The Baughman Adoption Journey

Updated Pictures...

2009-07-22T01:41:00.001-07:00

Our Family

Loving my baby girl

Precious Little Feet

The Beauty of Transracial Adoption

Nora

Tate

Sorry for the lull in posting. Life is busy with our family! Nora is growing up to be such a big, sweet girl and Tate is also growing up before my very eyes. He will be 5 by the end of the summer! Enjoy these photos taken in June by our friend and professional photographer Jennifer Summers. She is immensely talented!

Four months old!

2009-04-05T13:31:00.001-07:00

Daddy's Girl

Purely Innocent

Sassy Girl!

Funny Girl

Four months old with Big Brother

Fun Day

2009-03-29T07:06:00.001-07:00

Here are some pictures of the kids and daddy from the other day!

Finalization!!!

2009-03-09T15:47:00.000-07:00

We spoke to the attorney today and it looks like we are scheduled to finalize on April 8th! Please pray everything runs smoothly! We are so excited!!!

Road to Finalization...

2009-03-08T07:56:00.000-07:00

Well, we are closing in on finalization. One of the great benefits from adopting from Florida is that we can finalize in about 4 months and have 3 post placement visists. We just finished our last visit yesterday and are hoping to finalize via phone in early April. We are so excited for this step!!! Thank you to everyone who helped to bring little Nora to our family. She is such a blessing!

Three months old!

2009-03-08T07:53:00.000-07:00

Nora turned 3 months old on March 5th! How the time flys! She is such a joy! She loves to "talk" and is so happy in the morning. We love to see her first thing in the morning all bubbly and happy! Happy 3 month birthday sweet girl!

Baptism

2009-03-08T07:50:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos from Nora's baptism two weeks ago. She was baptised at the same church that John grew up at in Indianapolis. She also wore the same gown I was baptised in as an infant. It was a wonderful day and we really felt God's love for us and all His blessings!

Me and my little girl

2009-02-14T20:17:00.000-08:00

This was taken today at Nora's Adoption Open House! Thanks to all our friends and family who came by to see our little sweetie! :) What a great Valentine's Day! We are looking forward to her baptism next weekend. She'll be wearing the same gown I was baptized in as a baby!

Bows!

2009-02-08T09:25:00.001-08:00

We have enough hair to wear bows! Mom is so excited!!!

Our sweet kids

2009-02-07T06:07:00.000-08:00

Here are a few new photos of our sweet babies! :)

Little Nora

2009-01-08T19:11:00.001-08:00

Here are a few more pictures! I'm sorry I haven't posted more - still getting in the swing of being a mom of two now! :) Check out Tate adoring his little sister! What can I say - LIFE IS GOOD!

We are FINALLY home!

2009-01-01T04:22:00.000-08:00

Wow! Never thought it would take that long for ICPC to clear us but we are finally home - HAPPY NEW YEAR! What a great way to start 2009. I will be posting the whole story of how things went with Nora shortly as I know everyone is really interested. Until then, here is a new picture of our sweet little girl! I love the look on her face in the Christmas dress - it's going to be fun wearing frilly dresses! :) Jackie

WE ARE GOING TO GET OUR DAUGHTER!!!

2008-12-06T14:45:00.001-08:00

I can't believe I'm typing this but we are leaving to get our daughter. We are driving through the night and will be in FL tomorrow morning. Please pray for our safe travel and that everything goes well tomorrow with meeting the birthmother - she is wonderful. Thanks for all your prayers. Call us on our cells if you need us. Praise God! Love,

Jackie

Prayer Request...

2008-12-05T10:49:00.000-08:00

We are being presented to a situation. I don't want to go into too much detail, but if we are chosen to be this baby's parents we will be leaving to get our child soon. Please pray for the baby, the mother, and that God will tell us if this is our child. Will try to keep everyone posted. Love, Jackie

Matching Gifts for Aiden

2008-11-26T10:56:00.000-08:00

If ever there was a good time to donate to Aiden's adoption (see my earlier posts to read about Aiden), NOW is the time! Between now and Christmas, Tracie has found a ministry to match donations up to $5,000! Please consider donating today and help bring this little boy home soon to be with his family!!!

Checks should be made payable to: “Tekoa 211 Ministries” (do not write our name on the memo, simply write Orphan Fund):

Mail payments to: John and Tracie Loux12312 Askew StreetGrandview, MO 64030

Our homestudy draft is here tonight!!!

