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.

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