YAY!!!!

K emailed today, our last state background check is IN!!!!!  We will indeed be done with our home study by the end of January!!!! Hopefully I'll be able to send our i600a  ASAP!

~M

Last home study visit complete!!!

We had our last home study visit today.  Usually there are only two visits, but we one a third!  K had certain questions she had to get through, and guess who talked too much on visit two for her to get to everything??  That’s right, both of us!!

K has almost everything she needs!  We are just waiting on our NY police checks and then she’ll have it all.  Oh and we need to send her some photos – we’re having trouble picking 8 photos to put in our home study.  They can be sent via email so they are not a huge deal.

HOPEFULLY our home study will be complete by the end of January.  And then it is time for our i600a.  Other than the home study I have everything ready to go for that.  The only thing we need to decide is if B or I will be the main petitioner.  The main petitioner MUST travel to DRC to apply for our new child’s exit letter.  We are both planning on traveling, but things do happen. I think I am going to be the main petitioner. I feel the NEED to go to DRC and see where our child has come from.  It also makes me super nervous to think of possibly going without B.  We shall see whose name is on the form first when we send it.

I have not read another book in the past two weeks.  I am in the middle of one….. and keep falling asleep.  It has been a very busy two weeks at work and we’ve been busy at home too.

We met an amazing DRC adoptive family this Sunday.  It was awesome to meet their Congo cutie!!!  She and C played so well and it was great to make connections to other families who are DRC adoptive families.  They are starting the process of their second adoption from DRC.  We’re using the same facilitator and only live about 90-100 minutes away from each other.  Hopefully we’ll be able to make even more Congo connections in the North East as we move forward.

It has been bitter cold! And my running has been non-existent.  I need to start training for October!  It looks like I may be the only one doing a full 26.2 miles, most of the others who want to be a part of our team are interested in the half marathon.  You know what?  That is ok!!!  I’m the mama, I CAN run a marathon, I was in labor with C for 48 hours, I can run for 4 or 5 for my next baby :-D   

A Marathon, really?

Well maybe a marathon or maybe a half marathon.  B will be walking a half marathon and I will be running either a half or a full marathon to fundraise for our adoption.  I figure I labored for 48 hours with C with no medication, I can run a marathon for the next Baby Bates.

The goal is to fundraise in a way that doesn’t feel – to us- like we’re just putting our hands out and begging.  We have tightened our belts and are looking into options to increase our income, but it looks like we will need some help.  What we don’t feel comfortable with is sending out letters just asking for donations.  We know that is a legitimate option and many people have great success with it.  We feel like we should be doing something on our end.  This, of course, is not to pass judgment on any other families who take a different path.  We feel like we’re showing our dedication by participating in a half, and possibly a full marathon.

Over the holidays multiple cousins expressed interest in running with us.  I am so overwhelmed with the generosity of spirit in my family.   We’re looking into all our options to make this happen.  I have this fantasy of a 10+ person team running for our child.  My heart just melts with the support we received over the holidays.

Initially we wanted to participate in the Chosen Marathon for Adoption.  However, it is in Texas, so getting down there would be a challenge for everyone.  It was pointed out that the finances involved in getting everyone down there could just go right to our adoption fund.   Now I’m looking into runs in both the late spring and fall here in the Northeast.  We will probably participate in a run up here and create a profile with Adopt Together to give donors the option of a tax deductable platform.

So it looks like I really need to start running regularly again, and figure out these logistics.   When I run regularly it really helps me to process and feel less anxious.  I get out all the nervous energy and have time to work through a lot of thoughts and emotions.  Sure sounds to me like it’ll be a great thing to be doing during this process :-D

~M

Happy New Year!!

Ahhh the holidays! Time for cold weather, lost of driving and of course spending time with family!

It was a family filled holiday season for us.  Christmas Eve was spent at my dad’s house with both my sister’s in-laws and my in-laws.  There were fourteen of us, and Mason our dog.  We drove out to B’s parents house that night and spend Christmas day with B’s family.

In my family, when we were little, my parent’s had us sing Happy Birthday to baby Jesus before we opened our presents.  It was a way, outside of church, to remind us that the real reason for Christmas was Jesus’ birth.  While I get made fun of quite heartily this is something we have done since C was born and will continue to do.  I remember so vividly the coffee cake mom made every year, and signing to baby Jesus.  While I didn’t make mom’s coffee cake this year we still sang and had a pretty darn good Boston coffee cake.

Santa filled our stockings and C made out like a bandit with presents from Mommy, Daddy, Nana, Haha and other family members.  My dad joined us for Christmas dinner at B’s parents place.

We drove back home late Christmas night and I had a few days of work before heading back to Dad’s on the 30^th.  The T clan descended on dad’s house for NYE starting on the 30^th and a few people trickled in on the 31^st.  There were 38 of us this year and we deeply missed those who could not make it!!!  We spent those three days catching up, staying up, eating up and chatting it up.  I think I stay up later with my relatives on NYE than most any other time over the year.  We’ve been getting together for NYE for the past 10 years.  I honestly cannot say I know any other family that is as close as we are.  I am so very blessed to have them in my life and can only hope that my generation can continue the work our parents started by creating such a solid family foundation. We’re expecting one marriage and two babies in 2013- so far!  Hopefully Baby Bates will be new baby # 3 in 2013.

Multiple cousins have expressed interest in running a half or full marathon to help raise funds for our adoption.  I think it is going to be an amazing experience for many of us to do together.  What a way to help bring our baby home- how loved will this child be?  I am looking into ways we can run a race up here in New England and make the donations tax deductable for people.  Both spring and fall races are being looked into.

On NYE dad had us take a field trip and revealed the waiting room dedicated to Mom and Aunt M in the new breast center.  Dad had the routine mammogram waiting room dedicated to the courageous and dedicated two women of our family who fought breast cancer and lost.  It was a really cathartic experience for me, and a lot of the family.

B and I celebrated four years of marriage on NYE!!!! I can’t believe it has been four years.  It seems both longer and shorter.  I really am one of the luckiest women on earth.  B is an amazing husband and my love for him grows everyday.

We came home late last night and I am so exhausted.  It is 2013 and it is a brand New Year filled with new hope and unknowns.  I am so excited (and a little trepidatious).   

Happy New Year everyone, May your 2013 be filled with wonderful things!