2008-11-26T10:45:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it!!! Our social worker is sending our homestudy draft tonight for review (to make sure there are no major mistakes), so that means we're thisclose to being official!!! We look to send our applications out next week, so we'll officially be waiting. Thanks to all those who have offered support and walked us through their experiences of waiting (some short and some long). We know this may be the hardest part but look for God to give us the strength and faith to wait for our baby to find us.

Earlier this week, I was able to speak to another CAC family in Cincinnati. They adopted a beautiful son just this past September. It was so helpful to hear her story and walk me through some of the unique situations we may run into being an adoptive family from Ohio (each state has different laws and requirements). Thanks Caroline! It was great to talk with you, and we hope to meet you in person someday soon! :)

All for now!
Jackie

Waiting to mail...

2008-11-25T18:32:00.000-08:00

Well, it looks as though our home study will be completed this week. I am still praying for it happen but it looks to be likely. That means we can start mailing out our packets and applications and clear off our dining room table! We had a minor accident today involving some of Tate's milk and a few of the paperwork items but nothing was lost that can't easily be replaced. I'll be happy not to have paperwork spread everywhere - nothing is safe with a curious 4 year old boy running around! :)

Tate and I have been exploring some of our friends adoption blogs, and he is starting to understand the concept of adoption a little better. Seeing pictures certainly helps him better put things together. :)

Well, I'm off to bed to get a little sleep. Lots of love,

Jackie

Blessings and Baptism...

2008-11-23T08:17:00.000-08:00

John and I were baptised this morning! Yes, we've both been baptised as infants but we choose to be baptised through immersion through our current church, and it was a great experience. The sermon that followed our baptism was especially powerful. It focused on using your wordly wealth to do God's will and make a difference in the lives of others. For those of you who read this and have gone through adoption or are walking the path right now, I think you will agree that this is THE most important thing you can invest your money in regardless of the economy or other factors!

Going into Thanksgiving week, we are thankful for so many things. We are thankful to all the people helping us through our adoption - our agency, consultants, and social worker. Each one of the people we work with has been a real blessing to us, and we depend on their knowledge and guidance to make it through. We are thankful to God for leading us to adopt. He's helped us take the tradegy of infertility and turn it into something beautiful. Even though we don't know the outcome yet, we are sure He has a special baby waiting for us. I am also thankful for the best husband and son one could ever ask for!

Please keep us in your prayers this week - especially that our homestudy gets wrapped up this coming weekend. We are just waiting for our social worker to complete the final draft. My dining room table is filled with boxes, profiles, and applications - ready to mail as soon as the homestudy report is done. We are looking to the professionals and God to help us find the right situation for us! Check out the pictures of my dining room.

Take care everyone!

Jackie

I love my son...

2008-11-20T17:10:00.000-08:00

Today, Tate decided to say a little prayer in the car on the way to school. In his exact words (eyes closed and hands folded)... "Dear God, I appreciate you for dying for my sins." It was precious and so sweet coming from a 4 year old with no prompting whatsoever. :) We have the best little boy!

Hip Hip Hooray!

2008-11-18T10:11:00.000-08:00

Our central registry checks are back!!! We are cleared on all accounts - just wating for the final draft of our homestudy and we're ready to go! Thanks for all the prayers - keep 'em coming! :)

Love,
Jackie

Our Profile Cover Shot!

2008-11-11T16:28:00.000-08:00

Here's our cover shot! :) Thanks Darrin!!!

Photo Shoot!

2008-11-05T20:21:00.000-08:00

My friends Darrin and Lupe came over tonight to help us capture some nice shots for our profile book. Both have worked in the design field for a number of years and have a great eye, so we had a great time with the photo shoot. Will post pics next week after we get them back.

Need your help please!!!

2008-11-05T15:18:00.000-08:00

As most of you know, John and I have started the process of adopting our second child. We have felt God’s call to adopt, and we know he has a little one out there just for our family. Adoption is extremely expensive, and we are glad that God has given us the means to do this. We expect our adoption to cost us around $30,000. A small price to pay for the gift of a child in our eyes.

We are not writing you today to ask you for money for our adoption. We have a friend who needs your support. Tracie Loux is our adoption consultant (part of Christian Adoption Consultants), and she and her family are in the midst of adopting a little boy from Ukraine. This is not just any little boy though – Aiden has Down’s syndrome. As you might have guessed, there’s not an overwhelming (or even small amount) of families who would consider adopting a child with special needs into their home. Yet, Tracie, her husband John and their children Nick, Taylor, Isabelle, and Elia have all firmly said “YES” to Aiden. They have worked hard to complete the necessary paperwork to bring Aiden home and are waiting for God to provide the funds.

