Asterisk

You know what an asterisk means. 

An addendum. The fine print. Further details and information. 

Such is the case with our adoption journey. Last Friday we found out that our Straight Adoption Home Study had been approved!  What a relief. How exciting. But with it came an asterisk. A side note. The Committee wanted to be sure we knew that the wait might be longer than we anticipated. See, they tend to lean more toward families with one or no children. We understand, we are not frustrated or upset about that. It makes sense. But it does put a little hiccup in our plans. A Straight Adoption (no fostering) was still possible, just with a likely extended timeline. In addition to this they also were wondering if we would be interested in the Foster-to Adopt program. Bam. Asterisk. This would greatly reduce our wait time, but brings with it many new aspects of adoption that we thought we had decided on. 

Fostering. We obviously knew about it and learned plenty in our classes. It just didn't seem right for us. Plus we are seeking an adoption placement so Fostering is not the route we wanted.  Foster-to-Adopt is similar but with the end result being an adoption placement. Permanent. But with it comes a host of possible scenarios. We could get a placement right off the bat that works out as an adoption placement. Or, we could get a placement that results in the child(ren) being returned to their birth family. Not us. Not an adoption placement. At which point we would have to say goodbye and would enter the process all over again. You can see our dilemma and concerns. 

So we talked. Then we prayed. Then we talked some more. We finally decided that proceeding with a Dual Track program was right for us. Simultaneously working in the Straight Adopt and Foster-to-Adopt programs.  That felt right. That felt like where He was leading us. Will it be easy?  Likely not.  But then again very little in this process can be considered "easy". Might there come a time where difficult decisions need to be made?  Maybe. Who's to say?  Sure it's scary and it's unknown. Sure there are risks and the potential for heartache. But there is still just this nagging feeling that this is what we are being called to do.  To change the life of a child. To change our lives. To grow our family.

So that's where we are now. Our Foster-to-Adopt Home Study went to committee today and I haven't heard back yet. We were told that the Straight Adopt approval was more difficult to get so the odds of approval are in our favor. The one difference that we will need to handle between the two is to have a fire inspection of our home done. I've begun the process but we will see what that means for the approval; if we can get it with without the actual inspection done or if it will have to wait for resubmission once the fire marshal gives us the all-clear. Until then we wait some more. I believe that our Straight Adopt file will proceed to Matching where we will begin that process, but we have yet to get confirmation on this so we wait there too. Just waiting all around. 

In the mean time school is getting out for both Amy and I this week so that means summer is just a few days away. That also means that Disney is just a few weeks away!  I haven't blogged much about that so I'd better get started before we head out in mid-June. So, more on that later.  Back to waiting. 

All is well, reading the fine print, in Drosche Land.