Up and running... finally!

So, if you know me - and if you're reading this blog, you most likely do - you know that while I don't shy away from sharing my opinion, blogging is just not my thing. Nevertheless, I've been promising many of you that I'd start one to keep you updated on our progress in the Republic of the Marshall Islands Adoption Program and as a way to stay connected when we travel to the RMI... here goes :)

First, a few notes about our story before the RMI program...

Early in 2009, Jeff and I began talking about adopting and after a lot of thought, we decided to move forward. We contacted the adoption agency (LSS) in June and entered the Domestic Infant Open Adoption Program. By the end of July, we were home study approved and ready to adopt... just needed someone to pick us.

We decided to try for an adoption match by doing our own outreach - which means we decided not to go into the book which could have made things earlier but certainly more expensive. Instead, the idea is to network... reaching out to your friends, relatives, and coworkers and hoping that someone knows someone who knows someone (you get the idea) who might be making an adoption plan for their child. It's a great idea for some - and much less expensive - but for us, the non-social butterflies we are, we didn't really get anywhere with it.

Which brings us to the RMI program...

We first heard about the RMI program from our domestic adoption social worker. The Marshall Islands had only allowed adoptions in the US through one agency from around 2002 through 2009. In 2010 they began working with LSS on a temporary basis. While LSS and the RMI worked to establish a permanent program, they decided to offer a pilot program to 5 LSS families. We placed our names on a waiting list for when the program was approved and opened up for more families.

In November 2010, we received an email from the RMI adoption social worker asking if we'd be interested in joining the pilot program. Apparently one of the 5 families had to withdraw for personal reasons. While very sad for that family, it meant that we were off and running to push through our paperwork as fast as possible. We said yes and the paperwork began.

I've tried to reconstruct our timeline below and will continue to add to it as things progress. We're officially in a waiting period and until we hear more, I'll try to blog a bit about what we've learned so far, how we expect things to happen, and how we're preparing for our stay in the RMI.

More soon!