10!!!

I'm so happy that we have moved up the adoption list this month. I had absolutely no hopes of moving as our caseworker had informed us that summer was so slow. My co-worker received her update (she's adopting from the same agency out of pure coincidence) and she had moved two spots. Frequently she moves and I don't since they are a few spaces behind us so I wasn't really optimistic. I talked to our caseworker on Thursday and she informed me that we had moved up two spaces to #10- hooray!

They had 6 babies placed in the last three weeks. Three designated adoptions and three "instants" in which they had not previously been working with the birthparents. She also informed me that she had really advocated for us to be profiled to one of the birthfamilies. They wanted a bi-racial couple (which we are not) but she was hoping they might take a look at our profile as well to give them more options. They declined as they really wanted a bi-racial family but it at least made me feel good that our caseworker is advocating for us in this manner. We've asked that she not tell us when we're profiled so we don't really know if we've been profiled much in the past.

One interesting note is that I asked her if she's seeing an increase in designated adoptions and she said that they have certainly increased in the last year. That's something that we've struggled with for awhile. I just don't feel like I want to begin marketing ourselves (especially since we're now 10 on the list). Perhaps with baby #2 we'll consider a different route. I'm nervous about the emotional risks that would go with finding a birthfamily independently. I also don't want to wait through a long pregnancy. (At our agency you are matched at around month 7 or 8 when they are fairly confident of the mother's plan). It clearly works well for many families but the prospect makes me incredibly nervous.

Our caseworker also shared with us that there are many women due in the fall so my husband and I are both feeling optimistic (especially because of the 3 instants that happend just recently) that we might be bringing home bambino before the end of the year. Fingers crossed!