Whirlwind!

This last month has been quite a whirlwind. We got all of our adoption applications processed while on a two week trip to Thailand. When we got back, our paperwork was waiting for us. We had initially planned to do our home study in late August (after our social worker got back from several weeks in the US for the summer), but after looking over the requirements and talking with our social worker, we decided to go ahead and have the home study this month. It is scheduled for June 23 & 24, only two days from now! We are thrilled to have everything that is within our control for the home study completed! The only thing we are waiting on is child abuse clearances, but our home study agency is obtaining those.

So, what have we done in the last month? We've written autobiographies. Talked about our marriage. Talked about why we are choosing adoption. Written about both things. Gotten copies of birth certificates, our marriage license, insurance cards, and tax forms. Shopped around for smoke detectors. Gotten blank stares and asked, "What's that?" Finally found, bought, and installed smoke detectors in our apartment. Had complete physicals and passed. Asked for a copy of our Chinese criminal background check. Got laughed at that we would need such a thing. Got it written in Chinese. Got it translated into English and signed. Emailed two consulates and our embassy. Heard, "No, we can't fingerprint you for a state background check." Finally were told that we could get fingerprinted in Shanghai. Went to Shanghai to get fingerprinted at the US consulate for NC state background checks. Mailed off the fingerprints. Asked friends to write reference letters. Asked them to write them again for a different agency. Asked some to write them a third time for our dossier. Created a blog. Named our blog. Changed the name of our blog. Changed the name again. And again. And again.

So, what's next? After our home study is completed, we wait 2-3 weeks for the final copy. After we receive that, we can send our dossier to our agency, International Adoption Guides. We'll travel to Guangzhou to get fingerprinted once again, this time for an FBI criminal background check, and file for permission to bring the children into the US. We are amazed that we are almost finished with everything that is within our control. The paperwork process has gone much more quickly than we expected.

We've been asked lots of times when we will know which children we are adopting. With all of our paperwork nearly completed and our home study less than a week away, we are on our agency's list of families waiting for a referral. We have asked for either a sibling pair age 0-5 or two unrelated children within that age range. It's hard to say when children matching our request will be available. It could be days from now, weeks from now, or months from now. We will be sure to post about it when it happens!