adoption training.

David and I attended an all-day adoption training at our agency Friday. When we left, our heads were spinning with information, but it was so valuable. We learned details about everything from our home study to how to fund an adoption to the legal process involved in adopting a child. We heard stories from birth parents and adoptive families and had our eyes opened to a myriad of issues surrounding the adoption journey.

We’re so thankful for an adoption agency that is organized and left with all our questions answered, as much as possible.

Basically we learned that adoption is one great adventure into the unknown. We haven’t done adoption, but we have done adventure, and so this feels like the next natural chapter in the Gentino family story.

Our kids are doing some adoption training of their own these days: Amie can be found at various points throughout the day with a baby doll in tow, asking questions about diapering and swaddling and feeding. I’m telling you, this child was born to be a big sister.

Judah considers whether he’d prefer a baby boy or a girl, and the list of things he wants to teach our baby is ever-growing, from Star Wars to Lego’s to swimming.

If you’re curious about where we fall in our adoption process, here’s the checklist:

Preliminary application
Informational meeting
Formal application
Adoption training
Begin to raise funds for adoption
Home Study
Approval
Complete a family profile, video and photo book
Wait to be chosen by an expectant mother

Hopefully we’ll be able to begin our home study soon. Every step we complete brings us closer to baby Gentino and we are so excited.