First post!

This is my first time blogging!  I decided to start this blog to document my own journey and encourage others who are in the process of adopting.  I have had many twists and turns already in my adoption journey and know that other adoptive parents' blogs have helped me through the deserts of my journey.  

At this point I need to catch you up on my journey......I have always wanted to adopt.  For some reason that desire has always been in me.  As I grew up the desire remained as did my enjoyment of working with children and families.  I ended up graduation with a master's degree in social worker in 2002 and eventually moved back to my home state of Iowa in late 2003.  During my first jobs I was working with very challenging children and families.  During this time I didn't understand how I could ever be a parent.  In 2006 I got a job as a school social worker (I have the best job).  Over Christmas break of 2006 I met up with a good friend and her family.  My friend and her husband had a adopted a little girl from Taiwan.  This meeting reopened the desire to adopt.

I spent the next year researching all the options: foster, domestic, and international.  I felt that international was the right choice for me....now all there was to do was find a country that was friendly to singles.  At first I wanted to adopt from Mexico, but soon discovered that it would not be likely to happen.  Someone had suggested I look at Eastern Europe.....I found and fell in love with Bulgaria.  I then spent time finding the "right" agency.  I started my journey with St. Mary's International Adoptions.  The first BUMP in my journey came within 3 months of signing with St. Mary's.  Very quickly warning signs went up and I knew that I could not trust the owner (Now I know my experience is not the same as everyone's, I hope and pray that others who use this agency do not have the negative experience that I did).  I contacted my current agency, who are WONDERFUL!!!  There I got to speak with the coordinator, who had also adopted 3 children from Bulgaria.  She is very understanding and supportive to both the children needing families and the families wanting children.  I couldn't ask for a better person to help me on my journey to parenthood.  Since signing with my current agency I have taken longer than I expected to, to get my dossier together.  I finally got my dossier registered on 7/19/2010!  So, now the long wait begins......But I do know that God will provide streams in the desert.