TV Junkie

Everyone knows how much we love to watch television. We have more tv's in our house than heartbeats, believe it or not! My neighbor, Lisa, turned me on to a new show and I can't get enough of it! It's called Adoption Stories and it comes on Discovery Health channel. All of the shows that I have seen are awesome and of course, you should have tissue beside of the couch if you decide to watch! I am just a softee when it comes to these kinds of things- the Kleenex commercials even make me cry!

So far, my favorite episode was about a couple that adopted a little girl from China and then were able to get twin girls from South Korea. Their story was touching and all three girls were beautiful! I have set my DVR to record it everytime it comes on-- although I am not sure when that is. If you are interested, you should definitely find the time to watch at least one episode-- I think you'll be hooked!

Update on the process: we got our final pieces of information for our home study. We should have a draft of it this week for our review and for our adoption agency to review. Once that is done, we can send the home study along with the daunting government form for completion. Then we will only need a couple of more things to get the whole thing done!! We are both really excited and hopeful that it will go quickly.

I have found a great source of information-- a friend from my first class at UAB- Stephanie. She and I talked this week for a couple of hours. She has been through the process and has a beautiful baby girl and will be going back to China after the Olympics for another precious little girl! She eased my mind and answered a lot of questions for me. Let's just hope she has the patience for me during the remainder of this process. I know I will have so many more questions as time goes on!

We Can See the Light at the End of the Tunnel

Finally! I thought we'd be chasing documents for years to come, but we are finally making some progress. Last week, our social worker came for her last visit for the home study. We have to get her just a couple of pieces of information (we have 2 of the 3 and should have the last tomorrow). She should be able to complete her report this week!

So, that leaves us with just a couple of other things to get done. Our application letter, a government form, and letter from our CPA. Hopefully, we can get those started this week too. I am having some difficulty with my doctor's letter about my insulin pump-- just the details, like having it on letterhead AND having it notorized. This has been a sore subject this week for me!

What's next? I will have to have of the documents certified by the county of the notary. For instance, if my notary resides in Jefferson County, I will have to go to the Jefferson County Courthouse and have them certify the document that the notary has signed and sealed. THEN, we'll have to take the certified documents and have them sealed by the Secretary of State in Montgomery. (By the way, this is all happening during my absolute busiest time of the year at work. My boss is being very understanding about it all-- I just feel bad about missing any work during this time of the year.) Then the state sealed documents will be sent to the Chinese Consulate for verification or something like that. I will have to give more details when I get my head around what happens. Maybe we can have this in the works by the end of April. I hope we can anyway-- I am ready for this little girl to get here!

Gimme's Purchases

I have been telling you about the many, many outfits that Gimme (Dianna's mom) has been buying over the past few weeks. They have come in all styles, sizes, and colors! Here are a few of our favorites.

Can you guess which one is Gimme's favorite?!

No Hope for Twins!

My curiosity finally got the best of me. I called my contact at the adoption agency and asked for more information about twins. She said that twins are very rare in China. Since she has been with the agency, she's only seen 5 sets be adopted. While the written guidelines aren't too different, she said that they've noticed income levels are higher and the fees are almost double. I don't think we'd be able to qualify, and if we did- we wouldn't have the fees to go through with it. I still think twins would be fun!

Someone asked me this week about another child from China at a later date. The bad thing is that we'd have to wait for one year and then start the entire process over again. Another country? Maybe- but we really haven't given it a lot of thought. Just getting through this one may do us for a lifetime! But, you never know.

I finally got in touch with someone in law enforsement to get our police letters! Stephen and I are going on Friday to see her and, hopefully, we will have letters in hand when we leave! That will be a worry lifted off of my shoulders! Only a few more documents left to get...stay tuned.