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Hi. My name is Loriahn (lori-en like Delorian the car without the D). Im a recovering birthmother, I've been unpregnant for 3 years now. ;-) (For those of you who know my history you know this is a pretty amazing feat for me!) (for those of you who don't, I was pregnant at least PART of every year from 1997-2005, between miscarriages, babies, and adoptions!) Oh yeah, and Im adopted! :lol: I figured I would Reintroduce myself for all the newbies!! Im still finding out who I am. :-) So maybe you canjoin me on the journey!! I've come a long way, but I have a lot further to go!!

I look forward to getting to know you as well!!

Welcome to the Abrazo Family!

HUGS!!!

-Loriahn (without the D) :P

-

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Hello everyone,

My name is Melanie and my husband is Joe. We joined the forum last summer but circumstances prevented us from submitting our application at that time. So, we are just now mailing in our application. We are anxious, excited, nervous, etc. about what God might bring into our lives through adoption. We have wanted to adopt since before even getting married, whether or not we had any biological children.

We have been blessed with two boys, close in age (6 and 4) but God has closed the door to any more biological children and we hope to add to our family any covenant blessings that we can through adoption.

I look forward to hearing/reading your stories.

Melanie

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Welcome Melanie to you and Joe! You will find Abrazo to be an amazing community -- led by the great staff in San Antonio -- and filled with lots of amazing adoptive families and birth families and adoptees! This Forum is a very special place and everyone here will be with you every step of your journey. There is also a great contingent of folks in New Jersey so you've got support all around!

Susan

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Joe & Mel,

Welcome to Abrazo.

Hope you find just what you are looking for here.

Take some time to wonder around the many post & hopefully you will find the answers to your questions.

Can't wait to learn more about your family.

xoxo, Amy

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Thank you, Susan and Amy,

We began exploring Abrazo last year when my husband's best friend and wife began their adoption journey here. Job circumstances caused us to put the submission of our inquiry form on hold because we thought we'd be moving to FL. That was back in Sept. We've lost two house buyers since then and are still in NJ.

Angela told us to go ahead and begin the paperwork because we just didn't want to wait any longer. So, I'm about to mail in the application and see if we can be fit into the May 16 orientation weekend, if we are accepted.

Our goal is to be moved by the time we need to start the homestudy but with this housing market, who knows...we may be doing it here in NJ! We'll see what the Lord brings about.

Tax question: we don't have our 2007 taxes ready and this is the only thing that we still need to do for our application. Can I send in copies of our w-2 and other statements for this year, or should I send in last year's completed return?

Melanie

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Welcome Melanie & Joe,

So glad to hear about your journey and finding Abrazo. We joined the Abrazo family last fall and have found everyone to be incredibly warm, caring, supportive and welcoming. We have a little boy 6 years old too and hoping to expand our family in 2008, so perhaps we can compare pareting a 6 year old experiences along the way. We look forward to reading your posts and being part of your adoption journey. Welcome!!!

Patti, Steve and Jack

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Thank you, Susan and Amy,

We began exploring Abrazo last year when my husband's best friend and wife began their adoption journey here. Job circumstances caused us to put the submission of our inquiry form on hold because we thought we'd be moving to FL. That was back in Sept. We've lost two house buyers since then and are still in NJ.

Angela told us to go ahead and begin the paperwork because we just didn't want to wait any longer. So, I'm about to mail in the application and see if we can be fit into the May 16 orientation weekend, if we are accepted.

Our goal is to be moved by the time we need to start the homestudy but with this housing market, who knows...we may be doing it here in NJ! We'll see what the Lord brings about.

Tax question: we don't have our 2007 taxes ready and this is the only thing that we still need to do for our application. Can I send in copies of our w-2 and other statements for this year, or should I send in last year's completed return?

Melanie

Welcome to the forum Melanie and Joe. Call Angela about the tax returns she will let you know what is best to send with your application. Good luck and hope to hear of your journey to growing your family through adoption.

Char

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Thank you, Susan and Amy,

We began exploring Abrazo last year when my husband's best friend and wife began their adoption journey here. Job circumstances caused us to put the submission of our inquiry form on hold because we thought we'd be moving to FL. That was back in Sept. We've lost two house buyers since then and are still in NJ.

