Checking off the boxes

Our social worker is a major rock star, and actually braved this crazazy weather to complete our new homestudy for China.  I think it was a bit of a formality, actually, but it's still nice to have it out of the way.  Our sweet, elderly dog acted like a maniac, barking and passing gas with the best of them.  Cory and I were looking at each other--who is this crazy mutt who has replaced our girl?  Our social worker seemed unperturbed by this, although I think her eyes watered at one point.  Darn dog.  She ended the visit by saying that she didn't have any concerns, so that's good enough for me.  Stressful, yes, but done.  Phew! 

A Sense of Snow

Snow: Check!  Lots and lots.  Ice, too!
Homestudy: Not sure.   

We are proceeding as if the homestudy is still on, although I certainly won't be driving in this winter wonderland.   If our social worker doesn't think she can safely make it to our place, we will reschedule. Nothing more to do.  Certainly a bummer for all of us.
Ok, maybe not all of us. 

Miss Maggie got her frolic on.

Suddenly, she seems so much younger than 13.

Bobbing and weaving, sniffing and peeing...



It's hard not to have a pretty great day when your dog is this happy.

And of course, the other furballs enjoy having the heat on full blast...



Major Snow Event

As the news around here excitedly calls it, we are looking at a Major Snow Event here in the Pacific Northwest.  So after they driest fall on record (after the wettest/coldest summer on record) we are preparing for other-than-drizzle weather, with snow falling on...you guessed it...Tuesday.  Our homestudy date.  Our Ethiopia homestudy was also canceled for snow, which was not the end of the world, but pretty annoying.  Looks like that may be the case again.  Dang.  Seattle is notoriously unprepared for weather other than rain (does anyone else have "Sun Breaks" as an actual weather term?) so if the Major Snow Event actually happens, we will be pretty much out of luck.  So if we ever have another homestudy, fellow Seattle-ites should buy some extra bags of salt and take the day off.

What now?

We’ve had a lot of questions about what happens now, what paperwork is needed, why is that paperwork needed, etc.  So here are the basics, as far as I know at this point:

What paperwork is needed to complete this adoption?

We need all of the same dossier paperwork as we did for Ethiopia, as nothing can be more than 6 months old when it is authenticated (or when our notary is notarized).  This includes new medicals, certificates of birth, marriage and divorce, homestudy, immigration approval, police clearances, etc.  The list is long, but we are checking things off pretty rapidly. 

Why do you need a new homestudy?

We are joining a new program entirely, and (I’m guessing) the new homestudy documents are different. 

What happens next?

Once our homestudy is written (this took about 6 weeks last time), we submit the homestudy and accompanying paperwork to immigration.   We can’t reuse our old approval, as China is a Hague-certified country and Ethiopia is not.  This process took several months last time, but hopefully the fact that we were approved last March will make the process a tad faster. 

After immigration is approved I’m a bit fuzzy, but do know that the approval letter is authenticated, and the whole dossier is authenticated by the Chinese Embassy in LA, then sent to China, where we (hopefully!) receive final approval to adopt this cutie-patootie. 

Is there a time limit?

Yes.  We have 6 months from our preliminary approval date (12/14/11) to get our paperwork to China.  A lot needs to happen in that time period, so I’m expecting to cut it close.  Maybe we will be surprised, but we are preparing for the worst.  I expect this will drive me insane; however, I have faith that no one wants to be responsible for this adoption falling through because they were slow.  It will happen.  (It will happen.  It will happen.)

Can you post pictures?

Nope, not for a while.  We have a long way to go until he’s definitely ours. 

What do you know about his background?

What we know we will share with him first.

Can you share anything about his special need?

Not until he is adopted by us.

Can you fly this plane, and land it?

Surely you can’t be serious.

I am serious.  And don’t call me Shirley.

Homestudy Scheduled

Our new homestudy is scheduled for Tuesday, January 17 at 8:30AM.  Should be a blast and half, right?  I really, really wish it was sooner, but the c'est la vie.  I was such a stress monkey last time, and the experience really wasn't that bad (not that it was fun, of course) so this time I'm going to try to cool my jets just a tad.  Hey, I can try. 

