Update!! Orientation and Moving Forward

Whew! So sorry everyone for the lack of information since our wonderful orientation in Fort Worth a little over a week ago but to my credit I was furiously working on this application binder:



(Yes, the whole binder)

So, as you may have guessed the orientation went great! I feel like we could go on for awhile about all the information we received, how well Gladney presented it and how excited we are now to be working with Gladney but for the sake of all of our time, I will summarize everyting :)

- Gladney has been facilitating adoption in Texas for about 125 years (wow!) and in that time has become a national leader in both domestic and international adoption. They are one of the most well respected adoption agencies in the U.S. and a top leader in adoption advocacy.

- Gladney's domestic adoption program focuses on support for both adoptive and birth parents by giving them each caseworkers and counselors to help them through the process.

- Adoption matches are birth mother driven meaning that the birth mom chooses a family from the pool of adoptive families available. This provides her an enormous amount of peace as she considers a home for her baby.

- Gladney provides life long support for birth and adoptive families by giving them access to other families in the same situation and offering counselors at every stage of the process. So theorhetically, if our child at age 13 was struggling with being adopted or someone made fun of them for being adopted, we can still call Gladney and talk with one of their counselors and even meet with them if we wanted.

- Gladney focuses on great matches. They encouraged us to be "us" and to be honest about what we're comfortable with in regards to the health of the child and birth mother and to what degree we want to be open in this adoption. They said this because a successful adoption match happens when all parties are all in and there's no lingering tension because someone wasn't really comfortable with annual visits or special medical needs.

- Lastly they said "If you stick with us you will become parents." That is an enormous statement to a room full of people who have struggled with infertility to varying degrees. The process of trying to have a family is fraught with loss, disappointment, lost hope, fear and anxiety. After the presenter said this you could feel the room loosen up. And then they officially gave us permission to be excited to be parents. I didn't know I needed that permission until they gave it and I have gotten very excited this past week.

If you have an interest in knowing more about Gladney please leave me a message! I can tell you way more information if you want it or you can check them out yourself at www.adoptionsbygladney.com.

Now I want to describe the process of adoption and where we are in it so people can have a general idea of what's happening and what's to come.

1. Application -
This is what I was working on all week! I don't know how long it takes people to finish this on average but my goal was 1 week. I haven't quite made that but I think that we will be able to mail out our application tomorrow (11 days is still a good time but I was really hoping for a record time here). The application includes our medical history, financial status, questions on our views of adoption, etc. as well as recommendation letters and a criminal background check. In addition to the paperwork we are sending our first PAYMENT! Yikes!! We need to send them about $5725.00. By the grace of God we've made that goal!!! Yes!! Between the movement of God in the hearts of some very generous friends, selling some pictures from Colorado and some very excited Grandparents we've made our first financial goal! Thank you to everyone and thank you Jesus :)Once we've turned in all our paperwork for our application we move to step two: Homestudy.

2. Homestudy -
A homestudy is required for all adoptions (domestic and international, private or agency assisted). This involves two main meetings with a social worker. One is an interview we'll do in Dallas. The second is when the social worker visits our home to make sure it is a safe and healthy place. At first this sounded scary but I've been assured they don't go through the house with a white glove they are looking for major issues like hoarding problems, recurring filth, and anything that might be a red, majorly red, flag. Once these interviews and visits are finished then our social worker compiles information from our application and the info she got from us during our interviews and creates a "Homestudy" on us that is sent in for approval by the state.

3. Approval -
Once we are approved by the state we need to turn in another $3,725 (second 25% installment). And then we get to create our profile book! This is a photo book that describes what life with Landon and I looks like. It's the first thing that a birth mom will see about us. After our offical approval and our photo book approval our case worker begins to show our profile to appropriate birth mothers.