Aiden’s adoption is expected to cost around $20,000. Most of these costs are associated with the travel (most foreign countries require you to stay in their country for a few weeks while the final paperwork is completed) as well as the agency’s work to help them to put together their dossier and have it translated.

Here are some facts. If it weren’t for families like the Louxs, children like Aiden would end up in a mental health institution and possibly become a victim of human trafficking. If you go to Reece’s Rainbow’s website (www.reecesrainbow.org), the agency they are working with to bring Aiden home, there are literally hundreds of special needs children waiting for homes. If a family does not come forward to adopt these children by a certain age (usually between 3-5), then they are destined to spend the next several years in a mental health institution. Furthermore, once they reach age 16, they are put out on their own and often become victims of human trafficking.

The Louxs have done the hard part! They’ve said YES. You can help them with the easy part. Raising the money to bring this sweet little boy home to his forever family! I know, no matter how small (or large!) the donation – they will truly appreciate every penny. From $10 - $500 - it all makes a difference!!!

They are an amazing Christian family who has an incredible heart for adoption. Please consider donating to Aiden’s adoption fund this holiday season. I know the economy is terrible, but I can’t think of a better thing you can do with your money. What would be better than to have this little boy, for the first time in his life, know the love of a mother and father? Here are the ways you can donate:

1. Checks payable to John and Tracie Loux can be mailed to: 12312 Askew Street, Grandview, MO 64030

2. For tax deductible contributions, you may give through Reece’s Rainbow (http://www.reecesrainbow.org/sponsorloux2.html)

3. You may use the PAYPAL link on the home page of their blog (http://tracieloux.wordpress.com/) and mark your gift “Adoption”

I encourage you to visit Tracie’s blog to learn more about Aiden’s adoption. If you have any questions, please call or email Jackie. Please let us know if you choose to give to Aiden. We’d like to keep track of how much money we can raise for this little guy! We will keep you updated on our blog on Aiden’s journey as well as our own baby.

Thanks and much love,

Jackie, John, and Tate

The Scariest Place...

2008-10-31T17:55:00.000-07:00

I just got a call from dad about an hour ago. He and my mom are at one of the scariest places you could be on Halloween this year. A haunted house? Nope. A cemetary at midnight? Try again. An Obama Rally. Bingo.

Yes, that's right, my parents are spending All Hallow's Eve at an Obama Rally. Now let me say that my parents have been working class Democrats all their life. They also live in the heart of Obama land just outside of Chicago. They have their reasons for voting for Obama (none of them to do with abortion). My dad and I joked for a minute when he said he might get kicked out for being on the phone with a Republican at the rally. I told him I'm not a Republican. I'm a PRO LIFER! I want to speak for those unborn babies who don't have a voice in this election.

I love my parents and respect their vote. I believe everyone has a right to vote for who/what they feel is right in this election; but this year, I will be voting for my future, unborn adopted child. That's right kid - this vote's for you! Go PRO LIFE!

Looking forward to this weekend...

2008-10-29T15:24:00.000-07:00

Well, this weekend we finally get to meet our home study agency's founder who is also doing our classes. We are excited to meet her in person as we've been doing most of our communicating by phone. She has really helped us move through the homestudy process quickly so far, and we are so grateful for that! More than that, she's been so responsive to my 8 million questions which is also a blessing!

So, it will be a busy weekend with classes on Saturday and finishing up our interviews on Sunday. Then we just wait to get approved! Yeah! :) Our social worker has been really nice, and we've enjoyed our visits with her. She's also offered us helpful advice on how to ease Tate into the idea of a new little person in our house.

Oh, my friend Darrin, boy genius who does everything under the sun including photography occaisionally, is going to come to our house next Wednesday and take a few pictures of us for the cover of our profile since nothing we have seems to be cutting it for me. Thank goodness I get my hair done on Monday - my roots were starting to get bad! I'll post when I have pictures! :)

Anyway, that's all for now! xo, Jackie

Application Central!

2008-10-27T14:15:00.000-07:00

We are up to our eye balls in applications. I've got plenty of time to fill them out since our homestudy won't be done for about another month but it's still a daunting task to get all these applications filled out. And no, it's not just a simple application. Most require a boatload of other information too...certifed birth certificates, notarized forms, etc... Glad I'm getting a head start on this!

On another note, we finally told Tate there will be a new baby in the house. At first, he was unimpressed but as we told him all the great things about being a big brother he started to get pretty excited. I hope we have our little one soon! I think he's ready! :) That's all for now! Love, Jackie

Another step forward...

