It's a BOY!! (part 2)

.......in continuation......

Matt and I had no idea that our lives were about to change forever on Wednesday, June 29, 2011.

The day started out much like any other day. Matt actually had the day off work, so he stayed busy all morning doing things around the apartment and running a few errands while I worked. This was also the day that the movie, Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon, came out in theaters and Matt was SUPER EXCITED to go see it, since he LOVES the Transformers movies. He used to love watching the old cartoons when he was a kid growing up. (I call him my big, overgrown little boy! LOL)

Anyway, I was really busy with work all morning and didn't even have time to check out my Facebook page until we were seated in the theater late that afternoon, around 3:00 p.m. Since we had gotten to the theater early and had a little time to kill before the movie started, I pulled up Facebook on my phone and realized I had a private message from someone. Never in a million years did I have any idea that that one simple message would change our lives forever! Here's what I received from a friend, and fellow adoptive mother someday, Heather McKenna:

Hey Call me 000-000-0000 (changed for security reasons) we got some information on a private adoption yet through a facilitator so about 22,000 plus your own travel fees and you need to be certified, We are not currently certified, and can't come up with that much right now, with the federal credit you can get 13,000 back. If you are interested he is trying to place a baby due in august and wants to make a decision today or tomorrow. He is a lawyer in Arizona named Paul Petersen His number is 000-000-0000 (again, changed for security reasons). If you can swing it call him today!!!!!!! and let him know you are certified and ready. Hope you get this. Love a fellow mother at heart, Heather McKenna.

I actually had to read this message 2 or 3 times before I finally turned to Matt and just handed my phone to him to read it. As soon as he read it, he looked at me and said...."Let's do it! Let's go for it!" I, on the other hand, questioned it at first because of the money and a few other things. I'm always very hesitant and cautious when it comes to these things. I don't want to get screwed over and I'm tired of all of the disappointment and heartbreak when it doesn't happen, yet again. After talking for just a minute or 2 more, we decided that it couldn't hurt to at least call the attorney and get a little more information before making any kind of real decisions about pursuing it. So Matt got up right then, walked out of the theater, and called Paul. He ended up leaving him a message and Paul called him back the next day.

When Paul called Matt back, Matt expressed an interest in learning more details about the adoption situation and told him that we have been trying to adopt for a long time now. We spoke with Paul and began emailing him, getting more details about the situation over the next 2 days. I was still a bit concerned about the money and a few other things, but we became more and more interested in pursuing it, the more information we got from Paul.

We found out, by that point, that there were actually 2 different placements taking place, a baby girl in August and a baby boy in September. On Thursday, June 30, I emailed Paul our adoption blog information and our adoption profile information with LDS Family Services, which he then forwarded on to the birthmothers to take a look at. I had also requested Paul's licensing information with Arizona so that I could check him out and make sure he was legitimately who he was claiming to be. He sent me that information, which I was able to check out with the Arizona Bar Association. He also sent me the names and phone #'s of 5 other couples that we could contact to check for references and find out how their adoption experiences had gone. I will admit that I didn't call any of them right away, simply out of fear, but I did feel better having their information to do so.

It wasn't until several weeks later that I actually did make those phone calls. I talked to an adoptive father who was very nice and helpful. I also had the privilege of talking with Saige Hall, who adopted little Jack through Paul. She and I had a really great conversation on the phone and we've since become really great friends! Through her, I was also able to connect with Stephanie Sibbett, who has adopted 2 little boys through Paul as well. She and I have also become really great friends as well! It's been really great to have a new little support group to talk to and get advice from. :)

Anyway, I received an email from Paul on July 1 informing us that he had preliminary word that the birthmom due in September liked our profile. He stated at that time that he needed to confirm everything and would keep in contact with me, which he did and it became official over the next couple weeks that the birthmom had chosen us for sure to be the adoptive parents of her little baby, due September 14, 2011.

In the meantime, Matt and I had begun praying our hearts out over whether or not it was right to pursue this adoption for sure. We made the decision to go to the Jordan River Temple the night of Friday, July 1 in search of some peace and guidance about what we should do at that point. We also decided to take the weekend to pray and fast about it as well. By the end of that weekend, Matt and I hadn't gotten any real earthshaking answers or anything like that, but we did feel good about pursing things as we had started to do and we felt that we were going in a good direction. So we continued pursuing.......

I failed to mention previously that about 2 or 3 weeks before all of this had started happening, I had suddenly begun to get the impression that it was time to finally finish the paperwork for Foster Care and complete the licensing, etc. Up to that point, I had never felt completely comfortable/right about finishing the process, in spite of the fact that we had already taken all of the classes and had received our certification 2 years prior. We had even filled out most of the paperwork to complete the licensing, but I never could feel good enough about it to turn it all in. Suddenly, I began to feel that it was finally time. Naturally, I assumed at the time that it was because it was time for us to go through Foster Care instead of continuing to wait for something to happen with LDS Family Services. I hadn't even had time yet to tell Matt about my thoughts/impressions before all of this adoption stuff suddenly began to happen. I had wanted to be sure of what I was feeling before I got Matt's hopes up again and we began to pursue Foster Care for real this time.

Little did I know that getting that licensing completed with the State of Utah was one of the requirements to make this adoption happen.......

On Monday, July 5, I called Foster Care and set up an appointment with Dan @ Foster Care to come to our apartment and meet with Matt and I. Dan came and visited with us at 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 6 and we discovered that the Foster Care Classes began again THAT NIGHT at 5:30 p.m. So we went to our first class that very night......and every Wednesday & Thursday night from 5:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. throughout the entire month of July.....finishing up and receiving our current certification on Thursday, July 28, 2011. We met with our Licensor, Janice, @ 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, August 10, 2011. She then wrote everything up for us and brought our licensing certificate by on the afternoon of Monday, August 15. At that point, that hurdle was done!! We had been racing against the clock, with a deadline of August 31, in order for this adoption to happen. :)

In the meantime, Matt and I had also begun to tackle the money hurdle as well. We've received several VERY generous donations from people, some anonymous and some not.....all of which have helped tremendously! Matt has taken on several jobs for different people, which has allowed us to get part of the money that way as well. And the rest of the money has come from fundraisers that we've done over the last few weeks.

One of our close friends, Summer Fordham, is a Scentsy Consultant and she did a Scentsy party for me on Saturday, July 30, 2011....which raised a good amount of money and was a great help to us. Our close friends, Ryan & Trisha Bruerton, had a HUGE yard sale for us on Saturday, August 6, 2011 on their front lawn. The next weekend, Saturday, August 13, we had a Dinner/Silent Auction that our close friends, Kat, Ashley, & Trisha, organized for us and did an absolutely AMAZING job!! That night alone, we were able to raise the rest of the money that was necessary for the rest of the upfront adoption fees that we needed to pay by September 1. And finally, on Saturday, August 20, we had another HUGE yard sale out in our old neighborhood in West Jordan, which our close friend, Salina Lenz, organized for us. All of the money raised from that and from here on out will go towards helping us with travel costs and getting the rest of the things that we need to take care of our little guy once we get him home finally.

......keep reading...not quite done yet. :)