Sunday, August 21, 2005

This and That

Friday we sent our application (and fee, of course) to the goods folks at Adoption Assistance in Danville, Kentucky to perform our home study. Amazingly, 15 hours later, we received an email saying that they received our application and have sent on the first of the paperwork to us. We're both excited to get this part of the process started.

The Bucci grandparents were in town this weekend. We were fortunate to get to spend some time with the Grandma-to-be who is almost as excited as we are about all of this. In fact, we made our first trip to the extortionist (Babies R Us). We found a crib (which converts to a toddler bed and then to a twin sized bed) that all three of us really like. Also saw some really nice (and reasonably priced) furniture at the Woodland Park Art Festival this afternoon. Not knowing gender, age, or size is proving to be a challenge as we think of these things.

Our good friends Ted and Derrick will continue to be a wonderful asset as we decorate the babies room. They're also great to talk to when these things become overwhelming.

Thursday, August 18, 2005

Decision #2

After a bit of e-discussion with Andrea, we've made a decision on the home study agency. We've decided to use the agency in Danville, Kentucky (Adoption Assistance; www.adoptionassistance.com) We have both spoken with the Executive Director on the phone Michelle last night and Jason today. The director was very informative. It seems like the process is well on its way. The home study should take about a month.

Two weeks for us to locate the proper notorized paperwork: Michelle's birth certificate from the county clerk's office in Kenosha County, Wisconsin, Jason's birth certificate in Stephenson County, Illinois, our marriage license in St. Joseph County, Indiana and employment/education records from Fayette County, Kentucky) Let the games begin.

Then a home visit from the social worker.

Then 2 more weeks for the final written homestudy report for our dossier.

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

Choices, choices

Today, LMI received our official application, application fee, and family photo. A few hours later, we received an email welcoming us to the Family of Little Miracles Families. We are glad to be on board.

Andrea sent us an email this afternoon with information about what to do and expect in the next week or so. We now have to start the process of a home study. [For those of you reading that are in this phase of the process, we've found great information on the process at http://www.babycenter.com/refcap/preconception/adopting/1342127.html]

We're back and forth between two very capable home study agencies. The first is through the United Methodist Church and is located in Bowling Green , Kentucky (quite a ways away, but recommended by Little Miracles). The second is located in Danville, Kentucky and HIGHLY recommended by a family we know in Louisville who has been around the block a couple of times with the adoption process. Our guts are telling us to go with the Danville agency (just a 20 minute drive from here), but we both want to make sure that Andrea with Little Miracles feels good about this decision. We'll be leaning on the folks at Little Miracles throughout this long process and truly value their opinions (obviously).

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

Aaaaaand we're off!

After countless hours of e-search, we've selected an agency that will eventually join us with our child (Little Miracles International). This was by no means the largest agency we met, but seemed like the agency with the perfect balance between size, organization, and personality. Throughout our research process (which lasted months) we were consistently told by adoptive parents to: "Go with [your] gut". Well our guts agreed and today we sent in our application, application fee, and family photo (just the two of us for now).

Sending the application turned the excitement up a notch....okay, a few notches. We overnighted the application (gotta love tracking numbers) and, as if that wasn't enough, followed it up with an email to the agency to look for our app. from the UPS guy tomorrow. What can Brown do for us? Hopefully, we're one step closer.