2008-10-26T11:36:00.000-07:00

Well, we completed our second visit with our social worker yesterday - 2 down and 1 to go. Hopefully, next weekend, we'll be able to complete our classes as well as our last visit. Then, we've got to wait for the official report and study to be written up (hopefully by Thanksgiving). Please pray that all these things will happen soon - we are so anxious to start submitting our applications to agencies!

Our profile is coming along nicely too (see image). This is the book that birth mothers will look at to learn about our family (and hopefully select us!). Thank goodness for great connections and great friends. My friend Darrin has helped me with some printing issues I came across while designing the book and a printer I use in Louisville frequently for projects has volunteered to print 40 books for free -which is huge! Darrin's coming over this week to take a few shots for our cover and then, God-willing, we'll be ready to print. Yeah!

This is such a process that I have to relish in each small success on the journey - each time we can check one more thing off the list it's a good feeling. A few prayer requests...

1. Please pray for Tracie and her family as they draw closer to adopting their son Aiden (he is currently in an orphanage in Eastern Europe and has Downs Syndrome).

2. Please pray for our agency and social worker - that they can get our homestudy finished and approved quickly! They have offered much support and guidance.

3. Please pray for Christian Adoption Consultants as they expand their vision and open an office in Kansas.

3. Please pray for our unborn child - he/she may already be out there! Pray for the birth mother and her safety. Pray that God is with her during this difficult decision.

4. Pray for us - that we may have the patience to wait for our child and move smoothly through the hurdles in the adoption process.

Thanks everyone!!! Much love, Jackie

So here's how it works...

2008-10-21T15:40:00.001-07:00

I know a lot of our family and friends probably have no idea how this whole process happens, so I will do my best to enlighten you! First of all, we are adopting domestically. It's funny - most people I mention that we are adopting to assume it is international. Celebrities have put international adoption into the limelight and it has gained a lot of attention in recent years. However, for various reasons (issues with international adoption laws, travel, etc...) we chose to adopt domestically. There is a great need for families to open there heart to children of all color in this country, and we felt compelled to go this route.

The first part of this process involves the homestudy which is done by a liscensed agency in our state. It's a lot of paperwork and documentation and interviews but if you are organized you can typically move through it in 8 weeks or so. So far, we have turned in most of the required paperwork and have one more home visit to go as well as some adoptive parent classes. We hope to be completed and approved sometime in December.

Step two involves networking with different agencies. The founder of our home study agency will network us with several agencies as she is also a referral service - which is a great thing. We've really enjoyed working with her. Also, we have signed on with Christian Adoption Consultants (http://www.christianadoptionconsultants.com/) and our wonderful consultant is Tracie Loux. Anyway, once our homestudy is complete we can begin submitting our applications. This is no small task as each agency requires another mountain of paperwork, but we are lucky that we are able to get a head start on it now in hopes it will be done when our homestudy is done. Thank you to our friends that have helped with letters of referance!

Step #3 is waiting to be matched with a birth mother. This is the part that I DREAD. God has blessed me with many wonderful talents and attributes but patience was not one of them. I pray that God is strong in this process and that He gives me the patience and the courage to go through each day of the waiting period.

Well, that is the process in a nutshell. Tate wants to read so I'm going to wrap up this post but PLEASE PRAY FOR US!!! Adoption is a bit of a marathon and we'll need all the prayers we can get. Lots of love, Jackie

Here we go...

2008-10-20T18:34:00.000-07:00

Well, this is my first attempt at blogging. Despite having done freelance design work for the past several years, this is the first time I've actually blogged. This blog is intended to follow our adoption story - which is just beginning. So far, we've started the homestudy process and signed on with Christian Adoption Consultants. I can't say enough about the great people helping us. They've been so kind and answered my many, many questions. This process is exciting, overwhelming, and a little scary all at the same time. I pray that God has a plan for for our family!

A little about us...

We met almost ten years ago at a friend’s birthday party. Though we were living in different cities at the time, we dated long distance at first and finally were able to be together following Jackie’s graduation from college. In March 2001, we became engaged in Paris, France under the Eiffel Tower. It was a dream proposal, and we were even more excited when we were married the following year on May 25, 2002.

Our life has taken us on so many interesting journeys, though our greatest adventure has been parenthood! Our son has brought us so much joy and happiness. Though we became pregnant easily with our son, we later learned that Jackie is unable to have more children. We were offered fertility treatments, but that didn’t feel like the right decision. Ultimately, we feel that God has led us toward the path of adoption, and we are excited about where the journey will take us.