Headlines Read: Economy Rears Its Ugly Head, Doubts Arise, Again...Time for a Distraction

Received this email from the President of the Adoption Agency yesterday:

Yesterday, we made the difficult decision to lay off ten valued employees in our adoption services division. In the next few days we will be working to clairfy and reassign roles internally to ensure that your needs are seamlessly met. We will contact you by June 30 to share if you are directly affected by these changes. As the new President and CEO, I am committed to providing you with high-quality client service througout your journey. And as a former client, I understand how important it is to feel fully supported and prepared as you build your family.

Three Concerns Spring To Mind:

1. We believe that if you're shifting cases from a laid off social worker to another social worker who is probably already overloaded, everyone is affected.
2. Additionally, anyone who has been in an office with layoffs knows layoffs = decreased morale = less productive employees.
3. Given the serious nature of the email, you'd think spell check is something you'd consider clicking prior to sending...especially as the president of a nonprofit people have trusted their families' future to. Just sayin'.

Since we have not felt very supported in this waiting list phase of the process I'm thinking I'll voice our concerns (except for no. 3, which is more petty)  and look to become registered directly with Hennepin County, or at least learn about it. (Images of more hoop jumping make me shudder...)

I realize now how this process has made me feel very obsessed with myself, so to distract myself from my life I have decided I will organize a 5k in honor of my sister who struggles with bipolar disorder. The goal is to raise awareness for the obstacles people face when mentally ill and draw attention to how many people struggle with mental illness even though it's all but taboo to discuss publicly.

The race will occur on September 24, 2011--mark your calendars--which is the closest weekend day to the first day of fall that year.  My sister's name is Autumn, hence the date. I'm still trying to come up with a witty name for it. I am also compiling a huge list of to-dos, including, in no particular order:

1. Figure out how to register as a nonprofit
2. Figure out what legal forms/waivers runners have to sign to insure me against lawsuit
3. Choose the location and figure out permit requirements (I'm thinking a trail type run that won't require runners to be on the road)
4. Figure out the out of pocket cost and what price would still yield a nice donation
5. Figure out what organization I want to donate the money to--which requires a list of its own
6. Look for volunteer designer to create snazzy tee shirt design (which requires the witty name...)
7. Ask family and friends to help volunteer on race day with pictures, water, snacks
8. Seek donations from local companies for post-race recovery snacks
9. Find out how to get bibs for folks
10. Create a website, promote site and race on every outlet possible including Facebook, ActiveDirectory, etc. (again another list is needed here)
11. Seek support from other nonprofits promoting mental health awareness

If I could get 50 people to attend in year one I'd be thrilled. If it's successful, I hope to solicit corporate sponsorship for 2012. If you have any experience in this arena or have any ideas, pass them on. I'm entering brand new territory.

Sad yet Interesting Fact: "During 2002--2004, the average annual suicide rate (14.2 per 100,000 population) was nearly twice as high as the rate of death by homicide (7.2 per 100,000 population) for adults aged > 18 years." (http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5625a5.htm)

I'm so blessed to be able to organize a race in honor of my sister rather than in memory of her. I want to keep it that way.

Happy Thoughts

I realize the last post might have been a downer. I am sure if there are rules to blog writing, keeping it light is probably one of them. So today we're going light.

No news on the adoption waiting. We are still waiting and looking forward to a few things:

Paris & Steak
Namely, in August 2011 we will have our 10-year anniversary. Despite Mike's 10-year rule joke, we are planning on celebrating the date in France. So we're saving up. For our 9-year I think we'll go to our standard, our favorite place: Jax' Cafe.

What's the 10-year rule?

For years, Mike has joked that he'll need to upgrade to a younger wife after 10 years of marriage.

 

Creating an Inner City haven

We have begun taking estimates to get our backyard fixed up a bit. It's a gigantic eyesore right now. We're playing the "how much do we want to invest since we're hoping we can sell this place soon" game. So it won't be a super fancy backyard..but something nice when we can tolerate the loudness of the neighbors.

Family Camping Trip
We're looking for a weekend to have a family camping trip to see how Moxie will handle it. We already know Eddie is a good camper.

Getting Back in Shape
It's really more my goal than Mike's, but I am on a mission to workout or get exercise every day for the rest of the year. I'm on day 3 today. I think I'll get a bike ride in after we get the pups to the dog park if the weather stays nice. If not, I'll get to the gym.

Waiting and Contingency Plans

This Tuesday as I went to work I was thinking, "This is the week. This is the week we get the call for an interview."

Yet here I sit on Thursday, no call, and our social worker is off Fridays so my wishful thinking was just that instead of a premonition. Oh well, they said it could take some time.

I am a planner, though, have I mentioned that? So already I'm thinking about next year at this time. I posed the question to Mike, "what should we do if fall 2011 we haven't even been extended an interview?" Next fall is significant because it's when we'd have to renew our FBI finger print check for the third time. So it's kind of like an anniversary.

Here's what we've come up with thus far:
1) Stay on the waiting children list
Pros: All the work is done except for the new FBI Check and we felt like this was the option for us so it wouldn't seem right to abandon it
Cons:It's a lot of waiting and if we haven't even had a chance to be interviewed we might not feel too optimistic

2) Go on another adoption list for newborn babies
Pros: If we ever get one, we get a baby, and babies are just too cute
Cons: Could be just as long of a wait if not longer plus the fear a mom would want her baby back plus paperwork starts from scratch not to mention the costs

3) Reconsider invitro
Pros: We'd still be young enough that our odds of success would be higher, we'd get a baby that would be genetically connected to us and the baby cuteness factor
Cons: The overwhelming cost and more importantly both of us not really feeling it is the right option for us...so this probably wouldn't happen

4) Consider international adoption
Pros: Odds of adopting a baby are higher and seeing another country is cool
Cons: Need to start all the adoption paperwork, again; the cost; not to mention it just doesn't feel right

5) Go off all the lists and become resolved to loving our friend's and family's children
Pros: Assuming our jobs remain stable - we'd get to travel aplenty, early retirement, potentially living in another state for a while before we retire, classes at The Loft for me
Cons: Well, i think the con is obvious, all those other things are nice, but they aren't children, which is probably the biggest con of all

So rather than drive myself crazy, I'm trying to put away the part of me that wants go plan and live our lovely life.