Home Sweet Home Visit

Today was home visit day!!!  After days of cleaning, shouting expletives that our house is unlivable, and then cleaning some more, I toned it down and relaxed  (somewhat).  It was actually one of the easiest parts of this whole journey.  I had heard this, but refused to believe it.  In my head it was going to be full of white gloves swiping my blinds and checking the date on all my food in the fridge and the pantry.  Well....not so much! :)  It was actually very relaxed and there was a checklist that was pretty easy to meet.  We did need a larger fire extinguisher and bought a few safety/baby-proof items to meet some other items, but we had everything else and it was a smooth walk-through.  So now I can stop sweating....and cleaning the crevices between the hardwood planks....yeah I think I have actually set a record for crazy things people clean.  I won't even mention that I cleaned the vacuum.   (Crossed out since I said I wouldn't mention it...then did anyway)

So what's next?  Well we have to be officially approved through our agency, which hopefully will come in the matter of a couple of weeks or so.  Basically we hope to be officially a waiting family by Christmas.  What a great gift huh?  Very excited to be done with paperwork for a while! :)  Now I am going to start our nursery.  We want to get geared up so if a baby were to pop up quickly, then we would be ready to bring it home and not have to stress over a crib or a carseat.  People have been awesome to offer to do showers for us, so we will save some things for those celebrations, but some of the critical pieces we may get.  After all, if we get a baby soon, we will need to get it home and a carseat is essential to that :)  But I am so blessed to have friends and family offer to throw showers.  It makes my heart melt to think about me sitting there with a cute cake and cute baby gifts.  I have had a LONG 4 years to dream about that party, so I will be a very happy and thankful participant.  In fact, I think I would do all the hard work so others could enjoy it.  I see this all as a celebration for everyone, because so many people are helping us make this possible.

A lot of people have asked what I would do if we got pregnant (be it a miracle). I have actually gotten this question a lot. Like probably from just about everyone I have talked too. Well if we did, then awesome. Can't imagine how overjoyed we would be. But it wouldn't change this adoption journey. We would still adopt, because after 4 years of infertility, I know God led me on this journey for a reason. And while I do not foresee us being one of those fairy tales that as soon as you start to adopt you get pregnant, if it did happen, then our family would just expand in two ways.  I am happy with our decision to adopt and want more than one child.  So no matter how babies find their way to us, they are welcome in our home, be it through our biological birth and adoption or just adoption.  So hopefully that answers that and explains that I am ecstatic over either method of family expansion.  Infertility sucks.  Plain and simple.  But the road it has taken me down has turned out to be pretty amazing and adoption has been even more awesome, which is a direct link to it having God's hand in it.  I find myself talking about it to anyone who will listen :)  So Sorry if you have not wanted to hear as much info as I have thrown at you haha!  Just give me a cookie and tell me to pipe down :)

And in other news.... 29 days until CHRISTMAS!!! Whoop Whoop!!  You should all know Baby Sims (I must come up with a better nickname...I am going with cupcake)...Baby Cupcake got TWO gifts already.  Yep...already spoiled and we haven't even seen or met cupcake.  One was from Michael's Mawmaw.  The cutest burp cloth you have ever seen!  Love love love it!  The other was from mommy and daddy and was a cute little ride on turtle that lights up and plays music.  I found it on Black Friday and could not stop thinking about it, so I had to go back and get it.  We also have 3 boxes of Twinkies so when Cupcake gets older, they too will know the joy of the golden cake of goodness.  Provided I don't eat them all when we find out we are matched and I stress eat from that day forward :) ...  or stress eat up until the SEC Championsip game...or after leading up to the National Championship.....(I am thinking I need to go buy more now...)

Well I need to get to bed.  It is a long work week this week after the holidays and I am already beat.  I hope you guys are having a great week.  I love ya'll and thank you for all the prayers and the long talks you have let me have with you about all this. 

Oh...and CM Punk!  I don't really have anything to add about him but since I mention wrestling in like every blog post....I figured it was the right thing to do to just shout his name or something lol!

