As I sit here and try to continuously come up with answers to Riley's favorite question "why", I am really having to think about some of them. If you have a little kiddo that is or has been his age, you know that usually you can just throw out anything and they are satisfied. But having a 3 year old when you are adopting presents a bit of a challenge in the sense he doesn't understand why we have to "wait" for a baby. He knows we have to wait for God to be ready for us to bring the new baby home, but to him, that just means each and every day, whenever the thought randomly crosses his mind, he asks can we get our baby now and why we have to wait. And every time we go to get in the car, he asks if we are going to get our baby. When we tell him no, not yet, God isn't ready yet, we get the "but why?". I have been asked a LOT of questions, but this is one I sort of continue to stumble over. How do I make a 3 year old understand? I am stumped. He sees his friends mothers pregnant and knows their babies are in their bellies. That isn't anything you can possibly get a 3 year old to grasp. But for now, We will continue to tell him that God isn't ready yet, until our day comes. I know he is excited about being a big brother. He tells us he is going to change the baby's poopy diapers, and he is going to share his toys, and his mommy and daddy, and he is going to feed the baby their bottles. It is the sweetest thing in the entire world. I know that when our baby does come home, they are going to have the best big brother in the world. Tonight, he even filled a baby bottle up with water and sat it on the table and said "okay mommy, I have the babys bottle ready now so we are ready!". Sweetest thing in the world? Melts my heart for sure. And that in itself makes answering the question "why" a thousand times a day so worth it...
As far as where do we stand now? We are OFFICIALLY WAITING! So now we do exactly that, we wait. Whenever our profile is shown, they will let us know, and they will also let us know if we are or are not chosen. This is where my unfortunate, crazy, nail biting impatience may kick in. I promise, I will try to control it, but if you see me wandering the baby aisles, don't be surprised. I am so excited to know at least at this point, we will get a baby, we just don't know when! Please just continue to send up prayers for us while we wait! They are most definitely always appreciated! And of course, if you hear of anyone wanting to place a baby, or even know of someone who knows someone who may know someone, please put our name out there! That would be a dream come true for us!
Fundraising...please, please, PLEASE send me recipes for our cookbook! (brittanyvaught07@yahoo.com) We are also still selling shirts and bracelets! We are planning an adoption yard / bake sale in late March so if you have anything you would like to donate, please let me know that also! We will take anything we can get! And then of course, we are always accepting donations.
We thank each and every single one of you who have donated, sent your kind thoughts, and prayers. We are blessed beyond belief to have so many amazing people in our lives!
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Home Study = Complete!
Well, from the title, you now know OUR HOME STUDY IS DONE! They are "writing" our home study and that should be approved in 2-3 weeks max and then we will be OFFICIALLY WAITING! I am so excited I can barely stand it! But on the flip side of that, as much as I hope and pray this goes smooth and fairly quick, I am dreading the wait. Someone told me, well, a normal pregnancy would take 10 months...well, that is true...BUT at least in a pregnancy you have some inkling to WHEN you will be bringing a baby home! We are CLUELESS! But I know that in God's time, we will bringing our new sweet baby home...I just can not WAIT for that day!
Other news...we are still working on fundraising! We are still selling shirts and both kinds of bracelets. And we are now working on a cookbook so have printed to sell also. So if you have recipes--send them my way! Once our home study is written we can start applying for grants also, so that will be nice. I have to say, the only, and it is well worth it don't get me wrong, partial downfall to this is the financial aspect. It will be worth it, and it will work out, I do not doubt that one bit. I just wish that for anyone adopting, they didn't ever have to think about or stress about the financial factor. There are so many other exciting, stressful, and emotional things about adoption that you get so focused on, I wish that wasn't something that had to be thought about. But again, it will be so worth it in the end, and I know that it will all work out.
