25 Days & Counting

Ok, we're technically not counting, but it makes for a good title!

Amazingly, it has only been 25 days since we entered the waiting pool.  June has been a really busy month for us, so it's seemed like we've been in the pool much longer.  We aren't getting anxious, but it was a good reality check when I added up the days!

One question we've gotten a few times has been if we've had any screening calls.  Andy may post more on this later, but we have gotten 1 screening call so far.  It was a fun surprise when we got it the day after entering the pool!  I remember last time around when each screening call (really it's a screening email) would give us an immediate adrenaline rush, cause us to drop everything, run around in circles, and do some research.  This time around, I felt like a pro since we took our time and then gave our answer.  We can both already tell that this will be a more relaxed time in the pool as we have bigger fish to fry between work, taking care of Dominic, and our large array of other activities.

Is anything else new?  Of course!  We never really sit still.  The blog has been pretty active.  Earlier this month we posted a prediction pool on some fun baby possibilities and then put up a summary post over the weekend.  Earlier tonight, I posted the latest Waiting Pool stats which show that the waiting pool is up to 100 families for the first time this year.

Since we have plenty of time left to go until we're picked (November at the earliest by the predictions), we'll have lots of other fun posts to put up and things to share.  If you have any requests or topics to suggest, feel free to post them in the comments!

Waiting Pool Stats - July

After 6 months of posting statistics on the waiting pool, we are now officially a part of those statistics!  These graphs will take on a little extra meaning now for us.

Total Families in the Waiting Pool

Since I just put together a more substantial post here, this entry will just be about the basic nuts and bolts of the numbers.  As shown below, there is a clear upward trend in the number of families that are in the waiting pool.  For the first time this year, the number of waiting families has hit the 100 mark.

Compared to June, there was a net gain of 2 families.  However that only tells part of the story.  In total, 8 new families joined the pool while 6 families left the pool.

Next up, our ongoing stats by orientation.  Even with 6 families leaving the pool and 8 new families joining, there were was minimal change with each group changing between 0 and 2 families total.

Prediction Roundup

It's been a couple of weeks since our last post asking for predictions and we had quite a few predictions come in.  Just for fun, we put together a little chart that summarizes all of the guesses!

The top entry for "Average Wait" represents the low end of the average wait time for our agency.  We don't have up-to-date numbers, but this is likely 18-24 months.  Compared to this, everyone is very optimistic for us, so we appreciate your happy thoughts!  :)

Baby Predictions!

We've officially been in the pool for over a week now!  It's been a great week as there hasn't been any adoption homework or need to obsessively keep tabs on our pool entry process.  I know eventually that I will get anxious about a placement, but for now it's really nice just to settle in and to wait for things to happen.

While we're settling in, it's time to repeat something we did for our first adoption!  We put up a prediction thread letting everyone guess some basic things about our placement.  There was even one guess that got Dominic's exact birth month and year right!

Last time around, it was really fun with tons of predictions, so we're going to do it again here!  Just leave a comment here on the blog with your guesses for each of the entries below.  Whoever gets the closest wins a massive Super Deluxe Luxurious Grand Prize*!

Prediction Categories

• Placement Time:  Month and year
• Gender: Boy or Girl
• Birthfamily's Location: Washington, Oregon, Other, or a state/region of your choice

*Super Deluxe Luxurious Grand Prize may include a mention on the blog and a contractual obligation to provide 18 full years of babysitting.  Thanks in advance!  :)

Waiting Pool Entry!

Andy and I are officially in the waiting pool as of today!  This means that we are essentially "pregnant" but with an unknown due date.  With OA&FS (our agency), an adoptive family can be selected at any time once they are in the waiting pool.  There is not a set amount of time to wait until we have a placement.

So on average, what is our expected wait time?  In our last post about waiting pool stats, I noted that there were 98 families in the waiting pool at the start of June.  Our agency has about 35-45 placements each year.  Assuming 45 placements per year, it would take over 2 years for every family in the waiting pool to get selected.  For us, we're assuming an average wait time would be about 1.5 to 2 years.

This means we likely have plenty of time to splash around in the waiting pool.  A couple of years ago, we splashed around with Charley, the happy adoption waiting pool whale.  This time around, I think we'll hang out with Ginger, the glamorous waiting pool giraffe.  Considering that this time around, we'll likely be waiting much longer, I've upgraded us to have a slide and a fountain!  (It's entirely possible I might have to buy us one of these now that I've found it online...)

Ginger, our waiting pool giraffe