Until next time :)
Peace, Love, and Fat-Free Golden Cakes from Heaven...yeah Twinkies

Fear and Interviewing in Nash-vegas....And "I-Wonder"Land

So for those that saw my Facebook post, the interviews went well.  Nervousness and fear were quickly replaced with relief and excitement.  We have our home visit this Friday.  (Let the cleaning commence!)  Not going to lie, that does make me nervous, but I think everything does and will until we are approved and officially waiting.  Seems so crazy to be so excited about getting approved to wait doesn't it?  But I can tell you I don't think there will be any sweeter word than Approved....well other than matched! :)

I think about what is going to happen the day we get a call that a birthmom wants to meet us or that there is a baby for us.  It brings tears to my eyes when I try and talk about it, because it is just a flood of emotion.  It's a bright light at the end of what has been a long, dark, and winding tunnel.  And when I think about that, I think about our birthmom.  She's out there right now.  Maybe she already has that little baby growing inside her or maybe that is yet to come.  I wonder if she is ok.  I wonder if she is taking care of herself or has someone to help her through all this.  I wonder what she will think of us when she meets us.  I wonder if I will ever be able to find the words to tell how much I love her and what she is doing for my family.  I wonder, if she is already pregnant, if she is thinking about me.  Wondering what I will be like.  I wonder if we have anything in common.  Does she like the same music I do?  Does she love sports as much as me?  Does she love beach and the way the sand feels?  Does she love riding with the windows down in the car and big sunglasses on like I do?  Does she love the smell of fresh baked cookies or vanilla cupcakes?  Does she love chocolate?  I know it sounds crazy to wonder all these things and people probably wonder why I care.  Well I care because her life is now mine too.  I have heard people say that when you have children with someone, such as  your husband, you are connected to that person forever.  Well I see this as the same.  I don't know how open or what type of relationship we will have, but I do know we are forever connected.  My life is forever changed, because this person made a decision to make an adoption plan for her and our child.  So my life and future are being shaped by someone I have never met.  So I absolutely care about everything she wants to tell me.  When that little baby grows up and looks at me and says, "Mom, do you think my birthmom loves Christmas and Christmas cookies as much as you?"  My heart with overflow if I can answer, "Yes sweetheart.  I know she does."  It may seem like such a small thing, but it is all those small things that add up to something so big.

Of course I may not know all things and that's ok.  If we don't have that open of a relationship, then we don't and I respect that as well.  Part of loving my children is loving and respecting their birthmothers and their wishes.  Adoption is about love and respect.  It's not an easy road, but in life, most easy roads don't tend to lead me to places I want to be.  Hard roads and rocky roads usually lead to greater things and teach me how strong I can be.  I have learned that I can land on my feet more times than I thought I could.  I have learned that I am much stronger than I ever imagined.  And I have learned my journey is not over.  I have a lifetime of sacrifice and excitement ahead of me with these kiddos that I haven't met yet.  But even though I haven't met them, as I sit here with tears rolling down my cheeks thinking about all this, I can already tell you, I would do it all again if it meant getting me to the children God planned for me.  And if you have noticed, I say children in the plural sense.  Because I don't plan on being one and done.  I will walk through this journey again one day.  It won't be as hard as it was the first time since the fertility stuff won't be relived, but it will still be a journey with a different story.  Only next time, we won't be doing it as two people, but as 3....I like to think of it as Team Sims :)

Love you guys and thanks for taking time out of your day to read my rantings....sometimes I babble and I appreciate you always coming back for more :)

Peace, Love, and Calorie-Free Chocolate!

Misty

Fear, Love, and Politics

So tomorrow is the big day when we go for our individual interviews at the adoption agency.  After this, there is only one more step (the actual home visit) and given that we are approved, we will be officially waiting.  And I am not going to lie.....tomorrow scares me to death!  I have no idea why.  But it does!  I just want to do the best I can and keep the process moving.  So I think I am just scared that I will in some way slow it down or something.  All I know is tomorrow I will be sitting on pins and needles all day waiting to leave for Nashville.  I spent 45 minutes deciding what to wear! :)

Another thing on my mind today was Veteran's Day.  I am so thankful for all those that serve so that I can be free and live in a country that allows me to expand my family through adoption, and one that allows birth mothers who can't parent their children to choose adoption.  I can link everything I do and every choice I can make back to living in this amazing country and without those men and women in uniform, I would not have those things.  I thank God for them every night and pray for their protection.  I get the honor of working along side them everyday in the job I am currently in and I have learned so much.  Their stories and hearts leave me in amazement.  I envy their patience and selflessness.  They are not just my coworkers, not just my friends, but true heroes.  I hope they all had an amazing day. 

