PART 1

***Update*** Since we currently have no children placed with us I am sharing the beginning of our journey. Believe it or not, it did NOT start with baby Felix. Some posts will be cross posted from my other blog.

December 2005

The beginning of our journey was amazing. I was extremely discouraged at the thought of international adoption only because of the paperwork. Even looking back now, I think the MAPP classes were easy compared to the amount of paperwork there was to fill out for our home study. We were certified in the county we live in. The class was 30 hours (1x a week, 3 hours, 10 weeks) We started in the beginning of April 2005 and finished in June. I had a hard time relating to many of the discussions due to the fact that (in MY opinion) they were geared towards older children...and that's not what we had requested. I learned a lot about myself and what, I thought, I could handle. About 8 weeks after our classes were complete our certification came in the mail (August). Due to the statistic numbers, we were told that we would be waiting a while before a baby or toddler could become available. This is not a risk we were willing to take. I asked around and found out that a neighboring county had an endless amount of babies and not enough homes willing to take them. We began switching our certification over in September. I was naive enough to think that even during our wait we would get a call. I guess I was just hopeful. The new paperwork was complete after another round of home visits and questions. We got another certification (a card with our names on it stating we are foster parents for ********** county) in the mail mid December. Literally, 4 days later we got a call. I remember pulling in the driveway and my husband telling me to listen to the answering machine. It was a caseworker calling to see if we were willing to take a 4 month old baby boy. He had been in care for 2 months in another foster home. His current foster mother was closing the home and looking to remove both boys placed there. A 4 month old (Baby 'C') and a 9 month old (J). I remember being in awe and having NO questions to ask. I was told that Baby 'C' was in care due to the fact that someone saw him being shaken. I asked if there was any medical problems and was told 'none known'. I picked him up the next day. His foster parents were wonderful. They filled me in on his schedule and told me his likes and dislikes but then I was on my own. I remember stopping at the store to pick up some diapers and a bouncy seat. Carrying this child into the store I was afraid I'd be stopped. I had NOTHING stating that he was now in my care. He slept until we hit the baby department then he woke up and just watched me. His GORGEOUS blue eyes told me I was in for the 'walk' of a lifetime.