Our Paper Profile

I can't believe October is more than half over! This is such a pretty time of year. The changing leaves are so pretty this year and I love all of the fall decorations and activities. Tomorrow Avery has her first Halloween party and we are hoping to go to our favorite pumpkin patch this weekend. Avery is going to be a witch for Halloween this year but now she has also talked herself into being scared of witches so it's going to be interesting.

This summer when we were on our big road trip our media consultant had emailed me a copy of our paper profile and I just remembered the other day that I had never looked at it full size, just on my phone. I thought I would share it here. We are working with an agency but we would still love it if you would share our blog and/or profile. You never know who knows someone who may be considering placing her baby for adoption. 

We continue to keep busy while we wait but not a day goes by that we don't wonder if today will be the day we get THE CALL. We had heard that we might expect to wait longer the second time so we are definitely learning patience. We also know that our wait hasn't really been that long yet and that we could be waiting for quite a bit longer.

You can click on the pictures below to see them bigger.

Keeping Busy While We Wait

Avery and I at the Arch at 10 PM.

 

It's been on my to-do list to do a blog update for quite a while and I know there are so many people thinking of us so I made it a priority to update today! Thank you for continuing to think of us during our wait these last few months!

 Avery at the hospital where she was born.

On June 13th our websites with our agency finally went "live." It's funny to see the 15 or so pictures they chose to use out of the 180 that we sent them but I guess they know what they're doing.  ;-) Our consultant has kept in touch with us every few weeks but basically all we are doing now is waiting. We can keep track of how many people view our profile online but that number doesn't necessarily mean anything - It could be potential birth mothers but it could also be other couples seeing what kind of pictures to send or checking out the competition.  :-) So, at this point we've been waiting just over 3 months, which seems like a long time on some days but we know in the grand scheme of things we could be waiting for a while longer.

 Maverick, Cora, Avery, and Lilla on the night we walked from Idaho to Oregon.

This summer was actually the first time since we began teaching that Shawn had a full 3 weeks off. Having summers off is definitely an attractive part of teaching but somehow we've always done summer school or had another job during the summer. We had wanted to take a cross country trip for about the last 5 years so we were excited that we could actually make it happen this summer. I had a new niece in Idaho that I was anxious to see and Shawn had a family reunion in Nebraska. Because of the dates of the reunion we ended up crossing Wyoming 3 times - good thing we thought it was beautiful!

 I got in some great baby snuggles with Myra.

 

Our first stop was in St. Louis. We spent 2 weeks here when we adopted Avery so she was anxious to see the city where she was born. We had started out after Shawn got out of work on Friday so we got in late and made it in to see the Arch just before they closed the gates. Shawn and I went up in the Arch when we met Avery's birth mother the week before she was born and then we went back with Avery when she was one week old. We also stopped early in the morning so that Avery could see the hospital where she was born. 

 Avery was sleeping so Shawn and I did a selfie when we got to Yellowstone.

We made it to Idaho and enjoyed a few fun filled day with Justin and Jill and their kiddos. Cora, Maverick and Avery were like 3 peas in a pod! From there we went to Yellowstone and then back to Nebraska for a few days for Shawn's family reunion. Our next stop was Las Vegas. We walked 6 miles in one evening to see everything there was to see on the Strip. Needless to say we were exhausted. Next we stopped at Hoover Dam and went on to Arizona to see our friend, Paul. We had a great evening with Paul and Erika! Next, we headed for Texas and boy, is that a big state! We loved San Antonio and definitely want to go back to spend more time. Our last destination was New Orleans. From there it was a short 8 hours home and we were never so glad to see Atlanta traffic as we were that day!  20 states in 19 days!

 Yellowstone

One of the prettiest places we stopped - Shell Creek Falls in the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming.

 

Shawn went back to work the Monday after we got home. He is enjoying his 3rd year as Assistant Principal at Haynes Bridge. I started a new job on August 1st - in addition to teaching Biology online, I am training new teachers to teach online. It was an honor to be chosen for a leadership position in the organization that I love. The first few weeks were pretty overwhelming since I didn't quite know what my job was but 8 weeks later, it's still a lot of work but I'm loving it!

 Black Hills - South Dakota

Avery and I went to NY for a week in the beginning of August. It was great to spend some time with family and friends. Avery enjoyed spending so much time with her cousins that we don't get to see as often as we'd like. 

 San Antonio

 New Orleans

 Some of the cousins in NY.

 At the Pike Fair, where Avery had her first and possibly last ride on the Tilt-A-Whirl.

 My big girl in the airport.

 

Not a day goes by that we don't wonder if today will be the day we get "the call" but we are patiently waiting and know that it will come when the time is right. We had been wondering how and when to tell Avery's birth mother that we were adopting again and didn't know how she'd feel about it. We had decided we'd wait until we at least heard something. Yesterday I received a text from her that said, "Have you all thought about adopting another child? I was an only child & been praying that Avery wouldn't suffer the same. lol" Wow! We texted back and forth for a bit and she is so excited that Avery will be a big sister! Needless to say, I was relieved - one less thing to worry about! :-)

Thank you all for your continued thoughts and prayers!

