To make it all worse, I start obsessing about making the "right" decision. AS if we'll get the WRONG child if I choose the WRONG agency. How weird is that? David thinks I have OCD...because I have obsessive thoughts about these things. I seriously lose sleep and get into this strange thought patterns. What's that about? Misplaced anxiety? Hmmmm.
Well, please just pray that we'll have clarity about what to do. I don't think either agency would be a bad choice. But I do think it's a very important part of the process. I get very excited about having a little girl.. a 3 or 4 year old...running around this place. I was eyeing the playground on my walk by the lake yesterday. How fun to have a little person to take to the playground. To walk to school. I see photos of these kids and long to provide love to a child who's just waiting in the orphanage for her family to come and take her home.
IN the meantime, we treat our cat like our child. Which is why we need a child, because our cat is becoming very, very spoiled. We worry about what she'll do when we have another being to take care of and she's not the center of attention. Here's photo of her favorite sleeping spot: on David's legs. She's obsessed with his legs. If he's not sitting on the couch with his feet on the coffee table, she will cry until he sits down. Then she'll hop up on his legs and settle in. I don't get it, because his legs aren't that soft. I will try to lure her with a perfect spot on my lap....but she'll just turn up her nose and jump on David's legs.
2 comments:
Honestly, if you were adopting an infant, I would say go for Gladney. I get that wait. WHFC wait for infants is 15-18 months right now and Glandeys is like 5 months or something crazy.
But since you are wanting to adopt a toddler aged girl (2-4) I would DEFINITELY stay stick with WH. Your wait will be no more than 6 months and the process with WH will be smooth, glitch-free and full of information. Literally, FULL of information about your child. They provide more info about children's history and family members than any other agency I;ve seen, which is SO incredibly valuable. They have mandatory birth-family visits where you can record and take pictures of actual living relatives for you child and help to sponsor any remaining siblings or cousins in the WHFC sponsorship program.
Plus, the families adoption through WHFC are the best! We have a yahoo group and support each other and laugh/cry together throughout the process. I've made some life-long friends.
The staff is VERY quick on communication and extremely knowledgeable about the process, especially since a SW accompanies each travel group of families.
Oh, and they tell you which families are next on the list, which is so helpful for us as we gauge how much longer we have until referral. And they strictly follow the list, they don't do "matching meetings" to match kids with families like Gladney and other agencies do. It seems like a good plan, but it ends up being incredibly chaotic with some families waiting only weeks and others waiting months. It also makes the families feel like they have to "win-over" their social workers and don't feel like they can ask all the questions they want to ask in fear of pissing them off. You see what I'm saying?
Go with WHFC, you wait will not be very long at all, and they really do specialize in slightly older kids, toddlers and sibling groups.
Good luck with your decision. Gladney is a GREAT agency, don't get me wrong, but in comparison with WHFC and all the great things they do, well, there's no comparison in my opinion.
:) Jamie
HI this is another Jamie and I actually found your blog from FULLY OPERATIONAL BATTLE STATION - JAMIE ....
I skimmed through your blog and found the adoption title and started to read.
Our youngest son is adopted domestically and we are now in the process of adopting a little boy from Haiti - check out - www.savingdowensky.com
I hope that you develop a peace about which agency to go through - I know how it feels to always wonder if you are making the right decisions. I dealt with that tons with our first adoption. I always thought I was making the wrong choice and then would MISS our child. My husband always reassured me that we would not MISS our child!
I look forward to following your journey and seeing how it all turns out!
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