Happy Valentines!
We are making progress on the paperchase. Jen and I have both completed our medicals and are about to schedule our second and third interviews with Joan. With any luck we should have everything to "Open Arms" by the end of March. They will process to the paperwork and send it to China in April. If we are lucky and are able to expedite the request, we should hear something in August/September.
That means that we might be travelling to China in December.
Well this is the first CNY celebration in our new house. It was really nice to have our families together for the Big Feast. The blarring of Fairchild Television echoed in the background as our moms prepared enough food to feed three times the people that were there. I grabbed my dad his beer of choice...Carlsberg...as he heated the oil for the steamed fish.
I am happy.
Can't help but think that a year from now, there will be an extra little person at the table. I am pretty sure that I had a huge grin on my face that won't go away any time soon.
I was at the police station today.
It felt a little strange being in a police station to complete forms for an adoption. The whole process of getting a police clearance actually only took about 15 minutes. It felt no more strange then getting our fingerprints for the interpol clearance......LOL....hope nothing turns up.....!
I love my parents. I always knew that, but today was the first time that I wrote this down on paper for someone else to read. Jen and I completed our Social History today. It was like a summary of our lives on paper. The tears, the laugher, and everything in between. Every word of that document made me realize how much I loved Jen and our families.
Its funny how much of an effect completing this document had on me.......it reminded me of what I had already known all my life.
Jen and I meet with the "adoption practitioner" today and there was more than a little nervousness here before we met with Joan. What if she hates us? Are we fully prepared? Do we have the correct answers? Did we arrive too early?
Joan put us at ease immediately and the next 2 hours breezed by in an instant.
We are one step closer....she has indicated that there is a small chance that we could have our adoption completed before the end of the year.
Well we started telling our families of our plans, and everyone has been very supportive. Jen's sister in Seattle wants to come with us to China, when the time comes, along with her mom. My mom and dad are searching the internet as I write this to make sure that we are doing this properly. Its nice to know that some things never change.
After going through the list of social workers, and speaking with a number of them, we have decided to go with Joan. She reminds me of the Grandma that I never knew. Jen and I confirmed with her and our first appointment is next week. Jen is starting to get a little nervous, but that's understandable. As always, things will be fine
We started going through the information that Open Arms provided and have signed up to a number of group forums that deal with Adoptions from China. Carol recommended a few of these and we are trying to prepare as much as possible for the whole process.
Jen and I went to the information session today at Open Arms. I had no idea what to expect. There were a lot of couples there, more than I thought. I saw a little girl run by in one of the rooms, and she was so cute. Her name was Kylie and parents were there to talk about their experiences with the whole adoptive process.
We found ourselves some seats at the back of the room, and went through some of the pamphlets that were in our introduction package. A group of adoptive parents gathered themselves at the front and they began to talk about their journey to parenthood. Jen and I were touched by some of their stories. We could relate to the frustration and longing to start a family, but for whatever reason could not. I had to blink back a few tears during the session, and when I looked at Jen, she was already wiping back her tears. The floodgates had opened.
By the time the session was over, we searched out Deborah and signed up with Open Arms.