Growing our family (with adoption).

This is an abnormal post as of late. I haven't gotten into any of our hopes and dreams since before Johnny was born, we've been living so much in the moment that thinking past the next year is pretty far-fetched.

Before I got pregnant we had the paperwork for adopting in Europe, we started to fill it out and then it got tossed aside as our family unexpectedly grew. Adoption is something I've thought about for over 12 years, it's something that has been a part of me since I was a teenager and it didn't feel unnatural at all to begin that process. It does feel unnatural to stop now that our son is here.

We do want more kids, biological or not (or both?). I am not betting on ever getting pregnant again after the span of time it took for J to get here, so we've been talking about starting the adoption process again. It's a long, slow process if you have money, if you don't it's doubly so. We don't, so now my mind is starting in a different place than it did the first time and I'm trying to have a realistic take on this whole thing. The first time I was just ready to jump in and see where it would have taken us. Well, it would have been a big fat dead end.

Without money it just won't happen. My husband is a mid-level military guy and I'm a stay at home mom, we have no delusions of grander. We have normal debts and normal dreams and there's not much wiggle room to go off and simply adopt a child. So, what do we do?

The internet suggests good ol' fashioned fundraising. Bake sales, rummage sales, you know, the kind of things you do in Jr. High for your drama or band class. This seems weird and brilliant to me at the same time. I saw a family on the internet selling coloring books they created to raise money for the adoption of a Russian girl, in fact I bought one. I love, love that idea and think I may try to work something up like that.

Even more so, though, I was thinking about the Cupcake Barn and the cupcakes I've been making lately. Selling cupcakes isn't a career choice, I was really just trying to think of something that I could do here at home that would be fun and easy, and now it seems to be getting me out of the house every so often with craft fairs and tasting parties, which is a great thing as well!

I'm thinking the Cupcake Barn, along with various other options, could be our ticket to adoption; a happy surprise side-effect to wanting to eat cupcakes!

There are also grants that we can apply for that I am looking into now. There are actually a lot of options, it seems that people really want to unite kids with families. :)

I truly hope that someday we will be one of those families!