Want to feel like a completely unequipped parent?

... then try adopting a child!

Oy! Some days I just get so overwhelmed by the amount of paperwork that goes into the home study portion of this process.

I just finished yet another form, for which I had to track down addresses/job history/educational history/military history/medical history stuff for both Squishy and I for the last 10+ years. Brain overload!

Earlier today we went and got photographed and fingerprinted for our FBI background checks.

The good news is I am down to just 4 items on my home study to-do list: shot records for the dog, photos of the house, copy of our latest tax return, and medical appointments for all of us. EXHAUSTING!

I think in light of the Casey Anthony verdict the other day, I'm a bit of an exposed nerve when it comes to parenting. I start to tear up every time I think of that little girl. Whether her death was an accident that they tried to cover up or whether she was murdered, I think all of us can agree that it was the result of poor parenting. The sad part is, even if everyone had to go through the whole home study process before bringing home a kiddo, bad stuff will still happen.

I've seen plenty of people that probably don't look great on paper as parents, either for health or financial reasons or whatever, that love and protect their kids in a way that I completely admire. Then there are other people who have all the money in the world and can check all the boxes for "what a kid needs," but that are still really crappy parents.

One more update for today...

Last week we finished submitting all the photos and essays to our agency so that they could create our profile for birth mom's to see. We were told it would be 10 business days until we saw a draft, so we were expecting to see something next week. Tonight we got a surprise though: our rough draft of our profile!

Ohmygosh! It is just so exciting and scary to see our pictures and words brought to life, knowing that this is what our next kiddo's birth mom is going to use to select us.

Our adoption specialist really only had two suggestions for us, one being a small word change, and the other that we only use photos of Squirt as a toddler, rather than as a baby, so that birth mom's don't think we have a super little one at home already. Squishy and I spent some time looking through photos and e-mailed back some changes. We will keep going back and forth like this... them sending us a draft with suggestions, us making changes... until we are all confident that we are presenting our best selves.

The agency uses our profiles in 2 ways. First, all active families are featured on their website so that if a pregnant woman visits their website they can see potential families. They also send birth mom's hard copies of profiles for families that match their desires. For example, if a birth mom wants her child raised in California, on a farm, by a family that already has kids, the agency does a search and only sends her profiles of families that match. While each profile is going to be unique as far as images and essays go, the agency uses a standard 4 page booklet format. This makes it easier for a birth mom to compare and contrast and eliminates a birth mom judging a family based on whose profile is more elaborate.

Over the next few months, we will probably have our camera with us wherever we go so that the agency can continually keep our photos up to date, especially the ones of Squirt. So if you see us out and about doing something fun or looking cute, please help us out and snap a few pics. Please & thank you!

Welcome!

As this blog continues, you will learn more (probably A LOT more than you want to know) about myself and my family. But for now, I just want to welcome you to my little corner of cyberspace and tell you a bit about why I am starting this blog.

My husband and I are in the final stages of becoming an "active" family with an adoption agency, with the hopes of adding a munchkin to our family within the next few months. We already have one adorable and energetic little guy.

In addition to the adoption, our lives are mostly defined by being a military family. The hubby (aka Squishy) just returned from his 4th tour overseas. Like most military families we are far from our blood families which creates some interesting dynamics.

With Squishy's seemingly never ending deployments, I made the decision to be a stay at home mom. Best job I have ever had, but also the hardest. For any of you who have done it, I know I am preaching to the choir when I talk about how exhausting it is. It also brings up feelings of losing myself and feeling like I'm not really contributing to my family financially. To counter those feelings, as you read this blog, I will from time to time talk about my at home daycare business and working on my doctorate in education.

Other topics that you will have to deal with me verbally vomiting about: weight loss, travel, and books.

I'm excited to get to share my life with you and to hopefully get to learn more about each of you in the process.

Thank you!