Adoption Update

We've been asked by a few people how the adoption is going. I thought I'd share the latest here. It's really not all that exciting, primarily paperwork tasks. So, if you quit reading right now, I wouldn't blame you. It's enough to say, we're working on it.

The Dossier: we have to gather a pretty large amount of paperwork for this. Once it is all together, it will be reviewed by our adoption agency, then sent to Ethiopia. It is not until then that we can be considered for adoption in Ethiopia.

Here's some parts of the dossier:

The Home Study, a social worker has met with us and determined that we are indeed a fit family for a child. She will write up a report stating that. Included in her report:
letters from a physician that we are healthy enough
state police background checks
letters of recommendation from our friends
(thanks to Sara, thanks to Jim for helping us out with that btw).

We will also turn in three years of tax records
fingerprints for background checks done by the FBI
letters of employment
a letter of good standing from our bank
and a determination of when our child will be covered by our insurance.

We are also required to take a few classes about adoption, read a book called, "Adoption Parenting" and make a plan of support that includes resources we can call on should our child have any physical or emotional issues.

We keep plugging away at it, little by little and waiting for everything to go through the system.

It's a lot easier than last time, since we know what to expect. I think we have less anxiety than with Harold's adoption. We know it is a slow process and worrying about it won't make anything go quicker. She'll get here, when she gets here. We know it's not within our control. And so we wait.

Now I'm not a super sappy, cry-y sort of person, but this music video got to me. It can be a tough waiting game for children without parents and for the people on the other end who are willing to wade through the paperwork muck to give them a home.

--AnnMarie