Finally something might be happening

So much has happened since my last post. It's tempting to try to catch you up, but I think that would take too long, so I am just going to jump right in. Rob and I have been working with Children's Division since last January to adopt. We took the STARS and Spaulding classes, and we had our home-study. We have also been going to classes throughout the year and 3 months that we have been working with Children's Division. We usually go to the classes separately so that the one of us who doesn't go stays home with the young ones and we don't have to worry about hiring a sitter. I have taken classes on Communicating with Children, School Issues in Foster Care and Adoption, Caring for Infants in Foster Care, a 2 week series on Issues in Transracial Foster and Adoptive Parenting, Parenting Children with Histories of Drug and Alcohol Exposure. Rob has taken a class on The Importance of Lifebooks in the Lives of Foster and Adopted Children. Then Rob, Cody, and Jacqui took a class on Parenting in a Cyberworld. We've been waiting and waiting to be matched with a child, and so far it hasn't happened. We've had a few profiles sent to us, but they didn't work out. The first one didn't work out because the date for the staffing was coming up too quickly, and we weren't able to be added to the staffing. The second profile came 7 long months after the first, and that little boy had a member of his family come forward and offer to adopt him. That's called a kinship placement. Then we got a profile a month later for 2 little boys who were 5. These boys were autistic and had several other developmental issues to consider. Our worker called us shortly after e-mailing us the short profile and told us that she didn't think our busy family of 6 would be a good match with the twins. Then we got an e-mail from our worker a few weeks after that telling us about a 3 year old boy. We e-mailed back and told her that we were very interested and we wanted more information. We got a call from her the next day, expecting it to be about this 3 year old boy, but she told us about 2 babies that we might be able to be considered for. We were surprised by that, but we told her that we were very interested. The first birth mother was sent our profile, lifebook, and home-study on Friday, and we are waiting to hear what she thought. If we are selected by this birth mother then we will not have our home-study sent to the second mother, but if this birth mother passes on us then we may be able to be considered by the second birth mother. We are so excited. I was just telling a friend a few weeks ago that I didn't know whether anything would end up happening with our adoption because we kept being told by our worker and several of the other workers when we went to trainings that there weren't any children out there in our age range (0-age 5) that were up for adoption. We were just waiting and seeing, and we are still waiting now, but it feels like we may have made some progress. It feels great to know that we have our home study in front of a birth mother. We are being considered. I am so excited. I keep praying for the birth mother to feel comfort and peace. I pray that she will know the right family for her child. I hope that is us, but even if it isn't I want the baby, the birth mother, and the birth mother's extended family to feel peace in this choice. This loving, wonderful choice- this beautiful plan that she is making for her baby. I know that it is a hard decision for her, and I pray that she feels peace and love. We would love to have an open adoption as well, and hopefully that will help all of us who are involved. Again, though, we are still waiting. Nothing has really happened yet, but this is a big step forward after over a year of preparation. :)