Documents

So the documents I reluctantly mailed out on Wednesday were safely received today by Kate Sproat. She found a few quick errors and emailed me very quickly to make me aware of them! WOW that is service! We have most of the things nearly fixed and they will be back out early next week. YAY We got our acceptance packet from Gladney this week. We have to get started on our training requirements. There are some things that I am excited to learn about. I know that nothing can prepare me for the actual experience but our unique circumstances warrant some extra reading! Today is the beginning of a very relaxing weekend! Cortney and I are going to watch movies, sleep late, and lay by the pool all weekend! My sister and the kids will provide the entertainment tomorrow but it will still be total relaxation!

Dossier day

So the dossier documents are gathered. One last notary stamp and signature to get then all will go in the mail today on its way to Kate Sproat. It is difficult to put all of these original documents in the mail and not have them in my possession. Copies were made and a prayer has been said. I kind of feel like we are hurrying up to wait but at least the work for us will be done...with the exception of the immigration approval! Oh how I wish we had connections in the government!

Another day closer

I try to let the time pass off without constantly thinking about the little person that may be coming into this world any day! It is easier to think that he will not be a real baby until we get our referral but in all reality he could be born any week in the next few months. I think about Ian's biological mom and what kind of things she could be facing at this point in her life. How hard her struggles must be and how worried she may be that her child will not have a good life. I pray that God will give her peace about her decision. If she only knew how much love awaits him!!!

We Are Approved!

I got the email yesterday from Anne at Gladey! We are formally, offically an accepted family by Gladney! We are ready to start the dossier process. All things are ready to go to be authenticated next week. I'm not sure how long that process will take but we have until we get our CIS approval before we will even start to worry about that! My sweet, sweet sister just got back from Myrtle Beach, SC and picked up a few cutsie things for baby Ian!

How cute! We love aunt Jamie!

homestudy to CIS...check

I got the letter today from our home study agency saying that our home study was mailed to immigration on June 15th. The letter said to expect approval in 30-50 days. I think that the times are running at around 60 days now so we have some waiting to do. In the meantime, all documents other than I-171H (immigration approval) will be getting authenticated! We are afraid of getting a quick referral because the government will shut down in August and September. Last year the first court dates we could find were coming in mid-October. So if travel is a 2 weeks or so after that we could be waiting until sometime in November to travel at the best case scenario. That would mean that the child we learned was ours in September won't meet us until November or later. LOL, I am sure that it is worry for nothing. As I have said before the Lord already knows Ian and he we come in due time. I just can't wait to meet him!

FBI clearance

FBI clearance arrived yesterday at my work so today when I went in there it was!! YAY Now we are waiting on the home study which will definitely not be here before next week. All of those documents will go off to Kate the dossier lady to be checked out and sent off for authentication! It is getting so much closer to the time in which I have no paperwork to gather. I look forward to and dread the "nothing to do but wait" stage of the adoption. I keep remembering that God will put Ian in these arms when the time is right, so I can stop rushing!

Baby stuff

We made several purchases today for the baby! I am so excited that we finally picked out bedding. It has been a real source of debate around here! Of course my pick won out in the end and Cortney says that he really does like it! We had to get some documents from the courthouse today and our notarized bank letter. This was only my 5th visit to get the documents from the courthouse so I am glad that is all over and they can not see my face for a while. It only took my mom lodging a formal complaint over the way I was treated to get things done but...whatever it takes=) Thanks mom! The people at the bank were so nice. They wanted to know all about the adoption and when he would be here. I love it when I have a good experience while gathering paperwork...it is so infrequent!

So here are some pics of the baby goodies we got today. We went to a couple of places and I liked a lot of things but so many things I just couldn't pull the trigger on. I needed help and together me and Cortney are the blind leading the blind! He would ask me which was better of something and I would have NO CLUE!! Where were you Jamie??? LOL...my sister the baby expert needed to be there. It was fun though because we got to see just how much we needed help! The crib and changing table could not be picked out (at least the color wasn't) until the bedding was selected. Now it can be ordered=)

Here is a picture of Ian's first outfit from his Papaw. Hope 6-9 months will fit!!!

One last update. Cortney called Adoption Assistance today. I should have called because from the short time of hanging up to telling me the story he forgot essential parts. LOL, that is a man for ya..I started asking questions and he forgot what she had said. Oh well, anyway the most important thing is that they hope to have the home study to immigration by the end of the week, which is tomorrow? And something about someone will be getting a package overnighted to them? Thanks Cort...way to remember the details!

Woo Hoo

Today is my Birthday!! Wee Hoo! For my favorite birthday present I will be heading to Babies-R-Us to make some purchases for the little one. Everyone has asked me how we know that we are getting a boy....we don't!! LOL We thought we would leave that one up to God but the agency has told us that there are far more little boys than girls in need of homes so..we are just assuming! If by some rare chance a little girl is on the other end of the referral we will do some exchanging, pick out a girl name, and be excited just the same. As long as we get a BABY the gender is irrelevant. LOL Today I will gather two final documents to go to Gladney and that will make our file complete with them. I will fight back the urge to call Adoption Assistance and ask if our home study has been sent to immigration because I have bothered those poor people enough and I will enjoy this birthday so much because if it is God's Will, this will be my last birthday without Ian. Have a great day!!

