The "Heart" Part of Waiting

So...now the waiting game begins. We should be certified this week, and then our caseworker can begin to try to match us with a sibling group. How long can that take, you ask? A week. A month. A year. Bottom line here, we have NO IDEA! 


For those of you that know me, "patient" is not really a word to aptly describe how I like to get things done. Especially when I'm excited or anxious, I want it NOW, and I also would love it if you could just hand over the reigns and let me do it myself, thank you very much. Unfortunately, that is just not the way this process works. You have to trust the people around you to do their jobs and make the best decisions for us. We have a PHENOMENAL caseworker, who has already worked tirelessly to get us this far in the process. BUT...I am just not a good wait-er. So, what to do in the meantime?


Well, to the amusement of my husband, I have begun spending every waking moment I have free from two year-old princess games and attempting to get ready for the new school year on AdoptUSKids, which I mentioned in my last post and the nationwide database of Heart Galleries. Heart Gallery of America is the coolest organization. The bottom line is this---when you select children as a "potential match", you have little more to go on than a picture and a paragraph that is supposed to sum up the child's entire life and personality. Its not a lot to go on. What Heart Gallery of America does is enlist professional photographers in locales across America. The photographers volunteer their time and talent to take professional, beautiful pictures of typically "hard to place" children available for adoption through foster care. They hold gallery showings as well as posting on the Internet. Sibling groups and children with particularly high medical or behavioral needs are classified as "hard to place", and these pictures give them the leg up they need to shine among all of the children that need a forever family.


Thus far, I have selected approximately 12 sibling groups--totaling 32 children as "potential matches". I would take all of them in a heartbeat---unfortunately, my husband is reluctant to move into a hotel. I have also suggested we move out of our spacious master bedroom and swap for the kid's room...it would mean we could fit lots more adorable, lovable children!! I will continue to lobby for a swap. Until then, the Internet and I will be close friends and partners in the waiting room of it all...