Our Adoption Time Line...

02-26-12- A miracle was born. A child that was destined to change the world & lives of so many people.

02-28-12- Our teeny Tiny 5 pound miracle came into our life at 2 days old.


10-22-12- After a long heart to heart talk, birth mom asked if we were willing to adopt. What a complete surprise!!!! He was the last kid that I thought would ever go up for adoption, because he has a very devoted biological family.
After a family vote the answer is...

Yes-8

No-0

Yes won!!!!!!!!!!!!!

10-23-12- We went to court. Birth mom informed the court that she is surrendering her rights. The papers were signed. A Legal dad was also contacted in his county and stated that he will be surrendering his rights.


The wait begins. They have 10 days to change their minds. Counting down to Nov 2.
(We thought legal dad surrendered when mom did, but he didn't. Now he is nowhere to be found...grrrr So the termination will now have to run in the paper.)

10-26-12- We chose his name "Joshua Blaze". Blaze is part of his original name.

11-02-12- Today was the last day for mom to pull her surrender. She didn't!!!!! We are so excited!!!! We are so close.

11-21-12- We met with our new case worker /adoption coordinator. Mrs H talked very positive and said that this will not be a long drug out process. I just hope she keeps her word.

11-28-12- I met with BB's CASA and she informed me that she got the paperwork (11/27/12) and it was signed off by the judge stating that mom had surrendered her rights and the foster parents are planning to adopt. Soooooo excited!!!!! Every new update is one step closer to FOREVER!!!!!

12-03-12- We met with our adoption worker again today. We also turned in our last piece of paperwork on our homestudy. They are suppose to be posting parental terminations in the legals this week. Crossing our fingers, So tired of the foot dragging.

01-08-13-We got some good news yesterday. I got a call from our adoption worker. She was calling to let me know that something is finally getting done in BB's case. yay!!!!! Ever since surrenders were signed, nothing has happened. The problem was that BB not only has an unknown bio dad, but he also has a legal dad ( mom was married to another man when BB was born). So that gave BB two dads. Well, here in this state that means that this man has rights to BB too. Dumb law? Yeah, that's what I thought too. Well, they finally were able to contact him and as soon as he signs that dotted line, BB will be free for adoption!!!!!!!!!! He said he is willing to sign!!!!!!!!!!!!!  It's also been filed and should be in our local paper starting this week. If that man does what he says and signs then we won't even have to publish the whole 60 days. If he don't, it will have to run in the paper for the full 60 days. We are really excited. Maybe by spring, we should have our "Gotcha Day"!!!!!!!

01-11-13-We met with our adoption worker again today for updates on BB's case. There has been communication between the legal dad's county & our county and someone did go out to get his surrender signed, but once again he wasn't home. They will have to go back out another day. Our county is giving that county until the first of Feb to have it done and then they are going to take over & go out themselves.

I'm so frustrated. I'm trying not to be, but it's been over 2 months now. Our adoption worker said there is no reason for BB to still be in the foster care system. The surrenders have been signed by mom and Baby has been matched with us. So she too is frustrated that we are still waiting on someone that has no real relationship with this child. He is not his bio dad, so it's ridiculous that this man can put our adoption on hold. Crossing our fingers tight that it will be done today or next week.

01-11-13 We got the call today at 7 PM that the legal dad signed the surrenders yesterday!!!!! Pretty much BB is free now!!!!!!!!!! However, I have asked  DFCS to still run it in the paper anyway for my own peace of mind. Our adoption worker cried. She said it's because of all we have been through and that she couldn't help but cry because she is just so happy for us. She said this is our year that things are going to turn around for us. My nurse told me the same thing a few weeks ago and said that God told her that. I'm just so excited tonight. I can't believe it. I can't believe that someone would just give us a baby. What a precious gift. God sure is good!

01-20-13 Legal dad had 10 days to change his mind. He didn't!!!!!! Yay!!!!!! Can you say the Howell house is one happy house tonight???? Every update is one step closer to forever with our little boy.

01-21-13 Today was court on BB. The judge was informed by DFCS that the parents have surrendered their rights. The judge said to remove BB from the court calendar. There is no need for anymore status updates on BB's case, because BB is getting adopted!!! Adopted by the Howell family !!!!!!

