I decided to brave the snowy streets today in order to get the last of our paperwork in to Bethany. Well...the last of our application paperwork that is (evacuation plan, copies of birth certs, driver licenses, color photo, etc.).

I drove the Explorer and, naturally, the little thingamabob that squirts windshield wiper fluid was not working on the driver's side, nor was the driver's side wiper. If I could only figure out how to drive from the passenger's side like in that recurring dream I have where no one is driving the car. Anyhoo...halfway in I had to stop at a gas station and clean the windshield. I tried dripping water onto the thingamabob to clean it - no luck - I tried just hitting it a few times - imagine that, that didn't work either. Finally I thought pouring some of my hot coffee on it might do the trick - BINGO! We have a working thingamabob! Back on the road...

I stopped off at the office first to make copies of all of our paperwork and - oh and to actually work a little bit too - then on to Bethany to turn it all in.

I also registered for our Infant & Child CPR & First Aid Certification course. We'll be enjoying that course alllllllll day long on January 12th. It feels good to be making some progress - even if it is one teensy step at a time.

A few of our references have received their forms in the mail too so things are moving along.

I just started reading Melissa Fay Green's There is no me Without You which I've heard is a "must read". I'm only about 60 pages in, but it's breaking my heart already.

Costs - $130 CRP & 1st Aid course

Snow day part deux

We did get in for our finger prints yesterday. I was surprised to find that our local police department has an office in the mall. I thought the lady (known as "Grammy" in the police department) would talk our ears off. She was sweet as pie, but made a 5 minute process into an hour long chat fest. The roads were too bad to make the trek into the Bethany office, so I decided to wait until today. Naturally it is snowing again today, so hopefully I can get it taken care of tomorrow. I know that the background check is one of the longer parts of this process, so I want to get the finger prints in immediately.

Finger prints (2 cards each) $20 total

Snow day

We were supposed to get our fingerprints done today (finally), then take them down to the Bethany office. Thanks to our very white Christmas I don't think that's going to happen now. Not complaining...it really was lovely. We'll try to get the finger prints done since it's pretty close to our house, but the Bethany office is 45 min away so I don't think I'll make that drive in the snow. Tomorrow...

Emailed with our social worker today to clarify two things on our application for her (Marc's salary and additional info about his daughter who does not live with us). She is going through our app paperwork, trying to get it to the Michigan office, who deals directly with their program in Ethiopia. I hope that means she was sending it to them today as it's her last day of work until 1/3/08...not that I expect anyone to work much until after the New Year anyway, myself included. I was really hoping to get our finger prints done today, but was swamped w/ last minute Christmas shopping, cleaning, and preparing for the holiday and our party tomorrow afternoon.

Dropped off the check to Bethany today and spoke with our social worker. She gave me a short list of additional things I need to get to her: photo copies of our birth certificates, marriage certificate, driver's licenses, and an evacuation plan in case of fire. We also need to get signed up for a CPR certification class.

Costs: $550

Let the waiting begin.

Turned in our application paperwork to Bethany today! I know this is the easiest part of the whole process, but it's done. I feel like I've accomplished something and I feel like we're really "in the process" now.

After they go through our application paperwork we will start working on the home study. We're also waiting for the training session to be scheduled, probably late January or early February.

D'oh! Just realized I forgot to drop off a check with the paperwork. Will do that tomorrow...

Need to get this all down...

I'll come back some day soon - after the holidays are over, and the laundry is done, and the 5 books I've started are returned to the library, and the bills are paid - and give you a proper background story on this, our adoption journey. Until then, I just need to track things, post our progress, make notes... I need a place to get it all out, but a place where no one really has to listen to me ramble on and on and on.

12/4/07 - We attended an informational meeting at Bethany on international adoption.

12/13/07 - Returned to Bethany to start the process. Came home with a mountain of paperwork, but I wasn't as overwhelmed as I thought I'd be. Turns out I'm a planner and quite organized. Oh fine, obsessive-compulsive...whatever you want to call it.

12/18/07 - Trying to persuade my more laid back counterpart to fill out his SAFE form so that we can turn in a grip of paperwork tomorrow.

To do:
- get fingerprinted