Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Adoption Update - Keep on Keepin' On

Today it happened. I turned in the LAST document for our home study to our social worker!!! From this point she will send it to our home study agency for approval and then to our placement agency for approval. Then she will give it to us! Our very own certified home study! I am telling you, I had no idea how hard it was going to be, but we got through it. Now it is done. Yes, we still have a dossier to complete, but I am trying not to think about that right now. I am just trying to soak in the moment of triumph.

So what next? The very first thing that we do when we get our home study back is apply for USCIS approval. We send off our application and a crap load of money so that they US government will let us bring our baby girl home. We also will send out all of our adoption grant applications (about 10) to see if we are awarded any money for adoption expenses. We are keeping our fingers crossed on that one. Then we get to turn in “Packet A” and “Packet B” to our placement agency with about $3200 so that we can begin our dossier. Once that is complete, along with the submission of a few thousand more dollars we get to begin the wait for a referral, which is where we are matched with our daughter. The wait times have increased in the past few months which is super discouraging for sure, but I am just hoping and praying that the system will unclog and let the referrals start moving more quickly or at the very least that the wait will be bearable for me. Just thinking about it makes me feel like my heart is going to explode. There are a few steps after that, but I am not thinking about those. I am just counting the steps down until I have her picture in my hand and I know her name.

As long as the finances work out, we are hoping to have our dossier completed by the end of April. We will see what happens! God has provided in amazing ways so far and we have yet to be stalled in the process because of money.

For now, I am just enjoying the exhale.

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