Our Adoption Journey

Our journey to start a family through the miracle of adoption.

Saturday 26 January 2013

A Flicker of Hope?

Sjoe, being busy is hard work! Trying to catch up on leftover work from my leave in December, having to cope with another month-end so soon (what happened to January??), commuting between - and looking after two houses and missing my husband and fur-babies have all but drained me. Luckily I have not given myself over to drinking yet.. just wondering exactly WHO's empty red wine glass is standing here on the table next to me?? ... Anyway. On top of that I'v nominated myself as the new online marketer for The Napier Country Hotel and are feverishly looking for a job in the country so that I can run away from the City and live in bliss with my hubby, waiting for our "kaalvoetkind" to arrive.

When we first started considering adoption I send out dozens of e-mails in order to get some information on how to go about the process. Read more about that here. One of the mails was to a Counseling Center for pregnant woman which does adoptions as well. They were one of the few that responded but said that their applications were closed at the time as they do not have any babies available that matches our requirements. So I filed their mail and forgot about it.

Yesterday I've received a mail from said Center, asking whether we are still interested in Adoption as they are opening their applications in order to qualify some applicants. I did send them our details but seeing that we are already working through ProCare, I am not sure of how this will affect our application with them, should they consider us. If you have any experiences or suggestions about working through 2 agencies at the same time, please let me know.

I am a believer that everything is connected and that sometimes we get signs to show us the way, although most of the time we fail to see them for what they are or just simply ignore them. Turns out that the Counseling Center falls under and is run by the same body as the retirement village for which Riaan will soon be working. This journey has taught me to be hopeful, but not to get my hopes up, but a small part of me wonders whether this might be a little light in the dark?


Tuesday 15 January 2013

The futile act of planning

I am a planner and a bit of a control-freak. I like to know exactly how my life will look like and when it is time for a change I want to do it my way and in my time. That is probably the worst part about this journey for me - the "not knowing". Having to wait and wait and wait without doing too much planning in case it still takes 2 years for baba to arrive.
The other side of the coin is also that however much planning you do in your life, life will happen, and mostly not in the way you planned.

Two months ago my husband closed his company and was effectively jobless. We planned this way and that and sat hours pondering our future and what to do with the opportunity of him having to find a new job. Back when we bought our cottage in the country the plan was always to relocate there. Having been raised in small towns and loving the platteland, we were more than keen to move there. Only problem (big problem!) is the scarcity of jobs and should you be so lucky to find one, the minute salaries on offer.

We were therefor keen on opening our own health shop and making a living that way. But even with loads of planning this did not work out for us at all! After my boss decided that I cannot work remotely from there, the owners of the premises that we were going to rent also retracted their offer as they were going to use it themselves. Still keen on seeing this thing through, we shopped around for other space, but did not find anything suitable.

After a weekend of viewing properties and speaking to the locals, we were heading back to the City, tail between the legs. We were all packed and in the car when our neighbour came running over with a newspaper. He got it from friend of his that we met the previous night and it contained an ad for a position of Manager at the retirement village. Cutting to the chase, Riaan applied and at first we did not hear anything. Then the call came and they invited him for an interview and then for another one. So as from the 1st February, my husband is the official Manager and will be earning a decent salary for the platteland!

So over the holidays we had a blast working on our little country cottage. Prettying it up and painting, unpacking all our stored belongings and making it a home. Riaan even started a vegetable garden so that we can have fresh veggies and herbs everyday. We relocated our fur-babies and they are LOVING it! We had our first Xmas in our new home and were just plain happy for the first time in a long time.

All of this comes at a price though. For the moment I am still keeping my job in the City and will be commuting home over weekends. That is until my MIL's house gets sold or I find a job in the country. But, I'm giving myself a rest and not worrying about planning anything ahead of time... for now anyway.

It is hard work exploring all of this open space!

Tuesday 8 January 2013

Cheers to 2013!



This is my 2nd day back at work from a lovely 3 week holiday at our country cottage. There have been some very exciting developments (nothing on the adoption front though) which I will tell you about after I manage to get through the stack of work sitting on my desk.




Just quickly wanted to wish everybody a VERY HAPPY 2013 - May the year be filled with BLESSINGS and BABIES!