I have a confession to make: I've been hiding something from you. No, strike that. Hiding isn't the right word. It doesn't matter. What does matter is that The Missus and I have something to tell you. Something important. And I'm going to share it with you tonight.
I'm going to be a dad!
About two months ago The Missus and I began the adoption process. We are working with a child placement agency out of Omaha called Adoption Links Worldwide (ALWW). Assuming everything goes well -- and nothing so far indicates that it won't -- we should have a bouncing baby in our home sometime in spring or summer 2006.
We have chosen to use ALWW's infant minority adoption program because it is very important to The Missus and me that we experience the child-raising process from day 1, or as close to it as we can get. We considered other options, such as an international adoption from Russia, Guatemala, or elsewhere, but we decided for various reasons to stay in the U.S.A.
So far the process has been pretty straightforward. The Missus and I met with our caseworker together a few weeks ago. Today, The Missus met with her on her own; I will do the same on Thursday. Following the completion of a little more paperwork the caseworker will come to our house and evaluate the child's living environment. We will attend an adoptive parent training session in Omaha in September, along with some parenting classes at St. Elizabeth's, which we hear are excellent. Then we wait. We may be matched with a child several months before its birth, or we may get a call that a baby in Florida is looking fo
r parents right now. Both The Missus and I and the birth parents have a lot of power in the process, but there is still a fair bit of uncertainty involved.
Obviously The Missus and I are very excited to welcome a new member of the family to 625 Elm Street. Beginning tonight we intend to document our experiences with the adoption process here at Lincolnite. I have a lot to say already, and I expect both The Missus and I will have much more to say as we go along. Look for a number of blog posts and probably a few longer articles as well (once the articles section of the website is ready).
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Congratulations to you both. Having and raising a child is no small thing, and I have much respect for adoptive parents. I look forward to hearing/reading more.
Wow! Congratulations. I’m definitely looking forward to hearing about your experience, especially since this is an option we might be looking at in a few years.
Thanks, gentlemen!
Steve, if there are any topics in particular that you would like to know more about as we go along, please let me know.
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