Interview Number Two!

This is not going to be a full post. We drove and drove and drove today to make it to our first official interview. It was all the things we thought it would be and none at the same time. It was a panel and everyone was watching our every move and answer. It seems as though they liked us and that overall we made a good impression. There is no official answers yet. They have a few more interviews and then will let everyone know.
Matt and I have a lot to think about and decide on what is best for us.

All and all it was a great experience and has shown me that we are blessed in many ways. I promise to explain more later but my brain is full and I have lots to figure out.

Interview Number One!

Today we survived our very first adoption interview. To say that nerves were all kinds of tight before it happened would be a HUGE understatement. I tend to panic before a major event and even more so if the event is really important. All I can say is thank goodness for my husband and sister. Our house was tip top clean and all of the candles were burning. The animals had been given the speech of be on your best behavior. Let me tell you that the cats hammed it up. Then came the time for our amazing licensing worker to come and then the caseworker for V. The purpose of today was to have an informal visit. 


M (the caseworker) was really nice and easy to talk to right away. Matt started the interview answering questions. I was thrown for a loop and loved it right away! We all sat in the living room and chatted about all sorts of things. It was a great time to learn more about V and what he is like.Because we are not his adopted parents I will keep the details very short, but we learned that he is a happy growing child. All we can hope for is the chance to become his forever parents.


So as most of you may be wondering...WHAT NOW? That is still undecided. We will go on October 7th for the formal interview with everyone important to his life and then after that date we will know if they decided that we are the right parents for him.


We are in weird limbo for another week of knowing what our lives will become. Tomorrow is our very first formal interview for sibling group M and M. No matter what outcomes may take place we know that without a doubt we will be parents and that was our goal from the very start. Without a single second thought we would have not made it here without everyone's support and love.


With that little peek into our day all we can really say is that we are closer and closer, just not there yet. Everything is looking really positive!

Our baking night.

Most of the times you can find me being a pretty grateful wife to my husband. Other times you can find me being somewhat mushy. Tonight is a somewhat mushy. I will admit ahead of time that my husband is not a lots of words, touchy feely type person...but...right now as I type this, he is baking cookies for a Children's Miracle Network bake sale for his work tomorrow. Sometimes I am overwhelmed with gratitude that my partner is willing to do anything to provide for his family and to care about others.


We are really excited for the upcoming week because it is a step for the changes that will be coming. On the 29th we have an informal visit with V's caseworker. Basically she will come to the house and chat with us. That will follow by October 7th of a formal interview. This means that we will sit with a panel of all of the people important to V and they will decide if we are the right pick. That means by October 9th-ish, we will know if we have been chose to parent V. 


While all that is going on we will interview for M and M on the 30th! It all feels like a ton but we are constantly reminding ourselves to breathe. As the interview days approach I will be cleaning every surface over and over. I may go crazy once or twice about our interview clothes. My wonderful friend Erin can attest to the fact that I have already started being crazy worried about the clothes. She gave me some great advice of avoiding the twin set and pearls:)


As the insanity of interviewing and transitioning begins, I will remind myself that my life can be as calm and happy as it is right now. Okay, maybe not always this calm, but at very least just as blessed. 


My last add on for this post is a couple of photos that I found on a great website called www.pinterest.com.

Adventures in sore throats and cartoons.

I have to admit that last night was not the shining example of how I plan on parenting. There in lies the problem that I should probably toss any "plan" of parenting and just go with it. My nephew Q has a wonderful way of being the center of  lives when he is around. He managed to get a cold and then as most children are amazing at doing send along his cold to his dad, mom and aunt. Of course for me any cold turns into strep. My tonsils have been on fire but knock on wood no where near as bad as they normally get.

