency notifying us that there was a problem.? There was required documentation missing from our adoption file and without it, they would not be able to submit our homestudy in time for the deadline. Our adoption agency had failed to notice in our file that we needed an updated criminal background check from Virginia. We were devastated when we initially got this news. We knew it typically takes about 14 business days to get a background check submitted and received back from out of state. We had already been through this process when we moved back to Texas and transferred our adoption file from Virginia to Texas.? We were required back then in 2009 to have a criminal background check in Virginia. The forms were included in our file from 2009. What the agency failed to tell us is if you have lived out of state within five years, the background checks have to be re-done annually and resubmitted to the adoption file (even if you have never re-inhabited the state during that five year period...really stupid policy if you ask me).?

When we got the news that morning about this mistake, I literally just fell apart in the car. We were on the road (2 hours down the road from home) heading to Wimberley for our camping trip. ? I don't know when I have sobbed and cried that hard.? Poor Noah was sitting in his carseat in the car and watching me as the tears just flowed.? He kept telling me, "Mommy, it will be okay.? I love you."? I tried to hold back the tears for his sake, but I just couldn't.? I was convinced our chances of being considered by the adoption committee were over now--there was just no way we could get the background checks back in time.? But I was wrong.?

Jody and the Director at our adoption agency immediately began brainstorming that morning over the phone and figured out a plan to quickly resolve the issue. To make a long story short, the Director was able to talk to a supervisor in the Virginia state office where background checks occur and had them fax the forms to us. We stopped at an attorney's office at a small town en route to our camping trip, signed the forms, the attorney had them notarized and we then drove to the next small town where we could overnight the forms to Virginia. We were told to include a Fed Ex envelope in the package and they would expedite the background check and Fed Ex them back to our Adoption agency by the end of the week.? The background forms made it back within the week (just as promised) and our homestudy was mailed off in time.??

And now all we can do is wait.? The waiting continues to be the hardest part for me.? The adoption agency emailed us earlier this week wanting to know if we'd like them to send our homestudy off for any other children who match our profile, but we've asked them to hold off .? We really feel in our hearts that the right thing to do is to wait and see what happens with the girls. To see if we are picked as their adoptive parents.? We did get word last week that a foster family that had the baby in their care for a few months has formally expressed their interest in adopting the girls.? This was somewhat disappointing news for us because they may have legal standing.? Our agency informed us that the adoption unit will have to investigate this couple and see if they do in fact have legal standing.

Every day I look at their sweet little faces in the pictures I have and say a little prayer....a prayer that if it's all possible, if it's what is in the best interest of the girls and our family, that we might be allowed to adopt them and welcome their sweet little spirits into our home and family soon.? Jody and I are at a stage in this adoption journey of ours where we have a greater faith? and a deeper understanding that if this is God's will, all will work out the way it is supposed to.?

XOXO...

Source: http://www.cupcakesandmudpuddles.com/2011/07/adoption-update.html

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