Happy Family Day

first smile
Originally uploaded by pottergrrl

We love you, sweet boy! You have changed our lives for the better in the last 2 years. It's so much fun to see you grow and change.

A Late Update

finally finalized!!!
Originally uploaded by pottergrrl.

We finalized Little Guy's adoption on August 11, 364 days after he came home!! It was short ceremony but fantastic to have the decree in hand. Granny, PopPop, Grandma and Auntie came with us to share our big day.

Gus expresses his dismay at the ending of HP 6 

Introducing Little Guy

Just when we really needed it, we received the best news ever!! Yup, that's our boy.

A Must-Read

Brilliantly said

Next Step: Referral

Today we got our I 797C in the mail!! The US government "has determined that we are able to furnish proper care to an orphan..." Even though our babe is not technically an orphan, in beaurocratic-speak s/he will be. On the long checklist from our agency, we've completed everything in the preparation phase: next stop? Referral!! It's feeling more real now.

The Best News!

Exciting update-our homestudy is on its way to Korea! This means we’ll get put in the queue-still no idea of how long we will actually have to wait for a referral, but we are terribly excited. It’s happened faster than we expected, but that’s a good thing

Small World

Turns out that the couple we met at the PIPS meeting who live in our town got their referral recently. The reason I know this is the husband sits next to one of P's co-workers in his church choir...We really do live in a small world!

Relief

Well, one more step to cross off our list! The home visit is complete, and went well. We also got the letter from BCIS to get our fingerprints done (again); we'll go on Wednesday. Right now a hold-up for the homestudy is we still don't have my state of MD clearance-when I called today, was told to call back in 2 weeks if I haven't received anything by then. Grrrr.
This is the part that makes me most anxious-everything from now on is out of my hands. At least I felt a sense of control when we had all our paperwork to do; now, not so much.

Pip Pip Hooray

Went to our first PIPS meeting tonight-queer little acronym that stands for Parents In Progress. We met up with friends we'd made at our January classes, and also met another couple who live in our town. Their homestudy went to Korea in December so they're a little ahead of us. Nice to hear and talk to others who've been there, done that.
Our s/w was there and we're scheduled for her to come do her home visit on Sunday-yikes! What to expect? I'm glad things are moving ahead though.

the pile of paperwork! 

Hurdle cleared

Home inspection was at 10:00 this morning.
Time spent cleaning: 50 hours
Time spent on inspection: 30 minutes
Knowing we passed?: Priceless

Where We Stand Now

Physicals complete and paperwork returned: check
MD fingerprints complete: check
MVA records: check
Health department inspection: still waiting. P got the canceled check in his bank statement today, so they have our $75; call us please, and set up the appointment so we can get this show on the road.

One more off the big list

He's official! Merlin has a license, as well as the other 2-who knew? Now they can drive!

All Done

Well, we've finished with the class portion of the homestudy today, although I've grown attached to the other families! Hopefully we'll continue to stay in touch. I did not break anything this time around...
Today we spoke mainly about health issues, the child's adjustment and differences between the home country and the U.S., and role-played scenarios which we will face as a multicultural family.
Two highlights of the day:

1. Meeting the parents of a newly adopted Korean boy-he was so beautiful and chubby, and they were so happy
2. When our s/w told P she can tell from his responses during the role-play that he will be a wonderful father. I was beaming! Just confirms what I've known all along, he will be a fantastic dad

In A Nutshell

Today's class went very well, much more interesting and thought-provoking than we expected. All you really need to know though is that I broke a toilet there...

Wake Me In Another Year

So yesterday we finally met with the social worker. It was a good meeting, only took 2 hours instead of the 3-4 they said it might, so we were able to get lunch before doing the state fingerprints. We are now in possession of the World's Largest Binder and all the homestudy documents. Daunting when you look at it all, I must say. It will be worth it in the end, I know, I know.
She was very upfront from the start, letting us know that things have slowed down considerably on Korea's end, and our child will most likely not get here to us until 2006. That's One. Whole. Year. Away. Crikey.
I take solace in the fact we are both in a much better place than last New Year's, when we were still reeling from Miscarriage #4 and couldn't wait to slam the door on 2003. This year we've had sadness, but overall it's a better year than we've had lately.
Here's to a wonderful 2005, may those of us waiting for our babies to come home have them in our arms soon.

It's Finally Here

Tomorrow we meet with our social worker at 9:30 a.m. It's supposed to take 3-4 hours (which I hope includes time for a snack, otherwise my stomach will be growling around 11:30) and we will get the homestudy paperwork as well as our Adoption Journey binder to put all of it in. Oh yeah, and the invoice for the first fat check P will be writing. We need to bring the following things:

• 2 copies of our birth certificates and marriage license-check
• Said birth certificates and marriage license-check
• Certificate of completion from the online class-check
• Checkbook-check

I guess we're as ready as we'll ever be, we may even be able to get the first round of fingerprinting finished. I'm hoping our afternoon will conclude in time for us to hit Trader Joe's for our New Year's Eve snacks...

Not much to say

Not much has been going on since the big excitement of last week. I've completed 5 chapters of the online course (all at work-shhhhhhhhhhh) and registered P. Don't think he's cracked it yet. We're looking forward to this weekend in Vermont. And I'm actually looking forward to the holidays coming up as opposed to last year when 2003 couldn't end fast enough. Every year we think "this is the last Christmas by ourselves" yet here we are, still by ourselves. Perhaps when we say it this year it might actually be true.
One can only hope.

The Ball is Rolling

Sometimes it pays to not go to work. I stayed home today with a cold, so luckily I was able to answer the phone call from our social worker. She's scheduled us to be in the January homestudy group, so we will be attending the Catholic Charities seminars on January 11th & 18th. I didn't expect to hear from her so soon, so it was a nice surprise! We have our interview with her on the 30th of this month. Things are starting to move.