02-04-13 We met again with our adoption worker today.  She informed us that they haven't been able to publish yet. WHAT?!?!? She said the reason they haven't published is because they had left out one important paper when they turned in the paperwork. She said she called and they said until they receive that paper they can't go forward....grrrrrrr  She said it would be done today. She said they have everything they need for his life history book. He has to have this book because he has to be formally presented to us. I know (no comment). All they lacked was his lists of doctors. I gave that to her today because after all he's been here since he was 2 days old. Now we wait...again....grrrrrr It's been 3 month & a week and we are still waiting for this to be done.

02-21-13 BB's case has been handed over to my old case worker (Z's & JJ's worker) so that she can finish all of his adoption paperwork. She has been over adoption for a lot longer than BB's adoption worker (Mrs H)  has. Hopefully, this will get the ball rolling a little faster. They are using BB's case for training. Maybe that will help other cases to move a little faster, because BB's case has been at a crawl from the start...grrr I am frustrated. Very frustrated. I'm ready for this to be behind us. I'm ready to start our new life together with no strings attached. I'm ready to shed his old name and I'm ready for  BBD "JBH" to be my forever son.

02-28-13 We have finally published!!!! Now we wait and pray (for 60 days) and hope that it will go smoothly. This is pretty much our last hurdle. Our next step will be the state formally presenting BB to us (It's just part of the process). We meet and basically they tell us everything we already know about our precious boy and at that point we get an adoption date & lawyer. We are so close...so very close.
It's just sad that it took 4 months & 5 days to get to this point...grrrrrr

03-05-13 I got a call today from Mrs J our CASA. She was wondering if I had been informed about the court date on BB. I was made aware thanks to our local paper. If anyone wants to contest BB's termination they have until April the 9th to file with the court. The court date is set for April the 9th. If all goes as planned this is all that we have left to do. After that, they formally present BB to us, we can meet with our lawyer, and our lawyer will then request an adoption court date for us. We are oh so close. Please keep us in your prayers.

03-06-13 Today we met with our adoption worker. She came to let us know that we have published and that our adoption should be complete by the end of June. She said that Mrs P would be coming out this month to turn our home from a foster home to an adoption home. She pretty much said everything she was suppose to do has been done. So it was all good news today.

03-11-13 Today we had our final meeting with BB's CASA before court. She has followed him since the first week we got him. I chose her to be his CASA because we've worked so well together in the past. She is no longer going to be a CASA and we are no longer going to need one ,but we sure have been blessed to have Mrs Jan on our team. She has watched our little miracle bloom into such a sweet unique little individual. I know it was a bittersweet day for her.

My little love bug.

I tell everyone he was the missing piece

in our family tree that I didn't even

realize was missing, but God did!

He's our little cherry on top:)

I couldn't love him anymore than I already do.

Thank you Lord for our little boy.

03-19-13 When our power came back on from being knocked out last night by the tornado, I had a blinking message on my machine. It was BB's caseworker. I couldn't understand everything she said but what I did hear was the words, "April the 9th Blaze will be free for adoption". The publishing is being stopped. Everything that needed to be done is done! Basically, even at this point if someone comes forward they will NOT be considered. Blaze will be free for adoption on April 9th!!!!!! We are so close. So close to forever. Thank you Lord for this child you have given us. What a gift.

03-21-13 A lady who is working on BB's lifebook called to get all the final info she needed to complete it. A lifebook is a book created for children in the foster care system. It is all about the child. Where the child was born, all about the birth family, all of the birth details, why child came into foster care, medical history, etc In older kid lifebooks also includes school info, foster homes/families the child was placed in, etc. Everything they know about the child is in it. Once a child is free for adoption and the new family is chosen the adoptive family is presented with the lifebook. I helped to fill out BB's but his was easy because he has always been with me. The only info I don't know is all the birth details.  I'm interested in finding out everything that happened in BB's first two days of life.

04-09-13 Today we had court on BB. Things went great. The judge agreed that BB being adopted by us is in his best interest. She said she was willing to sign the papers of termination on any unknowns, BUT (I know. It's always something), she can't do that until we have published the full 60 days on any unknowns/ interested relatives. So we have to still wait. If on the 26th no one has came forward with an interest in our baby then custody will be turned over to the state with the intent of adoption by US!! However, it will still not even be official then. Yes, you read that right. After custody is turned over to the state there is still a 30 day waiting period for anyone wanting to appeal the judge's decision. Then, and only then, can we go forward, meet with a lawyer, and get an adoption date put on the court calendar. I never dreamed this would take this long and be so complicated. The main DFCS supervisor was at court and after court we had some time to talk. She said, "Sometimes delays are God's way of making you appreciate something even more when you finally get it". I believe that. BUT, yes another BUT, have we not waited long enough? Have we not had our hearts broken enough? We were given this baby by his family, so why are we still waiting?