4. The Waiting -
I've been told this is the worst part. All the paperwork is done, the last bit of control we have is done and then we wait. On average they say this time is 8-10 months but its possible that it happens sooner. If a birth mom likes us she talks to her caseworker who talks to our caseworker and we have a phone call first. If she still likes us we coordinate a time to meet each other at Gladney. If she still likes us then we call it a "match" and wait for her due date (usually less than 3 months away in a majority of cases). Now, there are many variables to this part of the process - it ranges from taking the baby from the hospial and coming home, waiting a week after the baby's birth to take them home, meeting a birth mom for the first time at the hospital or even adopting an infant who is 2 months old and been in transitional care. We just don't know what this will look like but in general, that's how it works. The final payment is due 30 days before placement or if we have less than 30 days notice before placement then the funds are due when we accept the placement (this is 50% of our fee which is over $7,000).

5. Placement and Finalization -
Once we take the baby home, that is called "Placement". At this point the adoption is irrevocable and the birth mother and or father have signed away their parental rights. Finalization happens 6 months after placement. Finalization is different in every state but the state of Texas has this 6 month period where the agency is considered the managing conservitor of the child while we have all the responsibility of the child as parents. After that 6 months we "sue" Gladney for full rights, which they gladly surrender and our child is legally 100% ours and gets a new birth certificate with our names as parents.

I hope that is a bit clear for you who want to be updated :) Again, you can message me with questions if you want. We believe our application will be fully compiled by the second week of March (we have to wait on the background check papers, doctors statements and recommendation letters to all come back). AFter that we schedule a time to do our homestudy (at least another 2 -3 weeks) and then our homestudy is finished (another 3 weeks). Approval could happen as early as late April or as late as May or June just depending on schedule and timing of paperwork. Then our big wait could run from June to February or March of next year. I hope that's a helpful timeline.

So here's what we need from everyone!

1. Prayer - prayer for paperwork to go through quickly, prayer for our caseworker to be someone we really click with, prayer for our hearts to be prepared, pray that we find a home for our sweet doggy Lily who can't be around children, prayer for a baby that is possibly in the womb as we speak and prayer for the birthmom who is making a very difficult decision. And anything else the Lord leads you to pray about of course :)

2. Stay tuned - if you're not subscribed to this blog please do so now. A majority of our contact will be here. As things pick up I will most likely post things on the blog and link Facebook or emails to this page so stay tuned.

3. Encourage us and get informed - feel free to send us encouraging messages to not give up! And get informed! There's lots of fear and anxiety around adoption because of headline horror stories but don't contribute to that instead, talk to more adoptive families, read some books. We recommend In On It, a very helpful book for friends and family members of those adopting. And there's a dozen more that you can find too :)

4. Give -
We will still need to finance the rest of the adoption including attorney fees to finalize our adoption 6 months after the baby is placed in our home. You can do that by donating via Pay Pal on this blog, you can order pictures from my website or you can just send us a check. We believe that this process of adoption will be a blessing not just to us but everyone who is committing financially, emotionally and prayerfully in this journey. And thank you, with all of our hearts, for being willing to do this with us - your support is making this dream of a family a reality for us.

Again, feel free to ask questions and get informed! We're so excited! I will be posting more regularly as we finish more paperwork and as God teaches us more and more.

Much love,

L&L

Last of the Colorado Provenance

Today I'll finish up the stories behind the rest of the Colorado pictures.





Almost all of the rest of the scenic pictures were taken on our descent. We were only on the mountain three days but in those three days the aspens turned from lime green to golden yellow. The window for seeing the aspen trees in their fall transition is a short probably 2 to 3 week gap and we were so lucky to get right in the middle of it. The forests we hiked through to get back to our car were all gold, the leaves were beginning to shed and our path was littered with yellow leaves (our very own yellow-brick-road). The sound through the leaves so a perfect shuffling and the light through the leaves were just as beautiful as you can imagine.

The picture called "Landon" was Landon's handiwork. He took that shot on our way down and I actually love the sun flare he got there at the bottom.



"Water Source" was literally our water source when we made camp. The stream was just a few yards and a small hill away from our tent. The oxogen was so thin that we were breathless just getting our nalgene bottles filled and coming back. The water was cold and tasted so good. The water really is better there :)



The descent off the Bells took us a little over 2 hours I think. It wasn't as hard as the climb up but it was still demanding. My feet felt heavy, my pack felt even heavier and I smelled terrible. It was totally worth it. I have never seen stars to bright and clear. It was actually scary to see so many billions of stars so clearly and see the fog of the milky way winding through our sky.

