"The Lion Sleeps Tonight"

Well Heather, you inspired me to post another blog entry (just by asking about it lol)!!! So...I asked for a crib for Christmas! Is that a little presumptuous?? I am so anxious, I just can't stand it! If it were up to me, I would already have that extra room cleaned out and set up as a nursery! Chase is probably surprised it hasn't been converted already! LOL! I sent a picture of the crib I wanted to my mom (hint hint) and then showed her the bedding I liked too...you know...just in case!!!

We had a meeting with Pastor Conn on Thursday (he's one of our adoption referrals). It was so great! He just asked us about our spirituality and what brought us to adoption. It was definitely what we needed. He let us talk...about everything...but mostly about how we feel about our faith and family. I felt so much closer to Chase after that meeting too.

A woman from church is doing foster to adopt and the little boy placed with her in October ended up going back to his bio family. These are the stories that make me nervous. I'm so scared it's going to happen to us. AAAAGGGHHHHH!!!! If I could have my own baby, this would be so much easier. Isn't that the phrase of the day!?!?! I'm trying not to obsess about this whole thing. I'm just going to go with the flow...get all of our licensing finished and then PATIENTLY wait!

So...we have a new addition to our family (no, not another dog)! A new car! I love it - it's a Nissan Murano! My car was finally starting to see the light and more problems than it was worth so I decided to start looking around. It was really quite spontaneous, but a wonderful decision - it was going to happen eventually! I also went shopping for dvd players for the car and ended up getting 2 screens that go on the back of the headrests. I know we usually only have Z in the back, but you never know!!! Honestly, I just like looking for reasons to shop...LOL!!! I also picked up a few more Christmas presents - but I feel like we still have a ton to get!!! :)

Til next time...

"Poker Face"

Well...we are right smack in the middle of our licensing process with Homes 4 Good! We have loved every minute of it and we are learning so much! On the other hand...I'm stressed to the max! I eat, drink and sleep adoption. I think about every possible scenario and it drives me crazy! I think I need to find a support group! I'm a girl of guarantees. I don't like the "what ifs" which really sucks because that seems to be what life is all about. LOL!

Anyway, we are finishing up our classes and all we have left are the inspections and a couple of loose ends! YAY! Once we have everything turned in, we'll schedule our home study! I'm so ready! WOOHOO!!!

We finally made it to one of Ryan's football games! It was sooo cold but it was a fantastic game! We also had a great time hanging out with Annie, Kasey and Zoren!

I want to send a big thank you to everyone who have made a donation to our adoption fund! I have a TON of bracelets left so pass the word around and email me with any questions! dodsonadoption@gmail.com


Wow...this was a really boring post! :) Hopefully I'll have something more interesting to post in the next few weeks!

"Into the Groove"

We decided to give this whole adopting through the state another try. We went to Homes 4 Good last night. It was referred to us by a coworker of mine. We really really liked it! I am still in love with ANLC (and we have all of our paperwork turned in, still waiting on the money, though), but I felt very comfortable with this new place. The guy teaching the orientation was very laid back which made it far more comfortable to ask questions. I also felt comforted that there were several couples who wanted the same thing out of this as we did. I asked about having a preference in age and he said it won't be a problem. We may have to wait longer if we go straight adoption, but it's not out of the question.

He also explained foster to adopt and legal risk ALOT better than the woman at CC. He explained it so well, we are actually considering it. We can still be particular with age and if we are open to sibling groups, it also increases our chances of a quick placement. Legal risk is basically a classification. It means that the parental rights are already or in the process of being relinquished. So ideally, we could do foster to adopt with legal risk children under the age of 2. Wow. That is exciting!

We already finished our application and few of the other forms that need to be completed. We have a class tomorrow specifically for adoption so we can turn some of the forms in then. We still have to go through PRIDE classes, but they are only 3 nights next week in Conroe instead of 2 times a week for 4 weeks ALL over Houston, which is what we would have had to do with CC! We still have one other class to go to and we need to get CPR certified! So much to do, but I feel so much more in control.

Like I said earlier, we are still totally in love with ANLC. Our Plan B (Plan A was going solely through ANLC) is going through Homes 4 Good and continue our fundraising to eventually go through ANLC! That gives us a little time to raise some money while still growing our family!

In other news...my engine light came on the other day and the car people said for $700 they can fix my car. HA! We totally were thinking like $300...um, we were wrong! I'm thinking we can probably bring that estimate to some other shops and see if they can do it a little less expensive! I vote that I get a new car. Chase does not agree! :(

I'm sure I'll be back tomorrow to update our FFF class (the one for adoptive parents)! If you are interested in our fundraising bracelets, email me at dodsonadoption@gmail.com. ALSO...we have a new fan page on Facebook called Operation Baby Dodson - search it and "like" it then pass it on! Thanks!

Goodnight!