I wasn't sure if i should write this post. I am in a delicate stage in my journey and I wasn't sure if I was ready to share. However, my vow of honesty keeps ringing in my ears - so here I am.
From my last post, you should be aware that DH and I have approved for adoption. We are now waiting to be matched with a child. This means that our report is being circulated to social workers looking for families for children in care. About a month ago, I received an email from our SW about a potential child. My heart skipped a bit! I frantically read the message and shared it with DH immediately. From the brief details in the email, we were sure that this could be a possible match so we told the SW that we were interested. She explained that the child's report was not yet completed but booked a slot 3 weeks in advance for us to meet with the child's SW once the report was completed. The report arrived this week and we had our meeting a few days ago.
Reading the report, I fell in love. A picture was included which captured my heart instantly. We were so excited to come across a child that we felt we could parent so quickly! Our meeting only confirmed that we were very interested in becoming parents to this little bundle of joy. The meeting seemed to be positive but we are now waiting to see what the social workers will decide. They need to arrange a meeting with their managers to discuss the case and see if we are suitable (in their eyes) for this child. In meantime, we wait ......
We are now in a strange land of limbo - excited but trying to stay calm while we wait for a group of people to get together and decide the outcome! If the decision is made to choose us, then we will be booked in for another panel similar to the approval panel last month. Also another report will be written explaining why we are suitable match for this child. If successful at panel, introductions would start no more than a week after the panel date.
In the meantime, we ask the question "when do we start to get ready?" If things go to plan, we could be bringing home a child in about 8 weeks BUT should we really start to buy stuff now?! It's like we're 7 months pregnant but still not sure if we're actually going to have a baby! I want to wholeheartedly throw myself into full preparation mode, but I know we need to wait until things are clearer! There are still hurdles to jump and I'm not sure exactly when we can be confident that we've won the race.
It's a strange and exciting time. We wait to see what the outcome will be - immense joy or disappointment could be just around the corner!
In the meantime, pray for us - that God will place the correct child with us and help us to guard our hearts along the way.
Until next time,
Cece
xxx
