The adoption process is long, and tedious and a little bit crazy. I mean, if I were pregnant, nobody would want confirmation of home owners insurance or dog vaccines or a list of the all the places we've ever lived before letting me have that baby... but, when you are adopting, things are different. They want to know everything... and I mean everything. We have filled out more paper work than I ever imagined possible, but it's a little sweeter filling it out knowing that it will result in us bringing home a child. So, we are almost done with it. We are waiting on one more letter from the insurance company and (I think) all of our paperwork should (oh please, let it be!) done. HALLELUJAH.
We have also almost completed all of our trainings and interviews. This is what we've done so far --
So now, they just have to come to our house, check things out and we will have one more interview while they are here. Our case worker will be coming in a couple of weeks and then we will be done waiting on paperwork and interviews and will be officially waiting for a baby.
We have also almost completed all of our trainings and interviews. This is what we've done so far --
- Orientation with the agency - we went to a half day seminar where we learned a ton of important information about the adoption process, the way our agency does things, and we were able to ask all of our questions. Basically, this was a chance for us to decide whether or not we want to move forward with this agency. Obviously, we decided yes. :)
- Couple's interview - Jeremy and I went together to the agency for an interview with the executive director and the director of family services. We told them all about the road that has gotten us to this point, talked about our lives and relationship, etc, etc.
- Group training - we went to an all day training at the agency where we got to hear from women who had previously made adoption plans with our agency, adoptive parents that used the agency, and the agency provided training on a variety of important topics. There were 5 other couples at the meeting with us that are also in the process of completing their home studies. It was really fun to get to meet them and hear pieces of their stories.
- Individual interviews - this past week we each went for our individual interviews with our case worker. We talked about our families, childhood, education, jobs, faith, regrets, aspirations, mistakes, goals... everything.
So now, they just have to come to our house, check things out and we will have one more interview while they are here. Our case worker will be coming in a couple of weeks and then we will be done waiting on paperwork and interviews and will be officially waiting for a baby.