And another thing that happened today was it was my sweet mother-in-law's birthday!  Happy birthday!!!  We love you and hope you had an amazing day.  We will see you in a few days!  Her birthday made me think about my own mom.  I spent all day Saturday working the garage sale with her and have to look back and laugh.  We are so much alike it is funny.  Seems like the more we say we won't be like our parents when we are younger, the more we turn out like them when we are older.  But I can say that is not a bad thing.  We are alike in many ways, but different in many as well.  One thing my parents taught me was to be myself and that it was ok to be different and stand out from the crowd.  So I embrace the differences, but cherish the likenesses.  We love each other more than anything, and annoy the mess out of each other sometimes too.  And you want to know a secret? I wouldn't have it any other way.  I have always considered her my best friend, even in times when I, myself, have not been a very good friend.  But regardless she is there for me and I wouldn't trade anything for that.  And not to leave out my dad, where I find myself different from my mom....I often find myself being like my dad.  I like to think of it is as the perfect blend...the perfect Starbucks cup of coffee :)  The only thing I am more thankful for than being able to call them mom and dad, is that my children will call them grandma and grandpa (or whatever they want to be called). 

While on the topic of my future children, I did something today that I had never done before.  I wrote my Senator.  Yep...sure did.  Ok why you ask?  See there is an adoption tax credit.  Adoptive families can claim this on their taxes and get some relief from the high adoption costs.  The current credit will expire on Dec 31, 2012.  There was an act started by Rep. Bruce Braley of Iowa that would set the adoption tax credit at $13,360 and make it refundable and permanent.  Many representatives are advocates of this bill, including TN's Steve Cohen.  There is a Senate bill as well to make the adoption credit refundable.  TN is not yet on board with this one, so I wrote Sen Corker and pled my case. (And will write the rest of the Congressman, both House and Senate).  I urge you to do the same.  If this were to pass, adoption would become more affordable to so many.  If it does not pass, and the current one expires, the credit could drop down to $6,000 and not be available to all families.  The new bills will make it available to all, no mattered what form of adoption (i.e. adoption through foster care, domestic, private, etc.).  It will also give families who adopt special needs children a flat tax credit, meaning they get the maximum without making them document their expenses, since they sometimes incur more expenses post-adoption.  Go here if you would like to learn more or find out who from your state you need to write: http://adoptiontaxcredit.org/ .  Remember - your voice counts and they are there to hear your voice.  Pray for them and that the right choice is made to help families come together.  The last thing we want is for financial burdens to cause families to not be formed and kids lives to be effected. 

Ok it is Monday and WWE Raw is on...so I think I hear John Cena's music, which tends to mean CM Punk is not far behind :)

Love you guys and pray I manage to stay calm and get through the interview ok.  Oh and I have to go get my bridesmaids dress this week.  I plan on taking a picture in it as my "before" picture and then living on the treadmill and the weights for the next 4 months...and hopefully will actually be able to post an "after" picture. :)  So pray I can restrain from eating a tub of ice cream while enduring the stress of the holidays!

Peace, Love, & Fat-Free Skittles :)

Repeat: Money-Money-Mooooneeey ... and Interviews!

One more time with the theme being the Million Dollar Man's theme music, but today was all about raising money with our yard sale/bake sale/hotdog sale.  While the hot dogs didn't fly out the door, everything else sure did.  I cannot thank you all enough for the kind donations for items that we could sell.  I could not believe the outpour of items that we got, and man did people flip over them.  It  was insane!  People were here before 6:30 am!  And only 1 person left without an item (or several) in hand.  Being that we don't really live in a high traffic area for yard sales, I was so pleased with the turn out.  I prayed so hard last night and all this morning that we would have a great crowd, and all I can say is God is an awesome God! :) Between sales and donations from some very amazing friends, we raised over $1700!!!!!  Yes you read that correctly!  I counted it 4 times to be sure!  That is 10% of the amount we are trying to raise....10-STINKIN-PERCENT!!  That is past amazing!  That is only one thing and it's a God sent miracle through family, friends, and some kind strangers.  I had a garage you couldn't walk through this morning and this afternoon....it was almost cleared.  We still have some really good stuff left, so we may have another sale in the spring time either here or maybe at Michael's family's area, but I still can't even wrap my mind around how well things went.  Thank you Michelle & Steve, Crissy, Casey, Robby, Drew, Mrs. Patti, Tara, Tami, Carrie, Drew, my Parents, Mrs. Francis, and friends/family of all these people who donated money or items to us, and to all you awesome folks who spread the word on Facebook and to your friends and family, as well as sent up prayers.  I wish I could say thank you enough times....but I just could never say it enough to truly express how thankful I am.  I think I cried for about an hour tonight.  A week ago I was so scared about the money, but 10% toward the goal has lessened that fear so much.  I know I still have quite a way to go with about $15,300 more to try and raise to cover everything, but I just have faith that it will happen.  We may not have these results everytime, but every little piece chips away that total and gets our little peanut a little closer to us!

