Runyan2002

I think the yard sale could be a good idea, but I wouldn't advertise that it is to help afford the adoption. You could tell close friends and maybe tell people it's to help "pay off the loans that made her adoption successful". I am actually wondering for us if selling stuff (like Pampered Chef) and putting all the earnings toward the adoption appropriate? I am thinking about selling Discovery Toys (educational toys for kids). My sister sells them and I actually joined and have friends who are going to have parties for me but I'm not sure if this is still inappropriate. We are NOT used to asking for help, so this is a hard hit to our pride, but even if we can come up with a couple thousand it will help. I just don't want to lay on the guilt for people to feel like they HAVE to buy stuff...ya know? Natalie

Everytime I call they are AWESOME about answering...but I have a big tendency to get impatient and call too much (oops...). Must be my sultry voice I called them about our inquiry and I didn't realize this, but you have to be 25, my dh and I are both 24 (he is turning 25 this weekend and I am turning it May 31 though). So we have to wait until May 31. I'm actually TOTALLY okay with this though because it gives us more time to save and to unpack into the new home. After that it is fair game though and I will be READY I'm sure!! LOL I was wondering why I didn't use them the first adoption though and I forgot about that rule! Good luck though to everyone! I can't WAIT to get started again (though I am getting very anxious / nervous about the whole process again)!

CONGRATS!! YAY I'm so happy for them!!!

Wichita Falls is close to Denton right? We are moving up there next week. We should all get together when you come into town!

I can't decide if we will go to orientation or not! We won't make March's (obviously) but might make May's depending on the move & work. Hey I LOVE San Antonio so any excuse to go would be good for me! Plus it is really only a 3 or 4 hour drive for us. Natalie

Ohhh BEAUTIFUL family!! Congratulations!!

LOL Okay okay I'll get together (if you twist my arm ha!) But it will have to be after March 10 when I move in and finish unpacking (so let's shoot for...ummm....September? Ha! Just kidding!!). I don't think we will be at orientation because we are going through the "Promesa Program". Have you adopted before Julie? Natalie

Where is the gallery? I want to see pictures too!

Hello!! I actually live in Arlington now!! Fun! I would love to get together sometime with you!! So is your 13 month old saying a lot of words? Mine just learned "uh oh". It's adorable to listen to!

Thanks again everyone!! I did call today and we are going to send in our inquiry today!! I'm so excited / anxious / etc!!

Saying many prayers for the family. I hope they are able to match with a family that meets their needs!!

Thanks everyone!! I am going to call Abrazo soon and ask them the specifics. I didn't think we could even be waiting until after we did the update?? I will call them and ask them. I'm so excited!! I can't believe I'm starting it again!! Dale - OMG your avatar is SO lovely!! How beautiful!! How long was your wait if you don't mind me asking?

Hello!! My name is Natalie, and my dh is Keith. We have been married almost 6 glorious years. We have a BEAUTIFUL 13 month old son © who was placed in our arms at 5 days old in an open adoption. C is full AA and we are both CC so we are a very proud transracial family!! We live in Dallas (we are moving this week actually up near McKinney / Denton, TX). We are starting the adoption process again (honestly if we didn't have to wait for the tax credit we would have done it earlier ) and hope to adopt another beautiful baby in another open adoption with Abrazo!! We aren't sure yet what we will all be open to, but right now we think we will ONLY be open to full AA. Luckily we only have to update our homestudy from the first time, and will do that once we have moved and settled in (but probably RIGHT when we move because I SOOO want to start soon LOL). We still have to "officially" joing Abrazo also, but I'm excited to begin the process again!! Natalie

Thanks Karen! I look forward to talking more with people! I am another member of an adoption forum elsewhere so have a little experience. But I do like it here very much! I love all the frank and honest (yet respectful) discussions!! Natalie

Hello!! I have adopted a full African American baby through another agency, he is 13 months now & we have had him since he was just 5 days old...we are just starting to think about adopting again (just a little intro). I don't think the financial incentives of charging differently is getting people to change thier mind who ARE NOT committed to adopting a child of a different race. I believe it is simply to be more competitve with OTHER AGENCIES since there are so many agencies IN NEED of parents open to this (like it or not 90% of potential adoptive parents are not open to a full AFRICAN AMERICAN baby, there are even those open to every single possible race except this, which I take offense to & believe IS racist more so than not adopting ANY race but caucasian...but alas...another topic). So it's not about getting people to "convert" to transracial adoption from CC adoption, as much as it is getting people open to AA to use thier agency versus another agency. I did not pay a different fee for my son, but we changed our openness after joining (my dh needed just a little more time to know that he could parent a child of a different race, he didn't feel confident enough..). Even if we would have though, I would not have felt bad. I hope my kids NEVER think I adopted transracially because of cost / wait time. There is WAY more to transracial adoption than for it to be that simple. I personally believe that many agencies charge for an AA child what they SHOULD charge for all children, but with the tax credit most agencies (don't know about Abrazo...they are very reasonable) upped thier cost by 10,000....