Let's Get This Journey Started...Again!

Four years and two months ago we started a journey, our journey to be parents, this week we started a different kind of journey, our journey to get healthy, but let's go down memory lane and remember the journey that began in January of 2006.

I had been researching the possibility of fullfilling our hopes of a family through adoption. I researched quietly on the internet, not telling Dave about it, until I felt comfortable that it was really what I wanted to do. I know that sounds kind of selfish, but I was unsure myself, so why bring someone else into my uncertainty? I researched and researched and after I was certain that adoption was a viable choice for us as a couple I approached Dave with the idea. I expected a bit of resistance, but received absolutely none. I think my exact statement to him was, "Dave, I have been thinking about our family and how we should start one and I think adoption would be a wonderful option for us." His answer was a resounding, "I think you are right, why don't you do some research on it and let me know what we have to do." "Already done, I have been researching for six months and in my opinion Guatemala is where we should adopt from," I said. "Wow, didn't expect that you had already put so much into it, let me do a little research myself and let's see if we agree," was his response. About a week later we had a discussion and he came to the same conclusion I did, we should adopt, and we should adopt from Guatemala. Little did we know that was the easy part.

Sitting in the TV room Dave and I made the realization that this adoption thing was going to get started moving and we should probably tell my parents, who lived with us, that there may be a little one on the way and we would like their blessing. I could hardly contain myself as I walked into the living room and told my mom, who was sitting in her usual chair and my dad who was in his usual position on the floor watching TV, that we had decided to adopt and would like their blessing. I can't be 100% sure but I think they were a little taken back, incredibly exited and slightly overwhelmed all at the same time...truth be told, we were too!

So...here we go, we are on our way, we decided on a homestudy agency, a placement agency and started filling out paperwork. We filled out paperwork, filled out more paperwork, went to doctors appointments, notorized document after document, after document, had fingerprints taken for the FBI, Dept of Homeland Security, State of South Dakota, Minnehaha County, and a few others. We had our finances scrutinized, our childhoods, young adulthoods, marriage, family and living conditions scrutinized. We took blood tests, personality tests, marriage tests and had letters of recommendation written on our behalf.

Mid April, everything was so close to being complete, I knew that we were certain to have a placement shortly. Then I received a phone call, it was from our contact at the placement agency. She said that if they received the information from the agency that was processing our homestudy we would be in line for a child from a group of children that they were getting ready to place. Oh My Gosh....my mind raced, how do I get them to get those papers ready as fast as they can so we don't miss this opportunity? I called, they seemed genuinely concerned, but they had to do their due diligence and nothing could be done to speed the process, after all, they don't want to miss anything. I agreed, please do everything you need to do, but could you please do it a little faster?

A little over a week later I received a phone call again from our placement agency with the same urging, they hadn't received the information from the homestudy agency yet and the placement of the children was emminent. Again...Oh My Gosh....Another frantic phone call was made to the homestudy agency, "Can you please get the paperwork to the placement agency, what if we miss out on this chance and there isn't another one?" The voice of our social worker on the other end of the line said, "Stephanie, I know that you are excited and worried and a myriad of other emotions, but my true belief is that if God wants you to have a child that is in that group of children he will make it happen, if he doesn't then your child is not there and he will lead us to him or her." That's a bunch of hogwash I thought, just get the paperwork to the placement agency, that's what I am paying you for!

On May 5th 2006 as I sat at my desk, emmersed in work and not thinking much about the conversations in the past, the phone rang, "This is Stephanie," I said as my usual answer to the phone, "Hello, this is Susan, I have some good news, we have a little girl that we would like you to consider adopting, could you please check your email as I have just sent you some pictures and some medical information?" As my hands shook and my voice trembled, I could hardly get the words out, "Yes, I will check my email and give you a call back." She had done this before and knew that I was completely out of my league as far as emotions go and told me to check out the email, talk to my husband and get back to them within 3 days as that was the timeline.

Dave was at a project a couple hours away so I immediately hung up, dialed his number, dialed his number again, dialed his number again, are you kidding me, answer your phone! My dad was working with him on the project, so I called my dad's cell phone and when he answered I was able to calmly ask for Dave. "It's a Girl! and she's perfect and you need to get back to the office as soon as you can so you can see her!" Completely taken by surprise he had to calculate exactly what I said to him for 30 seconds or so and then all I heard was sobbing...it was at that exact moment that I knew that our social worker was right, God did have a plan, he did know which child was going to be ours, it didn't matter if the paperwork was there or not, He was in control and this little child that we saw in only a few precious pictures was going to be our daughter. Conventional wisdom and very smart people say to get the medical information and then send it to a doctor that specializes in international adoption and let them determine if the child is healthy and if you should confirm the placement. I did do that, but I also knew prior to hitting the "send" button on the email that it really didn't matter what they said, she was already our daughter!

The little girl in the picture was baby Maria Rene and she is now Maria Rene Richter. We had an incredible journey to her and thus far an incredible journey being her parents. She's bright, emotional, intelligent, athletic and just a super little girl. You really should go back and read some old blog posts and see just how spectacular she is. Now however, we need to tell you about our second adoption journey, yes our second...here is our journey to Flora Luisa Fernanda Richter. Isn't that the coolest name you've ever heard? I think it is!

More later...I will update shortly on our Richter Family Journey....Blessings!