October 9, 2006

Well, we're supposed to go get our bloodwork done as the last bit of our physical exam. One of the things Dr. Mike was going to check was my white blood cell count. Last week I had a teeeeeeensy nasal drip that he didn't even notice during the physical. Then Friday we went camping, and the lows hit upper 30s. *coughcough*hackhack* If you couldn't have guessed, I'm now back to the 'really sick in my chest' cold thingy that I always do. I'm SO SICK OF IT. It also means that there will be a delay in my paperwork. *GAH* I wanted this to be done with.

In the meantime, I guess I'll sit with some tea and start to plow through this Big Pink Adoption Book. (it's actually The Adoption Resource Book by Lois Gilman, but it's known by its bright pinkness.)

October 6, 2006

My shoulder feels like it's dislocated due to yesterday's tetnus shot. Aaah! Didn't sleep very well because of it. Doc says I'm healthy. Yay! *coughcoughcough* Also referred me to an allergist for my cough. *heh* Still have to go get bloodwork done. Adoption agencies want to check ya for everything. Happyjoy.

October 3, 2006

Adoption Social Worker Meeting One

This morning we got moving a little early and drove out to Glad Tidings Church on the other side of town to meet our new Social Worker from Bethany Christian Services. In the last couple of days we've each prepared a 2-3 page autobiography, and collected documents on our birth, marriage, and life insurance. Gathering all those together, we headed out to meet at 8:00 this morning.

We found the church, arriving about five minutes early. Everything was locked, no one was in sight, and the sign on the door said office hours started at 9:00. She had also told us to meet at -Good- Tidings Church, not -Glad- Tidings Church, but the street address was the correct one, and the phone book didn't have a Good Tidings Church. Oh, no! Were we in the wrong place? That was when we realized that Jacquie hadn't given us her phone number; so far we'd only communicated via email. So we called the New Jersey office, which is the only one we had a number for, and while they were contacting Jacquie, she pulled into the parking lot.

Apparently someone at the church had agreed to come open up early for her, but then was unable to make it. So we began in the back of Jacquie's SUV. First, she gave us a bunch of paperwork to read and sign, some to return to the Bethany office via mail, and some to hold for her until our next meeting. We gave her our autobiographies, and then she had us begin a "Self-Study". She told us that typically she would have each spouse in a separate room, so we were not allowed to talk or exchange looks or peek at each other's paper. *heh* SO much like a test at school! Our self-study was five pages of questions about ourselves, broken down into categories: Personality (my own strengths and weaknesses, personal achievements and disappointments, goals, etc.); Childhood (happy and unhappy memories, how I was as a child, my parent's relationship); Marriage (our relationship, his and my strong and weak points, common interests, how we settle differences, our relationship with our in-laws, personal priorities); and Children (how it will change our lives, what qualities we want to instill and how). While in the middle of our self-study, someone finally came and opened up the church, so we moved inside where we could write on a table and not our laps.

After we finished the self-study, we gave her our documentation, which she copied information from, we reviewed what we needed to do next, and we made some small talk. And that was that.

After our meeting, Lanse and I went out for brunch, where we very briefly commented on our morning and then tried to not talk about it and take an emotional break. We went to Staples after food to get filing stuff for all the paperwork and headed home.

I've gotten all the filing done, Lanse is in bed sleeping, and now that I've caught this up I'm going to join him. I'll probably post later with what my feelings were on all these events. Right now I'm still processing. :)

September 29, 2006

Life is crazy. I don't remember what last I posted about it, but we submitted our Bethany application on the 14th, and just today received an email from our newly appointed (to us) social worker, Jacquie. We will have an appointment soon, and in the meantime have to start working on our 2-3 page autobiographies. Eep!

September 04, 2006

Well, America World can't help us. *weep* I'm really more upset about it than I look, mostly because there's way too much to do right now to deal with this. America World is a Christian adoption agency that offers programs only internationally; however, they were listed on the NYS site as a voluntary alternate agency for helping with homestudies. The lady at HQ said it would be unusual, but perhaps... and gave me the number of the local guy. He was very sweet, but very policy focused. *sigh* They just can't help us, cuz it's not What They Do. Knowing the world of adoption, I'm guessing there's probably some kind of domestic paperwork they haven't filed, since they don't do domestic adoptions.

Next up, I'm waiting for a call back from Bethany Christian Services. They also do not have anything official about domestic waiting children, but they do have a domestic infant/birthmother program, so they may be qualified to help us. We'll see. If they can't, I'm not sure what the next step is. Christian agencies around here apparently (generally) don't do domestic waiting children.