Well! Whenever we have a free afternoon to run by The Baby Store and pick one up! Of course!
I've had a couple people ask me how this whole process works, and when we'll be matched with another baby. As far as when, your guess is as good as ours. But we can answer the first part of the question.
When you adopt domestically (like us), the process generally works this way: Tim and I designed and created what's called a profile book. It can be like a scrapbook, or you can create a photo book online and have it printed. We went the latter route and designed something on Mixbook.com and had multiple copies printed. It has pictures and talks about us, about our families, our home, and it includes a letter written to the person reading it (usually called a "Dear Birth Parent" letter). Here's the front cover of ours:
When an expectant mother who is working with our agency is ready to choose a family for her baby, they will notify the families who "fit" that particular situation. For instance, depending on the race and gender of the baby (some families might want a specific gender, or have specified what race they want their child to be), and also how open of an adoption the mother wants. Does she want pictures and updates? Does she want to be able to meet and visit with her child as he or she is growing up?
The mother will look at the profile books of families who meet the criteria she's looking for, and will choose which family she wants to adopt her baby. Then we get that long awaited phone call from our social worker: "You're chosen!"
Domestic adoption is not "first come, first serve." It is a woman or a couple making an intentional and loving plan to place their child to be raised in another family. It is an intense sacrifice that we'll never understand. It means selflessly considering what is best for the baby, regardless of how painful it will be for her. And it will be painful. Our gain is her heartbreak. That is why adoption is so complicated. It is wonderful and it is joyful and it is beautiful, but it is complicated.
"My friends, adoption is redemption. It's costly, exhausting, expensive, and outrageous. Buying back lives costs so much. When God set out to redeem us, it killed him."
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