Application 2 Approval!!

(ETA: This post was orginally written on July 3, 2012.)

Things are moving right along! We are making baby steps in our adoption journey, and I still have to pinch myself some days to convince myself that this is really happening. We really truly are doing this...something I've dreamed about for so long. We are adopting a child. We will travel halfway around the world to bring him home. We will have four children (FOUR?!). It helps me to see these things written down, because sometimes I really can't believe it's true!

When I left off in the last adoption update, we had sent in our Application 1 and were awaiting approval. I received our approval email on May 30, and our App 2 packet was sent to us on June 5!

This application was much more in depth than the first and honestly, was a bit overwhelming at first. It includes a checklist a mile long of forms to collect, forms to complete, letters to have notarized, physical appointments to complete, autobiographies to write, reference letters to request, items to copy, and on and on and on. As daunting of a task as it was, it was very exciting to be "doing something"! Checking things off to move another step closer to our little one! I hear that once you finish this stage and move on to the waiting stage, it gets really hard, and you wish you could just be "doing something" again to move the process along. So, I put on my running shoes and went at it full speed. Finally, step by step, we got it all completed! What a relief it was to check the last item on this list!

We mailed in our completed Application 2 on June 22!!! We actually could have had it finished the week before, but we had to wait on doctors appointments for the kids' physicals. That's okay though. It gave me a little more time to go through everything with a fine tooth comb a bazillion times to make sure I had it all just right. I mailed it off the morning we left for our trip to Florida, and it was SO wonderful to be able to relax and enjoy our trip knowing I had our paperwork finished and that it was on it's way to Dillon! I was seriously like a crazy person those last couple days before we left, trying to pack for our family of 5 for 8 days along with working like crazy to finish completing forms and getting it all copied and organized. That beach trip was so very much needed.

Here's our stack of forms we had to collect!

And off it went!!! I was so nervous to send all of these important documents off in this big envelope. I checked my tracking number everyday (okay, okay, ten times a day) until I saw confirmation that it had been delivered!

Dillon received our App 2 on June 26! Our case worker "M" had been out of town for over a week and wasn't due back until the next day. I knew she would be behind on work and would take some time getting caught back up. Our agency requests that we allow them 30 days to completely go through and process our App 2. So, I wasn't expecting to hear any news for a couple weeks at least. You can imagine my surprise when Brent checked his email tonight while we were waiting for the fire works to start, and there it was. Our App 2 approval!!!!! Our case worker had gone through our entire application this afternoon, and everything looked great!!

Our next step on the list is our home study. Eek. This makes me nervous. I know we will be fine...there is nothing specific I am worried about. I guess the whole idea of someone coming into our home to evaluate and interview us is a little nervewracking. I know it will probably much easier than I am expecting, and honestly, I am just ready to get it overwith! I am not sure when this will take place yet...I am guessing by the end of the month. And once our homestudy is approved, we are officially on the waitlist for a baby!!!!! So, hopefully by the end of August? That's my goal, anyway. We will see. If there's one thing I've learned about the adoption process already, it's that the whole timing thing is out of my hands.  Right now, the current wait time once you are placed on the waitlist is 4-6 months. I am going to bank on the longer time frame there, just to prepare myself. At that point, you receive the information on a child that you have been matched with. If you accept that referral, then you begin the long process of getting things approved to bring your child home. Unfortunately, this is usually the hardest part. This can take up to a year or longer. So, you have this picture in your hand of your child and all of his information, a child being raised by a foster family halfway around the world. And you have to wait that long to go get them and bring them home. Wow. I can only imagine how trying that will be. But we will choose to trust in God's perfect timing in all of this! He is in control, and His ways are so much higher than my own.

I ran across this quote a few days ago, and I thought it was beautiful. I'll close with this...