A couple of weeks ago I emailed the adoption recruiter requesting more information about the third child we were matched with. I hadn’t heard back from her. Around that same time I left a voice mail for the case worker for the second match, and I hadn’t heard back from her either.
I was starting to wonder if I had done something to make them stop calling… which, in retrospect seems pretty silly… but I had been leaving messages and emailing for how long with no response?!
Well, I finally heard back from her. She called to let us know about a match meeting they would like us to attend!
A match meeting is when they bring everyone who has an interest in a particular child together in one room, along with potential adoptive families. The purpose is to determine the best possible home for the child, and also to determine if the families feel that the child is a good match for them.
This is where all information is revealed and discussed, and questions get answered.
This meeting is to discuss the second match. The one I was really optimistic about, the one I was excited about and didn’t hesitate to say yes to. The one that Tom and I both were in agreement on, and didn’t need to discuss at length like we have the other two matches.
I’m so excited, but I’m also so nervous. She asked me to bring family pictures so we can give everyone a good idea of what our family is like. I love pictures; I take so many of them I can’t even decide which ones to bring. I printed a whole stack of pictures out on Friday, and they’re sitting on my dining room table and I keep going through them over and over trying to decide which ones best show our family life, our individual personalities, our pets, our home… I decide that I should just bring them all, and then I decide that it’s just too many, and then I go back through them again.
I have so many questions, not just about the child, but about the meeting itself! Who exactly will be there? Will there be other families who are being considered? If there are other families, am I going to feel like we’re competing against them??
I know I shouldn’t worry too much. We should just go in there and be ourselves, discuss the situation, make sure any questions we have are answered, and see how it goes. I know that it’s not about competing; it’s about determining what is best for this girl. But those are the thoughts that are going through my mind right now, and I can’t help it; I’m worried.
Wish us luck!