erin

Congratulations, Ernie and Gina, and your new baby's birth parents as well!

How sad that someone so young should pass away. Thinking of his family.

Well, yes and no. We did try to achieve a pregnancy on our own and then did some fertility treatments, but once IUI, one surgery, and medication didnt result in a pregnancy, we started looking at adoption. I got so excited about adoption that it was not difficult at all to realize that adoption was what we wanted to pursue. Not more IUIs, not IVF, not additional surgeries, not surrogacy. At the point we started our paperwork to adopt Azucena, I was so gung-ho about the prospect of adopting a baby that I would have actually been disappointed to find myself pregnant. I feel the same way now. If I were given the choice of What would you rather have happen: a. You get a call from your doctor saying you are pregnant, or b. You get a call from your adoption agency saying youve been matched with a birth parent," I would absolutely choose B!

Congratulations on the birth of this new baby girl!

Congratulations on getting that step done

Congratulations on the birth of Carter!

Welcome, Allie and Ross!

Happy Mother's Day, Mari, to both you and your daughter.

Nice to meet you, Amy and Craig!

In reading your subsequent posts I see that you didn’t mean harm by your statement, but I hope you do see how “I am so tired of how trendy international adoption has become” could be perceived as denigrating. Just like people who adopt domestically get thoughtless reactions like you have, people who adopt internationally get dumb comments like, “Oh, are you trying to be like Angelina?” and comments in the media implying that people adopt internationally are just looking for little fashion accessory babies. So maybe you can understand now why we are sensitive to comments about “trendiness.” I’ve heard of quite a lot of celebrities adopting domestically, like Sheryl Crow, Calista Flockhart, Nia Vardalos, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Cruise/Nicole Kidman… In my experience it’s not accurate to say that the media only gives attention to those who adopt internationally.

Hi Bill and Tara! We're in Memphis too, and we sent in our full application in March. We're just waiting for August orientation! There's lots of good info on the forum - Take a look through all the sections and ask questions as they come up.

Congratulations to the families! Wonderful times ahead.

Congratulations to Hannah and Rudy! Thinking of you and also of Luke's birth family.

Wow, you are fast, Steven&Melissa! Congrats on getting the packet in!

Forgot to mention - The packet stated that the next orientation is for childless couples only, so it looks like our next opportunity is the August orientation. John asked if I was disappointed, but I'm ok with it - I'm just looking at it as more time to save up money for the adoption!

Congratulations, Steven and Melissa - We got our application in the mail yesterday too! I had jury duty today, so I while I was sitting around, I started working on the essay questions.

Congratulations to all on the birth of this new baby boy.

I'm so sorry for your loss, Patty.

Definitely, it wouldn't do a lot of good if they didn't speak Spanish

Hi Melissa, I think it's a wonderful idea and can only help you! I had four years of Spanish in high school and after that barely used it at all... until we began sponsoring a child in Guatemala in 2005 and wanted to write letters to our sponsor child that the organization wouldn’t have to translate. Then we visited Guatemala a couple times and ended up living there for almost two years, so my Spanish improved a lot. I still wouldn’t describe myself as fluent, because I really have to concentrate when hearing Spanish on the phone... There are no non-verbal contextual clues or lips to read! Listening on the radio can be hard for the same reason. But I can certainly hold my own in person or in letters/emails. I think it will be a great benefit for you to be able to speak to birth families in Spanish, because it demonstrates your commitment to the culture and also shows that you’re making an effort to make them comfortable and respect their native language. Beyond that I can’t offer insight into whether it’s helped people be matched, because we’ve never done a domestic adoption. We’re hoping to change that soon, though! Erin

What a nightmare that family has gone through! It's an infuriating story.

I love, love, love Joni Mitchell. I remember reading about her reunion with her birth daughter, the subject of the song "Little Green", in the '90s.

My second cousin and his wife had a baby last night, a baby they had planned to name Madeline. However, when the baby was born, it was a boy! They'd had ultrasounds and everything, so it was a big surprise. No wonder agencies discourage "picking and choosing" by gender when it comes to matches occurring before birth!

Thanks, Melanie and Heather! We asked our daughter if she would like to have a little brother or a little sister, and she said "a brother AND a sister. I play Snoopy with a brother and ponies with a sister."

We placed our inquiry in the mailbox today! Last night we had a little celebration dinner at an Italian restaurant.