This question may be popping into your mind by now. We realize that going through this process and having a fundraising campaign/blog means that our lives will be fairly open. So we are willing to give a lot of information without totally giving up our privacy. We have considered adoption for several years now. We are just now in a place where we’re ready to put ourselves through the scrutiny the adoption process brings.
In 2008, Ted was diagnosed with prostate cancer. It was a very aggressive form so the doctor recommended a very aggressive treatment. (He is now 4 years CANCER FREE!!) But this also meant that having children the “old fashioned way” would not be possible. We accepted that and looked into adoption. We also prepared for the more non-traditional ways of having children; various forms of artificial insemination. Unfortunately, I also had physical issues, which likely made our attempts unsuccessful. After a year of testing and trying, we decided that the end result was much more important the process. We were more concerned with becoming parents versus how we became parents. So we officially started the adoption process after several years of attending fairs and informationals on adoption. Plus I will be turning the big 4-0 next year so the ticking of my biological clock is making us both deaf ☺
Why private adoption?
In two of our “Adoption 101” posts, you can see that there are several options and that there are cost differences. We did consider adoption through a public agency. We knew that we wanted young children so we could have that experience together. Unfortunately, the public agency was only accepting applications for children within a certain age range. No matter how hard we tried, we could not convince them of our willingness to adopt in their age range. They know that we really wanted an infant. So we returned to the option of private adoption. The plus side is that adopting an infant even a newborn is highly likely, especially for us. The downside of course is the expense and the uncertainty that goes with it (will the birthparents like us and choose us?)
Worth the wait
This morning I was reading “Our Daily Bread” (odb.org/) and the title of today’s entry was, “Worth the Wait”. The author was referencing Heaven and how all of the trials and twists and turns that Christians have faced will be well worth it once they see Heaven. Well I think of our process in this same way. We have chosen a more rigorous agency so every adoption is not like ours. But we do believe that once we go through it and have our precious baby or babies (would love to have more than one), it will be worth the wait.
I have also written an essay about our journey here. If I get the nerve perhaps I will post it one day ☺ (Big shout out to my summer writers institute classmates and our extraordinary teacher, Kathleen Finneran!)
Post by C. Shadding
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