Another Year

Well, we have officially been on the waiting list for one year today, and our update is complete for another year. I'm so glad it's over with! I never expected the update to be so mentally and emotionally draining. It was almost as stressful as the initial process. But, next year we'll have a better idea of what the update itself entails (IF they don't change the process again like they did this time!). Our agency has had several staff changes, including our social worker. I am really happy with that change. Our first social worker was nice, but she never had much time for us, we always felt rushed, and we always felt like she was judging us, or like we were inferior. Our new social worker didn't make us feel that way at all! Today was our first time meeting her, and she was super nice.

She took a very brief tour of the house (much less detailed than last time) and then we talked for about an hour. We went over our service plan and made sure nothing had changed, which it hasn't. We even had an opportunity to voice some things we were unhappy with about the agency. She assured us that she would try to keep in contact with us (last year, once we were approved, we didn't hear one word from our agency unless we contacted them). She said they are actually supposed to contact the families once every three months and check in. I told her that we just wanted to know from time to time whether anyone has seen our profiles or not. I certainly don't want her to call me every time someone is looking at us, because that would be disheartening, but our biggest question over the last year was, "has anyone even seen our profile?" So, she is going to try and make that contact with us this year.

Over the last year, we also often questioned where we sat in the stack of profiles. Meaning, were we one of thousands of waiting families? How many families were there? We learned that our agency currently has 46 profiles, including those in Kentucky. That makes me feel better. It's good to know that we're not in a library of profiles just collecting dust. It helps to know the statistics, because now we have a better understanding of what our odds are.

In some ways, I can't believe it's already been a year. In others, it seems like this next year will never pass. I'm dreading Christmas because, once again, we will (more than likely) be without a baby. That's been the hardest part of the holidays for me for the last 4 years. But, we are hoping and praying that this will be the year.