Almost anyone who has researched adoption or began the process realizes there are so many things to think about and most all of them seem to be very major decisions. It really stretches you as an individual and you begin to open your mind and heart to new possibilities...
I just returned from a week long trip to visit my brother in Lakewood, Colorado. Maylena and Billy stayed at home and I traveled with my family. The trip was incredible and gave me a very clear mind and a lot of time to reflect on the upcoming adoption. I had time to read books and speak with the head of Christian Adoption Services, Doris, over the phone in regards to our preliminary application. They are still reviewing it but she wanted to speak to me personally about the issue of Open vs. Closed adoption. We had left it as not sure, need more information on our application. Its a HUGE area of decision and would change the whole direction of the adoption depending on which way you go. Doris informed me that most all of adoptions these days are open, at least in the adoptions they handle. She said its is very rare to have a closed adoption now, and they are pretty much only accepting applicants that will go the Open adoption route. I don't know that Billy and I are strongly against an Open adoption, however, we having been leaning in the direction of Closed since the beginning. It could be that we just need more information and insight into stories and examples of Open adoption to alleviate the fears we have about it. Talking to Doris at first gave me a feeling of turmoil about if we picked the right agency. I made up my mind to contact a friend of a friend I had met through this process and seek her opinion. She has worked with CAS on 2 adoptions, one was closed, and one was open. She has had a great experience with the open adoption and couldn't imagine it any other way. Her and her husband were initially going to go the Closed route but God worked on their hearts during the course of being a waiting family and they made changes to their application to be an open adoption. It has turned out to be all for the better.
I have registered for a training course online that covers Open Adoption through Adoption Learning Partners. Doris recommended we take this course and she kept saying that whatever fears you have in the beginning about open adoption, they will begin to fade away the more you learn about it. If anyone reading this post has any insight into open adoption stories and would be willing to share, please email me at Brittany_695@hotmail.com, I would love to hear them!
Lastly I am sad to say we will NOT be able to use the Chosen Marathon for raising a portion of our funds. For those of you that received our adoption letter in the mail, we were encouraging those that were interested to run a 10 mile race in October to help us raise funds towards our adoption. When I went to set up our team online so that people could register and have funds applied to us, there were fine print details stating you must have a Completed home study at least 30 days prior to the race event. Unfortunately that will not be possible because the Home Study takes 3 months roughly to complete if there are no hangups. Billy and I both were very sad about not being able to participate in the event and we had LOTS of interest from others already saying they were going to do it. I really appreciate everyone interest in wanting to help us raise our funds anyway possible. We will have a fundraiser starting shortly called 144 envelopes. Keep in touch with the blog or Billy's facebook to hear more about that!!
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