Now We Wait...

We officially signed with Adoption Network Law Center on May 16th.  This is the adoption agency we used 5 years ago when we adopted Avery. Once our payment was processed on Monday the 19th, we had another round of work ahead of us.  Our media consultant got in touch and let us know all that they would need to build our online profile - our birthmother letter, 5 separate paragraphs about each other, us as a couple, our home, and family and friends, another questionnaire of questions frequently asked by birthmothers (some of those were really hard, thought provoking questions) and 170 pictures!  Who has 170 pictures of themselves? Oh yeah, and they all have to be horizontal, no selfies, some formal, some with Avery, some of us as a couple, some of us as individuals, some action shots, etc.  Probably the most challenging photo qualification for us was no sunglasses.  We wear our sunglasses outside all the time! We know these photos will give prospective birthmothers a little insight into our everyday lives so this was definitely a labor of love. We finished everything on Memorial Day, compressed it into a zip file and uploaded it to their dropbox - ready and waiting for them Tuesday morning.

Checking out some historic sites in Roswell.

We know they've received our materials and are now working on building our online profiles.  I've been stalking their website to see when everything will be up but so far our little square says, "Our profile will be ready soon!" So, now we wait!  

 Hanging out at Stone Mountain - one of our favorite places.

Of course we hope our wait won't be long but we're prepared that the journey may take awhile. We know that when the timing is right, we'll get the baby that is meant for us.  In the meantime, we know that at any time we could get a call telling us our baby has been born or is about to be born and we need to get to the hospital. So we have gotten together a few basics - a diaper bag, some gender neutral onesies, sleepers, receiving blankets, and bottles.  I washed everything and packed the diaper bag and put it in a laundry basket in the guest room closet so it's ready to go but we also don't have to see it everyday.

Kudos to Avery for her fab photography skills!  :-)

Several have asked how they can help us right now and your kind thoughts and prayers mean the most to us.  When the time comes that we are matched with a birthmother we will have lawyer and travel expenses. If the baby is born outside of the state of Georgia, we will have to stay in a hotel in the state the baby is born in until ICPC (Interstate Compact) clears - usually about 2 weeks.  We have set up a paypal account and if you are moved to contribute to our adoption fund we appreciate your generosity in helping us grow our family.  The paypal button for our adoption fund is located on the right hand side of our blog.  

Our happy family, just waiting on our baby!

Thank you again for reading our blog and following along on our adoption journey.

Great Happenings

A lot has happened since our last post.  Two weeks ago at this time, I was at my wit's end researching adoption agencies, facilitators, and consultants.  I guess we didn't do much research when we adopted Avery - we found something we liked, it sounded great, and everything did work out amazingly smooth.  This time around we wanted to see what else was out there.  Every time I started researching a place I would find things I liked, things that sounded great and then something I didn't like.  I had found one place I really liked but then found out that they don't accept outside homestudies and that we would have to start the process all over again.  I was about in tears and decided to call the company we used to adopt Avery.  Within minutes I was talking to an adoption counselor we had talked to before and she answered several questions I had and then told me about some new programs and features they have that are new in the last 5 years.  She addressed several of our fears and after talking to her for 20 minutes, I felt like things were starting to look up.  We scheduled a phone conference for Monday night so Shawn could be in on the conversation.  Even though we worked with them before she talked to us together about everything in the adoption process and answered even more questions that we had come up with.  We scheduled another meeting for Thursday night with the owner of the company - that was a really encouraging meeting as well!

 We had a fun afternoon at the beach of Lake Lanier.

Friday, we received lots of exciting news! We found out that our homestudy was approved!  We never really had any doubt that it would be, but it's still a huge relief!  We also found out later in the day that our application for Adoption Network Law Center was approved!  Shawn was on a field trip to Chattanooga, TN so we were exchanging joyful text messages.  So, now, we're really making progress!

 Celebrating Mother's Day - Avery made me a book called "Why I <3 Mom"

Yesterday was Birthmother's Day and today being Mother's Day has caused me to think a lot about Avery's birthmother and how thankful I am for the choice she made.  I am so grateful she chose me to be Avery's mommy!  We sent her a card earlier this week and Avery drew some pictures for her.  She sent me a text first thing this morning, wishing me Happy Mother's Day and said to go out and enjoy this special day.  Very touching!

 Avery's photography skills!

We will sign all of our paperwork and make everything official with ANLC this Friday so as of Saturday we could get a call at any time saying we have been matched with a birthmother or that our baby has been born.  We are prepared for a long wait but of course, we hope things happen quickly.  Tonight we went to Baby's R Us and Buy Buy Baby, just to window shop! We sold and gave away a lot of baby stuff when we moved from NC to GA so we're pretty much starting from scratch.  This week my goal is to make a list of everything we NEED and then get together a diaper bag just in case we get a call sooner rather than later.