Originally we were told our new homestudy would likely be done over the phone, as nothing really has changed on our end--same condo, same animals, same jobs, same everything, really, just another year of waiting.  But this is the world of adoption, and the control isn't in our hands, so a home visit it will be!

Hopefully she will complete it quickly and the immigration dance can begin.

Pleased to meetcha, 2012!

Hasta la bye-bye, 2011!  No offense, but you will not be missed a whole heckuva lot.  Onward and upward. 

We put a little gravel in our travel this week and spent time in Montana with Cory's parents and grandmother, who is plugging right along at 92, so it was nice to spend time with her.  We did spend time traveling to Helena to get Cory's birth certificate authenticated, as required for our China dossier.  One thing checked off a very, very long list.

We also sort-of planned out the next 8 months, should this Chinese adoption actually happen.  It's very overwhelming--there is a ton of paperwork, money, money and more money that needs to be spent and saved, and complicated processes to figure out.   So we made an epic list of things to be done (that covers our the entire front of our refrigerator), and are going to just start at the top.  Maybe this time the work we are doing will actually end up with a child. 

We are hopeful that the new year brings good things for everyone waiting to complete their families.  Come on, 2012, show us what you've got!!

A few Montana pics:

(Butte, MT, is an old mining town.  The mining gallows are all over the city to this day.)

Paperwork, check!

Homestudy paperwork, that is.  We submitted the last of it yesterday, and realistically won't hear a thing until 2012, but that's all right.  My goal is to have people waiting on items from us as little as possible, so are focusing paperwork, paperwork and more paperwork.  Next on the list: a brand new dossier....

Hoping for a peaceful and restful holiday season for everyone, near and far. 

The Cone of Shame

Maybe, juuuuust maybe...

Possibly.

We might have something incredible coming our way.  Maybe.  We're trying not to get ahead of ourselves, but that's harder than I thought it would be.

We have preliminary approval to adopt a sweetums through the China Special Focus program.  He is just over 2 years old, and absolutely perfect.  Has a special need which we can't disclose just yet.  It's minor in the grand scheme of things, although it is obvious (hence him being on the Special Focus list). 

He's really, really cute and overall really healthy. 
What happens now?  We have a lot of work to do.  Updated homestudy, re-fingerprinting, re-doing our dossier (well, creating a China dossier).  Saving money like biggest tightwads on earth. 

Once we have a  new homestudy, a new dossier and new Hague-certified fingerprints we submit everything to China.  They say yay or nay.  Usually if preliminary approval has been given the powers that be say yay to final approval, but we haven't always had the best luck with things going smoothly (to put it mildly).  We don't have a whole lotta faith left in the system, but maybe, just maybe, juuuuuust maybe.....

We can't let ourselves get excited.  But we are kind of in love. 

OK, not kinda.  Totally and completely head over heels. 

In.

Love.

But not excited at all.

Yeah, right.

:-)

The Season is Upon Us

We put up our very first Christmas tree last weekend.  We always travel for the holidays and while we've decorated for Christmas before, we haven't ever had an actual tree.  We took Maggie to the tree lot with us, where she proceeded to pee on the first tree she saw.  Whoops.    (Note to self--next time, take her on a walk first.)  The toothless guy who helped us didn't seem to mind, so we marched boldly on.

A Starbucks and a sort-of-black-lab.  Dare I call him a yuppie? 

Anyhoo, the tree looks lovely and smells wonderful (hey, the dog didn't pee on ours) and is very sparkly and festive.  We've also discovered that Goose the Cat finds tinsel to be a delicious and satisfying snack, so that had to be removed as well.  The things we learn. 

Anyway, we have to bring our canine-baby to the vet this weekend for a growth on her leg--I think it's just an old-dog-warty thing, but it's not going to be fun.  So in honor of our warty old lady, Cory bought her the biggest rawhide bone I've ever seen.

The rawhide is as long as her, but she finally figured it out...