Getting Started

I decided to create a blog so that my friends and family (and anyone else who is interested) could be involved in my adoption journey.

Why did I decide to adopt? Honestly, it is something that I have always thought about. About 10 years ago, a church teacher asked us to all write down our 100 life goals. On my list, I wrote that I wanted to adopt children and be a foster mother. I always thought that these goals would be in addition to having biological children. Once upon a time I thought I would be married and have started a family by this point in my life. But alas, Mr. Right has not come into my life as of yet (not that I have given up hope) and yet I still feel a strong urge to have a family of my own.

For the past several of years I have given a lot of serious thought about adopting. I have looked into all of the different programs that are available to single women. I considered the implications of being a single parent and whether or not this would be fair to bring a child into a single parent home. This isn't something that I have entered into without much thought. I finally came to the conclusion that I could offer a child a good, stable home. It may not be a "traditional" two parent home but there are many children that are raised in non-traditional homes and are happy and well adjusted. The most important thing that I can offer my daughter is to know that she is loved and well cared for and that she has a bright future to do whatever it is she dreams of.

Last April, I decided that I would like to adopt from Guatemala. I have a strong bond with Guatemala as I served a mission for my church there many years ago. My youngest brother Robert also served a mission there. It is a beautiful country and I feel that I will be able to ensure that my daughter knows the culure and heritage of her birth country. After a lot of research into various adoption agencies that specialize in Guatemalan adoptions, I met a friend at my gym who was beginning the process of adotping from Guatemala. She referred me to her agency which was local (most of the other's I had found were in other states). I went to an informational meeting last October and really felt good about the agency.

Before I started the adoption process, I wanted to finish paying off some debt so I set a goal to be ready to start the process by April 2006. Thanks to my tax refund and a bonus from work, I was able to submit my application to the agency on March 1, 2006. I was accepted into the program and had my orientation on March 13. During the orientation, my social worker went over the whole process with me. I must say, I came away from the meeting feeling a little bit overwhelmed. But as I was able to break things down into a step by step task list for myself and set some goals for when each task should be complete, I felt really good and excited.

In my next post, I will list my task list and where I am in the process. Hopefully, this isn't too boring for anyone :)

Thanks for reading!
Susan