Timeline, Part 4 - Home study's(cont'd), paperwork, waiting & a bit of hope!

Part 4

Oct. 19^th, 2010 - second home study visit. This one was a bit different from the first as we all had to be interviewed individually, Robby included. They do this not only to look for differences amongst the same answers as indicators that something is not right, but also so that if somebody is being abused in any way, shape or form, they can talk about it one on one with the social worker without the naughty person present. 

Nov. 4^th, 2010 - third and final home study visit. This one is more of a review and making sure that the facts and figures are all as correct as they can be before Angela writes up the final home study document.

Nov. 6^th. 2010 - Aunt Molly is moving out of our house.

Nov. 13^th, 2010 - received home study in email for proofreading.

Nov. 18^th, 2010 - Sent packet of info to the Holt office in Oregon thru UPS.

Nov. 23^rd, 2010 - trip to Walgreens for additional passport photos

Dec, ?? , received passports in the mail.  At some point that I can’t remember, we had to go up to the Altoona Post Office to get passport photos taken.  I believe it’s these photos that actually appeared on our passports but I’m not sure anymore.

January and most of February 2011 – waiting, waiting and waiting…  hearing nothing. No updates from anyone about anything. No emails, no phone calls… nothing.  This is the hardest part about adopting. You know who your little one is, you know precious little about their situation and there is absolutely nothing you can do but carry on with your day-to-day happenings while trying to hold on to the hope of one day meeting them.  What makes it harder is that EVERYBODY is always asking about the adoption and how things are going.  I don’t blame anyone for doing so as people are curious about it and they know that you’re going through it. 

Having said that, there are times when I was answering, hopefully with a smile on my face, where I just wanted to go to some dark room or basement somewhere and cry. Not just a little whimpering cry either, I’m talking a full-on wailing, let-it-all-out kind of cry! 

In case I’m not being clear, the periods of no news are nearly unbearable.

Feb. 24^th, 2011 - Fingerprinting for Immigration at the downtown office.  This went a little more smoothly than did my trip to the WDM police department.  Quick too!

While we were downtown, we decided to go across the street to the Polk County Heritage Art Gallery (111 Court Ave.) where they had an exhibit set up from that newly illustrated Bible called the St Johns Bible.  It was interesting but I’m not sure why it’s being hyped the way it is.

Mar. 1^st, 2011 - Robby’s 6^th birthday and we’re officially approved to adopt!   Ooonly… we don’t know it yet.

Mar. 4^th, Receive document stating that we’re officially able to adopt… now we know!  We thought it was pretty cool to see it’s stamp of approval on Robby’s birthday.  We got to show it to anyone who would look at it during Robby’s birthday party!

Yes, we’re simple folks.

…and now, for our families enjoyment, another month of waiting and hearing nothing…

Apr. 4^th, Received a call from Helen stating that our dossier is complete and will be mailed to China on Friday, April 8^th!!  Once the dossier is mailed to China and approved, you’re issued a “log in date”.  Once you have the log in date, you’re eligible to be matched with a kiddo.

Apr. 5^th, Voting on property tax increase for some type of school thingymajig.  No, this does not have anything to do with the adoption process proper, but Robby and I were in line right behind our social worker, Angela, so I told her about the phone call we received yesterday.  She was excited and said that, “things should move pretty quickly from here on”. 

So being the highly logical person that I am, I asked, “How quickly is that?”. 

The answer was that since we were pretty open on our application about what we’re looking for (boy or girl, medical needs, age and so on), that the matching process should happen quickly.  Then we wait for a bit while they arrange the travel schedule for us and start down that path. 

Things are moving again!!! 

I can’t wait!!! 

Our kiddo by the holidays?!  Sounds good to me.  As I said, I CAN’T WAIT!!!!

Late April 2011 - nothing happened yet with our log in date and we again hear nothing…  agonizing silence.