So now on to progress news for the home study.  What is happening now?  Well we officially submitted the packet and it was received by our agency last Thursday.  Friday they called to schedule our individual interviews.  Those are basically to get to know us and the things about us that could be potential strong points to match us (or steer us away) from certain birthmoms.  They work hard to not put your profile out to birthmoms whose feelings or beliefs strongly conflict with ours.  For instance, say the birthmom isn't a fan of a certain thing, like maybe she is Jewish and doesn't want her child raised in a non-Jewish home.  Well we wouldn't be a good fit for her, so they probably would not show her our profile, unless that was something either us or her were willing to give on.  If that makes sense.  The interviews make me a little nervous!  But I love our social worker so much, so I think that will make it much more relaxed.  After this, they come to our house and talk to us together and do the official home visit.  I BEG you to please pray for us through these next few steps.  These are were they are heavily reviewing both us, our home, and our paperwork.  Pray that not only is everything in order, but that it goes smoothly and quickly.  I am ready to be officially waiting!  And that will happen when this is all approved.  We are literally just a few weeks away from being a "waiting family" if all goes well.  I am beyond over the moon...I am over Saturn! :)  When we are official, birthmoms can start looking at us!  Ahhhh!!!  I am sure I will be a wreck and venting on here quite a bit, so I thank you in advance for putting up with me. 

One exciting thing I did do recently was pick out my nursery furniture.  I am in love with it and can't wait to get it.  I would also like to express my love for the sweet lady at All About Baby.  When she found out we were adopting, she looked so sweetly at me and said I know how expensive it is and I want to help.  She offered us a discount on the furniture and said she would make bedding as affordable as she could.  This lady didn't know me at all and opened up her heart and her pocketbook basically because this is her business that she uses to make a living.  Just made my heart sing and my eyes well up with tears that people can be such dolls.  Needless to say if I can at all afford to do it, I will buy those things from her and anything else I can.  God has worked through her to bless me, and I will bless her back as much as I can.  Below is the picture of it.  I love it because it will grow with the baby and actually not look like too much of a little baby room as the grow up and use it as a full size bed.

 

 

Well that's about it...well not really.  I still want to talk cookbooks and my new candles that I hope will turn out great....and thank everyone again, but I am beat.  Don't mind telling you that staying up until nearly midnight and then getting up before 5am and staying on my feet all day move beds, tables, mattresses, and working the sale/baking/cooking hot dogs wore me out!!  Michael, Hef and Coco are all already snoring beside me :)  My sweet little family is just dog tired!  So I am cutting it off and going to curl up beside them and say many many prayers of thanks for the miracle that happened today.  I love you all so much and I thank you from the tippy toppy to the very bottom of my heart for it all.

 

Hugs, Kisses, & Skittles (because they are awesome!)

Misty



Walk...walk..walk it out, School's Out For Summer & Money, Money, Money, MON-EY

Yeah so I channeled a little UNK and my love for Alice Cooper a little in that title :)  But class is officially over!  Home study class that is!  So excited to be done.  Our group was awesome though.  We laughed, we cried, and we talked about all the crazy comments/questions we get as adoptive parents.  (Believe me there are a lot!  I need to do a blog just about those so you can laugh)  But this past Thursday we wrapped up what had been 5 weeks of traveling back and forth to Nashville for class every week.  So what is next?  Well we have paper work to complete and send in.  As soon as that is done and they review it, we will do individual/get to know you interviews with our social worker.  This helps them learn who we are and be able to better understand our wants and needs and how that matches to potential birth mothers.  Then they will schedule our home visit and the joint interview.  Once that is done, they will approve (hopefully) all of our paperwork and the findings from the visit and we will be officially waiting.  I cannot express how happy I will be to get there.  Just to be done with our piece so that birth moms can start looking at our profile.  It is out of our hands at that point, but God has a plan at that point and I just settle back knowing he will get us where we need to be in His time.  Not to say I won't get ancy or impatient, but I am going to try my best to focus and keep praying for the patience.

