We've been MATCHED with a birth mom!

A few days ago I posted about how discouraged I was with adoption.  I was trying to find the courage to fundraise and to really have hope that we would adopt.

Well, something miraculous happened on Thursday, July 31st.  When I called an adoption agency to get pricing, I was given the opportunity to have our profile shown to a birth mother.  Friday I got the call that she loved us and wants to move forward.

But now, we're forced to fund raise without a lot of time.  We have until the end of this month to come up with $6,000 to move forward with her.

Will you please read our story in the link below?  We would love for you to read about us, to share our story, and to donate if you're able.  Please pray for us during this time also, as we're still being very cautiously optimistic that this will work out.

I've prayed that God will fund us.  And if He does, it will be through people like you, who feel led to help us out. We simply cannot do this without you.

Here is the link to our adoption donation site which tells our story.  Please give it a look and a share.  I'll be updating again soon.

www.youcaring.com/ouradoptionfund

Being Real: My struggle with adoption.

I've abandoned this blog.  I've made feeble attempts to come back to it, but all were short lived.  I've been questioning why that is.  And I think I've finally found the answer.

I need this blog to be more real if I'm going to get excited about writing again.  I need to be able to come here, not just with my lighthearted and funny posts, or informative posts, but also the posts that aren't so happy.  The ones that reflect the challenges and heartache and struggles we all go through.

So, as I take a deep breathe, I'm going to talk about something that's extremely hard for me to talk about:  the challenges I've faced in wanting another child.

In 2009, I was a gestational surrogate.  (That journey needs an entirely different post all of itself, one I will hopefully write soon, but for now, just bear with me.)  It was an amazing journey, but unfortunately the fertility medications I took so that my body would maintain the pregnancy because the children (yes, twins) were not of my genetics, caused serious medical issues.  Because of this, I would be extremely high risk were I to attempt another pregnancy.

For years I've discussed adoption with my husband.  We've always been weary of it because the costs of adopting are so astronomical that it's not practical to assume we'd ever reach our goal without the help and generosity of a lot of people.

Once we even made a half-hearted attempt at raising funds through a crowd funding site, but it didn't pick up steam and I let it slide behind me.  I lost hope.  Looking back, it was my fault that it didn't pick up steam.  After all, if I weren't more passionate and driven to raise money for my cause, why would anyone else be?  Then, shortly after our attempt at raising funds, a personal issue arose and adoption went on the back burner yet again, where it's sat since.

So, here I am again, trying to gain the courage to begin the astronomical and seemingly impossible task of raising the funds to adopt.  We're at a good place in our lives and if ever there were such thing as the perfect time, I'm positive this would be it.

But, how do I do it?  Where does that courage come from?  How do I ask people for money when my cause and struggle is no greater than anything going on in their lives, I'm certain?  I don't know.  But I'm trying to find that courage.  I want to do this.  I want to yell from the rooftops that NOW is the time for us to adopt and that we want this SO badly, but I can't find my voice.

It's my hope that this blog post will be the beginning of that courage.  That maybe if I'm brave enough to post this, then I can build and move forward and that courage will somehow find its way to me if I just let myself be known that I need it.

So here I am courage, please seek me out and try to find me and hopefully soon I'll have the strength to walk toward you too.

OUR SUPER FANTASTIC ANNOUNCEMENT!! :)

Two months ago, I posted about the baby maybes.  In that post I mentioned that I have health problems and that it's one of the reasons my husband and I haven't had a baby.  But, I didn't mention the cause of those health problems or the severity of them.  {Toward the end of this post, I'll give you the link to where you can find this information.}

So due to my health, needless to say, although my husband and I want a little one, we've decided (after speaking with specialist after specialist) that it's just not worth the risk that I carry.  INSTEAD.... we've decided that we're going to adopt!!

Yes, THAT'S the big announcement.  We're adopting!!  YAY!!  I am so, so excited!!  We're going to have a baby!!  :)  Our goal is to begin our home study during the month of September.  I cannot wait to begin the process.

Our problem now is finding creative ways to finance our adoption.  Everyone knows that adoption isn't cheap, and we're estimating that our adoption will cost between $20,000 to $30,000 (OUCH) and while I finish school my husband (who's an active-duty military member) is our sole-income provider.  But I will not let that big scary number stop us from having a baby!!

We'll be doing fund raisers, raffles, rummage sales, and tons of other stuff along the way to help us come up with the money we need to fund the adoption.  We're also accepting donations.

Donations are being collected through our WePay site.  (Hopefully within the next month, we'll be holding raffles there as well.)  This WePay site I just set up tells our story and why we're choosing adoption, as well as allows individuals to donate.  I hope that you'll consider visiting it to learn more about us.

So, this is where I need your help.  In addition to visiting it yourself, PLEASE pass our WePay site along to others.  Send it out through your email, post it on FB, "Like it," anything to get the word out about us.  We need all the exposure we can get to make this dream come true.

I've also started another site, choosing-adoption.com.  This will allow me to network with other adoptive moms and insure that my personal blog isn't all about adoption from here on out (and let's face it, it would be otherwise!)  I will still be making "big announcements" regarding adoption here as well... duh!  But, check out Choosing Adoption and pass it along as well!  :)

Thank you SO MUCH for all of the past support you've shown me.  It means the WORLD to me.  I wouldn't be the woman, blogger, or mommy I am without all of the amazing people who continuously support me and cheer me on.  So.... Operation Bring Home Baby begins NOW!!

{Whew, SO glad I could share that with all of you.  I am not good at keeping my own secrets!  Oh, and yay for babies!!}

--Update 01.25.2012:  Unfortunately, right as we started searching for agencies something very personal happened which made us rethink whether pursing adoption at that time was best under the circumstances.  It was upsetting to admit that our plans had to be put on hold, but that's life.  We haven't abandoned our dream of adopting, and still hope that 2012 will be our year!--