More Paperwork

No postings lately because we are STILL plugging away at our dossier and parental education. Education wise, we've finished the workbook (about 50 hours) and have completed 2 of 6 online classes (about 4 of 12 hours). Dossier wise, we have all required documents back and notarized with the exceptions of two reference letters going directly to Ethiopia (which we learned also need to be notarized), and a copy of our power of attorney, which is being state certified in Madison. I should have all the paperwork sent off to AGCI (the international agency) this week. Deb, our local social worker should be finishing up our homestudy this week. And, if we buckle down, we should finish up our education this week or next. After AGCI reviews ALL of this, we will go on the waiting list.

We learned this week that the wait for boys is very short at the moment because of the imbalance in families wanting to adopt boys versus girls. There are over 30 families waiting for girls and just 3 familes waiting for boys. (This is common in adoption, both domestic and international.) We will take a boy, we will take a boy!! This means our referral may be as fast as a month after our paperwork is accepted. There is still waiting after that (probably 5-6 months) before we can travel to pick him (or them) up.

Our dossier also requires photos of us, together and individually, photos of the front and back of the house, photos of the baby's room, the dining room, the kitchen, the family room. It made me realize that the baby's room might not look all that inviting to whomever in Ethiopia will be placing our child. Right now it is empty except for the wicker giraffe I bought and a teddy bear from Dodd's parents. I decided to take advantage of the recession sale on window coverings (65% + 10% +15% off!) at JCPenney and buy wood blinds for the baby's room. A small step, but kind of a big one too.