Yet Another Update

So again, almost all I blog about is the adoption...but hey, that's my life right now! We had our final home study visit yesterday. Our social worker seemed really positive about us and now we will wait for her to write her report. I think it will probably be about two weeks before we get it back from what I can gather from what she said. We were really fortunate to work with a very nice social worker and I felt like the whole experience was positive. The only thing that I wish had gone a bit better was when she talked to the kids. Since they have been in VBS each evening this week, they are so tired. So when she talked to them, they had just gotten up from their nap and were a bit cranky. She asked Aaron if there was anything special that his daddy does for him or things they do together, and he replied, "Not really." At least when she asked the same question about me he said that I read books to him and played with him. Ethan answered every question, "I don't know." and then proceeded to give an answer after that! But hey, they are 3 and 5 years old! They were both able to show that they understand something about adoption. She asked Ethan if his sister would come from mommy's tummy and he said, "No. She'll come from another state." For a three year old, that's pretty good. He knows she will come from China, but I guess he isn't exactly sure what China is!

We also had a conference call with our adoption agency this week. They just went over the basic steps to compiling the dossier, which we have already done most of. There were quite a few families on the call. I knew we were working with a large agency, but for some reason it still surprised me that there were so many people at the same stage as us in the process.

So from here, we begin sealing the documents that have to go out of state: our birth certificates. Then we wait for the home study report. Once we get it, we can file our I-800A form with immigration, which is basically a form asking for advance permission to adopt from a foreign country. That is the longest wait while compiling the dossier. Because the I-800A is a new form as of April 2008, we were told that they are fast-tracking them when they come in since they are training employees on them. It is fortunate for us that they are!

Sometimes it is hard for me to believe that we only applied and were accepted to our adoption agency three weeks ago. I feel like I have been doing this for much longer than that! And I am so impatient! I am worried that immigration is going to take forever so I want to get the home study report yesterday so I can file already!! I know that I still have 22 weeks until this baby is due and that is my only real deadline with all of this adoption paperwork, but for some reason, when I hit 18 weeks, I started a mini-panic like, "Oh my gosh! I am almost halfway through this pregnancy and nothing in the adoption is truly complete yet!! What am I going to do??" But Jerry has been quoting one of my favorite, yet recently forgotten verses to me a lot - in fact, just this morning. Philippians 4:6-7, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." So I am praying. I am already praying for this little girl who is not even conceived yet. I am praying that I will not worry about timing. And yet at the same time I am praying that the report will come back quickly! How's that for dual-minded! But fortunately, God knows and understands me and knows the deepest desires of my heart. And the really cool thing is that he cares!