Dear Friends and Family,

As most, if not all, of you already know we have been trying unsuccessfully for almost three years to start a family. We have experienced numerous peaks and troughs in our pursuit and with each disappointment we have had the reality of not having a child naturally grow more and more, and we aren't getting any younger either!!! On the bright side of that, we have always felt that the Lord would bless us with a child some way or another...and perhaps even more than one!

For quite some time we have talked openly about pursing the method of adoption to begin our family! Each day we grow more and more excited about this journey we are beginning. So with the love and support of our family, we are delighted to report that we have begun our formal application.

After some preliminary research and a short application, we had our first meeting with the adoption agency on Tuesday July 21, 2009 at 7:00 p.m. The agency that we have decided to use is called Bethany Christian Services and their office is located in Wexford, PA. There are many reasons that we chose this agency. First and foremost, they are a long standing Christian agency with offices all over the country, and are true to their Christian roots. They are also able to work with us on the type of adoption we are pursing, which is to receive a domestic newborn baby. Our initial meeting was very positive! We had a very informal (comfortable) introductory session with the supervisor of intake for domestic and international adoption. During our hour and a half long meeting we discussed all of the ins-and-outs of the process starting with the formal application, to financing, having our home study completed, all the way to the time we receive a baby and post-placement visits.

Prior to our initial meeting Amy had the opportunity to converse at length with a family who worked with Bethany Christian Services to adopt their son, who is now 6 years old--we have a mutual family friend! The conversation with her was refreshing and reassuring! She shared in great detail about their experience, gave advice, and spoke the praises of the staff and services at Bethany Christian Services. We now felt reassured that we were ready to begin this journey and that we were using the right agency to guide and direct us.

Over the next few months we will be submitting our formal application (which is actually almost complete!) and completing some of the requirements for our home study. Some of these requirements include getting FBI and child abuse background checks, getting finger printed, taking an adult & child first aid and CPR class, having a fire inspection of our home, obtaining the last 10-years worth of tax statements (which we can thankfully get for free from irs.gov!!!). We also have three books that we will be required to read, as well as two interviews and a home inspection in order to complete our home study. We sure do have lots of home work! The most fun part of our preparation will be to make our profile book! We will likely use snapfish.com to create it. The profile book is essentially just that--a profile, primarily pictorial, of the two of us, our family, friends, hobbies, interests, etc, etc. It is descriptive, but confidential. We will only use our first names, and be sure to exclude other identifying information like, where we live, work, go to church, etc. This will allow our adoption to remain semi-closed. At the completion of our home study / application we will be placed on a referral list at which time the agency is actively sharing our profile with birth-mothers who are seeking a family to place their baby with. In most cases the birth mother will choose the family herself.

It is also likely that we will have some contact with the birth mother during and after placement. The contact and communication will be kept semi-confidential. The agency will facilitate all of the contact / communication, so that even if and when we meet the birth mother in person, she will only know us by our first names. Potential and infrequent visitations will be held at the agency, or at another neutral location and can include the social worker from the agency. After much discussion and learning, we have come to realize that a semi-open adoption is really to our advantage and that of our future child. A semi-open adoption will allow us to know the medical/family history of the child we receive, and will also help to lessen the likelihood of feelings of abandonment that the child could potentially feel at some point in his/her life. We also feel that if the birth mother cares enough about where her baby is being placed, that she will also perhaps care more about her well-being during the pregnancy. Bethany Christian Services also has a counseling program for the birth mothers. The birth mothers are counseled throughout their pregnancy so that when the baby is born and they are giving it up, they are much more grounded in the decision that they have made and are less likely to change their mind.

We are hopeful that we will be on the referral list by the end of this year, and have a baby placed with us in less than two years!!!

So, there will be so many more details and experiences to share with everyone as we progress through this journey. We are excited to have a place like this to share with our family and friends, as well as to chronicle the journey of adopting a baby! We look forward to making periodic posts and having your feedback! Please keep us in your prayers!

With love,
Amy & David