I felt like the trip to Colorado was an anniversary gift from God. Originally Landon and I were going to attend the Kings of Leon concert, then stay at a hotel and celebrate our anniversary in July. The concert was canceled (thanks Caleb) and I was really disappointed. And then we got to go all the way to Colorado. I loved it, every part, even the painful and gross ones were awesome. If you have a chance to do a trip like this do it!

Thanks for looking at the pictures and reading their provenance. Mexico pictures will start tomorrow! Remember everything is on sale on my website! And I just added a donate button to the blog! Thanks for the love, prayers and funds!

Much love,
L&L

Provenance 2

Today I want to feature the images taken at St. Elmo's Ghost Town.







We found out about this from the motel we stayed at in Buena Vista (which was an awesome, 50's style motel with the office in the center and the rooms in a horseshoe around the office). They said this was a great stop along with some natural hot springs in the area as we made our way back from the Bells to Salida.

St. Elmo was a old silver mining town deep in the mountains. So deep in fact that directions should read: "Drive a really long time down the same road, the pavement will stop and pick up again at several spots. You will pass neighborhoods, cabins and finally there will be no signs of any life for miles. You will think you have missed or passed it several times and want to turn around for fear you will be stranded with no gas on a mountain road. Finally, when you have moved past your fear and transitioned to anger and frustration- you're only about 5 more miles away."

Anyway, the St. Elmo town has switched hands several times, people trying to just level it and make it land for cabins or buildings for elk hunters. Currently its in the care of the Historical Society who is working to restore the buildings and make it a tourist site. There was an original school house with a giant wood burning furnace in the middle, a blacksmith building, an old general store and even an old saloon!

We walked the property, read the signs, smiled at other visitors who clearly were relieved that treacherous drive was over and watched as dozens (I mean DOZENS) of chipmunks swarmed some kiddos who had food.

Some of Landon and I's favorite pictures are from St. Elmo. He loves "Lace Drapes" and "Ghost Town" and I really like "Ghost Town" and "Seat for Two." I think a lot of people love "Seat for Two." Fun fact here, "Seat for Two" was shot next to the chipmunk feeding frenzy, I had to make sure I didn't step on any when I took that picture.

So, if you're near Buena Vista Colorado you might want to head out to St. Elmo (or just look at our pictures). But you WILL want to go to Mother's and Daughter's Restaurant in Buena Vista - it's wonderful!

Remember, prints are on sale for our adoption! www.lschottartistry.com, click "Clients" and enter the password: schottadoption.

Much Love!

L&L

A little bit of provenance...

Two years ago Landon and I took a weekend and went to Wimberly, Texas. There we went through junk shops and prayed we would find a special owl piece. After looking through some shops we slowly walked into the very last shop just minutes before closing time. We looked downstairs and then scowered the upstairs and started to give up on our quest for an owl and then suddenly I looked up and saw this:



(To see some back story on why we were looking for an owl piece click here

We loved it, took it off the wall and left the shop. As we stood on the steps leading to the parking lot Landon felt we should ask the owner if there was a story behind this piece and there was a beautiful story of a boy's fear of owls and a mother's desire to free him from that fear. She also informed us that the story behind any artistic piece is called its "provenance." So, in celebration of the pieces I have for sale to support our adoption I'll be featuring some stories behind the images.

So, let's start with Colorado...The Bells, Reflection and Intimidating






The Maroon Bells are the most photographed mountains of the Colorado Rockies and that is the main reason we found them at all. We basically went on the internet, Googled "Colorado Camping" and there they were - The Maroon Bells - craggy giants of beauty.

I was so excited to see these things that literally when we turned a corner on the street and saw them I ghasped and got a little teary-eyed (can't explain that).

We parked our car, said good bye to modern comfort, got our huge packs and hiked to the first scenic point at the beginning of the park which is where these pictures were taken. A somewhat shallow pond lies just beyond the parking lot and the sky opens up to the mountains. The Aspens were right in the midst of their transition to fall. We took lots of pictures and we asked someone to take a picture of us and luckily the person we asked was a photographer who then changed out my lens for his wide angle lens and we got this shot of us:



It's weird when you are looking at something so big - I felt like people talked more quietly. The stately beauty of the mountains was breathtaking and to see their perfect reflection in the water was just as impressive. It's good sometimes to feel small before such mountains and at that point I felt miniscule.

