Moving in Fast Forward

Tyler is coming! We received a call on Tuesday and the takeaway was that Tyler will be here sooner rather than later. We're excited he's coming, but the circumstances surrounding the early delivery are the tough part. As we mentioned before, the birthmother has skin cancer and needs to have treatments that they can't start while she's pregnant. Then on Tuesday at her doctor appointment they became concerned about preeclampsia. She goes back in tomorrow and then we'll find out what day they are going to do a scheduled c-section.

So, we've pushed things into high gear so we're ready to go. We're excited and nervous, but most of all ... I can't believe it's finally happening. I am going to be a MOM and Dan is going to be a DAD.

I'll update tomorrow when we know the day Tyler is entering the world.
-Jodi

Scam #1 - Check

We received our very first solicitation via email. It was from Father Marius who just happens to work at an orphanage and has children under the age of two that need to be adopted. Sounds too good to be true. That's because it is. Adoption scams. I had heard about these solicitations on a yahoo adoption scam group I belong to. And thank goodness, because I can see how getting an email like this could result in responses. Adoption is an emotional ride and people don't always use their best judgement when emotions are involved.

The upside to this ... our email and profile are out there. People are seeing it.

I spoke with the Florida office today and they asked us to send a few more profiles down to them. Still busy, but no matches just yet. And the local office sent us our web stats:

• 1,408 visitors to "Adoptive Parents"
• 115 visitors to "Pregnant?"
• 90 visitors to our profile

There has been quite a bit of activity with the local office, but no matches for us. Actually a couple of the adoptions are being reviewed and so the children are being held up in foster care. Maybe not being chosen was the blessing this time.

Happy February everyone! -Jodi

December Stats

We have had some activity in the past two months. Adoption Services, Inc. in Mequon showed our profile three times. However, most of the birthmothers decided to parent. The holidays must be a very tough time for expectant mothers with unplanned pregnancies. I can only imagine.

Other than that, we know our online profile was viewed 97 times and there were 111 visitors to the "Pregnant?" page. I did see that there were four couples moved to "matched and waiting." There have been quite a few new couples on the site and those seem to be the ones getting matched quickly.

We haven't heard much from the law office in Florida in the last few weeks.
That's it for now. Hope everyone is still on track with their New Year Resolution. -Jodi

Baby Bedding Purchase

After waiting for so long, Dan and I made the first official baby purchase. We bought a bedding set - gender neutral - and we love it. We used some of our Christmas money. We've had one room upstairs that has been in a holding pattern for years, so we decided to take our time and start getting it ready. I used to think that walking by an empty baby room would make me sad, but the more I thought about it ... it doesn't matter what is or isn't in that room ... I still think about it. So, why not get the room prepared. Besides, buying the bedding was fun, and gave us hope. We will be parents in 2009 - I can feel it.

I hope everyone rings in the New Year in your own special way! - Jodi

Movement (?)

Over the last couple of days we have heard from the Florida law office that things were in a bit of a lull, but have recently picked up. They have requested additional profile copies ASAP because there are potential matches they could send our profile out to. Encouraging news. I overnighted what I had last night and will order more online tonight. Unfortunately with the holidays, it is taking a while for delivery. I do know that they are working with around 20 couples at the moment. It's time to send positive thoughts, prayers and cross your fingers and toes for luck.
Thanks to everyone for still following our journey! -Jodi

National Adoption Options

We've been receiving additional information from other adoption options and filtering through everything. The difference this time, is that we're looking at national programs instead of just local ones. Still not convinced that we're switching, but when the time comes to renew our homestudy we want to be sure we have all the options available to move as quickly as possible.

So far I've participated in a couple of phone conferences with agency consultants and we have another scheduled for tomorrow evening. This one is with Adoption Network Law Center. If anyone knows of anyone who has used this organization, I'd love to hear from you. Provided references are great (of course they would be), but personal references are even better.

Until later. -Jodi

Slide Show Added

To give you a little more incentive to visit our blog, we've added a slide show of pictures which we'll update periodically. We hope it's incentive and not a deterrent. Enjoy and if you have any interesting shots of Dan and I that we may be able to use in our adoption profile, please send them our way via email.
Thanks. -Jodi

We Need Your Eyes and Ears

It's come to this. We need your help. When we hear about successful domestic adoptions, we find that most of the time it's because of someone, who knew someone, who knew someone with an unplanned pregnancy. So, PLEASE keep your eyes and ears open for us. Maybe you'll know someone, who knows someone, who knows someone who is considering adoption. It's a tough thing to ask of someone, but every little bit helps. If you do hear of something please have them email us or visit our online profile.
Thanks Team Paynter!
-Jodi