Lamest Halloween Ever

What happened to all the trick-or-treaters??? We had maybe 5 visits. Last year we had quite a few (of course I fixed that when I gave all the candy away at 7:30 because the time change messed me up and I thought it was 8:30). We even "decorated". At 6:00 Jon decided to decorate for Halloween and perched a scary head above our door. Not bad for last minute. I was in my usual dumpy wife "costume" - it's just like Desperate Housewife....only different. Now I am left with a big bowl full of chocolate which is even more scary. I did discover that Butterfingers, Reeses and Red Wine makes a great dinner.

Treat

Trick

Nothing, Zilch, NaDa

No word on the draft of the homestudy that we were hoping for last week. When the social worker was here, she told us that she would have us a draft last week. Couldn't she tell from the in-depth interview that I am a high-strung, impatient, control nut? Couldn't she tell that once she made that commitment, I would be a total loon if it wasn't kept? And does she even feel bad about this. Come on, how long can it possibly take to write that we will be terrific parents. Yeah, Yeah, I know this is serious business and there's more to it than that. Blah Blah Blah.

So I called our contact "G" at the agency FIRST thing this morning and she has no update either but is going to contact the Social Worker to see what's up. I know the Social Wroker has to get some input from the agency regarding our background clearances so I'm very annoyed that they haven't heard a peep out of her. "G" i s going to get me an update today. I don't want a dang update - I want a completed homestudy!!!!!!

Give me a break, half the flowers that I planted to spruce up this place for the homestudy have nearly died and still no draft??

What's Next??

Now that we have come down off of our "Homestudy High", many of you have asked what's next. Thought I would take a minute to explain the process in layperson's terms, where we are and what's next. The process differs a little with each agency but essentially can be broken down into several phases.

1 - Initial application to agency
2 - Complete Homestudy
3 - FBI Fingerprinting
4 - US Government issues form I-171H which is the approval to bring the child into the country (to us, it's THE GOLDEN TICKET)
5 - Send a bunch of documents which have been authenticated by a bunch of people to China
6 - Wait (approximately 6-7 months)
7 - Get matched with our child (referral)
8 - Wait to travel (approximately 6-8 weeks but varies)
9 - Travel
10 - Breathe

As I type that list I am getting irritated. How could we be on step number 2??? Buried in the steps above are letters of reference, doctor's visits, letters from employers, finanacial statements, police clearances, locating birth certificates, marriage certificates, and any other important piece of paper as decided by the agency or Chinese officials and LOTS of notarys. It took a lot to get to step 2.

The social worker said that we should have a draft of the homestudy next week and shortly after that it will go to US Citizenship and Immigration Services. We will get an appointment for fingerprinting and then the gov't gets to toy with us before issuing "The Golden Ticket". Our local office said to expect a two month wait after fingerprinting. However, there have been some local folks lately getting theirs after 3-6 weeks. Keep in mind that Citizship and Immigration Services is now part of Dept. of Homeland Security - scary...very scary.

In the meantime, I have just about gathered all of the documents necessary for #5 above (except for "The Golden Ticket" of course) and will at least start the authentication process. Nothing can be completed without "The Golden Ticket" but I was not blessed with a lot of patience.

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad

It's the one, two punch of celebrations. Yesterday Olivia's Birthday and today Mom and Dad's Anniversary. 45 YEARS!!! They are both amazing people and wonderful parents. When I spoke with them this morning, my Dad said "45 years isn't enough". Sounds like they are shooting for 46.

The Happy Couple

Mom and Dad (and my niece Ivy) at our wedding two years ago. For some reason, I love the fact that Dad is carrying Mom's purse and the flower girl basket as they walk back down the aisle after the ceremony.

The Birthday Girl 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY OLIVIA!!!

Tomorrow is my niece Olivia's birthday. She will be 11 years old. Seems like yesterday that I walked into the hospital room and saw her for the first time. I love, love, love her so much. Join me in wishing her a very happy birthday. I believe there is a big slumber party tomorrow night so you might want to send my sister some good wishes also!!!

Stages of a Homestudy - Part Deux

I am happy to report that "Relief" does in fact follow "Complete Freak Out". The good news is I am very pleased with how our homestudy visit went today. The bad news I got a big fat "I told you so" from Jon. Mister "Don't worry, everything is going to be fine". Oh well, I'm sure it won't be the last "I told you so" that he sends my way.
Don't get me wrong, I felt like I was experiencing a senate confirmation hearing more than a game of 20 questions. However, she said that there is no reason that she would not give us a full recommendation. All of her questions were reasonable questions related to our relationship, our goals as parents, our childhood and such. She stayed about 3 hours, talked to us together for over an hour and then talked to us individually. She didn't seem to notice that I had not managed to remodel the bathrooms over the weekend. Go figure.

