Necessary Boundaries

Well,

Ch and i finally had a long overdue conversation about what he would like our boundaries and expectations to be with this adoption.
I was aiming for any child from any program that was quick and cost effective. Ch wants to be much more conservative and selective. During the conversation, i could just feel the doors of opportunity closing all around us. However, after a long night of restless sleep and much prayer, I think what we needed was boundaries and conservative expectations. I felt one door open wide for us and i think it may be the path that we need to follow.

I think we may be settled on using the agency in the magic city. It has a program that I'm almost certain that we qualify for and they are located in our state so there wouldn't be any out of state issues during the adoption. Also, they can answer all our questions about the home study and eventually do the home study.

We will have to seriously work to pay for this. I'm hoping that Ch and I can apply for a loan for the full amount of the adoption and put it in a savings account to draw from as needed. We would have to make monthly payments but the program that I'm thinking that we'll use take 18 to 24 months to complete so we could have the loan paid off before the adoption is finalized. That'd be awesome.

The 18 to 24 month wait is what kills me though. There are cheaper programs with MUCH shorter wait times (which appeal to me since i want to adopt, like, 3 years ago.) However, they don't have the children available that fit the boundaries that We've agreed on. So I am starting to accept that If we can start this process in January of 2010, that by the summer of 2011 we should have our 2Nd (well, 4Th actually) child in our home. The age range of the children in that program are 12 months and up but the odds of us having a child under 3 referred to us is slim so I also have to accept that Maggie will be 2 and a Half while our newest addition may be older than her when he/she comes home. Very close in age, still, but probably older.

There is also the possibility that a sibling group could be referred to us.

shew.

Of course, this is all 2 years away.=(
All i need to focus on now is preparing our home and paperwork for the application and then the home study.

I called the agency this morning and left a message for an international worker asking if she would call me to help answer a few questions i have about our situation and the home study. Hopefully she'll call back. If she doesn't, i know how to nag. Even though i don't want to nag. *sigh* I'd rather work with someone who WANTS to work with us.

We'll see where this takes us.

<3