Angela told us to go ahead and begin the paperwork because we just didn't want to wait any longer. So, I'm about to mail in the application and see if we can be fit into the May 16 orientation weekend, if we are accepted.

Our goal is to be moved by the time we need to start the homestudy but with this housing market, who knows...we may be doing it here in NJ! We'll see what the Lord brings about.

Tax question: we don't have our 2007 taxes ready and this is the only thing that we still need to do for our application. Can I send in copies of our w-2 and other statements for this year, or should I send in last year's completed return?

Melanie

Welcome to the forum Melanie and Joe. Call Angela about the tax returns she will let you know what is best to send with your application. Good luck and hope to hear of your journey to growing your family through adoption.

Char

Yes, best to ask Angela, but I think it is fine to send your 2006 returns.

Welcome again Melanie -- Maybe we will meet you at a future orientation -- we are returning to Abrazo to adopt #2!

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Welcmome Melanie!!

We love Abrazo and can't say enough good about them. We adopted our daughter 5 years ago through Abrazo and returned last Nov. to start the process of bringing home a sibling for our daughter.

One of the best things about Abrazo other than the great job they do, is the friendships I have because of the forum. :)

Good luck, I can't wait to follow your journey!

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Hello everyone,

My name is Melanie and my husband is Joe. We joined the forum last summer but circumstances prevented us from submitting our application at that time. So, we are just now mailing in our application. We are anxious, excited, nervous, etc. about what God might bring into our lives through adoption. We have wanted to adopt since before even getting married, whether or not we had any biological children.

We have been blessed with two boys, close in age (6 and 4) but God has closed the door to any more biological children and we hope to add to our family any covenant blessings that we can through adoption.

I look forward to hearing/reading your stories.

Melanie

Melanie,

Welcome to the forum. There are a number of Abrazo families in the Jersey area so you should be able to establish some good local support links and meet some new friends too :)

Best wishes to you in your journey to bring child #3 home :)

-Adam

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Welcome Joe & Melanie :)

We look forward to following your journey. You've found a great place--both at Abrazo and the Forum :rolleyes:

Cathy

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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 :P ) 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

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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 :P ) 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

Natalie, check with the ladies at Abrazo how to proceed, because they need an update done within 30 days of placement, so you want to make sure that you don't just need to send them a copy of your original hs. I don't know the full procedure, but saving time and $$ is BIG for me!!!

BTW, welcome! We have an 18 m.o. AA girl and a 3 m.o. AA girl (placed through Abrazo).

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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 :P ) 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

Hope you move goes smoothly. It is always hard to believe what you can accumulate over a period of time. Wish you lots of luck and prayers in your journey ahead.

Tracey

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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!! :lol:

Dale - OMG your avatar is SO lovely!! How beautiful!! How long was your wait if you don't mind me asking?

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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!! :lol:

Dale - OMG your avatar is SO lovely!! How beautiful!! How long was your wait if you don't mind me asking?

Natalie, they may require that you do the update before you can take calls, I'm not sure. I just know that you will have to have another one within 30 days of placement because of Texas law, and an update is only good for 30 days, so the law isn't working with you so much there!

It wasn't long ago that we started looking at a second child. We were placed within 3 weeks of that, because Nichole was born without a waiting family, and we took placement of her 6 days after birth. We never did make it to an Abrazo orientation, as we took placement of Arianna (our oldest) through another agency right after sending in our inquiry to Abrazo. She was 4 months old and also did not have a waiting family, so we only had 10 days to get our info in order for her placement. Thank goodness we had been foster parents a few years ago, so we only had to have updates as well.

So to answer your question, we didn't wait with either of ours...and our girls are only 15 months apart...and they keep me quite busy! (Today is a rare day that they are napping at the same time because we ran a few errands earlier today).

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Hello!! My name is Natalie, and my dh is Keith.

Welcome Natalie and Keith :)

Sounds like your journey will be an exciting one to follow already! Good luck with your move and getting everything ready for child number two for you :rolleyes:

Again, welcome!

Cathy

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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 :P ) 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

Welcome Natalie :D :D :D Nice to see you made it to the forum!!!

Jenny

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

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Welcome to the forum Natalie! I live in Arlington, TX. Andrea and I get our kiddos together and would love for ya'll to join us! Our daughter is 13 months old too! Good luck on the move, moving is never fun but it is exciting once you get settled in.

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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!

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