Adoption Timeline

Hooray! It's officially official because it's not official until it's Facebook official! Am I right?!

We posted our announcement on Facebook on Saturday morning and were overwhelmed with the response and congratulations from family and friends!

This is also the first official post that many of you are seeing...feel free to take a look around at this amazing mess that has been two years in the making!

With the official announcement comes many questions about the process, what's next, and how to help. We are overjoyed to answer any and all questions that anyone has, but I'm going to try to lay out the next steps for ya'll.

Here goes nothing:

Loyer Adoption Timeline

November 2014- God answers our prayers for direction (Read about that here)

December 2014- Met with case worker at local agency...fell IN LOVE! (Read about that here)

January 19, 2015- Completed our Home Study:

On January 19, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, our case worker came to our house and met with us for five...yes five hours! She took a look at our home, which we spent days cleaning and organizing, asked us questions, and got to know us as a couple and as future parents. This is a BIG step ya'll, a HUGE part of the process. As in if we didn't pass this, it was all over, we would not be approved to adopt. Thankfully, we are awesome and were approved! Talk about a load off of our shoulders.

January 2015- Completed online classes for Foster Care License

We had to complete four online classes to be approved for our foster care license. (In the state of Illinois, we have to be approved as a foster care home because the adoption will not be final until 6 months after the baby is born). We laid in bed for several nights in a row listening and completing the online courses. They were really informative and helped answer some tough questions.

January 2015- Completed and Ordered our Adoption Profile books

Birth parents get to have the amazing opportunity to choose who they want to parent their child. So we have created a book, more like a scrapbook, that outlines who we are, what we believe in, and what opportunities we will give to a child. We had a great time making the book and it turned out perfectly! It will be up on the website for our agency soon so I'll make sure to share the link!

January 2015-Officially a waiting family

Now we wait...