Paperwork: No End In Sight

We've completed all the homestudy requirements down to the physicals and blood tests. All of our background checks have come back - we're not criminals... YAY! I mean, we both knew that but it's a bit disconcerting to be fingerprinted for the FBI. We were waiting for a call like "Mrs. Pie, why were your fingerprints found at a Seattle burglary scene in 1982?" I've never even been to Seattle and I was only seven in '82!!

So we're happy with the progress but now we're moving on to the Dossier and that requires an awful lot of notarizations, certifications, translations..... It's a bit daunting but Jim is pretty motivated when it comes to this type of paperchase.

There has been one disappointment so far (and I'm sure it won't be the last). We were able to look over some pictures of waiting children in our orphanage and there was a baby boy (which has been our plan all along) who had a four year old sister. We had not planned on two children initially but even before I saw these siblings, I had a this sense that we were meant to bring two home. When I saw them, the ages and genders seemed to fit perfectly into our family. I started imagining them playing in the pool with the kids, sharing rooms with Chloe and Camden, etc... Jim was a little less certain, being the sole breadwinner. It's not necessarily the cost of another child in the long run - we'd be fine. It's the initial fees of another adoption. But after a lot of thought and prayer, he said that if they were still waiting when we're approved to be matched, he'd find a way. Well, that very night, we found out that they were matched with a family. And while there was a moment of sadness, we took joy in the fact that they will be leaving the orphanage sooner and going home to a family who loves them. So our prayers for them have, ultimately, been answered. And we know that there is another child(ren?) out there waiting on us to get all this silly paperwork done!!