Adoption Update- Unexpected Good News!

July 1^st will mark one year from the day we got our home study approved and officially got on the wait list to be matched with a Korean baby girl.  Since we haven’t been matched yet, it means that we had to update many clearances and documents with the agency (you know, since we haven't been busy enough).  We also had to meet with our social worker again because she had to check out our new house.  I have to admit, doing the paperwork was not easy since Cody and I are losing hope with the program.  It is hard not to wonder if we are doing it all for nothing.  The current news in the program is that a bunch of referrals (children to be matched with) are suppose to come in late July and start coming regularly thereafter, but that is what they told us in May and nothing happened.  So we are definitely not holding our breathe any longer.  At this rate, I think it will be a miracle if we are matched by the end of the year. 

Our plan was to give the Korean program until the end of the year and then pull out so we could pursue domestic if the referrals still weren’t coming in.  At our meeting with the social worker this week, I planned on asking if we could at least have them write our domestic home study so we didn’t have to start all the paperwork over with another agency.  I wasn’t sure they could do this because our agency doesn’t have a domestic program on the East Coast, only in their Mid-West office.

Good news #1- it turns out they can write a domestic home study for us (for a fee of course) and it requires NO more additional paperwork/clearances because the requirements for international surpass domestic.  So, we’ve done everything already, it is just a matter of the social worker writing it up!  No more paperwork for Courtney = awesome news!

Good news #2- I was under the impression that we could not pursue domestic until we pulled out of the Korea program because we signed papers saying we would not actively try to get pregnant or actively try to adopt a baby through other means.  However, thanks to Cody’s prodding, that is not the case at all!  They just don’t want you to sign with another agency.  We are absolutely allowed to pursue private domestic adoption on our own (with the attorney we met with) while still waiting on the Korea girl list!  They only make you get off the Korea girl list after a child has been placed in your home and the birth parents rights have been terminated!  So, we can pursue both at the same time!

We were in shock.  Our social worker is writing up our domestic home study as we speak.  We can essentially begin looking for a birth mother as soon as we get our approval next week!  However, with domestic you have to be ready for a baby at any point.  Yes, it could take 2 years but it could also take 2 weeks.  So, it is in our best interest to not start advertising until we are ready for a baby.  I’m not sure we are quite there just yet as I am still on the mend from orthopedic surgery, we are still getting the new house in order and getting Auden adjusted to his new school.  So, we will spend the next few months working on a website for birth moms to view and figuring out our advertising tactics.  We are going to start local- advertise on bulletin boards at community centers, colleges, hospitals, doctor’s offices as well as run ads in newspapers.  We don’t want to expand to websites like www.parentprofiles.com yet (even though they have the best success rate) because it would be too hard for us to hop on a plane and go meet a birth mom across the country on a moment’s notice.  We may get to that point, but for now, since we are remaining on the Korea list, we just think it makes sense to advertise locally first. 

There is a big piece of me that still wants Korea to work out so badly.  But right now it feels right to have other options.  I trust that there is a plan for us and whatever is meant to be, will be.  

Home Sweet Home

We have been working hard getting settled in our new home!  Things are getting back to normal this week: Auden started his new school today, I start back at work tomorrow after being out on medical leave, and all three of us are living under one roof with no grandparents in sight, ha:-)  The house still needs a lot of furniture, as you can tell, but things are coming along.  We ordered new family room furniture since our sectional doesn't work with the space, so I will post more pictures later once that furniture comes in.  Cody and I made a deal that we will find our dining room table before Thanksgiving (we want to take our time looking), so for now Auden is one lucky boy and has half of the downstairs as his own personal gymnasium. 

Enjoy some more before and after pictures!

                                                         BEFORE: eat in kitchen area

                                                      AFTER: eat in kitchen area

BEFORE: family room

AFTER: family room

BEFORE: dining room and formal living room

AFTER: dining room and formal living room

(still needs lots of furniture and new light fixture)

BEFORE: formal living room

AFTER: formal living room

The formal living room will be Auden's play room until he is old enough to play down basement by himself:-)

AFTER: foyer

                                                                   BEFORE: Foyer

                                                                     AFTER: Foyer

BEFORE: foyer/upstairs hallway

AFTER: foyer/upstairs hallway

BEFORE: master bedroom

AFTER: master bedroom

BEFORE: master bedroom

AFTER: master bedroom

BEFORE: Auden's room

AFTER: Auden's room

                                                              BEFORE: guest room

AFTER: guest room

                                                              BEFORE: guest room

AFTER: guest room

                                                                  BEFORE: my office
      

AFTER: my office

                                                             BEFORE: Child #2 room

AFTER: Child #2 room

                                                              BEFORE: laundry room

AFTER: laundry room

And here are some deck pictures, future plan is get some comfy deck furniture to have something like a living room outside:-)                                                                                                                

Not pictured yet: kitchen and bathrooms which have only been painted and will be updated in next few years.  We also have an awesome finished updated basement with bar and bathroom, but currently still covered in boxes:-)  

The Big Reveal!

