The Great Paper Chase

Where are we in the paper mess?

After we have all information together for our home study and our dossier, it all gets complied together, gets certified in Harrisburg, travels to Washington DC for 2 certifications, then goes to our Agency for submission to Ethiopia. We are hoping and praying to have all of this complete by mid-January or early February at the latest. In order for our dossier to be submitted, our home study must be complete. In order for our home study to be complete, all of our references and physician clearances must be in and we must have 3 home study interviews and appointments.

Here’s what we got accomplished in two weeks:

• Received our FBI paperwork stating that our fingerprints passed – which is surprising.. not because I didn’t think we would pass, but because they said it would take 4 – 6 weeks. It was more like 4 – 6 days!! Woohoo!
• Received our Child Abuse Clearances and Criminal History Verifications.
• Received our Employment Verification Letters from the NRC.
• Submitted our immigration paperwork to the Phila. Office of Homeland Security and Immigration. After 2 weeks, it was returned and had to be sent to a different office… ugghhh… resubmitted on Friday, 12/11/09 to the Texas office. (they changed the process 15 days before we sent ours in).. double ugghh. 
• Received our Local Police Letters stating that we are good citizens and have no record.
• We have our first Home Study appointment this Thursday! Yay!
• We completed our Ethiopia Adoption Training DVDs.
• Started reading our 500 page book. Need to take the test soon.
• Most of our references are in

What are we still waiting on?

• Our physician clearances and letters of reference (we were warned that this could be our hold up and so far, that’s holding true).
• A few more personal references