Stages of a Homestudy

I now realize that there are at least three stages to the homestudy. I am sure there will be more but remember we are figuring this out as we go. From the time that we sent in our agency application in August until last week, it was Impatience. I just wanted to get the thing scheduled and over with. Sure, I obsessed over the adoption discussion boards and did some things to the house in an effort to prepare but I really just wanted to get it checked off the list. I wasn't nervous at all. Last week when we were contacted by the social worker and we scheduled the date and time, Impatience was followed by Panic. See post title "Homestudy Frenzy". Today, "Homestudy Eve", it is the stage of Complete Freak Out. Someone is going to be here tomorrow to look at our home, our lives, and most of all, us, to determine if we are fit to be parents. Sure, I think we will be great parents but you see when you adopt, your opinion doesn't count. It's the opinion of the agency, social worker, immigration and the Chinese officals that matter. My stomach hurts - I might cry, I might hurl - not sure which. I am sure that I am driving Jon crazy with all of my "What are you going to say if they ask...." questions. Don't get me wrong, of course we will be completely honest no matter what they ask. However, you can sound reasonably intelligent while being completely honest or you can sound like a dribbling idiot while being completely honest. I'm worried about the dribbling idiot part. Everyone says "Be yourself." I hope that is enough.
Poor Jon wasn't nervous at all until I pointed out that this one person's opinion of us could ruin it all. Now he might hurl.

Seattle Last Year

Seattle

We are figuring out how to post pictures so decided to test with a picture from our vacation last year. This was taken in Seattle when we went to see our wonderful friends Tom and Andree' and their four wonderful children (and their dog Niblets). Note the full moon in the background. Andree' special ordered that for our visit - she's the best.

Homestudy Frenzy

Our homestudy is Wednesday!!!! After weeks of waiting, we are soooo excited. Do you have any idea what you can get done in a weekend when you know the social worker is going to be here on Wednesday? No? Well, I'll tell you...
1. Chop up dead tree that has been in our back yard for two weeks. Go Jon!!!!!!
2. Got a speeding ticket (ok, this is one that we aren't proud of - can you believe, it right before the homestudy???)
3. Purchase and plant 4 flats of annuals and approximately 20 other flowers and plants. That alone about did me in.
4. Mow and edge grass (this is mostly an exercise in stirring up dust since our grass died a slow painful death this summer - we are hoping the flowers takes the focus off the dead grass.)
5. Clean back porch
6. Wash all of the clothes that were on the floor in our closet and got wet when our toilet overflowed (no, I'm not kidding)
7. Go to home depot (see #6)
8. Clean house ( a bit of a stretch since the cleaning service will be here tomorrow but I did do several things that they don't do)
9. Go to the container store to purchase new trash can for kitchen. (In my frenzy, somehow I thought this was necessary.)
10. Purchase new wreath for front door
11. Frame three wedding photographs (yes, we were married two years ago)
12. Weed garden
13. Finish financial statement for dossier
14. Purchased fire extinguishers
15. Replaced batteries in the smoke alarms (I'm pretty sure we ripped the batteries out of one when the beeping was keeping us up one night - my gosh, are we fit to be parents??)
16. Started a blog!!!!!!

Here's what was on my list that didn't get done:
1. Paint the outside of the house
2. Remodel both upstairs bathrooms
3. Purchase new living room furniture

Sure they weren't realistic but I was considering it when we were at Home Depot for the toilet part!!!! Seriously, I think I am going to ask the social worker to at least threaten to come back every two months or so. If we could get this much done on a regalur basis....

I Have A Blog!!!

OK, so I am going to try this blog thing. As soon as we started the adoption process I decided to keep a journal. Partly to keep track of when things occured but mostly because when we find out the birthdate of our daughter (or any other important dates in her life) I want to know EXACTLY what I was doing that day. Of course when I made the decision to keep a journal, what did I do? Being the old-fashioned sort that I am, I bought a paper journal, came home and proudly showed it to Jon. Being the complete geek that he is, he was horrified. Seriously, he looked at me as if I had sprouted a third head (yes, I grew a second head years ago). So here I am....