FBI Approved

All our paperwork is done and we reached some key milestones over the past couple weeks. First of all, we had our finger prints taken for the FBI and then a few days later for CIS (immigration). We weren't sure what to expect but we anticipated something akin to the DMV with long lines and slow turn around times. I am pleased to report that the experience was the complete opposite and the whole thing was quick and easy. We sent our prints to the FBI and received our clearance letters back a mere 7 days later! Shocking!

The big thing that we are waiting for is the completion of our Home Study report. Mark and I have done all the things that we needed to do, which included ten hours of adoptive parent training, meeting with our social worker as a couple and individually, as well as an inspection of our home. I am pleased to say that we passed all of these things with flying colors...I even got a big hug at the end of my last appointment!...and the whole thing was pretty painless in spite of some pretty personal questions that we had to answer. Our social worker was wonderful and always made us feel like she was an advocate for us. Now the ball is in her court to write up the report, submit a draft to Gladney for their approval and feedback, and then send us five notarized reports (one for CIS, two for Gladney, one for our dossier and one for our records). Really nothing else can happen until this report is done so we are hoping and praying that she is able to get it done soon! She estimated three weeks from our last appointment so that would mean October 16th...stay tuned!

After the home study is done, CIS approval and Gladney approval will be the next big milestones. I don't think the Gladney part will be too hard and we have already submitted everything else that they need from us. CIS approval will just be a matter of waiting and I really can't figure out how long a wait it will be. Looking at other blogs has only shown me that the time frame varies widely from as fast as two weeks to as long as 3 months! It is my hope and best guestimate that we will get through these last steps by the end of December and officially enter the wait list some time in January. From there it’s just more waiting…Gladney is still predicting 3 to 5 months so our referral, which is when we know who our child(ren) will be, could happen in the spring or early summer!

To pass the time we are shifting our energies to the nursery. The nursery!!!! As I mentioned in our last blog, we have started visiting baby stores, testing out strollers and shaking cribs to see which ones are sturdy enough for our little ones! When we went to our appointment for CIS fingerprints we happened to park in front of a big baby store that had some very reasonably priced cribs that we may in fact purchase. First we need to do some rearranging by moving all the guest room furniture out of the little bedroom and moving all the office furniture (the VERY heavy office furniture) into the little room. Then we plan to put up beadboard and paint the walls in the old office/now nursery! This will keep us plenty busy for the next few months!

We are getting together with some of the other Gladney Ethiopia Families in our area next week for a Pumpkin Carving party. This may be more fun when we have little ones of our own but we are still looking forward to getting to know these families better. I will try to take some pictures and write about it next week.