dbugsma

For relatives...just be there w/ your kiddos, let them cry & cry w/ them b/c this is your dream lost to some extent too, hug them, don't ask a zillion & one questions about what happened or why. We had taken a roll of pictures & for me part of closure was getting them developed & just seeing how truly happy Tim & I were... pure bliss! Sharing those pictures w/ our family was helpful as well, it let them see & know that even though our family was being built through adoption it didn't matter....see how happy we are. If you are able to help your family member recover financially, that would be one huge blessing. Our families weren't able to do that...but were helpful through other means. Especially helpfully, we returned home to open arms & hugs. Our failed placement took place in California & that summer my sister just happened to be working near by. She was able to come & get the 'baby' things & shipped them to my parents house b/c we just couldn't deal w/ it at the time. Also our moms took down some of the baby things around the house & stored them at my parents house. About 1 week after returning home, we knew that we had to go do something! We were pretty broke from spending close to 2 weeks in California awaiting the birth of the child we had prayed for, but we took off on a trip away from town anyhow. We had a blast at a water park for 2 days, b/c our parents gave us some money to do that & knew that we just needed a change even for a weekend. When we matched w/ our DD's birthmom, we told only our parents. We were scared! They were scared! But we all relied on our faith. Faith that the Lord who knows the end results before we do, would guide us along this faith walk. Our parents prayed, asked questions after we volunteered information & prayed some more. Of course our DD's adoption had it's fair share of different bumps along the road & tested our faith even more, but life is about learning to trust God & His everlasting faith b/c He never gives more than we can handle. Hope that these words are helpful.

Good questions Elizabeth! Let me sleep on them & I'll get y'all an answer. Tim & I had a placement fail prior to our daughters placement in 2000 so we've been there done that! And now we are doing it again, . Give me a day or two & I'll answer the questions hoping to help a few others or at least words of wisdom to some readers.

Marcelo, Claudia & baby Dante, Congratulations on becoming a family today! Hugs & Kisses from Virginia & a PeaBiscuit family,

[Have you started this whole profile process? I have tried to gather some pictures up but haven't gotten farther than that. I read about all those who have already gone to orientation and I begin to feel behind. I am creatively challenged so my Mom is going to help me. She is great at stuff like scrapbooking and it is a great project for us to work on together, but we need to be in the same country to work on this. Are we supose to come to orientation with the profile prepared to some degree?] HI! As one of the couples who just returned from the May orientation, known as the PeaBiscuits, this is what we did for the profile. We took our letter & had selected pictures to take w/ us. We wanted some approval from the Abrazo chicks prior to actually doing our profile. Others arrived w/ a profile already put together. Don't let the process overwhelm you...find some style that is YOU! When the time comes for the profile talk Abrazo has lots of examples to look at & get a better ideas. We know have a better idea of how Abrazo likes their profiles put together & right after we do our after orientation paper work, the profiles will get done. Hope that helps & July is right around the corner! Safe travels to you.

As I am moving clothes around, ya know moving winter & summer things, I was wondering what the dress code is like for the orientation weekend. Since we will be flying in & only in San Antonio for the orientation, Tim & I have decided to each pack a carry on only. So our clothing will be limited. Any hints??? I would think casual for Saturdays day long orientation. But just wondering.......... Thanks for any hints.

I mailed our formal application this morning. Now I am hoping that our reference folks have mailed their letters or send them this week. It is a good feeling to have that part done. We'll wait to see if we are invited to the May orientation session. Now, off to a busy week....work, prep for a trip see grandma in Texas (College Station area), registar DD for kindergarden, & pack too! Gotta scoot.... Have a great week!

