Getting Closer

The social worker sent me the rough draft of our home study today and in there it says that we are approved for one male, 0-12 months, in good health, from Africa.

Yay!! Now they have to do a bit more tweaking, and wait to hear back from our placement agency, who also got a copy and then that part is done. We might actually have most of our dossier, sans the USCIS, in by the end of the month. Then a few fingerprints, and we are officially on the wait list for a referral. It was kind of weird to see us referred to as mother and father in a document.

And, in the spirit of pointing out good things, remember how I was complaining about the state certification for a notarized document. Well I was shocked to have gotten that back in the mail less than a week after I sent it. They said 5 business days in their hot little hands, followed by mail time both ways, so they came in way under the mark. How often does that happen with a government facility.

Home Study Update

So, we had our home study today. The woman who came couldn't have been nicer or more normal. Cory thinks that it went really well but I'm not going to hold my breath. We will hopefully have the rough draft from her in a few days, and if we're lucky she won't surprise us and say that we should not be allowed to adopt. I don't think that she will, but I'm always ready for the worst.

Scheduled

I talked to the social worker from our local agency tonight and she is coming up Sunday morning. She said that it was only a couple of hours and then she writes up the home study. I thought that they needed to come a couple of times. She was going to verify that, and get back to me, but it doesn't sound like she is interested in dragging this out any longer than she has to either. She sounds pretty normal too, so I'm feeling pretty good about this.

Home Study

We're waiting impatiently to see some movement on the home study front. I called the woman at Families for Children that I have been in contact with for the last, 3 months?? Holy crap!! Anyway, I had emailed her Wednesday, she's the one that said we could get going in the new year, and heard nothing. So I called her Friday morning and she told me that we had been assigned a social worker.. Huh? I thought YOU were our social worker. Okay, so fine, we are assigned someone else who is in our area. Great. She implied that she had emailed me to tell me this, but I did not get an email from her. That's fine, I've had some issues with my email at work. So when we get off the phone, she tells me that she will email me the info again and include this woman on the email.... Fast forward to 4:30 yesterday when I take it upon myself to email her from my msn account, just in case hers is still having trouble coming through to me because of course she must have done it, like she said she would, right?? Well, still, nothing.

I'm getting antsy because the notarization on our medical forms expires on February 7. This is not the end of the world necessarily, but a big pain in the ass to have to go back to his office and have the form updated. And honestly, I don't know if we can just go back to the notary in the hospital and have her update it or if he needs to fill out all new forms. I will have to check into this.

Now we have not paid this agency yet, and my common sense says, "screw it, find someone else" but, this is the only agency in Utah that is already approved by WHFC, and although I could go out and find another agency and WHFC would most likely not have an issue with it, so long as they are licensed, I have no idea how much time that would add on. On top of that, with all of the blogs I'm reading, this issue with home study case workers appears to be a common thread. Not everyone has had trouble with their social workers, but this lack of urgency seems to be pretty common. So at this point, whatever I would have to do to fix things on the doctor's side, will probably be easier than dealing with another one of these people.

The crappy part is that next week is pretty much out for me as far as doing any of this too. We have sales training/meetings all week and the only night during the week that Cory and I would normally have together - Wednesday - is out since I will be team bonding at Boondocks. I can't get too upset about that though, because who am I kidding thinking that this woman would even get back to me by then. Seriously, maybe I should have been a social worker. Drag your feet on everything, ignore clients, blow things off and eventually still get paid.

Paperwork, paperwork.....

And more paperwork. So when I first started reading the blogs of other people who had adopted from Ethiopia I noticed a trend. Everyone was complaining about all of the paperwork that was involved in getting registered with the agencies and getting their dossiers in. (Once the dossier is completed that is when you are officially on the wait list for a referral.)

Well when the information packet actually came from WHFC my initial thought was that this didn't look so bad. Nothing I couldn't handle. Well then the delay with the background check happened and since it was the holidays, we just backed off for the moment. Now that the background check is finally back and I'm back on paper duty, I feel like every time I look at the list of required documents, there is something new. Seriously, it is like some sort of special paper out of a Harry Potter book. New items just magically appear. And every new thing that pops up of course requires notarization. My favorite though is the document that had to be notarized, then sent to the state, to be authenticated. Basically a special notarizing of the original notary.

And of course our medicals will be out of date as of February 7th, so if we don't get the homestudy done by then, we have to go back to the doctor again. I actually don't know if this would involve a whole new doctor's appointment or if we could just go back to the notary and have her update her notarizing...

I will be so happy when the paperwork is all done and I can just sit back, have a drink and wait. That middle part there, that is what makes this still better than having one on my own. I can have a martini when I am ready to pull my hair out!!!!!!! People tend to frown on that if you're pregnant.

Hey, by the way, if you happen to be reading this and have any comments, please feel free to leave them. It's always good to hear what everyone has to say.

Dolls for Darfur

I saw this story on MSNBC, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/22462829#22218919 and thought that it was so sweet of these women. In case anyone reads this, and is going over to Ethiopia, I thought that it might not hurt to contact them and see if they would be interested in donating the dolls to orphanages there. I know that a lot of people are getting donations together to take with them and thought that this might be a good fit. I wouldn't think that it should matter which country they are going to.

Woo Hoo!!

