Buried Alive in Paperwork

We have been busy bees lately trying to bust through the paperwork required.  We have completed tons of forms, been fingerprinted, sent out of reference request letters, waited for the local Sheriffs office to figure out what to notarize on our local criminal records check, waited forever at the doctors office to find out what the fee would be for all of the lab work required for the "general" physical that is not covered by insurance, talked to the loan officer regarding a loan for fees, talked to a realitor regarding a new assessment of our house, had physicals and lab work done, collected forms from the vet's office, insurance office, called the mortgage company, the accountant, and student and car loan companies.

Happy to say, most of our paperwork was dropped off yesterday at the office.  We are waiting on just a few final forms to come back or to be completed. 

Training is on Thursday from 10-8 and Friday from 9-4.  Please pray for Hubby since he has to work Wed, Thus, and Friday nights.   He does have this Sat/ Sun off to rest back up but I know it will be a long couple of days.

Breakdown of Fees

Fees due when services are rendered:

Initial application $100
Social services fee (formal application) $400
Individiual interview #1 $400
Educational group seminar $600
Individual interview #2 $400
Educational grup seminar $600
Social service fee (following home visit) $2700

Due at time of child placement:
Social service fee $4500
Legal fee $1600

Post- placement supervision $500
Post-placement supervision$500

Total fee for agency adoption $12,300

This does not include any additional charges we would be responsible for such as fingerprinting, criminal history check, notariazation, co-pays, medical tests, hotel expenses, etc.

Family

My husband has never been very good about keeping surprises.  It is one of the things I love about him most.  He gets so excited and just can't wait.  I didn't really want to tell anyone what we were doing but he slipped and told 3 of his family members.  So the weekend we found out we had been accepted, we told the remainder of our family.  Him and I have both confided in one or two friends but we are still trying to keep it under wraps.  My main reason for not wanting to tell everyone is that I don't want to be asked every day by someone if we have any baby news, heard anything yet, etc.  We have no idea how long this process will take.  It could be 6 months, could be 2 years.  I just need to continue to pray that the baby for us will be created when the time is right. 

The Packet of all Packets..

Our Packet has arrived!  I had been looking each day and anxiously awaiting "the packet" so we could see what was inside, what we needed to do, and hopefully learn more about the process. 

The first thing is an assignment to read The Open Adoption Experience by Lois Ruskai Melina and Sharon Kaplan Roszia before our first training days Sept 29-30th.  The second book for required reading before our October training days is: The Spirit of Open Adoption by James L. Gritter. 

The homestudy application, client info sheet, and application fee of $400 is due by the 26th. 

The rest of the items on our checklist to begin our homestudy are:

Fee Agreement
Statement of Understanding
Duty to Disclose Agreement
Consent for Services
Self Study Questionnaire

Background Checks
request for Child Abuse Info
fingerprinting/ criminal checks  +fee
criminal history release for local criminal checks

Financial Info
1040 tax return
financial statement
monthly budget
mortgage letter confirming good standing
verification of life insurance, including payout amount and cash out amount
employer reference (2 notarized copies each)

Health Info
general physical exam form (general is what it says, but general is what its not...tons of lab work needed that is NOT covered by insurance +about $250 per person for labs)
child's health forms
verification of health ins. and coverage of adopted child

Official Documents
marriage license
birth certificates
pet vaccination record
pet's current license

Additional Documents
three personal references
Pastor reference
firearms and weapons statement
verification of trainings attended
prior home study info
statement of guardianship
Statement of last 5 years employment

News for the day

All morning long I was thinking about how M told us she would after lunch on Friday.  I had some home visits to do with my job that morning but was sure to take my phone in with me just in case.   I went home for lunch and was then on my way to drop something off at a friends house before heading back to the office.  I had actually forgot about getting the call this afternoon for a while.  I had my phone in my hand when it rang but it went right to voice mail.  I quickly looked up who called and then realized it was the number from the agency.  I called right back and asked for M.  I pulled over because I started to feel so nervous that I couldn't drive and take this call.  She started off by telling me how she had met with her staff for over 3 hours yesterday.  She continued by saying that it was a difficult decision to choose between all of the applicants and I pretty much stopped listening and started silently crying and shaking.  I knew she was going to tell us that we didn't get in this round because she seemed to be going on and on about how they went through all of the families.  Then I heard her say that they would love to have us in the program and thinks we would be a great fit.  I think I lost it and then managed to say "thankyousomuch" and tell her how happy I was.  She continued to tell me that she enjoyed talking with us.  She said to be sure and take those training days off and that she would be sending us out the paperwork to get started.   Now is the time for us to start thinking about our family portfolio, home study, and saving like mad!

I called Matt right away who usually doesn't answer during the day.  I hadn't mentioned it to him last night or this morning as a reminder that today was the day she would call us.  I don't know if he remembered or not but it was pretty cool that he answered.  I told him we were "in" and he was very excited to hear the news.

There have been so many signs that this is where we are supposed to be.  When we first called this agency, we found out that they don't accept people from our county, only the county next to us.  I asked if there was any way we could still be in since Husband works in that county and we live in the next county over.  Instead of the lady saying "no" she said she didn't think she could work with us but that she would check with her supervisor.  The supervisor said "yes".

When the receptionist called to make our interview appointment, I felt stressed because of husbands new job and how hard it can be for him to request days off during this training.  He had the interview day off.  The 4 training days off are only required if you are accepted into the program.  He is not scheduled for a shift during any of the 4 days of training so no switching is needed.

My heart is so full of thankfulness!

When I got home from work, Matt gave me a big hug and asked if I was "so excited"  I said I felt more emotional than excited.  I just can't believe that the wheel is in motion to making our dream come true!

The time was 1:26