Happy Birthday to ME!!

Tomorrow is my 25th Happy Birthday!! This is the year of Baby Ian! I can't imagine a better year to get a baby than this one! We are still waiting on our copy of the home study and our FBI clearance letters. We have become seriously patient where the referral is concerned. So many blogs say how the family got the referral DAYS after the submission of their dossier to Ethiopia. It would be so hard to get the referral near the beginning of the rainy season in Ethiopia (time in which the whole government shuts down for ~6 weeks) and have to wait until that was over and for the court date once they re-open. So, we can actually take a little break on wishing everyone would move at the speed of light! I am trying to enjoy this time..I keep saying that but I haven't been successful as of yet! I know that once he gets here the evening lounging will be gone, the long showers will be over, and sleep will be a distant memory. Ahh...how eager I am to be deprived of the luxuries I am currently afforded!

Along the process of gathering paperwork, I have encountered so many rude and unreasonable people. I always approach the process with the best of intentions; always trying to be as thoughtful and courteous as possible. In my profession I see many people in need and maybe there have been times when I wasn't as empathetic as I should have been. I hope that my experiences have changed me. I hope that I have the ability to make someone feel better by just listening.

Happy Birthday to Me.

Huh hum

Today was so fun!!! My sister and the kids came over and we went swimming! YAY so fun! Gladney emailed us to let us know that the recommendations for our home study write-up were sent in on June 6th to Adoption Assistance Inc....so hopefully the home study will be going to CIS early next week!! I guess we won't really know until we get the bill!! LOL Gladney received some other things for our application this week like our child abuse checks and state background checks. I got my corrected (3rd draft) employment letter today. That is one less thing that we have to get. The employment letter takes care of my insurance verification!! YAY That is one less thing we have to get notarized. Now we just have to have a letter from the bank, FBI clearance, CIS approval and the home study to be finished with our dossier. It still sounds like a lot but excluding the bank letter all the rest of the things are out of our control.
Cortney and I were watching a video clip on another blog tonight and I cried (of course) and he got a little torn up too. It is so hard to see the children in the orphanages and not want to bring back more than one child. It's amazing how in just a month's time ALL of my fears or concerns about whether or not I can do this are gone. All I can think now is how could I not do this? In my life there have been times when I was sure that I met someone so that God could reveal something to me through them. I am SURE that Ian will be one of those people. During and long after this adoption is final people will say how Cortney and I "saved" this child from his circumstances. I don't know if anyone could ever understand how much this child will save us.

tuesday, the good and bad

The GOOD: Way to go Adoption Assistance, Inc!! Today our home study arrived at Gladney for the finishing touches to be added. Mary will be perfecting it and hopefully by next week it will be in the stack of papers on the desk of one over-worked immigration officer! The BAD: The employment letter that I basically aggravated my employer to death over is WRONG. Yep, it isn't notarized it the correct state. Geesh, that notarizing is really starting to get on my nerves. But anyway, back to the good. Our home study is finally finished. We have an approved home study!! YAY Also, my sister and I have picked out baby shower invitations. My family is not really big on throwing showers, especially my mom. So it was to my surprise when my mom starts talking about planning this big baby shower for Ian. I thought, WHAT? So, I seized the moment and picked out some invitations. I refuse to think that I am doing anything too early because this is my time and I am going to enjoy every day of it!!! Oh yes, I also am including tonight the photo that my sister photoshoped from a recent vacation picture of me and Cortney. Pretty funny!! Thanks Jamie for being so supportive. You are the best sister in the world!!!

Patiently Waiting

Today was another day of patiently waiting for a week of hopeful progress. Every weekend is another two days of non-production! We are always excited for Monday and hopeful that some great news will break! This week we are hoping that the finished home study will go to immigration and the approval will hurry along. We have been reading blogs of how quickly people are getting referrals and we kind of started to panic. I don't think we have too much to worry about however as a birthday present to me we are going to pick out the furniture and bedding for baby Ian. Having a nursery in this house will be unreal for me. For so long I have walked past the baby sections of stores with my infertile blinders on. Never allowing myself to see how cute or precious something was. But next week, Cortney and I will go into a BABY store and pick out the things we will have for OUR SON. Oh my goodness!!! Here's to another week...

First time parenthood

Tonight I realized that many of our fears and concerns are not necessarily due to the fact that we will be adoptive parents but mostly just because we are first-time-parents. We are afraid that this child will grow up and not want us or need us. We are afraid that we will do something that will make his life less than perfect or that we will be less than great parents. I guess we will never truly be able to separate the issues that are adoption specific and those that are just general first-time-parent fears. I am sure that either way, our children will talk about how crazy we are just as we do our parents!

Application received

Today Gladney received and processed our application. We have a few more documents to send in but we have the largest part done. I can't wait to have our dossier finished and ready to go. I keep thinking about the days to come. I can't imagine how I will feel when we get the referral!!!