 We went to an arts festival and Avery made a paper flower and slime and got her face painted for the first time.

Thanks for all of your thoughts, prayers, and encouraging words along this journey!

Getting Closer to Completing Our Homestudy

 Avery, on Easter morning.

We've made a lot of progress on our homestudy during the last 2 weeks.  We have pulled together the last few pieces of paperwork and reference letters.  We're still waiting to get our 911 clearance returned and a few forms from North Carolina, but we've completed all of our parts of the paperwork. 

 Avery and I took a selfie - At Morgan Falls Park where we met some friends for a picnic lunch.

 Last Saturday (4/19) our social worker came to do our home inspection and personal interviews. Avery was thrilled that she asked her to give the home tour and I'm sure she pointed out more than the social worker needed to see such as the size of her closet, all her bows, all the food in the pantry, how her shower curtain matches her towels, and how the furry yellow blanket on the chair in Mommy and Daddy's bedroom matches their comforter.  Needless to say, I'm glad our social worker has young kids and her 4 year old sounds like the male version of our chatty Avery.  Beside the home tour, she reviewed where we were in the process and went over the documents we had collected, and then conducted 1 hour interviews with Shawn and me individually.  One day before our home visit I had completely stressed myself out with things that are totally out of my control - questions like, "What if she says we don't have enough money?  What if a birthmother never chooses us?  Will anyone choose us because we already have one child? What if...?  What if...?"  I'm glad for my very rational husband and friends who helped assure me that whatever is meant to be will be.

After our 4/26 meeting with our social worker we climbed Kennesaw Mountain.  It was a great day for a hike!  Avery did awesome on the 1 mile climb.

This past Saturday we had our last meeting with our social worker.  We met at an Einstein's Bagel store and Avery could not wait for us to finish our meeting so she could get her plain bagel with butter!  Our social worker just went over the last few pieces of paperwork that we're waiting on and what the next few weeks will look like.  She will write our complete homestudy report (it will likely be 15 pages) and then send it to her supervisor for review and approval.  We also discussed a few adoption lawyers, agencies, and facilitators that we've been looking into.  She isn't affiliated with an agency so she can't give recommendations but was very helpful with some insight on agencies that other clients have used in the past and how successful they've been.

 Avery has been wanting a "short in the front, long in the back" skirt since last summer when she saw her cousin, Madeline, wearing one.  Daddy bought her this skirt last Monday at Target and it was hanging in her closet all week.  She worked hard around the house being as helpful as can be so she could "earn" her skirt.  This is also about as close as we'll probably ever be to dressing alike.  :-)

I've been researching adoption agencies until my eyes are about crossed each night.  We had a great experience with Avery's adoption but I read a lot of really awful, recent reviews so we're looking into other options.  It's a little overwhelming to decipher what each agency actually does for you, what states they work with, what their fee structure is.  Then when you look for online reviews it gets even more overwhelming.  Do people only write a review if they've had a negative experience?  If there are a lot of negative reviews and then some positive reviews, did the agency ask some clients to write positive reviews or did they even write them themselves?  Ahhh.....!!!  So, if you've read this far and you have personal experience with an agency, I'd love your insight - positive or negative.  Feel free to send me a facebook message.  :-)

Our homestudy should be finished in about 2 weeks and then we've got some big decisions to make...

Working on our Homestudy

Since we last updated we've been diligently working on our homestudy.  Before a child may be placed with you, you must have an approved homestudy or be "homestudy ready." A homestudy consists of background checks with various agencies, 911 clearance, reference letters, financial statements, employment statements, personal profiles, meetings with a social worker and a home inspection.

Shawn was on Spring Break this past week so we used our week as a chance to do a few fun activities and to get lots of paperwork done! We used Tuesday to get our fingerprints done - 2 sets in 2 different locations.  Oddly enough, both were in UPS stores. When we adopted Avery the fingerprinting was done through the sheriff's department and we had a fingerprint card but now it is all computerized. One set was for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the other for the FBI. We also completed our personal profiles - lots of questions about everything you can imagine - 16 pages total!

Some of the fun activities we did this past week - Yellow River Game Ranch, picnic and Lasershow at Stone Mountain, and exploring the Grant Park neighborhood.

We really appreciate how many of you shared and liked our blog on facebook when we originally posted and we'd love for you to share it again.  You never know who knows someone who knows someone who is thinking about placing their child for adoption. Thank you all so much for your kindness!

Beginning Again!

Hello, We are Shawn, Renee, and Avery Keim.  In 2009 we had an incredible adoption journey that lead us to our daughter, Avery.  Our precious girl made us Mommy and Daddy and the last 4 1/2 years have been the happiest of our lives.  We are very excited to announce that we are beginning another adoption journey and can't wait to meet the baby that will grow our family.

We'd love it if you would help us share the news by sharing our blog on your Facebook page and encouraging your friends to share it as well!