As amazing as our social worker is, and as great as she has been with us, I have to say, I am sort of relieved the home study is over. The paperwork you do with adoption is UNREAL! Let's add we both had to write autobiographies (and anyone who really knows me knows in a serious aspect I do NOT talk about myself!!). And then we had to write our Dear Birthmother letter, and include pictures. A few things about that: 1. I am GLAD it is done. 2. HARDEST letter ever, hands down. 3. I think ours is nothing less than absolutely perfect. I never thought I would be able to write it, but once I seemed to start, it just flowed. Thankfully. So now, here we are, waiting. Hopefully our wait will be smooth, and fairly short. Lord knows all we can do is PRAY now!
Anyways, that's where we are now. We are also planning to do an adoption yard sale in March sometimes, so let me know if you have anything you would like to donate. We will also be doing a bake sale during the yard sale. Anything helps! I want to thank each and every one of you who has at some point helped us, donated, thought of us, and prayed for us. EVERY single thing helps! We notice every bit of it, I promise, and we are SO thankful for every person who has done something for us! We would not be where we are without help from our family and some of the best friends and co-workers we could possibly ask for!
Now that our home study is done, I hope to keep you all updated more often...it has been CRAZY here! But here is what I want to end on this time...One thing I learned during one of the classes I did online for our home study is this, and it is so simple, so honest, and so true...and I firmly believe that it is us : We may not be perfect, but we will be the perfect fit.
Other news...we are still working on fundraising! We are still selling shirts and both kinds of bracelets. And we are now working on a cookbook so have printed to sell also. So if you have recipes--send them my way! Once our home study is written we can start applying for grants also, so that will be nice. I have to say, the only, and it is well worth it don't get me wrong, partial downfall to this is the financial aspect. It will be worth it, and it will work out, I do not doubt that one bit. I just wish that for anyone adopting, they didn't ever have to think about or stress about the financial factor. There are so many other exciting, stressful, and emotional things about adoption that you get so focused on, I wish that wasn't something that had to be thought about. But again, it will be so worth it in the end, and I know that it will all work out.
As amazing as our social worker is, and as great as she has been with us, I have to say, I am sort of relieved the home study is over. The paperwork you do with adoption is UNREAL! Let's add we both had to write autobiographies (and anyone who really knows me knows in a serious aspect I do NOT talk about myself!!). And then we had to write our Dear Birthmother letter, and include pictures. A few things about that: 1. I am GLAD it is done. 2. HARDEST letter ever, hands down. 3. I think ours is nothing less than absolutely perfect. I never thought I would be able to write it, but once I seemed to start, it just flowed. Thankfully. So now, here we are, waiting. Hopefully our wait will be smooth, and fairly short. Lord knows all we can do is PRAY now!
Anyways, that's where we are now. We are also planning to do an adoption yard sale in March sometimes, so let me know if you have anything you would like to donate. We will also be doing a bake sale during the yard sale. Anything helps! I want to thank each and every one of you who has at some point helped us, donated, thought of us, and prayed for us. EVERY single thing helps! We notice every bit of it, I promise, and we are SO thankful for every person who has done something for us! We would not be where we are without help from our family and some of the best friends and co-workers we could possibly ask for!
Now that our home study is done, I hope to keep you all updated more often...it has been CRAZY here! But here is what I want to end on this time...One thing I learned during one of the classes I did online for our home study is this, and it is so simple, so honest, and so true...and I firmly believe that it is us : We may not be perfect, but we will be the perfect fit.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
So many updates!
Hey! Sorry I've sort of been missing! We have been CRAZY busy! We have sold over half of our shirts which is so exciting! And we still have some to get out! (I promise if you've ordered one, I haven't forgotten you, I'll get it to you ASAP!) We are also working on a cookbook now to sell as a fundraiser so if you have recipes you'd like to share - please do! You can comment with them or email them to me at Brittanyvaught07@yahoo.com. I'd love to put as many from all of you as I can!
Where are we at in the process? We have completed 3 of our 4 home study appointments and our last one is next Friday! Super exciting! Then our case worker will write our home study and then we will be approved to be "shown" to birthmothers! So, with that said, we should be officially "waiting" in about a month!!! We are so excited! We are crossing our fingers and praying so hard that our wait isn't toooo long! We know we could wait a while and we know whatever the wait is- it will be so worth it! God has a plan for us! We can't wait to live it out!
