Jean, the Queen

Over the last few days, Chris and I have had our interviews for adoption, and as a result, got to meet our caseworker, Jean. She is GREAT! I was so nervous about it, but soon realized there was no need to be. I am so impressed with how comfortable she made us feel and how she juggles the tremendous amount of work she has to do working with both adoptive couples and the birth parents! We each had our own interviews where Jean just asked us questions about ourselves, our backgrounds, our hobbies and interests, things that make us different, etc. It was really great to talk to her, and we were happy to share as much information as we could to help her write our story.

After our interviews, we also had our second training meeting, and Jean was actually the guest presenter at that, so we got an extra dose of this great woman! Our training was on paperwork, since there seems to be an endless pile of that throughout this whole process. The part that got me last night was when she went over the paperwork that actually officially signs the child over to us. She said it's a bitter-sweet set of paperwork, because that is when the birth mother relinqueshes all rights and the adoptive couple takes over. I can't imagine what a difficult moment that would be for a mother, but I also can't imagine the joy that we will feel.

And now for the homework assignment. I'm hoping that as many people come to this site, will read this next part. We have been told that we shouldn't just WAIT for our baby, but that we should go out and GET our baby. This means that we are supposed to be doing all that we can to get the word out that we are adopting so that if anyone knows about a birth mother who is considering adoption, they can tell that person about us. I must admit, I felt a little weird about this at first -- almost like we are advertising for a child. But after hearing several stories about parents finding their children this way, I am realizing more and more the impact that this can have. Sooo, we are asking all of you who might visit this site to please share the word that you know a couple who is looking to adopt and that if you or someone you know comes into contact with a birth mother who is considering this option, you can share us with them. In doing so, you cannot share any identifying information about us (where we live, how you are connected to us, our last name, etc.), but you can tell them about who we are as people, our hobbies and interests, things you like about us, and those kinds of things. I know it's a long shot, but we want to be as proactive as we can in doing as much as we can to see this great blessing come into our lives. So, if any of you DO happen across someone in this situation, please contact us and we will work with our case-worker on working out the details. And THANKS A MILLION FOR YOUR HELP!!!

And the journey continues...