We hiked all the way to the base of those bells - 7 horizontal miles, 10,000 (yes, ten thousand) verticle miles. I've never been so physically challenged in all my life. I hit a wall and gave up before we even met the halfway point of our original goal but I was proud of myself.




We made a great home in this alpine valley just below that first, intimidating bell and every morning watched pink sunlight ignite those mountain faces and every night watched the shadow cover them.



Beautiful (overwhelmingly beautiful) and intimidating all at the same time. Meeting God will probably be like that, magnified of course but those mountains gave me a taste of the glory of a heavenly kingdom prepared for us.

Enjoy the pictures! Again, available on my website at www.lschottartistry.com, under "Clients" and the password "schottadoption". Thanks everyone!

~L&L

All prints are on sale now!

Alright everyone the prints are available online now!

Go to: www.lschottartistry.com

Click on the "Clients" tab and enter the password "schottadoption"

From there you can add images to your shopping cart, pick the size and pay via PayPal!

If you want to use cash or check use the shopping cart like normal and submit your order, just skip the PayPal step. If you want a size or have a question about a size not listed just shoot me an email at lindsay.schott@gmail.com and I will answer it for you.

Thanks everyone! I hope you like them!

~L&L

Prints for Sale Preview

Hi Everyone!

Thanks for all the support in response to my last post! So, I am still working on some prep to get pictures up for purchase so you can use PayPal through my website. So, while I still get the kinks worked out I thought I would give a preview of a lot of the pictures so maybe you can start thinking about what you want to buy!

Prices will probably start around $20 for an 8x10 and will range in size and price all the way up to large canvas prints that are about as big as you want and those run in the $200 - $300 range.

The pictures featured are from my trip to Puebla, Mexico; The Maroon Bells Park in Colorado and a few from Austin. There are also 3 special prints that I designed with Bible verses. So, enjoy! And if you already know what you want go ahead and message me but more info about ordering coming tomorrow!

Mexico:






Colorado:








Austin:






Adoption Designs:





Again, stay tunned for details about prices and ordering online!

~L&L

Important Update, Please read and pray with us!

Wow! It feels like things are moving and changing and this is going from imaginary to real!

Like I said in an earlier post we are attending the Gladney orientation on February 17th (that's just about 2 weeks!!) where we'll get a complete view of their program. They've already sent us a pretty extensive information packet about the steps to their program and the cost.

I will get down to the nitty, gritty financial details:

Sometime within the first 90 days of our orientation we will need to turn in our full application and 25% of the program fee which is $3,625. As soon as we get that funding our application is turned in and we start the Home Study (which is already funded, thank you Jesus!)

Once the Home Study is complete and all the paper work is in (probably about 4-6 weeks) we will need to turn in another 25% (another $3,625).

So, to sum up we will need to turn in about $7,250 in fees in the next 5-6 months. (Maybe even sooner if possible).

The rest of the balance is due 30 days before the placement of the child or if you have less than 30 days of notice (sooo fun!) the rest is due at your acceptance of the placement.

Friends and family please do 2 things for us:

1. Pray! I truly believe if God is leading us to adoption (which I really believe He is) He already has this funded. I have seen God give us money that felt like it came out of thin air but my human heart is a little freaked out by those numbers! So, pray for the money to come in. Pray that in this process we would trust God with all we have and be a light, encouragement and joy to people around us. And pray for the waiting (so much waiting) which can be maddening! And if God leads you - maybe even pray for the child that we're hoping will be ours someday and his or her birth parents.

2. Give! If you've already felt you wanted to help us financially, now's the time to do that. You can send us a check via mail or if you live close just come on by. Also, today and tomorrow I will be unveiling my prints that will be for sale and there will be a place for you to pay via PayPal.

Thank you for reading and thank you for being a part of our journey. I know that when God moves in our lives it's not just for our benefit but for everyone around us to see how incredible God is. So pray for us and stay tunned for any changes!

Much love to everyone,

L&L