This Coming Up Weekend!

June 1 - 3 is AO's Education Seminar and we are going!  I know very little about what it will be like except that:

1.  there will be 10 other couples besides Hubby & I
2.  we will receive a manual that covers:
-step by step guide for completing a private adoption
-openness
-parenting and adoption
-statistics
3.  we will be hearing from birthparents, adoptive parents, and a lawyer

Really, that's about all I know.  But I am very much looking forward to it and to meeting other hopeful adoptive parents.

My Favouritest Sandwich Ever

Hellmann's light olive oil mayo
2 slices white bread, toasted
goat mozza slices
thin deli turkey slices
2 - 3 slices bacon, fried and drained
half an avocado - peeled, pitted, and thinly sliced
lettuce

Assemble altogether into a yummy sandwich and enjoy!!

Yield: 1 sandwich

More Mother's Day

I didn't realize there'd be so many moving posts written about Mother's Day.

I just want to share three more with you that touched me:

By Amy, at Jim and Amy Hoping to Adopt:  Empty Arms on Mother's Day

By Kara, at Matt and Kara Adopt:  Mother's Day

By Katelyn, a guest post at America Adopts:  The Meaning of Mother's Day, or Why I Don't Celebrate Birthmother's Day

Now I realized that in my Mother's Day post I only talked about the pain of Mother's Day and not the good side:

Happy Mother's Day to my mom, who has raised their 4 children, countless foster children, and now loves in-laws and 3 granddaughters as well.  I love you!

Happy Mother's Day to my mom-in-law, who has raised and loves their 2 sons, (one biological and one by adoption), and has accepted and loves me as one of her own.  I love you!

Happy Mother's Day to my sister E, who is raising and loving her 2 daughters on her own while fighting breast cancer.  I love you!

Happy Mother's Day to my sis-in-law R, who together with my brother as a stay-at-home dad while she works, is raising and loving their daughter (adopted from China).  I love you!

Mother's Day

Today my hubby wished me a "Happy Pre-Mother's Day".  So sweet of him.

Happy Mother's Day to those of you who are mothers; to those who wish so desperately to be a mother; to those who have lost babies and children; to those of you who are expectant mothers, whether by adoption or pregnancy; to those of you who are birthmoms.

Today can be such a super-hard day for so many people.  In some ways, I know.  I understand; I get it.  It HURTS.  Hugs & hope to each and every one of you.

Here's a link to a post on my friend Jaymi's blog.  She posted something so well-written about how hard it is to go to church on Mother's Day.

Initial Interview & Application Appointment

We had our Initial Interview & Application Appointment at AO 3 weeks ago.  It went very well.  We met Jennifer, the Program Assistant, and she talked us through a folder full of papers she gave us.  Most of the information we already knew from the Information Evening we attended a year and a half ago and from my own research, but there were a few surprises in there.  She then had us fill out an initial application; very basic.  We had to fill out one for Child and Family Services (government) and one for AO.  It wasn't too difficult, although we got hung up on "Heritage".  Yes, Hubby and I couldn't agree on what heritage we are, lol.  Took us a couple weeks to resolve that one.  Then we got the best news of the afternoon.  Maybe of the last couple years.  She had taken our latest income tax papers to calculate what we would have to pay, since they do their fees on a sliding scale according to your income.  All our costs (not including lawyer fees) got chopped in half!  Very much awesome :)  Hubby and I left AO feeling very optimistic all around.

We now can each fill out our Prospective Adoptive Parent Questionnaire and decide on who we want as references and get them to write letters to mail in to AO.  I have completed at least half my PAP Questionnaire already; Hubby hasn't really had time to start his yet.  We are still discussing whom we want as references (one for me, one for Hubby, and two for us as a couple).  The hardest part is only one of those four can be a family member!

I have been eagerly telling everybody about our appointment at AO and what the process has in store for us.  I've been showing people the paper's we got and explaining things.  So far we have only gotten one very discouraging response to the news that we are adopting that dampered my enthusiasm a lot, but for the most part people have been very willing to listen and ask questions, and for that I am very thankful for!