We are Tim & Amy in Va. We are in our mid-30's We are in the process of completing our application to send into Abrazo for their domestic adoption prgram. We have one DD through the miracle of adoption. DD's adoption was a rough road & trying at times as her birthfather contested the adoption. But through the grace of God & the strenght of her birthmother's unconditional love she stayed w/us. We survived an 11 month legal ordeal before we knew if she would be 'ours'. But prior to that we had a fall through were the birthparents changed their minds ~24 hours after the birth. Looking back there were lots of things that just were not right about that first situation, but we wanted to have a baby so bad that we put our hearts out on the line for that adoption. DD is now 5 & ALL girl. She loves Polly pockets, dress up, dance, preschool, hanging w/ Grammy or her other grandparents. She starts kindergarten in the fall. Where has the time gone?! What do I do: I am a registared nurse working in the outpatient surgery department of our local hospital. I work between 28 & 32 hours a week w/ varying hours of 6 am to 11 pm (yes, I work anything in bewteen there). My department is one of the busiest & last year we had over 15000 patients come through our doors. What do I like to do: exercise (when I can), do things w/ DD, scrapbook, read, hang out w/ friends from church/work& family DH is a production worker at a local plant. He works swing shift which can be a challenge at times but we have always lived working around our schedules. Dh likes to bowl & is active at our church. He does so much to help w/ DD on his days off & things around the house. Why Abrazo? We have primary IF. For 5 years before DD, we did all sorts of IF treatments from low tech to high tech w/o any sort of success. Ends up that our cause of IF stems from my ruptured appendix at age 13. I eventually had to have a hysterectomy due to pelvic pain. For DD's adoption we used a faciliator which was fine, but this time we know more & want the birthparents to have counseling & more of a personal touch. Not to mention VA has very OLD adoption laws & we would rather work with an child placing agency where the adoption laws are a little better this time around. Why Texas? Well, I have roots in Texas. My parents are from Texas. I have tons of relatives there & we figure this is as close to living there as we'll ever get, . DH is an only child, too. So that is us in a nut shell! We are planning to attend the May orientation session if the invitation is extended from Abrazo. Have a great weekend from snowy VA!

We got our application in the mail today.....phew, it is involved. Of course our first adoption probably had that much too but we were just wanting to be parents & after all of our IF heartbreak it didn't really matter. Oh, well.....we'll start with first page & move forward. Our plan is to be at the May orientation session, we've got a lot to do in the next few weeks aside from completing the application. That includes a trip to visit my grandma in the College Station, TX area at Easter time. Wrap up DD's pre-school year, annual year sale, painting & house repairs already planned. We haven't told our families yet of our plans to start this next adoption, won't they be in for a surprise?! Humm, maybe a baby gift is in order for them very soon! Off to look throught the paper work & start making list of things to do...... ...pray for guidance, patience & strenght ...homestudy ...profile pictures ...rough copy of letter for birthparents ...letters of recommendation & physicals & letter from my GYN ...work, eat, sleep, clean house, entertain & prepare a 5 year old to become a big sister ...have fun, relax, scrapbook & enjoy life Have a good week! "Do not fret---it only causes harm" Psalm 37:8

How exciting! I was excited with our first adopiton & just as excited dropping the inquiry for #2 in the mail. Now we are waiting on the formal application to arrive. Hang on tight for a roller coaster that will bring you joy! Best wishes!!

Just curious, how long it takes to get the formal application after the initial inquiry has been submitted??? I know the inquiry has 3-4 weeks, but wondering if it really takes that long. TIA,

I dropped pur initial inquiry in the mail this evening. Hopefully, it will reach Texas early next week. Here's to the next steps.

Kathy, Are in NoVa? Or Norfolk area? Just guessing b/c you said something about a 3 yr tour. I would love to 'chat' with others in Va who have used Abrazo or working w/ them now. Thanks for the reply. Have an awesome week.

I think that my post topic covers everything, lol I have been reading this forum for some time now & have decided it is time to open the door & take those first timid steps, lol. Anyways, we live in Virginia, are in our mid 30's (yikes...did I really admit that ?!), have endured primary IF, our 5 yr old DD came to us through the wonderful journey of adoption & I work more than part-time but not full time as a nurse, DH works as a production worker (icky swing shift). We have tossed around when to start the next adoption, who to use, do we really want another child & the answers are YES the time is NOW, we like what we've read about Abrazo & we want another child !!! Virginia has such wacko adoption laws that it is best for us to work w/ an out-of-state agency. We learned so much during the adoption of our DD. We had a real roller coaster ride adoption, first a reclaim (different child), then DD's placement followed by being contested by the birthfather. Anyways that is a long story, and it happened in the past....we are moving forward & have FAITH that this next adoption will move smoothly & will come at the right time. Are there any families from Virginia on this forum? We are in the process of filling out the initial inquiry paperwork & plan to proceed from there. Blessings~ Amy in Va