faith & whimsy: adoption timelines

Baby J's Adoption Timeline (2011)

January 2011 - We attend a foster & adoption seminar.
February 1, 2011 - We submit our application to an adoption agency
February 8, 2011 - Andi's aunt calls and asks if we'd be interested in meeting a woman who is 5 months pregnant and is looking for a couple to adopt her child.
February 10, 2011 - Our first meeting with the birth mother. She calls us on our drive home and says that she wants us in the delivery room when she delivers our baby.
March 21, 2011 - Our first OB/GYN appointment with the birth mother. The sonogram reveals that we're having a boy.
June 16, 2011 - Our son, Baby J, is born at 2:29pm. He is 5lbs 11 oz and 21in long. As the birth mother had said from the beginning, we are in the delivery room. My husband gets to cut the cord and is the first to hold our son.
June 18, 2011 - The birth mother's parental rights are severed.
September 16, 2011 - Our Gotcha Day or what we prefer to call our Famiversary. We attend a court hearing where Baby J legally becomes our son.

May 2012 - We learn that our son's birth mother is pregnant. She is considering an adoption plan and would like for us to consider adopting the baby. We tell her that we are more than willing to adopt our son's sibling and that the choice is hers to make.
June 2012 - Our son's birth mother tells us that she would like us to adopt her unborn child. We're ecstatic. Our second child, a boy, is due September 18th.
August 2012 - After no communication for several weeks, our son's birth mother emails us to let us know that she has decided to parent her baby.
September 6th, 2012 - Our son's brother is stillborn. The birth mother gives him the name we'd chosen for him.
Fall 2012 - Fall 2013 - We spend a year grieving the loss of our son's brother. His birth mother and I have several heart to heart talks and she confides that she'd only chosen to parent so that she could try to keep the birth father in the picture. She tells me that this baby boy was meant to be ours and that I was always his mother. These words allow me to not only grieve in earnest but heal as well. He will live forever be in our hearts.

March - September 2013 - We go through the necessary steps and classes to obtain our license to become foster parents. We are officially licensed in September.
Note: During the year after our son's brother's stillbirth, we have several friends and family members ( five total ) come to us with information about women who are considering an adoption plan. None pan out.
November & December 2013 - Our agency approaches us about two different children to consider for placement. This happens a couple of weeks apart. After a lot of thought and prayer, we make our decision about each individual child.
December 5, 2013 - We submit our information to the agency to be considered for a two year old boy who was born with FAS.
December 6, 2013 - We receive a call about a newborn girl born earlier in the week. They ask if we are interested. We say yes. Forty-five minutes later we receive a second call letting us know that we were selected.
December 10, 2013 - Our Snowflake comes home and the next chapter of our adoption story begins...

To be continued...