You may be asking yourselves what any of this has to do with my parenting plans. Telesa wanted to attend a bachelorette party of a childhood friend last night and we got to spend the night with Q. I am a fan of co-sleeping and it had always been part of the "plan"...though I am jumping ahead of myself. Last night I was the furthest I could possible be from fun and playing Aunt Brandy, so we went to bed and watched lots and lots of tv. I even broke down and let us fall asleep to spongebob. See where I am going with this yet? Moving along to the finally falling asleep part and then into co-sleeping. WOW! does this kid move. It brought back all of the memories that I have stored away of sleeping with Telesa and being kicked and punched ALL night long. Finally at 5:45 this morning when Matt got up for work, we pushed the bed against the wall and passed out. By 6 am I had decided that maybe I hated co-sleeping with a passion. Thankfully by 10:00 when we woke up comfortably I loved it again.

Here is a picture of Quentin helping his Uncle Matt cook! The mixer happens to the funniest thing in the universe.

I am a big planner. I like to map out everything. I think this may be convenient seeing as that my husband is much the same way. Though if Q shows us anything it is that we have to get over that and FAST. So what that we let him watch a ton of TV and that he kept us up all night sleeping sideways. He is a really happy kid with parents who love him and family that could not imagine time without him. That is really the only plan that is important with whatever children become our "forever children". We want them to feel loved and secure, even if it goes against my plan.


Update Adoption News!
We have great news coming up on the horizon for adoption. After receiving and email from a caseworker we learned that people were trying to contact us via the house phone. We had totally forgotten that we had a house phone and rushed downstairs to plug it in. There were multiple calls for interviews!!! On the 29th of this month we will have an in home interview for a 5 year old named V and then on the 30th an interview for two boys M and M. It looks as though when it rains it pours and we are going to be blessed with our plan free family hopefully by the end of the year.

Until next time!

Adventures in moving no.1

What is new in the Owen world...well lots really. On Monday we received another email asking if we would like to interview for a little a boy V who is 5. It is really exciting to think that we are moving forward slowly but surely towards being parents. After reading the limited information about V we have decided that we wanted to be in the interview group for him.


I never in my life thought we could get so excited over something like an email that asks if we even want to interview for a child. There are no dates set as of yet, but we are anxiously anticipating the call/email for the next steps.




The other big news/ change is that we have decided to move. This is not one of my classic moves that involve going somewhere far. We will still in the same city and just downsizing a little. Like most families when you find out that you are expecting, it becomes a time to prepare your home, finances and life in general. Because the majority of the children that we are considering have special needs, we want to be able to make their lives incredible. I have always wanted to stay home and raise children. The way we currently live is without a doubt like two people with no children and time on our hands. We have not decided on a new place but will be looking starting tomorrow. 


Lots of changes going on and most of them are positive. It is very easy to get tied down into the technical parts of life that we forget to enjoy the moments in between. Our hope is that the plan of downsizing gives us a chance to reconnect more to each other and less to the outside interference's. We have incredible family and friends, with that being said, we would like more time with all of you. So wish us luck as we scale it back and grow all at the same time.

Adventures in more and more waiting.....

We return to the land of waiting. This is a land that we have much experience in as of lately. I was reading a forum the other day of other foster/adopt parents and one lady talked about how she felt as though she was the person who cried baby instead of wolf. Trust me when I say that we are always on that verge and it seems like something is going to finally follow through and then something changes. When we found out about the boys it seemed like maybe it was finally happening and now we are just doing more waiting.

While we are trying our best to be patient it gets harder with each passing day. You begin to wonder if another home has been found and no one is telling you or if you have sent enough emails or made enough requests without being pushy. In the end all you can do is follow your heart and do everything that you can to make sure your voice is heard.

This may lead some of you to wonder what the point of the post is today and well I am feeling a bit rambling so there is not much of one. Other then to say that we are still waiting. The day is going to come that we will get the phone call that "our children" are ready to come home and be a family. Until that day we dream about what it will be like and how we are so ready to hear the words Mom and Dad yelled through the hallway. I know the right children are out there and all we can do is pray for the patience to wait and breathe somewhere along the way.