So now, let the next countdowns start...grrrrr

Counting down to April 26th (the last day of publishing)

then

Counting down to May 26th (last day for an appeal)

Prayerfully, On May 27th 2013

(Which is also mine & Brent's wedding anniversary)

 we will start the final chapter

in our adoption "love" story.

Please keep us in your prayers.

04-26-13 Finally!!!!!!!! 

 ~~~~~~~~~

on 04/26/13

Finally, after 6 months and 3 days of waiting

the judge heard our case and agreed that termination

is in our baby's best interest.

Now, we just have to wait the 30 days

to see if anyone comes forward

and appeals the judge's decision.

If not,

then we will start the

OFFICIAL

adoption process.

It's been a long

hard ride but

our precious boy is worth it!

05-16-13

Needless to say, It's been a very long frustrating process and we are still not there. I got the call today telling me that the judge did not officially sign the "Interested parties" termination paper until May 9th. They couldn't explain to me why it took her so long to sign. So now the 30 day wait for any appeals runs until June 9th instead of May 26th. It's ridiculous.

05-30-13

We met with our adoption worker today. She had only good news for us. She has the round table "official presentation" meeting set for June 14th. That is where they officially present our little boy to us and tell us that they have chosen us as his forever family and they tell us everything we don't know about him (hospital/birth info,etc). She said everything is good to go on her end. She said she has done everything that she was required to do for the adoption (paper work). She said after the 9th, I can call our attorney and ask her to set up our court date.  Hopefully, if they have an available date we will complete our adoption in June. We are sooooo close.

06-10-13

It is finally official! Our little boy is free for adoption. Everything that was required is done! We had no one come forward to contest the termination. So time is up for that. Yay!!!!!!!!!

06-10-13

I called and spoke with a lawyer and asked if she was interested in our case and she said yes! She plans to talk with our case worker tomorrow and then she will get back with me within the next few days to sign the papers.

Our round table "official presentation" meeting is scheduled for Thursday 06-14-13. This is where they basically tell us that we have been chosen as BB's forever family. Then they present us with his life book. Which should fill in all the missing pieces that we don't have from the first two days of his life.

I can't believe we are finally here. finally.

06-14-13
We had our round table meeting today, BUT (grrrr), we didn't get to sign the papers on BB. Today was suppose to be the day but I just had the feeling that it wouldn't happen. I was asked by a friend this morning was I excited about signing and I said "yes" but I just had a heavy hearted feeling that it wasn't going to happen and I was right.  DFCS lacked two papers that were required before signing. How did they miss that? They've done thousands of adoptions, so It blew my mind. They lacked a  continuance paper (whatever that is) and a SSI caregiver statement. I filled out the SSI while I was there, but they said we have to wait on the other letter to come from state office. The state has to send it to our county. They have requested it asap and as soon as they get it our case worker promised to come right out and sign with us(she said even if it is in the middle of the night or wee hours of the morning). I know that she could tell that I was very disappointed. Brent had taken the day off of work so it was a loss for us in more ways than one.
But, we did get BB's life history book and we are pretty excited about that. We already pretty much knew everything since he came to us at 2 days old, but we didn't know his bio family history or his birth info, so it was nice to have that bit of info. Not sure what we will do with it. Maybe lock it away in a safe place just incase one day BB wants to know his story.

So once more we must wait.

07-03-13
Nothing really new to share. We did meet with our adoption worker again today but she really didn't have anything new for us. She said that her supervisor had spoken with someone at the state office about sending the continuance letter(I'll share more about that one day). She explained that it was holding up an adoption.  The lady "Mitzi" apologized and said that she would get her people right on it. Well, that was two weeks ago and we are still waiting. So nothing new here.

This is a quote that our head DFCS supervisor quoted to me at court a few weeks ago.

I agree but we've waited so long. We waited 2 years thinking that Zachary was ours. Then the case changed overnight and our little boy was gone. If I had not already had BB in our home I know without a doubt I would have closed our home, but we still had him and he needed us.We lost Zach in Aug 2012 and found out in October 2012 that BB was going to be ours instead. He was 7 months old. He is now 16 months.

 For the last three years, we've been in adoption land ,waiting and waiting, and waiting. 23 months we waited on Zach's adoption and court date and then ended up broken hearted / devastated. Now 16 months we've had BB and we are still waiting. I know that BB's case is different that Zach's, because BB's parents surrendered rights. I know that he is ours and that's why we are so ready to sign the forever papers to make it official and to change his name to

"Joshua"

08-02-13
Our adoption worker called today. She called to let us know that our adoption assistance had been approved, which we are very thankful for. Now only "one" sheet of paper from the state is all that's between us and our adoption. Still waiting on the state to send it. I have no idea why it is taking so long. It's been a long frustrating wait. Hopefully it will come this week. I say that every week. But maybe this is the week.

08-26-13

We finally got the letter we've waited on since April (4 long months). Our adoption worker Mrs H called to let me know. She asked me, "How's your Monday going Mrs Sandy?" I said, "Oh pretty good." She said, "Well it's about to get a whole lot better!". Then she shared the great news and yes I was ecstatic!!!! So now what? Our home study for adoption has to be turned over to our case workers supervisor for her to look over and approve. Mean while, we are suppose to go ahead and meet with our new attorney. We are changing attorneys because the other attorney charges expenses that she wasn't suppose to charge us in a special needs adoption. It's been a loooooong process and we've jumped through a lot of unnecessary hurdles, but we are finally seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. We are so close now. The time frame is now within the next two weeks! So hopefully within the next two weeks we will have an adoption date on the court calendar. We give that a big thumbs up!

My sweet baby boy.

08/30/13

Our adoption worker called with some signing dates. However, we haven't got it set in stone.

09/03/13

The adoption signing date is set! We will sign the official adoption papers on 09/09/13! I also contacted our new lawyer today.

 09/09/13

It's been a HAPPY Day!

It's a day that we have waited for

 for a very long time.

