The earth and our plans have shifted

Since we moved to Oklahoma, we have periodically experienced weak earthquakes. The earthquakes we experienced in Oklahoma in the past were typically nothing more than a loud boom, like a small bomb being detonated (or for my high school friends, like a Tuesday afternoon around Dahlgren). Oklahoma has experienced an unusual surge of earthquakes recently, called a swarm. The weekend of the 30th, I was awakened by two mild earthquakes, which shook the bed like the Magic Fingers beds of 70s and 80s hotel rooms. It was like a kiddie carnival ride, so I noted the time and went back to sleep. Around 2:15 am this Friday night, I woke to use the restroom. When I reached the bathroom, I heard a low rumble and the whole house started shaking and rattling for 5-10 seconds. I watched the towels on the bar sway back and forth and had to grab the counter to steady myself. After the house stopped shaking, I whispered, "Whoa" to myself and returned to bed. Craig slept through it. I seem to notice the earthquakes more than he does. In the morning, I learned that we had experienced a 4.7 earthquake, large by Oklahoma standards.
Saturday night, I had fallen asleep in the living room and Craig had gone to bed. Around 10:55, I awoke to the house shaking wildly. It started slowly and the earth rumbled loudly. The rattling then increased and I was immediately aware that we were having an earthquake, much bigger than we had ever experienced. However, I felt paralyzed and dumbfounded. All I could do was sit on the couch and look around. I then wondered to myself, "When is this going to stop? Why isn't this stopping?" Nothing was broken and the house is fine. However, the house shook enough that the knob rattled off the back door lock. After about 30 seconds of shaking (which seemed like an eternity), I jumped off the couch, my heart pounding and my legs shaking, and ran to the bedroom to check on Craig and Addie. I breathlessly exclaimed, "Tell me you felt that!" He seemed unphased, said it was "weird," and quickly fell asleep. I remained awake for another two hours. My attempts at sleep were jostled by two aftershocks.

Much like the earth shifted, so have our adoption plans (how is that for a segue?). We have officially decided to pursue the domestic adoption. The prospect of having a baby in early 2012 is just too tempting. This is the new process:

1. Send contract to IFS. Revise home study to reflect domestic adoption.
2. Work on profile book, similar to this one. Send profile book narrative and pictures to IFS for editing and assembly. Send 2nd payment.
3. Profile book is sent to us for approval. Once approved, we are ready to go.
4. Receive birth mom profiles, complete with medical history, recent blood tests, projected living expenses, and ultrasound pictures (squee!)
5. Accept or reject birth mom profiles. If we accept, our profile book is sent to the birth mom. If we reject, we go back to #4.
6. Birth mom reads our profile book and accepts or rejects. We may speak with the birth mom in a phone conference.
7. If selected, we send another payment (and living expenses) and wait for baby to be born (no more than a 3 month wait).
8. Travel to birth mom's state to pick up the baby and go to court. Send final payment.
9. Come home with a newborn.

Pretty exciting, huh?
We wanted to get working on this quickly. This weekend, we signed and notarized our new contract and contacted our new (and very much improved) home study worker about making the changes (she gladly agreed). Then we began the frustrating task of creating the profile book. Craig wanted to head this effort, given his way with words and his salesmanship abilities. With all of the clerical and logistics required of the adoption thus far, this was finally Craig's time to shine. The profile book must include a letter to the birth mother, descriptions about us and our family, descriptions about our life and our home, our parenting styles, and many, many pictures. We decided to write each other's descriptions (so, it is Craig according to Cyndi and Cyndi according to Craig) so that we do not sound like we are boasting about ourselves too much. I also asked Craig if we could include "Five Fun Facts" about each other. I felt that it would help our profile book stand out more and make us more memorable. Plus, everyone loves bullet points. Craig argued and complained. He was not a fan of the idea, but ultimately saw my side of things and yielded. With this profile book, we are basically competing against other potential adoptive parents and we need something to make us stand out from the rest. The narrative of our profile book and personal story is very personal, so I won't post it here, but here are our "Five Fun Facts:"

Five Fun Facts about Craig:

1.     Craig has grown up with dogs and someday hopes to train rescue and service dogs.

2.     Craig spent four years working with the Big Brothers program in Virginia.

3.     Craig has a movie quote or song lyric that will fit almost any situation.

4.     Craig likes to collect vintage toys, electronics and cars.

5.     Craig enjoys, cooking, grilling and baking. He can make one of the best cheesecakes around.

Five Fun Facts about Cyndi:

1.     During school, Cyndi was involved in tri-county choir and played the flute and piccolo. She still remembers how to play and how to sing, but currently only holds concerts in her car.

2.     Cyndi loves to ice skate, but does not skate well. She has mastered the art of smiling after the occasional fall on the ice.

3.     Cyndi loves to cook and bake. Snickerdoodles and fudge are some of her family’s favorites.

4.     Cyndi is working on her sculpting abilities and has made figurines, Christmas ornaments, and pendants out of polymer clay.

5.     Cyndi has lived in eight states and 10 different cities. She saw every new school, home, and cross-country trip as an adventure. She still loves to travel and wishes she could see the world more. 

I am preparing myself emotionally for this journey. I know that it will likely entail some inevitable rejection. Not every birth mom is going to love us and it is possible that we may choose several birth moms, who will ultimately reject us. It is also possible that we will be matched right away. Regardless, it is going to be stressful. The financial aspect is becoming a little less frightening, thanks to the very helpful support from my family and now a generous donation from Craig's family. We are truly blessed to be surrounded by so many people who want us to bring a baby home.

We are working on more fundraising efforts. More on that to come.