We're home, and so is Ryan

It has been a while since we posted anything here, but the reason is really good news - having a baby in the house takes up all of our time.

So here's the short story - we scrambled to come up with the required funding and also to get the interstate paperwork done so that we could legally take our new baby from Georgia to Colorado. The paperwork came in just in time for us to make travel arrangements before Thanksgiving. The funding fell in to place as well (a sincere thank you to all who helped in this endeavor) . We flew to Atlanta on Tuesday, Nov 24. We had dinner that evening with the family who has been caring for Ryan (his name is Ryan Samuel Patrick Ricks) since he was discharged from the hospital. They are a wonderful family and we stayed rather late talking with them.

We got up Wednesday morning (Nov 25) and were at the adoption agency for a 9:00 AM appointment. The foster family brought Ryan to the agency at that same time. They dropped him off and then left to travel to extended family for Thanksgiving. We signed the papers, paid the money, and left the agency. The adoptive placement was now official. We had a lot of time before our return flight, and we spent the last two hours of that waiting at the terminal. Our flight landed at 8:30 PM and we were home by 11:00 PM.

Everything went very smoothly, and we all had so much to be thankful for on Thursday.

Here are some photos from placement day:

Pictures

Here are some pictures that the adoption agency has sent us.

More Details - and bad timing

Adoption can be such a roller coaster. We had saved up almost all that we needed to adopt a baby girl in Atlanta Georgia. We applied for a grant from http://www.giftofadoption.org/ to cover the remaining amount, and we received preliminary approval. But by the time that had happened, the baby had been born and the birth mother had changed her mind about placing the baby for adoption. It was a difficult time. We decided to try adopting through the foster care system, and began moving in that direction. In the meantime, we had some family medical expenses that were not covered by insurance and all but depleted our adoption savings.

Then one week ago today, the adoption agency in Atlanta called and to tell us that they had a baby in their care who had been born on the 19th of October. The birth parents had signed away their rights, and the 10-day grace period required by Georgia law had elapsed. The agency had lost contact with the birth parents (phone disconnected, address invalid), and the social worker thought that we would be the perfect family.

So we contacted the Gift of Adoption and told them that we had been matched with a new baby but that we also had no savings. We would be able to cover post-placement expenses and finalization costs, but not the placement itself. Today we found out that the Gift of Adoption has granted us $3500 to adopt this baby. The previous placement was going to cost $4000 plus interim care (interim care is $30 per day beginning when the baby is released from the hospital and ending on the day that the baby is placed in our care). That cost is up to over $300 so far, but Nathan was placed by the same agency and they reduced the interim care fee for him. We also obviously have to travel to Georgia.

We just found out late today about the grant, so the Agency in Atlanta was closed when we called to let them know. So far we do not have an exact figure for the placement fee, but we are scrambling to get together as much money as we can. I sold the big screen TV, and the patio furniture and the Bowflex are for sale. To anyone who may read this, we are open to donations and personal loans. We are selling baby blankets at http://adoptionBlankets.etsy.com, but that has been very slow.

We ask that anyone who reads this will pray for us to make this placement happen. We are also open to suggestions of other ways to raise money.

Baby Boy

We were recently informed by Bethany Christian Services in Atlanta Georgia of a baby boy that is in their care and was born on Oct 19. He has Down Syndrome, and the birth parents have signed over their rights and left the picture. We are working on getting a grant to cover the placement fee so that we can adopt him. Pictures to come soon.

The birth mother of the baby girl changed her mind about placing the baby for adoption.

The baby will be born tomorrow. We hope and pray Birth Mom & Baby will be o.k.

We have decided to name the baby Ellie-Grace Patricia, lots of people think that it is a cute name. Brittany is so excited to be a big sister to a little sister. We were told that the Birth Mom is having a C-Section on September 14th, we are praying that Birth Mom and Baby are healthy and everything goes well.

Fun Pics

Family get together

We had a family get together this past weekend, here are a few pics.

Well our Home Study is Finally Done. We were picked by a Birth Mom, we are very excited. The baby is due at the end of September. It is a girl, and she has Down syndrome.

Home Study

Our caseworker told us that our home study should be done by around July 1. He's been writing it up for the past few weeks. We really hope it's done soon so that we can keep things moving along.

Family Fun

Steve and Patti

The kids

Nathan wearing his new hearing aids and laughing at Mommy because he could hear her singing and he loves music.

Ashley

The Boys - Nathan, Zack, and Tristan

Kim and Brittany

Adopting Again

Our home study is almost done and we are so excited! Brittany has been praying every night that she gets a little sister. We would love a girl, but of course a boy will be woderful, too.