So, I heard from the local caseworker today and she finally got the background check back. So after the new year we can continue forward with the homestudy and get the dossier all wrapped up, hopefully before the medical clearance expires, although I think that would mean that immigration would have to move quickly and I am not too hopeful on that.

On the bright side, the first blog off to the right just go their referral the other day and it only took 9 months and 11 days and they are going through the same agency as us, so maybe this means we will have a short person home before I'm 35!

In case anyone is still reading....

I haven't posted in forever because there really hasn't been anything to post.

I started the new job on the 17th - last time I ever start a new job around the holidays... Not that I plan on starting another job Jessica...

Christmas was good. Presents were great. I won't go into a big list, but I think we all got most of what we wanted. ;) Other than Shelby and Sake trying to kill each other - hey first time in 3 months! - everything was good. We have tons of snow here too. Our street is down to one lane pretty much.

As far as the adoption goes, well, its not. I put things on hold with the placement agency until we hear back on the background check. When I told the case worker in Massachusetts, where WHFC is, what was happening, she sounded a little shocked. I just told her welcome to Utah. So obviously I am feeling a little discouraged about the whole thing. This better not be some sort of a sign that I am supposed to have one of my own, because that whole pregnancy thing still doesn't strike me as natural!!! ;)

Hopefully we'll hear something soon. This year would be nice..

And on and on and on.....

So, I finally got a letter in the mail today, from the Utah Department of Licensing. And in the interest of privacy and anyone deciding they don't like me in the future, (what is there, Blogger rivalry or something) this post has been changed. Oh boy!

Yay!!

Okay, no news on the adoption front, which is the whole reason that I started the blog....

But, I did give my two weeks today and start the new job on the 17th... Now come on homestudy!!!!

Quickie

On the off chance that anyone is still checking this, here is where we are... I emailed the home study caseworker the other day, like I usually do once a week, and asked if in her experience, she though that the background check would be much longer. I got a "Probably not. Happy Thanksgiving". Nothing like that personal touch huh?

Oh, and still at Oracle.. If anyone knows of any openings I would like to here about it though. =)

Background Check

For everyone who knows me well, you are aware that I am well known for my patience, in fact if you haven't already called me for advice on how to control your tempers, be understanding with your husband (hee hee heee) please feel free to do so.

Okay, all sarcasm aside - and if you weren't dropped on your head multiple times as a child by a one armed hunch backed nanny you can tell that I was laying it on pretty thick - anyone who is reading this and has already adopted or is in the process of doing so, how f*^#ng long did it take for your background check to be completed? This is driving me nuts. It was sent in the first week of October, and here we are, 2 days before Thanksgiving and no background check. Just curious........

Same old Same old....

So, still nothing new to report, but I thought that I could put a few more pictures up from vacation. I know, lame, but I don't have anything else right now... Until Jessica works out a new job for me that is. ;)

On the water taxi from the airport in Venice to the hotel... I thought that I looked exceptionally good after all that flying and trying to drink the Crown Room in Atlanta out of Vodka - I really do blame Cory and the bartender he renamed for that.

Seriously, even in Florence I can't get away from this freaking car!!! Does ANYONE want a Porsche, know anyone who wants a Porsche???????

This is at Dolce Vite in the Piazza Navona. The older woman on the left is from Germany originally. She had 5 kids by the time she was 28, then her husband died in WWII, so she married the man on the right, whose birthday it was by the way, so that she could get out of there to come to America. She was so interesting.

This is in Florence. The legend is that if you roll a coin down the boar's snout/mouth, I can't even remember exactly, that you will return to Florence some day. Since this was Cory's favorite place, hands down, I think that is likely to happen. Right behind that hog is where I found my adorable brown purse!!!!

A little something for Jenny and Troy. Check out these lines at the Vatican... And on the other side, going up to the Vatican museum and Sistine Chapel - there were NO lines. As in not a person in front of us.

Traveling

So yesterday I got an update on the Ethiopia program from our agency. It's a good thing that we had already pretty much decided that we (or at least I) would be traveling to Ethiopia, because now it is required. The escort option is no longer a possibility. Apparently the officials in Ethiopia did not like having the children escorted, pretty much for all of the same reasons that we had changed our minds. Bonding with the child while traveling, meeting the family, getting pictures of the country and where he was....etc.

Oh, and still waiting for the background check!! They must be backed up. Where's the trust? Everyone doing background checks. ;)

I'm also going to try and add a few pictures from Italy to this post. Let's see how it goes... Thought I would do this since I never remember to send them out.

Capri

Venice

Trevi Fountain

Still waiting...

I suppose this is the nature of the beast, but it does seem to be taking quite a while for our background checks to come back.... It's not like we've done that many bad things. ;)

Once we get that back though, our caseworker has told me that she works fast, and will get the homestudy done quickly. We just need one mere reference to be returned as well. That one is one of Cory's jobs, so I'm sure it will be done soon. hee hee.

The social worker from the placement agency asked me how the dogs were going to deal with a child in the house. I am optimistic.... Although Tigger may pack his catnip and move out.

Halloween went pretty smoothly this year. No blood. Sake and Chivas were tied up and all three had a little puppy valium beforehand, but it went well. Shelby only scared one child, all 12 lbs of her. I don't get it. Other than that she just kept doing her cute little chipmunk pose until kids got close enough for her to get her front paws on their bags of candy. Smart girl.