Still waiting for a match

Sorry I've been lacking with the blog lately...hard to find motivation with this long wait. I have a ton of topics I want to cover about adoption in general, however, it's one of those situations where I have so much to say I don't know where to start! And I also want to make sure I cover the topics accurately and the best I can. So, while I've started typing them several times...I have yet to post them :) Can you say I'm a little Type A?! ;)

On a side note...we have shown our profile to a mom and it is being shown without us knowing as well. So it can literally be any day!! Hopefully sooner rather than later.

Also, I know a few of you have told me you were having a hard time commenting on my posts...I'm not techy enough to figure this out so keep the encouraging emails coming!! :) I love them!!

Tasha

Weekend recap!!

On Saturday God’s Children Adoption Agency (our agency GCAA) had an adoption gathering. It was so fun! This was our second year attending it. It is so nice to see the Bismarck adoption community grow SO MUCH! There were lots of families there. Some who have adopted, are in the process, or want to adopt. It was so nice to catch up with the families we know and meeting new families. We even got to meet a family in the same boat as us: no kids, adoption is their first choice, and close to our age! It was so nice to chat with them and share our stories. Most families are or have adopted from Ethiopia, but there were a few domestic families there as well. It was fun to think that’s probably the last GCAA gathering we will attend without being parents! It’s fun to go, but also bittersweet when you see all those little adopted children running around…they are so so cute!! Makes us feel a little jealous and out of place, but it was so fun! We have been getting so much support from families in Bismarck who have adopted…always fun to see them and keep in touch!

Sunday was Mother’s Day…again bittersweet…hopefully my last one without being a mom :) I took my mom out to eat at Johnny Carinos on Friday after work and Sunday we cooked breakfast for her, gave her flowers, candy, and a card…and then cooked supper for her as well. She does so much for us throughout the year. She really is the most giving, selfless person I know. It was nice to spoil her for a day and give her a break from all the cooking she does!

All in all, it was a great weekend. We continue to wait to be matched. We are finding it even harder to be patient after that adoption gathering, but we are holding on and praying we’re matched soon!!!

Have a great week…

Tasha

Coffee fundraiser!!

Hey everyone!

So Chaske and I are looking to raise a little money for our adoption and we have set up an account with an online coffee company. They specialize in helping families raise money to fund their adoptions. Anyway, if you are interested in ordering some coffee from their website it’s:

www.justlovecoffee.com/faulks

It’s just like any other fundraiser…whatever you purchase a part of the proceeds go toward our adoption!! We are not much for fundraising, but we have a ton of friends and family that LOVE drinking coffee so we thought it would be a good one for us!! Also, there are some really unique kinds on there that you don’t find around here. You place your order, coffee gets shipped to us, and we deliver! That simple!

We so appreciate all your support in bringing our little one home!

Thank you,

Chaske & Tasha

Baby calves

I figured since there isn't any fun news with our adoption right now I would give my first picture post a shot :) This way I'm practiced up for when our little one comes!!

I love spring because it means baby calves!!! Aren't they sweet!?

Tasha

Ethiopia

Even though we are adopting domestic vs international…there is not a day that goes by that Ethiopia is not on my heart. My heart is constantly stirring over the need there is to give those orphans homes. Ethiopia is such a wonderful place with beautiful people. I know it will never be lifted off my heart until we adopt from there. I know everything happens for a reason and I really do feel the timing wasn’t right for us, but it’s still a struggle when your eyes are open to something so devastating. There are days I feel guilty. I feel we turned our backs on those children. We tried that process several times and every time we would start something would come up…so we took that as a sign. Maybe God knew we weren’t quite ready for it…He knows what we can handle :) However, we know “orphans are orphans” no matter where they are and we are so excited to bring out little one home.

It’s funny how much everything has changed since we started talking about adoption. We 100% were adopting from Ethiopia. We had no interest in domestic. Too many risks we thought. We didn’t want the birth mom to change her mind. Well, here we are…so excited to be matched with a birth mom. Sometimes we have to put aside what we “want” for what we are called to do :)

Have a great weekend....

Tasha

Waiting

So even though our social worker just received our profile books and hasn't had a chance to even distribute them to agencies around the country I can't help, but keep my phone close! Even though it's not even possible for us to be matched quite yet :) I so hope we get matched soon! While we wait we have been super busy...in the past couple weeks we have met with 3 landscaping clients, I have been designing a home for a private individual, we have both been working a ton of o.t., my mom and I painted the nursery, we're still working on new trim and chair rail for nursery, and we still have to clean carpets and build our addition! So...we are busy...but that's a good thing. Takes my mind off the wait! We would love to have a summer baby so we can enjoy exploring and a few little getaways with him/her!!

Fun fact: 60% of people have some sort of relationship with adoption. Whether they are adopted, have adopted, know somebody who is adopted, etc...how cool is that?!

Seems like everybody we have told lately that we are adopting has had a story of their own! The family we bought our rocking chair/ottoman from has a daughter that adopted a little girl from China and is working on her second adoption! Small world :)

Time to get back to the "To Do" list...I'm having writers block about blogging topics...I love reading other blogs, but feel like until things start getting exciting there's not much to say, but I will keep you all posted with any news! :)

Have a great weekend...

Tasha

A couple steps closer...

So, while we had our 3rd and final home study a few weeks ago…we were just informed our social worker has completed writing it up!! So, basically it’s finalized and officially done! :)

Also, we have put the finishing touches on our profile book! Now, all we have to do is print and send 15-20 copies to our social worker so she can distribute them to agencies for the birth mothers to look at! Basically, this is a book that tells “our story” to birth mothers…really all they have to go off of when picking a family. It took a lot of work and is a bit nerve-racking as it’s all that represents us to them!

Once we get those printed and shipped all we have to do is WAIT! Which, many say, is the hardest part…although I feel it’s a huge relief to have it out of our hands…whatever happens, happens! It’s all in God’s hands and up to the birth mothers to choose us :)

We are SO excited and anxious! We can’t wait to be matched!!

Other than wrapping up the adoption paperwork we have been very busy! We pretty much have everything bought for the nursery (thanks to my wonderful parents for helping with that!) we still have to paint and do a few updates to the room! On top of that…we are hoping to add a little addition onto our house and we have some landscaping jobs (about 5!) already lined up for spring/summer!!! Needless to say we are busy…however, I think it’s a blessing in disguise as it should help time move a little faster while we wait!

Many of you have asked what you can get for our little one…we do plan to have a baby shower once we bring our baby home! There are so many variables that we figured that's our safest bet...we have all the basics to start out :)

Until my next post…

Tasha

Our little trip!

After work today we are heading out to Medora to spend the night and Saturday morning we are heading to Billings for our friends' wedding! It will be nice to getaway for a few days after all the busy weeks we've had. Collecting paperwork, fingerprints, physicals, creating our profile book, working o.t. at work, etc.....to say the least...we are ready!!

It's fun to think this could be one of our last getaways...just us! We have been told by our social worker to stick close to home and not make any plans from here on out just in case we are matched with a birthmother and have to travel right away! That was music to our ears! We are more than happy to put everything else on hold :) Our profile books haven't been distributed yet, so we are safe for about another week...then it's all up in the air...love it!!

Hope you all have a great weekend! Again, thanks for all the encouraging words, phone calls, etc...we have received!! We are so excited!

Until my next post...

Tasha