Whew! Close one!

So, we're still just waiting. Waiting for our next home study meeting, waiting for our fingerprinting results, waiting... I was going over our paperwork AGAIN today and started looking into the whole getting our papers "sealed" by the state.

The state seal is basically, if I have this correct, having the state verify the notarization that you got. So, if you have something notarized in another state, you would have to have that document sealed by that state.

Apparently, some states will seal just the two documents that need to be sealed. Others insist on sealing everything. What this means is 1) a lot more money ($15 per document sealed) 2) Having to get our two letters of recommendation sealed in other states.

Luckily, I called our State Seal office today and they can seal just the two documents as long as I redo one of the documents taking out a sentence that implies that the other documents are attached.. So, retyping and a new notarization instead of dealing with two other states for seal.

How to help

The more I learn about Ethiopia, the more I want to find some way to help and to stay connected long after we bring our child home. To that end, I started researching to try to find an organization that Chris and I can commit to rather than sending donations to many different organizations.

I came across Project Mercy, and was impressed by their approach. They are more focused on teaching the  people to fish than just giving them fish. Their organization focuses on all areas of need: education for children, medical care, life skills for adults, and a home for AIDS orphans.

Check them out for yourself. Some of you have expressed an interest in volunteering in Ethiopia. This group appears to have a structured, safe volunteer opportunity that would be worth looking into.

Books

I'm snuggling up with what I hope are good books. I'll let you know.

Home study meeting #1

We've completed our first home study visit!! For those that don't know, the home study is basically a report about the family and the home which is used to determine if you will be allowed to adopt. It starts with paperwork - birth certificates, marriage certificate, child abuse background checks for every state you've live in within the past ten years or so, a financial statement about our situation, doctor's letters stating you're healthy, etc.

Then, your social worker comes to your house to check it out and make sure you really know what you are trying to get yourself into. We talked about the training we completed (10 required hours of training to adopt, but our agency wanted 12), our parenting styles, what Carter is like, how we met, what our marriage is like, and more and more and more. She was here for 3 hours and that wasn't enough time so, we'll be meeting again in a couple of weeks.

Our social worker is really nice and really on tops of things! She gets that we want to move as quickly as possible to get on the wait list!  The biggest hold up on everything is that in order to complete the home study, we have to have the results of our FBI fingerprinting which we sent in about 2 weeks ago. The fingerprinting results are currently taking 8-10 WEEKS! So, hopefully, we'll have the home study report done and approved by both our social worker's agency and our adoption agency and ready to be in the mail the minute that the results come back.

From there, we do our USCIS stuff which is needed to complete our dossier. I'll go into more detail about those items when we get there.

For now, our home study is under way!

Paperwork details

So, some want to know - what exactly is all this paperwork? Well... here is a list of SOME of it:

ALL OF THIS HAS TO BE NOTARIZED

Power of Attorney - so that our agency can move faster for us if needed
Dossier Affidavit - Table of contents for all paperwork stating it is the original
Obligation of Follow-up Report: promise to send reports on the child to Ethiopia
 Financial Statement - our financial situation
Birth Certificates - certified copies
Marriage Certificate - certified copy
Police Clearances - from the sheriff's department, can only be obtained in-person
Insurance Certificate - showing that we have insurance and so will our child
Two Personal Letters of Recommendation
One Employer Reference Letter
Attestation of Personal Conditions - a letter of who we are and our understanding of adoption
Health Certificates - from our doctors following blood tests
Declaration of Willingness - again stating that we want to adopt
Application of Adoptive Parents - asking permission from Ethiopian government to adopt

  

LIke I said... this is SOME of the paperwork. This doesn't include the home study paperwork and its 12 hours of adoption training and homework.

It also does not included the USCIS paperwork which is more forms and copies proving who we are. 

Its a lot of work, but honestly, the world would be a better place if everyone had to work this hard to have a baby.

Our not so secret blog

We started this blog when we started our adoption journey. Today, we announced our plans on our family blog so, there doesn't seem to be a reason to keep this one password protected anymore!

If you're new here, you might want to start at the beginning - there aren't too many posts. That way you can read our FAQ post and the answers to some of the questions spinning in your head right now!

More paperwork THE paperwork

It's here! The massive stack of paperwork and instructions is here! We
are going to go into our hurry mode again followed by some occasional
waiting times and then finally we we do the real waiting on the wait
list. Right now, we are still trying to prove that we would be good
parents.

Suggested reading

I just finished reading "There is no me without you" and I have say,
it is one if the best books I've ever read.

The book is a true story of an Ethiopian woman who starting taking in
orphans off the street because they had nowhere else to go. She didn't
have the room or the money to support them, but she took them in
nonetheless.

Now, to elaborate... This is not a warm-fuzzy book (although there are
numerous parts that are mushy and make you want to hug the closest
person to you and cry tears of joy). Overall, this is a devastating
book. It is a call to action or at least, it was for me.

Its 427 pages kept me awake at night. Not wanting to put it down, but
then, giving into exhaustion and turning off the light, the images
described in the book ran through my mind.

What has made an even stronger impact is that all the events in this
book take place between 1998 and 2006. While I was reading and would
see a date, I would automatically remember what I was doing at that
time.

What started as a way to get to know more about the country that our
child is being born into, has become a strong desire to do more. You
can't just adopt a child from Ethiopia and call it good. From this day
forward, Ethiopia will be a huge part of our lives.

I would encourage anyone to read this book especially those who will
be closest to our children to really understand the heritage of our
expectant child.

Be prepared to be moved.

Passport expedited

Wow. It really did come quickly! It's kind of sad to see a completely
blank passport. It was always fun to look at all my stamps to remember
where I've been. No, you cannot see my passport photo.

Fingerprinting

So, it sounds like the paperwork chase will take at least 2 months to complete all due to the FBI fingerprinting. We have to hurry up and get it done and then wait 8-10 weeks for the results. Once we have the results, we can send in our I-600a and wait some more to be able to take more fingerprints and then get the final paperwork to be on THE wait list.

I was able to get my prints done today, but Chris just couldn't get out of the office. You can only do it 2 days/week for about 4 hours each day so, Chris has to wait until Tuesday now!

Just an update

Yesterday I talked with our home study agent and we are all set to meet later this month. She'll be sending a packet of paperwork (shocker) that we need to complete prior to the meeting.

Today, I spoke with our new agency and they emailed me a tons of paperwork. I filled it out ridiculously fast and met Chris at work to have him sign everything. Now, I just need a couple of photos and it will be in the mail to the agency. This will be the "Formal Application".