We have also painted the nursery and it should be all put together this weekend! We want to be able to include a picture of baby's room when we do our Dear Birthmothers letter this weekend. Speaking of which, I've thought about this letter for weeks. I know we can do it. But it is so much pressure. It feels like we are having to sell ourself to this birth mother, who will choose us to raise her baby. It's so hard to know what the exact words to say are. I know in the end it will be perfect, but it's a lot to think about!
Other than all of that, things are going good! I have started to sew and embroider things for extra money towards our adoption. So if you need anything let me know! I'll try to pos a few pics of things I've done so you can see! :-)
Well, until next time... Keep praying! :-)
Thank you to every single one of you for the support you've continuously given us. We appreciate it so much!
Where are we at in the process? We have completed 3 of our 4 home study appointments and our last one is next Friday! Super exciting! Then our case worker will write our home study and then we will be approved to be "shown" to birthmothers! So, with that said, we should be officially "waiting" in about a month!!! We are so excited! We are crossing our fingers and praying so hard that our wait isn't toooo long! We know we could wait a while and we know whatever the wait is- it will be so worth it! God has a plan for us! We can't wait to live it out!
We have also painted the nursery and it should be all put together this weekend! We want to be able to include a picture of baby's room when we do our Dear Birthmothers letter this weekend. Speaking of which, I've thought about this letter for weeks. I know we can do it. But it is so much pressure. It feels like we are having to sell ourself to this birth mother, who will choose us to raise her baby. It's so hard to know what the exact words to say are. I know in the end it will be perfect, but it's a lot to think about!
Other than all of that, things are going good! I have started to sew and embroider things for extra money towards our adoption. So if you need anything let me know! I'll try to pos a few pics of things I've done so you can see! :-)
Well, until next time... Keep praying! :-)
Thank you to every single one of you for the support you've continuously given us. We appreciate it so much!
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
To answer the question most of you want to know...WHY?
Ever since we mentioned the word adoption, we have been asked "Why?"...and I know without a doubt that there are a few of you out there who want to know the same thing, but just don't ask in fear of offending us... Well, I am here to tell you how we came to this decision, and why it is the best for our family.
We both had always dreamed of having two children, neither of us were only children and we knew we wanted our children to have each other. We wanted to start having children early so that we could have them young, and have them close together, with the thought of having two or three. Well, little did we know that one pregnancy was all my body would tolerate, and there were even questions during my pregnancy about whether it was going to be able to handle that! Once I delivered Ri, my blood pressure went up and stayed there..even til now! But that wasn't the biggest problem..during a routine check up with my cardiologist, she took a picture of my heart to have before another pregnancy just to have an idea of what it looked like before an additional pregnancy. She thought my blood pressure was good to go and saw no reason to not have another biological child. So I set up to have my IUD removed and everything! We were so excited! It was right before Ri was turning 1, things were working out just how we wanted! Well about three days after my appointment, I got a call from my doctor. During the "routine" ultrasound, they found a dilation (enlargement) in a part of my pulmonary artery, which could possibly be an aneurysm, and she wanted me to have an MRI the next week to have it checked. So, after a few days of trying to figure out exactly what that meant, I had the test done. Results : Confirmation of a pulmonary artery aneurysm. Crazy, right? Do you know how common this is? IT'S NOT! So, after that appointment, I had it checked every 3 months until just recently when we have moved to every 6 months. At this point, it's not gotten any bigger, but the odds of it tolerating a pregnancy are slim. So, I have been strongly advised to NOT get pregnant because the outcome could be bad. It would do our family no good to attempt it and end up with no mommy. It isn't worth the risk. My family I have now means WAY too much to me. :)
So, with all of that said, we just cannot settle with Riley being an only child. We have always had the dreams of having at least two children, and we will not settle for less. Just because we cannot have another biological child does NOT mean we cannot be a mommy, daddy, and brother to another sweet baby. While in most cases, babies are born from our belly, it does not mean a baby can't be born in our heart. In this case, for us, that's where we will start. We had talked about this decision over a period of 2 years now, and we are at the point in our life where we are ready to jump! So, here we are, in the process, and we could not be any more excited. Riley is excited to have a brother or sister (even though he says he wants a sister and if he gets a brother he will name him sister). We are blessed beyond words to have been able to have one biological child of our own, we could not be any more thankful for that. And now for our number two, the biological aspect does not matter. The baby that is meant for us will be "ours" regardless of where he/she comes from!
