Our Match Letter

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Approved!

Many of you already saw this on Facebook, but I thought I would add a quick post to our blog. Sharon called me yesterday afternoon to let us know that we had be approved, and have now completed the home study process. She still needs to submit all documentation to the state of Arizona for our certification. That will probably take some time, but we are eligible to be placed.

I think we've finished our match letter, so I'll try to post that to this blog. I'm not sure how that works, so no guarantees!

Certification...here we come!

On Tuesday, we had our final meeting for the certification process. Sharon came over to check out our house and interview Matt. Talk about prepping your house for a visitor! The goal was to have a clean, but lived-in, look. I think we succeeded. She just wanted to make sure we aren’t living in sub-standard conditions and that we have space for a baby.

Now that she has our file completed, she will present us to the rest of the staff at Christian Family Care Agency. With each prospective family, the counselors must agree that we are prepared to move forward in the process. That meeting will actually take place today and she’ll call this afternoon to let us know how it went. She assured us that any issues would have been addressed already, so we have nothing to worry about.

Another great accomplishment was finishing our match letter (well, we’re pretty much finished). Our goal was to have a copy ready to show Sharon on Tuesday. It was really helpful to have that set deadline to keep us focused on getting it done. We were really nervous about what she would say. She had a few minor revisions, but seemed to really like it! And I doubted our creativity… Once we have it complete, I’ll try to post it on our blog so you can see it too. Even though it caused us some stress, it is pretty cool to have something that summarizes who we are. It will be neat to share with our son or daughter one day.

Almost there!

One more meeting has been checked off the list – I met with Sharon today for my individual interview. Heading into the meeting, I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I figured it was her chance to get to know me better…and I was right. This was her opportunity to learn more about my family, childhood, marriage and dreams for the future. I think I was very open and honest with her, but you still worry about how your comments and responses are being received. It’s not that I worry about Sharon; it is easy to feel that you’ll be judged for what you say anytime you are interviewed. I think what weighs on me the most is that she is going to ask Matt the same questions next week. Will he respond in a similar way? Was I way off base with how I see things? Don’t worry; I’m not losing sleep over this. I know that since I responded honestly, our answers will probably be fairly similar. One thing is for sure, I feel like Matt and I have gotten to know each other at a much different level as we have moved through this process. Between the application, class homework and match letter, we have talked a lot over the past few months. What a great thing to be able to share with our child one day – that the process of adopting him/her drew us closer together.

Next Tuesday, Sharon will come over to our house for the final meeting. After checking out our place, she’ll interview Matt individually. It’s hard to believe that we are getting this close. It’s so easy to get overwhelmed when you look at the entire process, but if you take it step by step, it isn’t so bad.

The Match Letter

As we come to the end of our home study process (final meeting is May 18), we are starting to write our match letter. This is written to birth mothers and provides information about us, our families and our hobbies. In the beginning, I didn't think it would be hard to write. Now that we have really started working on it, I am realizing that it isn't easy to write about yourself...especially when birth mothers will make decisions based on these four pages. Of course we are going to analyze every detail that goes into this letter. In the end, we just have to realize that our birth mother will find us, regardless of what color I chose for the title or which picture I use.

It has been fun to dig through all of our pictures, looking for those "perfect" shots to include. We don't often take the time to look back over the past seven years of marriage and remember all of the great times we've had. Trips we have taken, fun times with friends, and random pictures that don't make a lot of sense. We have truly been blessed with the opportunities that we have had throughout the course of our relationship. Looking back really helped put things into perspective. Do we remember the hard times as we look back? No, only the good came to mind. The same will be true of this process. It is easy to get frustrated by the many steps we have had to take. Once we are placed with a child, I believe that we will only remember the positive details of the experience. God has blessed us so much, and I want to make sure that that always remains the focus!

We would appreciate your prayers on something in particular. Matt's aunt is a midwife, and is working with a young couple considering adoption (baby is due in August). They are in high school, and have a lot of support from their families. We do not know where this will go, but we plan to send our match letter out to them in the coming weeks. If they like what they see, we will fly out to meet them. Obviously, we do not want to get our hopes up, but we are excited at the prospect.