The Hard Part's Over (or is it just beginning)

Over the last few weeks we've completed a couple big milestones with our adoption.

First, we successfully completed or home study on June 17th. Our social worker arrived at about 9:30 am. We started by going over some of our paperwork to make sure everything was complete. Once this was done, we filled out our medical issues checklist. The checklist is used to show a variety of different medical issues that an adopted child may have. We reviewed each item on the list and had to answer whether or not we would like to adopt a child if he/she had the medical condition. It's was a very extensive list that covers everything from low birth weight to genetic conditions such as Down's Syndrome.

Next, we reviewed the results of the Adult-Adolescent Parenting Inventory test that we took when we had our initial interview with our social worker. We had each taken the test on our own and didn't know the results until the home study. The purpose of the test is to determine your parenting beliefs. We had to answer 40 questions giving a rating of strongly agrees, agrees, disagrees, strongly disagrees, or uncertain. A couple of example questions are...

1. Spanking teaches children right from wrong.
2. Good children always obey their parents.
3. Parents need to push their children to do better.

A couple of the questions were a little ambiguous, so we reviewed them, discussing our thoughts. After that, our social worker met with one of our neighbors who we used as a reference for our adoption. She talked to him for about 15 minutes, discussing our interactions with him and his kids and what kind of parents he thought we would be. We finished up the home study giving her a tour of the house, showing her where our nursery will be. She let us know that everything in our package looked good and that she would discuss it with the other social workers in a few days and recommend that we be approved to adopt.

On Wednesday, June 24th we received some great news...our social worker said that we were officially approved to go forward with the adoption. Two days later (Friday, June 26th), our package was sent to Korea.

So now that the paperwork is complete and on it's way to Korea, some would say the hardest part is done. I'm not so sure. We have a long time to wait until we receive our referral with apparently little to keep us occupied. The waiting might be harder than what we've done so far. To make the wait a little easier to tolerate, we have plenty of plans to keep us focused on our adoption. Everything from trying to learn a little bit of the Korean language to getting the nursery ready. I'm sure the time will pass quickly, but right now it seems like 15-18 months is a very long ways away.

Paperwork, Picnic, and a Surprise

Paperwork

It's been quite a while since our last post. A lot has happened in the past few months. The most important news is that we finished all of our paperwork about a month ago. Everything is now in the hands of our social worker. She is putting together our adoption package in preparation for our home study. During the home study she'll come visit the house and interview one of our neighbors that we used as a reference. After that, the package is complete and get's sent to Korea. Unfortunately we'll still have a long wait, but it's a big relief to know that we've taken a big step forward.

...Picnic

Today our adoption agency held their annual "Catholic Charities Families' Annual Picnic". I would guess that there were around 100 families in attendance. The picnic was in Severna Park, MD at the Kinder Farm Park. It's a beautiful county park that has a large playground, trails, fishing, and a farm supported by 4H that has chickens, goats, pigs, cows, and sheep. Everybody met at a couple of the pavilions for a picnic lunch. The majority of the families have already adopted children. Previously we had met a few couples that are still working through the adoption process like us, so we decided to eat lunch with them. We also met a couple that got their adoption referral about 2 months ago. They expect to be traveling to Korea in about a month to pick up their son. They had several pictures of him, including one with his foster mother. You could see how excited they were to be going to pickup their son in the near future.

It was great being around so many adoptive families. There were adopted children spanning ages from infant all the way to young adult. We couldn't help but smile every time we saw a beautiful adopted child. In many ways all of the adoptive families make you feel like you're a part of one big family. Everybody has either been through or is going through the adoption process. It's like a huge support network. Everybody is always willing to listen to you, answer your questions, or just provide moral support.

...and a Surprise

As the end of the picnic neared, we were in for a little surprise...they were raffling off an item. When we arrived at the picnic, we were given two tickets. We didn't think much about it at the time. After everybody had finished their lunch, they decided to hold the raffle. They drew the first ticket, but nobody was there to claim the prize. The next number was called, and to our surprise, it was one of our tickets. We had no idea what the prize would be. I walked up to the front and was presented with a beautiful cross-stiched baby blanket.