I am more than happy to report that the work is finished on our new house!  Since we are busy unpacking and getting settled, below are pictures of just the exterior.  It surpassed all of our expectations and we are in love with our new home!  All that is left for the outside is landscaping and that will be done shortly.  Enjoy the photos!

                                   BEFORE                                 

                                                                                                                                                      

AFTER

As you can see, nothing was left untouched.  New roof, windows, siding, shutters, gutters, trim, light fixtures, garage door and front door.  What makes the biggest impact are the new dormers on the second floor windows.  We were wavering on whether we should do them because of the cost but in the end it was more than worth it, we are thrilled with how they turned out!  Big shout out to Cody who worked tirelessly on getting the dormer design just perfect on top of everything else that he did! 

Here are some more BEFORE pictures:

                                                     

Here are some more AFTER pictures:

Stayed tuned for before and after pictures of the inside of the house!

Let There Be Light!

Here is a sneak preview of some work that was done on the house this week!  The one side of our house that makes up the outside walls for the formal living room and dining room was completely windowless.  Although Cody was skeptical about adding a window to the formal living room since he didn't think we would be spending a lot of time in the room anyway, I managed to convince him.  After it was done, Cody admitted that it was the best decision and we both are so excited about our new window!  It was actually completed in one day.  As of right now: roof finished, windows finished and the siding is being done as I write this!

Before Picture

New paint and here comes the new window!

Ta-dah!!  Our awesome new window!

On the move!

Wow, what a crazy month!  We closed on our new house on March 12th, a tad more than one month after we put in an offer, so it may have been the quickest short sale ever, ha.  Right after closing that day we picked Auden up from daycare, drove out to the house where Cody proceeded to rip up every carpet in all five bedrooms and life has been in overdrive ever since!

The last two weeks of March were all about getting the townhouse ready for sale.  We got rid of more than half our stuff (stored it in the basement of  new house) and painted practically the entire townhouse.  Then came in the professional staging company that gave it the finishing touches.  The hard work paid off, we had over 20 showings in 48 hours and 150 people through the open house!  The end result was a bidding war which landed us a contract for well above our asking price!  We are excited for closing on the 27th.

Here are some pics of the townhouse staged:

                                                        Newly painted white cabinets

                                      No, that is definitely not our bedding or pictures on the wall

We are planning to move completely into the new house by the second week of May.  Cody has been working tirelessly with the all the contractors and is getting a tad frustrated because he thought we would be a bit further along in the renovations by now.  But isn't that usually how it goes?  We have already done a couple big things like refinish all the existing hardwood floors and installed new hardwood in the family room which didn't have it.  The new railings for the stairwell are on their way as well.  Cody's parents were a big help in power washing the deck and pulling out all the dead huge bushes in front of the house.  So, what still needs to be done?
- Exterior: windows, roof, siding, shutters, front door, garage door, paint the brick, gutters, new fixtures
- Interior: all new interior doors, crown molding in one room, recessed lighting, paint throughout, fixtures
I know Cody is going to look at this list and say I left off about 20 things too, ha.  Daunting, you bet.  Cody is overseeing all the renovations on the new house and doing a great job despite how stressful it is right now.  All his hard work will be worth it once when we see our amazing house in the end!

I'm sorry if you all are anxious to see pictures but we really want to wait until we can show before and after pictures...so you will have to wait a couple more weeks!  However, here are some pictures of the primary reason why we bought the place- the land.  It sits on a cul-de-sac and is the biggest lot in the neighborhood.  It is a walk out basement, then a pretty drastic hill that flattens out at the bottom.  Next to us is woods that are parkland owned by the county.  About 50 feet into the woods is a creek, which Auden can spend hours throwing rocks into.  The bike path that Cody will take to work runs behind the neighborhood.  As for the neighborhood- we've already been to a potluck dinner that rotates around the neighborhood, there was a neighborhood Easter egg hunt, there is a "community" trampoline, and every weekend someone else invites us into their house to check out all their updates and renovations so we can get ideas.  Did we hit the jackpot or is this what all suburban neighborhoods are still like in 2012?

                                                                               View from our deck

                                                                    Creek in the woods

            Our friends gave us this awesome swing set that they weren't using!  Thanks Peter and Patty!

Auden loves going to the new house, he has lots of girlfriends that he already knows by name and repeatedly says "shoes off! shoes off! trampoline!" when he wants to go on the neighbor's trampoline which is like every second.

Stay tuned for more pictures!