Here's the Latest

Last Tuesday, we got the latest news on our most recent delay.  On Wednesday after BSF, I went to see Sangeeta to learn all the details.  (I'm so thankful that Jonathan was with my mom, because it took about an hour.)  Sangeeta showed me to chart of requirements that must be met before we can adopt.  The number of things we must do to adopt is actually very small.  However, since we'll probably technically be foster parents to a baby before we officially adopt him/her, we have to take care of all the foster care requirements, too.  And the foster care requirements are much more strict.  Most of the hoops we've had to jump through are foster care hoops.

So, Sangeeta gave me the letter from the Department of Justice stating that they had never received my fingerprint clearance.  I took that to the police department on Thursday and got rescanned.  (This was the first time I had taken Jonathan with me.  He thought it was really interesting-the "lady police officer," as he called her, showed him a scan of his prints, too.)  It didn't cost anything, which was nice.

Sangeeta also gave me forms-some for Jeff and some for me-to fill out.  Some were for our current state, some were for our previous home state, and some were for the state before that.  We had to do a little memory jogging and furnish our addresses for the past ten years.  Bethany has a Notary who was able to help us (for free!) so all three of us went into the office today, got everything notarized, and turned it in.  And now we wait.

When the fingerprint clearance for me comes back, we can be certified as a waiting family.  So, best case scenario, you'll be reading a post from me in the next couple of weeks with that great news.  Please pray with us that this clearance comes back with no delays!

The child abuse checks from our previous states don't need to come in for our profile to be shown, but they do need to come in before we can take a baby home with us.  So, please pray with us that those come in quickly with no delays as well.  Sangeeta said she'd overnight mail them, or certified mail them, or whatever was necessary, to make sure that they all made it to the State, which would, in turn, send them out to the other states.  Strange, but we do what we're told!

The Notary who helped us was very nice, and she mostly helps with international adoptions.  She told us that, believe it or not, it was actually a lot more complicated (and long) to go the international route.  And Sangeeta told us how an adoptive family could be matched with a baby at nine months old, and get pictures and updates about the child all along the way, but might not actually be able to bring the baby home until age three.  Can you imagine how hard that would be-to have your baby growing up without you?  So, as annoying as these setbacks have been, we still have a lot to be thankful for.

Thanks for your prayers.  I'll let you know what happens next!