~~~~~

I can't even express the joy this day has brought

to our family.

I think all of our DFCS friends

rejoiced with us.

The official papers!

Now we just have to wait for our

court date. That's it!

Nothing more to do!!!!

(My favorite paper of all)

Thank you Lord for this day!

09/10/13

We contacted our *new* lawyer today and he is willing to take our case. The lawyer we had planned to use was over charging us by hundreds $$$$$. Our baby is being adopted through foster care and is considered special needs so he was approved for adoption assistance. Our new lawyer accepts exactly what AA is willing to pay toward our adoption! So in the end our adoption ends up being = FREE to us! Unlike with the other lawyer who was attaching fees that were suppose to be included in the amount AA approved. Just thankful that our old case worker (Z's case worker) caught it and warned us not to go forward with that lawyer!

09/20/13

We met with out lawyer today and signed the papers giving him permission to contact the court on our behalf to request a court date for our adoption. I never realized how much work it is to adopt a child from foster care. This has been a very long process. Our lawyer did say he plans to have our adoption done before the end of the year. Crossing our fingers for October or November court dates.  





We have our adoption day!!!!

October 23, 2013

Joshua will become our little boy forever!!

10/12/13
In one week and four days Joshua will be our son forever. When I read those words on my adoption ticker, my heart skipped a beat. Is it really that close? It has taken so long to get here and now we are so close. We are so excited. Every day I fall more in love with our precious baby. He has taught me so much about life and about myself. God has given us a real live miracle. For that we are so very thankful. How can we ever thank God enough? How can we thank his birth mom for such a precious gift? My heart is full tonight. God has been so good.

10/23/13

He is ours!!!!!

What an exciting day!!

It's official!!!!

He is our little boy now!!!

Forever and always

and no matter what!!!!

His name is now

officially

Joshua Blaze

and we are really excited about that.

Our tired little boy.

Court wore him out.

01-18-14 *Just a post adoption update*

Our little Joshua is doing fantastic!!!! We had planned to call him Joshua, but everyone kept forgetting and kept calling him "Blaze". So I guess we will just keep calling him Blaze or better yet his nickname "The Blazer or Bazer". He is the most sweetest, awesome, amazing, UNIQUE kid ever. He has for sure stolen all of our hearts and he can keep them:) He makes my heart melt ever time I look at him (which is all day every day). He seldom leaves my side. He's my sweet miracle and one of my biggest blessings. He fits perfectly in our family and if ever a baby was loved HE IS!!!!

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart;and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him,and he will direct thy paths. ~Proverbs 3:5-6