We did it

We sent our profile off to the adoption lawyer. He had given us many other sources as well, but I have yet to call any of them. There is one really close to our house that I may call and there is another in Manhattan that the lawyer seemed to like, so I'll probably give them a call too. Getting our profile to several sources will increase the chances of being selected. It certainly won't guarantee anything, but there are none of those.

This lawyer is in Topeka and some friends recommended him since they used him for one of their daughters adoptions. He is nice, calm, thorough, informative. My only gripe was he always seemed to look away when talking with us, but as the meeting progressed he looked at us more. That was Tim's only gripe as well. The meeting really was more for Tim than me, but it did give me a better incite as to what can be expected from domestic adoption. Tim doesn't really know much about how either international or domestic works, so it was good for him to hear and ask questions. I did go in with several questions most of which were answered as the lawyer explained the process and how he handles everything.

Now it's just a wait game. YIPPEE!! Love the wait game. NOT! I need to follow up with the lawyer and make sure everything is in order. He got all of our stuff on the 5th, so I'm presuming that everything is A-OK since I haven't heard anything from him. Not that there is much he can do at this point. He files our profile and puts us in some database based on what our preferences/info are and when birth mothers come in with their preferences, etc., IF we fall into their criteria then he pulls our profile and shows it to them. The birth mothers look over 3-4 profiles at a time, decide if any of the potential families "measure up" and if one does then a meeting will be set. After the meeting it is determined whether the birth mother wants to pursue adoption with this family and if the family wants to pursue adoption with that birth mother.

It's somewhat nerve-racking since we just have no idea if our profile or we are "good enough" to interest a birth parent. The lawyer said that most of the birth mothers he's worked with can be anywhere from 10 (you read that right) - upper 20's and most are in their third trimester or just at the end of the second when they come to him. He's been doing this for 30 years and has completed ~1000 adoptions. Average 33 per year isn't too awful, right?

I'll keep you posted.