So, there ya go. That's our story. Now you know "why" we chose what we did. We have been truly blessed to be supported by such amazing family, friends, people we work with, people we haven't talked to since high school, family friends, and then some people we don't know! It is truly such an amazing blessing to have so many people behind us. Words cannot express the feeling that gives us! So, thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you who have helped us at some point, thought about us, spread the word for us, and mostly just prayed for us. Keep it up! We are still very early in the process and while these days are exciting for us, they can get stressful, and the best has yet to come!
Stay tuned for more info as we travel along this road!
You can also visit our fundraising page @ VaughtAdoptionFundraisers.Blogspot.com
We both had always dreamed of having two children, neither of us were only children and we knew we wanted our children to have each other. We wanted to start having children early so that we could have them young, and have them close together, with the thought of having two or three. Well, little did we know that one pregnancy was all my body would tolerate, and there were even questions during my pregnancy about whether it was going to be able to handle that! Once I delivered Ri, my blood pressure went up and stayed there..even til now! But that wasn't the biggest problem..during a routine check up with my cardiologist, she took a picture of my heart to have before another pregnancy just to have an idea of what it looked like before an additional pregnancy. She thought my blood pressure was good to go and saw no reason to not have another biological child. So I set up to have my IUD removed and everything! We were so excited! It was right before Ri was turning 1, things were working out just how we wanted! Well about three days after my appointment, I got a call from my doctor. During the "routine" ultrasound, they found a dilation (enlargement) in a part of my pulmonary artery, which could possibly be an aneurysm, and she wanted me to have an MRI the next week to have it checked. So, after a few days of trying to figure out exactly what that meant, I had the test done. Results : Confirmation of a pulmonary artery aneurysm. Crazy, right? Do you know how common this is? IT'S NOT! So, after that appointment, I had it checked every 3 months until just recently when we have moved to every 6 months. At this point, it's not gotten any bigger, but the odds of it tolerating a pregnancy are slim. So, I have been strongly advised to NOT get pregnant because the outcome could be bad. It would do our family no good to attempt it and end up with no mommy. It isn't worth the risk. My family I have now means WAY too much to me. :)
So, with all of that said, we just cannot settle with Riley being an only child. We have always had the dreams of having at least two children, and we will not settle for less. Just because we cannot have another biological child does NOT mean we cannot be a mommy, daddy, and brother to another sweet baby. While in most cases, babies are born from our belly, it does not mean a baby can't be born in our heart. In this case, for us, that's where we will start. We had talked about this decision over a period of 2 years now, and we are at the point in our life where we are ready to jump! So, here we are, in the process, and we could not be any more excited. Riley is excited to have a brother or sister (even though he says he wants a sister and if he gets a brother he will name him sister). We are blessed beyond words to have been able to have one biological child of our own, we could not be any more thankful for that. And now for our number two, the biological aspect does not matter. The baby that is meant for us will be "ours" regardless of where he/she comes from!
So, there ya go. That's our story. Now you know "why" we chose what we did. We have been truly blessed to be supported by such amazing family, friends, people we work with, people we haven't talked to since high school, family friends, and then some people we don't know! It is truly such an amazing blessing to have so many people behind us. Words cannot express the feeling that gives us! So, thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you who have helped us at some point, thought about us, spread the word for us, and mostly just prayed for us. Keep it up! We are still very early in the process and while these days are exciting for us, they can get stressful, and the best has yet to come!
Stay tuned for more info as we travel along this road!
You can also visit our fundraising page @ VaughtAdoptionFundraisers.Blogspot.com
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