Cat’s Out of the Bag

We dropped the adoption bomb on Eric’s parents last night. It went, overall, better than expected… but not without a few cringe-worthy moments. No tears and no yelling, so that was good. I do understand most of their concerns. We didn’t just arrive at the decision to adopt without considering the negative possibilities. I think they are always under the impression that we haven’t thought our decisions through- that we just wake up one day and decide to do something crazy. At one point his mom said she knew someone who adopted a boy, and in middle school that boy had a bad day and kicked the Principal in the nuts. So, you know, naturally, adopting children is probably a BAD IDEA! Then she went on a tangent about how abused kids almost always grow up to be horribly disturbed people who need lots of help and medication. I raised my hand and said, "Abused child, here. I’m semi-normal, well adjusted, and have a huge capacity to love." LOL. And then she wondered if we would even be allowed to adopt because of Austin. As if having a child with a disability automatically disqualifies you from having other children. Austin is a non-violent child who learns and communicates differently from a typical child. *thumbs up* Eric flat-out told them that he waited to tell them because in the past they haven’t made it easy to talk about things. That was after they basically blamed me for him not telling them things. Which is not the case at all… not even a little bit. I do nothing but encourage him to tell his parents these things early on, but he waits and waits until they are the last to know. Every single time. Drives me crazy and it’s NOT my fault, thankyouverymuch. Blah. Anyway, we’re moving forward. We answered some questions they had, and I’m open to more discussions about it whenever they’re ready. Eric’s mom said, "We will try to love a child you adopt just like we do Abby and Austin," and his dad said, "I don’t really think we’ll have to try." I’ll take it. I can’t ask for more than that from the first time they’re hearing about this!

On the adoption note, the girl we were most interested in has been removed from the listing. That means she’s been matched with a family and the family has signed a form of intent to adopt. So unless something goes wrong with that, she’s found a home. Which, you know, is a wonderful thing, but still a little sad for us. There are others we are interested in, but we are trying not to get our hopes up. We still have to complete the PRIDE training classes before our application can be approved. That’s going to take a little while due to the PRIDE schedules. There are 9 sessions and they are spread apart. Sometimes they do them in blocks, but the next block scheduling isn’t until May I think.

Anywhoozle. Austin sees the mobile dentist tomorrow at school. They did a nice job with him last time, so we will continue to utilize the service. One or both of us will be able to attend the kids’ Valentine’s Day parties on Thursday. I think we’ll both go to Austin’s because it’s earlier in the day. I think Eric is going to Abigail’s. Only one of us can go to hers since Austin gets home a half hour after Abigail’s party starts. Next week we have a visit from Austin’s case manager (who is newly back to work from maternity leave) and his new representative from Residential Options (local place that offers autism services). The day after that we meet our new adoption case worker and supervisor. Busy week. And two weeks from today is Austin’s birthday party. Wee!