I have had a bunch of people lately ask me "what is going on with the adoption thing", so I thought I would give an update.
So where we are now is what is known as the "paper chase", when you hear people refer to it as that they are not lying! It is kind of like when you just have a baby and people say, "they are going to be big before you know it" and you are secretly thinking that they are over exaggerating in your head. Then about two days later you are taking that same baby to kindergarten and you realize what everyone was telling you is true. It is EXACTLY like that! I never in a million years though that there would be so many things that I have to gather. I am however very grateful that you have to go through a lot to adopt a child, because trust me this is a level of commitment when you start this process you are going to find out who is in it to win and who the quitters are.
We finally finished all of our home study visits, which were so great, and now we are just waiting to get the completed study to go into our dossier. I have a feeling that it is going to be a couple of weeks before the report will be completed because we are still waiting on a couple different state background checks to come in, then hopefully the social worker will have all she needs. You have to have a background check from every state that you have lived in since you were 18 years old and we have a handful between the two of us (I am going to mainly blame this on Dave, because that usually works best). Once we get the home study back we file for an I-600 which will allow us to bring the child we adopt back into the U.S. Then hopefully our dossier will be completed and we can officially be added to the wait list! Yay, I cannot wait for the day that we will be actually added to a list. According to the agency the wait is one year from when you turn in your dossier. That will be a happy day and a huge milestone for us! Getting on the list is my goal right now, it is all I can think about. In the mean time every day we get mail is a little like Christmas, I feel like the little old lady that looks forward to the mail man coming every day because it is the highlight of her day. I cannot wait for the mail to get here so I can see if any of the missing pieces of our dossier are in there. Each piece of paper brings us one step closer.
In the meantime Dave and I have found a couple of facebook sites to become members of that provide us with a little more information to keep us going. I cannot tell you how heart breaking and out of my "bubble" I feel to see some of these kids. I constantly find myself crying and praying for them and at times it consumes all of thoughts. One of the pages is one from our agency of children that are on the waiting list, meaning that they are older children (10yrs and older) or have medical issues. Not all of these children are from Ethiopia but to see all of these sweet babies out there that don't have families breaks my heart. Not only do they not have families but most of them are so sick. There was a 4 year old the other day that weights 22lbs., blind children, deaf children, lots with hydrocephalus, spina bifida, fetal alcohol syndrome, etc. These children need homes more than anyone, someone to hold them, love them, take them to the doctor, and nurse them back to the best health that they can be in. It is one thing to know that these issues exist and another to actually see them in pictures. It is just crushing and makes me want to hold Isabelle and Davie a little tighter and thank God for all that he has given me.
It is almost time for me to pickup my little man, and I could go on and on about how much I have learned in the last couple of months but I need to save some of that for another post.
I do however want all of you people to know that I am in no way patient, I mean seriously not over exaggerating it just is what it is. A lack of patience is definitely one of my strongest weaknesses. This process is so slow and you constantly feel like you are out of control (because you are). I have to depend on so many different people to do their part, fill out their letter, give me my background checks, etc. and that is so hard for me! This is a feeling that I am slowly but surely learning to accept and work through, and I know that this entire process will be a learning experience that will help me grow as a mother, wife and as a person. God just grant me patience and help me to realize that it will all come to fruition in good timing, your timing!
