Hanging In There

I've had several people ask me, over the course of the last few weeks, how the adoption was going. Each time the question was responded with a smile and a small explanation regarding the status of the impending legislation changes.

Talking about the adoption has been exceptionally hard for both of us. Post election and still with possible legislation changes, we moved forward with the process regardless of the hurt and confusion that seems to be present. It hasn't been easy, trying to keep a smile on our faces and pretending that politics don't matter. In the world of international adoption, they matter a great deal. USCIS fee increases, that were introduced back in July, are going into effect on December 23rd. 21% on average. That's a pretty big jump and pretty daunting to us right now, but just another way the government is attempting to limit intercountry adoption.

We finished the home study portion. The final draft was sent to MLJ and then we received our IEP. I'll talk more about our IEP a little later on. For now we move on with fundraising. Right now we have a holiday Origami Owl party running with my friend Stacy Schneider. You can find our party link here if you're interested in shopping with us. Stacy is donating a portion of her commission to our Adopt Together account. I'll put together a little something more about this for tomorrow.

We hope everyone is doing well and is ready to launch into the craziness of the holiday season. We're looking forward to spending lots of time with family and friends over the few weeks.

Lots of love,

Home Study

We were accepted by Hopscotch Adoptions Inc. on August 8th. Since then, we've been gathering paperwork, tracking down certificates, and obtaining certified copies on just about everything you could imagine. Our first batch of papers looked like we had leveled a small forest. We're still waiting on a couple of the city/county checks to come back and next Friday we are getting our finger prints done for the state background check.

I'd been talking with one of the ladies on staff at Hopscotch, since our acceptance, and decided to drop off our first batch of papers during a time when she would be there. It's always pleasant to meet the faces behind the e-mails and we live close enough to their office, so that taking our paperwork to them is easier than mailing it. On Thursday, I announced on Facebook that I would be meeting the home study agent on Friday. I had a sense of relief and nervousness leading up to Friday morning.

When I went into the office, I first met the director. She is fabulous and I loved chatting with her. She asked a questions about the program and how we were doing. She introduced me to the nice woman who I had been exchanging emails with for the past several weeks. Talking with our home study agent was wonderful. We sat down around 10:45 and I didn't leave till right around noon. We spoke about the interviews, my worries and fears, baby stuff, daycare options, financing the adoption, our families, and so much more.

Our first home study visit is next Friday. We've already begun cleaning the house up (more so than usual) and I've picked up a couple of art projects to distract myself from thinking about it. I feel confident that we're going to pass the home study. We have to be honest and show that we're going to be good parents.

I love working with Hopscotch. Communicating with them has been incredibly easy and they've made everything very clear. I left their office on Friday feeling good about the process. I didn't feel as overwhelmed after talking to them. Sure, we still have a lot of stuff left to do, but feeling like you have people in your corner, rooting for you, makes the process much easier.

Background Checks

When an agency tells you that they do extensive background checks, they're not lying. 5 city/county checks, 2 child abuse checks, 2 sexual offender checks, 2 SBI checks, and 2 FBI checks. All of our city/county paperwork was dumped in the mail yesterday and I hope we get those back next week. Finger prints for our SBI checks are in a week and then those will get sent off. At least they'll know we're normal people after everything is all done.

We're getting closer!

What Do You Think Will Change?

As we filled out the home study application, this question was in a series of many. Without skipping a beat, I wrote, "Everything." That answer is easily the most honest way I have ever answered. I did wonder, after looking over all of our information, if anyone else had ever answered in the same way.

I walked into the home study's office to drop off our paperwork. It's amazing how nice people can be, how understanding a complete strange can be when you look them in the eye and they show that same glimmer of giddiness over the promise of a new family member. The assistant, right after I introduced myself and we said hello, asked me to step back so she could see my tattoo. They were so nice and I could tell that it was going to be great, hopefully, to work with them. Talking to these ladies, they knew what my husband and I were getting ready to embark on.

We waited for the e-mail to come through. What if they didn't like our answers? What would they think of our unorthodox ways? Well, we got our answer today:

We're one step closer.