So it’s Sunday night and I realized that I didn’t update on Thursday as promised….but y’all can forgive me right? ha! It’s tough to get back in the swing of blogging when it’s been a little *ahem* non-existent as of late. Anyways….I thought I’d share an FAQ post about our adoption so here it gooooes:
Q:Where are you adopting from
A: South Africa!
Q:When did you start the process
A: I first called an adoption agency in 2008 after we had our third baby and learned a little bit about adoption in Canada. We then reached out to some friends who were also adopting and heard a bit about their stories and got some advice. We took our first training course in January 2009 and our dossier (aka: a boat load of paperwork) hit the South African shore line in January 2014. So our dossier took us 5 years and one more baby girl to complete.
Q: Weren’t you adopting from Kenya?
A: Yes! We were…. However, after being in the program we were encouraged to move over to the South AFrican program as Kenya became an unstable country due to social issues that they are still fighting today. Adoptions have completely slowed in the country and we are burdened daily for this beautiful place and still follow some blogs of a few baby homes….
Q: Are you getting a boy or a girl?
A: We haven’t specified and will be just as surprised as all of you when we find out! We are so excited and a few kids have voiced some opinions…one specific girl has made it known to us that she KNOWS what we are having. haha. It’s funny.
Q:How old will your baby be?
A: Our dossier has specified for a child under 2…children from South Africa are generally between 12 months and 24 months old at the time of referral.
Q: What’s a referral?
A: When you are matched with a child a referral can be given once the countries both consent to the adoption. We will get a phone call from our agency….a much anticipated phone call. If you’ve been with me at all over the past year, you may have noticed I glance at my phone…willing it to ring. Praying it will ring. And it will. I know it will.
Q: What will you do when you get your referral!?
A: Faint.
Q:What did you mean by, “We feel we are close.” in your last post?
A: I mean just that. I have no basis for my feeling….but when I lay my head down at night and dream of that sweet face it feels so real and so close that I can almost smell the salty South African air. And in case you’re wondering, in my dreams those big eyes are just beautiful <3
These are just some of the questions we receive when we tell people we’re adopting or sometimes we get emails with questions. We love it! Feel free to ask any other questions for a future FAQ post either in the comment section below or by contacting us through our contact page!
As always, Thanks for being here and keeping up with this topsy turvy journey. We love you all!