I was speechless. As I brought it back to Laura and showed it to her, I could see tears come to her eyes. It was such a special gift. This is the first gift for our future child. I know that it will always hold a special place in our hearts and will be part of a great story that we'll share with him.

Continued Progress

We're continuing to make very good progress on our adoption paperwork and are getting close to the end. Almost two weeks ago, we went to our first PIPS (Parents in Progress) meeting. PIPS is a support group that consists of the families that are in the process of adopting but haven't completed the adoption. The group meets once a month to socialize and receive information about adoption and parenting. Also, parents that have just completed their adoption come back with their child to discuss how they and their child are adjusting. At this meeting, there was a girl from Korea, a boy from Korea, a boy from the Philippines, and two boys from Ethiopia (adopted together). It was very interesting hearing about their experiences. The most common challenge for the parents was dealing with sleeping issues for both them and their child.

After meeting the new adoptees, we were supposed to have a speaker talk to us about dental issues with children. Unfortunately she got her schedule mixed up and missed the meeting. On the plus side, we got to spend more time talking to the adoptive families. At the end of the meeting, we talked with our social worker and gave her the first batch of paperwork so she could start working on it.

Since the meeting, we've been busy trying to get the rest of the paperwork completed. Last week we had a fire inspection at the house and completed our medical exams. Next week we have somebody from the health department visit the house to make sure we have a safe and healthy environment for raising a child. Today we're trying to get the house looking great to ensure we have a smooth inspection. As you can see, there many steps that we have to take to become adoptive parents, but we know it's all worth it.

We have just a couple more items to complete before the home study (I'll explain that in a future blog). After that, we'll begin the long wait for the paperwork to go through the system and get matched with a child. If we're fortunate, we'll know who we're adopting about this time next year and travel to get him next summer.

Adoption Reminders Everywhere

As we started on our adoption journey, we had a good idea that there would be many things that constantly reminded us of adoption. Whether we're out at a local mall, reading the newspaper, or watching t.v., we're see many things that make us think about our adoption journey. For example, Laura got me a puzzle-a-day desk calendar. A few weeks ago, the puzzle showed the word "Korea", with each of the letters written in a very fancy way. The letters were so fancy that it wasn't readily apparent that the word was Korea. What made the puzzle even more interesting was that when you flipped the word upside down, it spelled a different word. In this case, the word was "America". Whether you believe that it was a coincidence or a sign from God, it was pretty amazing to see something that reminded us of our adoption, but in a place where we least expected it.

Today was another day where a reminder came out of left field. We were watching The Amazing Race and a commercial for California milk came on. Laura was chatting on FaceBook and immediately her attention was drawn to the television. The commercial was of a cow from Korea that wants to travel to California. The cow's name is Soo. Most of the commercial is in Korean, with subtitles in English. We really enjoyed the commercial and found it very cute (and funny). If you want to see it, check it out at the following web site: http://www.realcaliforniamilk.com/content/soo-0.

It's amazing to see so many reminders of our adoption and Korea. Who knows where the next reminder will come from.

Reinvigorated

Sometimes it doesn't take much to get reinvigorated with something that's important in your life..today was one of those days for us.

This afternoon we had a chance to spend a little time with our friends in the Southern Maryland Adoptive Family Network. We were first introduced to them last fall. Laura was talking to one of her customers about adoption and that's how we found out about the group. They invited us to a picnic in the early fall. We had a great time meeting everybody. Now that the holidays have passed and people's lives are back to a more normal pace, they decided to throw a potluck lunch to get everybody back together.

We all met at a church in La Plata and spent a couple of hours eating, socializing, and watching all of the children have fun playing together. It was a great time. Every time we see so many different adoptive families with children adopted both domestically and from various parts of the world, we get reinvigorated. It makes us want to work harder and move faster so that we'll be able to adopt our child as soon as possible.

Well, I'm cutting this post short. Since we're reinvigorated, it's time to go work on our paperwork. :-)