Please don't faint!

Well, our Home study is officially over (at least on our end)! 4 weeks of interviews with numerous professionals both at our home and away are finally over.  We officially "passed", according to our social worker, last week with our final face to face sit down with her.  Our house had to be looked over and picked apart, our personal lives both past and present were dug out and scrutinized, our fears and failures discussed in detail.  Our relationships with friends and family questioned and looked into. What makes us tick as a couple investigated.  How we eat, sleep, work, discipline and express our love to each other was outlined.  We even discussed at length what we didn't appreciate about each other and why.....I am still figuring out how to get back at Derek for that conversation (Ha - just kidding! ;) Nothing like bringing out all the dirt or all the skeletons like these type of interviews and interrogations!  In reality our social worker was incredible, though.  She was easy to talk to and listened without judgement or criticizing looks or words.  I actually left most of the interviews feeling even more connected to Derek which is no easy task....we really have a very close and loving relationship.  She helped us talk through past and present hurts and failures and  brought us out on the other side teary eyed and feeling so very thankful for our stamina and strong will that helped us make it through (and continue to make it through) such times. So thankful for God's provisions and blessings in our lives! It made me see that while my family is certainly far from perfect and we have our level of dysfunction just like everyone else, I am one happy and lucky girl!  My boys are amazing, my husband is a God send - literally - and I really want for nothing.  Sounds like a great recipe for being able to give more of myself and my blessings away.  And most exciting is that we know we are well suited to bring another perfect little gift from God into our family!

Now we wait for about a month for our report to be written up. This is the amount of time that it will take our social worker to write up our biography that will then be translated into mandarin and sent to the Chinese government for approval of our adoption.
I am anxious to see her report.  It will be interesting (maybe hard) to see what someone who got so personal with us will write about our lives and our home and our family. 

While we are waiting on our home study paperwork to be completed officially we have LOTS more paperwork to get started on now on our end.  We have to now complete our "dossier"  (pronounced Da-ce-a) paperwork that will be what is officially translated and sent to these Chinese authorities (CCCWA) for approval and selection of our child.  This consists of the following documents:

• Home study (report written by our social worker who spent the last month getting to know our family)
• Reference letters (collected by our agency already)
• Marriage License - certified copy
• Birth certificates for me and Derek - certified copies
• Copy of Deed to our home
• China Medical statement (being completed by our doctor - waiting on blood test results to confirm no HIV, Hep B or other potential disorders/diseases)
• Employment letter
• Local police clearance
• Financial Statement
• Last year's 1040
• Passport copies
• Letter asking to adopt signed by us
• Guardianship letters (we have to appointment someone guardian to our children and they have to accept it in writing)
• CIS Approval Notice (form 1-800a)

I sent in our i-800a for to USCIS (immigration) for approval last week.  We now have to wait on our government about 60 days to get back the approval on that form (must have that to send over with our dossier to China for approval).  While we wait we will be busy getting all the other paperwork above completed and copied. 

The craziest part is that as soon as we get all the documents completed they must all be notarized and then I have to take them to the Clerk of Courts in the county the notary was sworn in and have them certify that the notary is still in good standing with the county office - that has to be done 2x on each document as every piece has to have a copy also done.  After that step we then have to FedEx all those docs to the Secretary of State who will certify them all and then they can be translated and sent to CCCWA - whew!!!  Can you imagine if everyone had to go through this when deciding to have biological children???
Okay, so moral of the story is that I need to find out which one of my wonderful friends is a notary! Need to get working on figuring that one out :)

So that brings me to my title point - our doctor's appointments Thursday morning. Derek and I made our appointments to get all our blood tests and other physical examinations done.  I was kind of excited to get word that Derek and I are still perfectly healthy - it's been at least a year since our last exams- but Derek was just thinking about the needles! For those of you that know Derek it is no secret that he is terrified of needles....and I mean TERRIFIED! The last time he had blood drawn we had to use smelling salts to get him back up off the table.  I am not making fun of him, but it is kind of amusing.  I know that the human race would have died out years ago if men were in charge of having babies so I know Derek is not alone in this ;)




"Your nurturing instincts will expand to include many people." - inside my fortune cookie that we received with our take out meal ;)