As I started writing about in my last post, adoption is an extremely emotional process for all involved. Adoptive parents often find themselves in a surprising range of emotions throughout the adoption process, and the intensity, variety and rapid change of emotions often catches adoptive parents off guard.

The emotions involved with adoption are often complicated and even conflicting, which make them that much more complicated and hard to deal with and figure out.

I hope that... more

Today I am going to start writing about the feelings of adoption, for the adoptive parents. (There are of course also many feelings involved in adoption for the adoptees, birth parents and others involved which are equally as important if not more so, but since I am an adoptive parent, I will write about what I know).

In adoption email groups, forums, books and discussions, we often hear adoption described as an "emotional roller coaster". I cannot tell you how many times I... more

Here are more tips on getting your dossier done as quickly as possibly.

- Don't be overwhelmed. It may seem like a lot of paperwork to get your dossier done, but many adoptive parents complete their dossiers quickly and fairly easily.

- When you drop off a request for a document for your dossier, such as a medical letter or police clearance letter, have a cover letter with your pertinent information and stating that the letter is needed for an adoption. Include a sample or letter ready to go onto letterhead and be signed if possible. Ask if you can wait while it is prepared. If that is not possible, ask when it will be done.

- If you have documents that need to be authenticated... more

In my last post I started discussing tips on how to get your adoption done as quickly as possible. In this post, I am going to give some specific advice on getting your dossier done as quickly as possible.

For folks who are not quite sure what a dossier is, your dossier is the documents that are required by the government of the country you are adopting from, when you are adopting... more

Here are some more tips on getting your adoption process to move along as quickly as possible.

- Use Fedex or something similar to send important documents. This way you can use tracking number to verify that packages were received, instead of having to check in with your agency every time you send them something. (And, it is faster to use Fedex or something similar than it is to use regular mail).

- Make color copies of everything and keep yourself a set. If something is lost or needs to be redone, it is so much easier to have that accomplished if you already have a color copy.

- Be professional. Every time we send paperwork to our agency, to immigration, to the Secretary... more

We have a running joke around here. It usually starts with us talking to someone about adoption, and us trying to answer their questions. Inevitably, somewhere along the line, the person will ask, "Doesn't it take a long time to adopt?" to which Josh always replies, "Not if you are my wife."

Now I certainly do not have any magic powers to speed up the wheels of bureaucracy, however I do have quite a few tips on getting your adoption completed as quickly as is possible. I will share my tips as we go through this adoption process. I do also understand that not everyone is... more

I am a nut when it comes to naming our kids. I have to choose a name right away. For me, it is just an important part of bonding with my child to be, whether that child is coming through birth to me or adoption.

Within weeks of getting a positive pregnancy test I would be handing Josh lists of baby names and asking his advice. Within weeks of accepting a referral or choosing a waiting child I would present him again with "what do you think about this name?" types of questions. Josh is a pain in the butt when it comes to choosing names. He doesn't like anything "fancy" or "weird". He doesn't like anything that sounds "made up" and he doesn't like anything that is spelled unusual (unless... more

Within minutes of deciding that Josh and I did indeed both want to adopt Solomon, I had emailed Adoption Advocates International (who we used to adopt our Belane and highly recommend), and let them know that we wanted him! They were already aware that we were considering adopting him because we had requested his file and an updated medical report. I got an email back almost right away saying that if we could get our paperwork updated quickly, that they would put him on "unofficial hold" for us.

Well, "quickly" is my middle name when it comes to doing adoption paperwork. I got right on the phone with our homestudy agency and... more

After coming to the realization that Solomon was indeed meant to be with us, I had a lot of conflicting emotions. When I saw new pictures of him from people who traveled to AHOPE or heard little udpates on how he was doing, my heart soared.

And yet at the same time, I was really nervous. For one, I was worried that Josh would not agree that we should adopt him. Deciding to adopt Belane was very emotionally difficult on both of us, and I did not want to go through that, or put Josh through that again. However I did know that there was at least a possibility that he would be open to the idea, because a few months earlier he had knocked my proverbial socks off when he told me that HE... more

Yes, the rumors are true. We are adopting again! :) I have been sharing our story of how this all came to be, and in my last post I explained how we got reconnected with our little Solomon, who we first met while in Ethiopia last fall.

Upon learning that Solomon was still available for adoption, I did have not have that overwhelming "this is your child" feeling right away like I did with Belane. It was more like a quiet, yet persistent thought and voice in my head, that gradually grew louder and harder to ignore.

My first... more