The Next Step

We can be knocked down, but we get right back up and keep on going.

Last week was not a good week. Actually, the end of last week was the not so good part. We made our tough decision and we still know it was the best choice we could make for our family. Several people sent emails and some of you commented. I really appreciate the support. Some asked if we should maybe take a little time to think it over and believe me we considered waiting awhile, but things just weren't that simple. When the announcement was made that there were going to be 5,000 jobs cut, it was also announced that those cuts were going to occur over an 18 month period. This means that for the next 1 1/2 years we would be waiting to see if my husband still had a job or not. That's a long time wait in limbo and by that time we would be redoing all our paperwork anyway. In addition, because none of our paperwork was in Ethiopia yet, that meant we had several thousands of dollars left to pay. When you don't know if you're going to have any income in the future, holding on to that money becomes much more a priority. We need to make sure we have enough to fall back on should Dave lose his job and not be able to find anything quickly. In today's economy, finding another job could be tough.

What we aren't going to do though is let all of this deter us from the goal of adding another child to our family. So, even though Internation Adoption is not an option for us right now, we do have an option that will require virtually no out of pocket expenses and have decided to pursue that option. We will be moving forward with a domestic adoption through the foster-to-adopt program. We're in the beginning stages, completing paperwork, starting classes on Monday, home visits, etc. We know it's going to be at least 3-4 months before we our licensed as a foster care provider in our state, but have absolutely no idea how long it will take after that point. We also don't know if we will do straight foster care with the hope of one day having a foster child that will become eligible for adoption or if we'll stick with straight foster-to-adopt and wait for a child who is already available for adoption. Our classes should help us answer some of those questions. We just know that we want to add another child to our family and give Lili a sibling closer to her age. Going this route also means Lili will have even more in common with her future sibling. After all, Lili was also in a foster home before coming home to us.

You would think that after almost a week of no posts I'd have more to report, but I really don't. After last week's roller coaster ride, it's nice to be on a more sedate ride.

I will try to get some new photos posted tomorrow though, so stay tuned.