I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! We had a great day. My in-laws were in town, and despite a minor turkey mix-up, Brian did an awesome job cooking a big, traditional Thanksgiving dinner.
We always have much to be thankful for, but this year, we had something extra to give thanks for. We got word that our homestudy had passed through the agency and their licensing agent! This means we are one step closer to being officially "paper pregnant." Once we approve the draft of the homestudy, our agency will pass it along to the judge for final approval. At that point, we are offically just waiting.
Once the judge approves our homestudy, the agency can begin showing our profile book to potential birth mothers. They strongly recommend, however, that we have our full placement fee in our savings account before they start showing our biography. This is so that we know that we can cover that final amount (due 2 weeks before she is due, or immediately in the case of a fall-in-your-lap adoption) without going into debt. While this makes sense to us, it's tough to feel like we're legally approved but waiting without being "advertised."
So, while we wait, we'll keep busy. Through a very generous boss and board of directors, I have some unexpected time off work around Christmas, which I'll mostly be spending writing adoption grants, hoping to get some funding that way. I'm also writing personalized letters from Santa for kids that parents, grandparents, and others can order as a Christmas gift (see an example below). Be sure to order one today here. Better yet, order tomorrow (Monday) and take advantage of my Cyber Monday deal...$4 per letter or 2 for $7 (discounted from $5/letter). I'm also hosting a booth at a local craft fair on Saturday to display the letters and hopefully collect some more orders.
Big thanks go out to Kristi, Cera, Cassy, Kim, and Erin who have already ordered letters for their little ones! Additional thanks go out to all of our faithful blog readers, and all of our family and friends who have been so wonderful and supportive through this whole process. We took a huge step forward by having this homestudy approved, and are excited to keep working to keep the process moving!
