Adding onto our home...

We knew in the middle of 2006 that a little boy was coming home to us. We went back & forth trying to figure out where he was coming from (biological or adopted) & decided in December of 2006 that he was a 'pre-born' son.
We saw a waiting boy named Kevin who reminded me sooo much of our current sons. We called the state & they were not able to tell us much about him since our license was not current. We started our state adoption classes (for the 4th time, since we have let our license lapse repeatedly) in January of 2007. We filled out the paperwork specifying that our son was between 5 & 8. We finished classes in April & scheduled our home inspection for our homestudy. It was delayed a few times for various reasons, one of which was the horrid mess of the boxes in the basement. One day we received a call from our licensor that she needed to complete the homestudy & would be out that afternoon. We were at co-op, so a friend (Kelly) came home with us to help us throw things into place. The licensor came over & we passed the inspection. I thought it was so proactive of her to just let us know she was coming over that day. In retrospect, we may have taken a long time to get ready on our own. It was good to have it over. :) We called the licensor a few days later & asked her to change our son's age to 8-10 yrs old. We felt that he would be closer to 10. We waited a few more weeks and received our license in the mail.
We called Kevin's caseworker to set up a screening to find out more about him. He would not be able to come home for a while but they wanted to begin looking for potential families. We met with his caseworker, therapist and a few others who knew Kevin well. One of the ladies reviewing our case asked why we had not kept the little girl, Freedom, placed with us a few years before. I pointed out that we had adopted her and changed her name. She seemed impressed that we were able to stick it out and keep such a difficult placement. I wasn't sure if they were referring to her feisty temperament or the situation surrounding her placement.
We considered the things they had told us about Kevin & knew that we were prepared & capable of handling him, but we weren't sure of how it would affect our other children. We didn't want to adversely affect six children to help one other. We told them we didn't feel that he was ours and we would continue to look for our son.
We waited during May for a call that we had been matched, but I would still look every few days at the available older children on the state website. One day, I picked up Maryn from work and we were going to a family activity. (I think we were going to see a play (Helen Keller) at Hale Theater.) On our way, I told Maryn that I needed to stop and look at some profiles at the Adoption Connection. It didn't have to be done that day, but I felt this compulsion to run in really quickly & see the book.
They were closing at 5:00 and I was having trouble finding the office. I called and the lady said she would wait a few extra minutes until I got there. Maryn & I went in and asked to see the boys who were available, ages 8 & older. As I turned the pages, I saw a few great kids who were waiting for a family, but none really looked like 'ours'. I kept turning through the pages and after about 10 pages, I turned one page and was struck by a warm comforting feeling. I looked down at a picture I had not seen before on the website. He was a cute boy, but nothing about his appearance struck me as familiar. I turned to the next page & the warm feeling left. I smirked & turned back to the previous page to feel the warm return. He was our son.
I am such a 'doubting thomas' and second guess or explain-away feelings at times. Just in case I had imagined these feelings, I picked two other boys who I would inquire about. I asked the lady to forward our name to the caseworkers of these boys. I paused & said to never mind about the other two. Just Donald. Nine months later, as I try to piece the details of this together, I realize that this visit to the Adoption Exchange was June 18th, his tenth birthday.
Our file was 'forwarded to the caseworker' but never arrived. Two weeks later, I called again asking if we could please contact the caseworker. We were told she would call us; we just needed to be patient. (slapping forehead) "Patient" while our son was out there!! Waiting for us!?!? Duh. Anyway, we learned a little more patience while we waited a few more days for the Adoption Exchange to resubmit the request. I finally received a call from the caseworker just before I left for Seattle in July. I was given some info & told that I could talk to his foster parents to find out more about him. I was so excited, but also felt like it was so silly to go thru all the bureocratic silliness. He was ours and I already 'knew' him, almost like I knew our other kids. I spoke to his foster dad while I was in Seattle. I asked questions, knowing full well what the answers would be. I had pictured little things such as me tickling a little boy's back. When D's foster dad told me that tickling his back put him to sleep, I just said, "uh huh" since I already knew that. :)
He was being raised LDS & had been for the past year or two. He was excited to be baptized!
His three requirements for a potential family that he gave his caseworker were: "didn't want to go to daycare", "didn't want to be an only child or the oldest child; cuz that's too much responsibility" and "wanted to be sealed to his family".