Now for the walk.  November is adoption awareness month and today was the adoption awareness 5K in Nashville.  What a fun time!  Tonds of people came out to Centennial Park to show support and I met another adoptive mom named Misty who used my same agency.  Her son was 11 months old today.  (And adorable!)  I also met a few fellow wrestling fans who appreciated my CM Punk bow.  I had Miss Joy aka LuckECupcake to make me a bow with CM Punk on it (based on his history with adopted family members...again buy the DVD) and asked her to make it in purple, which was our agency's color for the walk.  She was so sweet to do so and it was a huge hit.  I sport a lot of her bows....for example:

From the walk today

 

 

From Wrestlemania in Miami & WWE.com & CM Punk's DVD (buy the DVD)

 

 

And lastly from Halloween as a Zombie...a little harder to see this one

 

 

 

So if you would like one of these awesome bows (and who wouldn't?) go check her out at:  http://www.luckycupcakehairclips.com/  She has flowers, bows, jewelry and just in general awesome stuff!  Highly recommend!

 

Ok now back to adoption related stuff! :)  The walk was awesome and the so were the people.  Wentdy's came and had chili and drinks for folks.  In case you aren't aware, Dave Thomas is a huge advocate of adoption and Wendy's will actually give employee's $10,000 to help them with their adoption.  Amazing stuff!  So if you choose fast food, I encourage you to choose Wendy's at least part of the time, because as odd as squareness in hamburgers can be, they are doing amazing things for families all over.  So have a frosty and tell them the zombie with the cool hairbow sent you :)

 

 

Now for the last thing in the title.  First, if you haven't, sing Money, Money, Money, Mon-ey, to the tune of the Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase's theme music.  Second, let's talk money.  I have had more support in fundraising than I could have ever imagined and thank you guys so much for everything you have done, from recipes to coming to the jewelry party.  Other's have asked how they can help.  I have done 3 things...well one was already done, and it was the link to the t-shirts, if you would like one.  The 2nd is to add the Donate button up at the top of the page.  This is a paypal link and it comes straight to us.  There is a fee on our side but it is small, something like 2%, so I am very thankful that paypal is so kind with very small fees.  But for those wanting to donate, that is an easy and safe option for you to do so and I thank you for even asking to do that.  The 3rd is that my mom and I are organizing a garage sale.  We are taking any and all donations and we are going to do a big sale, which will include selling hot dogs, chips and baked goods.  I figure if you don't want our junk, you might wanna eat :)  So if you have anything you are looking to get rid of, I will be happy to get rid of it for you.  Anything not sold will go straight to GoodWill to help out other folks.  If you know me, you know I am a huge advocate of GoodWill donations, so I want to make sure I help out as much as I can.  But if you have anything I am going to try and do collections this week, so let me know I will make sure we come get it from you.  We have done well and between savings and raising money we have made a huge dent to the tune of about $4,000.  We will still need to cover about $17,000 more in fees and a lawyer.  So we will still be working super hard, including trying my hand at starting a candle making business (here's to hoping I do not burn down the house and neighborhood).  So thank you guys for supporting us every step.  I could not even begin to have done what I have done without your love, support, and prayers. 

 

The prayers have done the most, because they have seen to it that money comes in.  How so?  Well we needed a little bit more money to cover the last few dollars to finish out the home study.  We had saved up some and sold our gold jewelry and sold some wreaths I made and t-shirts, but were coming up a couple of hundred dollars short.  I really just did not want to put this on the credit card, because of the fertility treatments already being on there, so I was just praying for a way to earn it or a whole lot of quarters in the couch cushions.  Out of absolutely no where, I got an unexpected spot bonus at work.  It was tiny to most people, but it along with some savings from my couponing equaled what I needed to make the payments due to finalize the home study process.  I cried my eyes out when I got the email,  Our God is truly awesome and hears all prayers.  Thank you all for your prayers that went up.  It was a light that I needed that day and I was so thankful. 

 

So things are hoppin' and happenin' in the Sims household and there are huge smiles on our faces.  Not only because we are almost done with the home study, but because the outpouring of love and support has been amazing from ya'll. People have thanked me over and over for telling my story, and I am thanking God for giving me the chance to tell people about adoption and how amazing it can be.  I have family and friends that are in my life because of adoption that I feel so inspired and blessed by the process already, that I can't imagine what it will feel like to add a member to my own household through the process.  Pretty cool stuff :)

 

Ok this has become way more of a novel tonight and there is some Alabama football I need to be watching!  I love ya'll.  Thank you for your prayers and know I pray for you all every night.  You are awesome and I cannot say that nor stress that enough!

 

Until next time.....love....hugs.....and hairbows :)