Catching Up
Hey there! Anybody out there?
We've been busy unpacking, going to preschool, playing, swimming, fighting sickness, and filling out paperwork! How about you?
Tonight is our last visit with our homestudy social worker (we love her!). This is the home inspection part of the visit and she'll also be meeting Bethy for the first time (at bedtime, help us sweet Jesus). If I did not yet have children, I am sure I would be home scrubbing toilets right now. But, I have a two year old. So, there's blocks under the couch, toys on the porch, a few more cluttered areas than I would like. And that's okay with me. All you have to do is see her give us kisses and hugs and say "Love you" and you'll look overlook the mess in the corner of the closet, and say, "Yup, they're going to do just fine." At least that's what I'm telling myself right now.
I have a few more pieces of paper to send to the agency and I am waiting to hear if all of our background checks and reference letters have come in. And then we're on to the next step. Our paperwork will be submitted to the US Citizenship and Immigration office (USCIS). They will determine whether we are eligible to bring a child into the country or not (based on our homestudy and the documents we submit). We'll wait a painful number of days for appointment to get more fingerprints done. Once that happens, we'll be able to send our next set of paperwork (the dossier) to China. Do me a favor and pray that we get a nice, efficient officer from USCIS.
As for our dossier, I am actually close to be done with the filling out paperwork part of it. But it needs to be notarized, and lots of other complicated things like a state seal and lots of other things. Can't I just get on a plane today?
Overall, the process has gone fairly well to this point and I am pretty calm (other than a breakdown in the doctor's office that ended up in my doctor tell me I wasn't a "crack whore" and that I was "lovely"). I am just taking it one piece of paper at a time. And one day, all of those pieces of paper will end in us embracing our son. So, it's all worth it!
As for Bethy, she's fabulous! She was pretty sick for the last month but she's better now and is enjoying preschool. She's their little helper because she likes to clean so much. She always comes home full of stories and has a ton of art to share with us. She talks so much now and has quite the personality. I have heard her described a few times now as "so sweet and little, AND daring!". And that is so true. She's just a little bitty bit of a girl and charming with her dimples and sweet voice. But she can run with the big boys and isn't afraid to climb and jump. I think we have a very smart, strong, slightly bossy, friendly, mildly OCD, curious, musical, strong girl on our hands! Oh, and she's obsessed with Peter Pan-she says she dreams that he comes to her window and she flies with him. I LOVE being her mom!
Tom and I are fabulous too! It's a busy time for him at work so the time we have together is precious. We try and go on dates when we can and we still run three times a week before he leaves for work. We're looking forward to go on a family vacation- our first cruise to the Bahamas. And Bethy's going too. We're going in Nov.
As for me, PC Pops orchestra is back for the 2010-2011 season and I am so happy! I am also back with my high school small group of girls. I can't believe they're all in HS now (they were in 6th when we started).
Well, I've rambled long enough and soon I need to go pick up Bethy from Mother's Morning Out. So, bye bye until next time!
We've been busy unpacking, going to preschool, playing, swimming, fighting sickness, and filling out paperwork! How about you?
Tonight is our last visit with our homestudy social worker (we love her!). This is the home inspection part of the visit and she'll also be meeting Bethy for the first time (at bedtime, help us sweet Jesus). If I did not yet have children, I am sure I would be home scrubbing toilets right now. But, I have a two year old. So, there's blocks under the couch, toys on the porch, a few more cluttered areas than I would like. And that's okay with me. All you have to do is see her give us kisses and hugs and say "Love you" and you'll look overlook the mess in the corner of the closet, and say, "Yup, they're going to do just fine." At least that's what I'm telling myself right now.
I have a few more pieces of paper to send to the agency and I am waiting to hear if all of our background checks and reference letters have come in. And then we're on to the next step. Our paperwork will be submitted to the US Citizenship and Immigration office (USCIS). They will determine whether we are eligible to bring a child into the country or not (based on our homestudy and the documents we submit). We'll wait a painful number of days for appointment to get more fingerprints done. Once that happens, we'll be able to send our next set of paperwork (the dossier) to China. Do me a favor and pray that we get a nice, efficient officer from USCIS.
As for our dossier, I am actually close to be done with the filling out paperwork part of it. But it needs to be notarized, and lots of other complicated things like a state seal and lots of other things. Can't I just get on a plane today?
Overall, the process has gone fairly well to this point and I am pretty calm (other than a breakdown in the doctor's office that ended up in my doctor tell me I wasn't a "crack whore" and that I was "lovely"). I am just taking it one piece of paper at a time. And one day, all of those pieces of paper will end in us embracing our son. So, it's all worth it!
As for Bethy, she's fabulous! She was pretty sick for the last month but she's better now and is enjoying preschool. She's their little helper because she likes to clean so much. She always comes home full of stories and has a ton of art to share with us. She talks so much now and has quite the personality. I have heard her described a few times now as "so sweet and little, AND daring!". And that is so true. She's just a little bitty bit of a girl and charming with her dimples and sweet voice. But she can run with the big boys and isn't afraid to climb and jump. I think we have a very smart, strong, slightly bossy, friendly, mildly OCD, curious, musical, strong girl on our hands! Oh, and she's obsessed with Peter Pan-she says she dreams that he comes to her window and she flies with him. I LOVE being her mom!
Tom and I are fabulous too! It's a busy time for him at work so the time we have together is precious. We try and go on dates when we can and we still run three times a week before he leaves for work. We're looking forward to go on a family vacation- our first cruise to the Bahamas. And Bethy's going too. We're going in Nov.
As for me, PC Pops orchestra is back for the 2010-2011 season and I am so happy! I am also back with my high school small group of girls. I can't believe they're all in HS now (they were in 6th when we started).
Well, I've rambled long enough and soon I need to go pick up Bethy from Mother's Morning Out. So, bye bye until next time!
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