Adoption Update

I’ve been really busy since I got home with getting things done for the adoption. We are in the paperwork and home study part of the process. Basically that means that we are gathering lots documents. We need to get child abuse clearance in all states that we have lived in since age 18, so, AZ and IA, medical exams, employment verification, proof of income, multiple certified copies of our passports, birth and marriage certificates, etc. Then those documents need an apostille. The apostille is from the Secretary of State from which the vital records came or that commissioned the notary, it’s basically a notary of a notary.

Have I lost anyone yet?

I must say that IA has been nothing short of phenomenal in their turn around times. Perhaps they are over staffed but that’s for you Iowa taxpayers to worry about.

We have been fingerprinted three times (all in the same setting) for the FBI and AZ DPS for background checks. Mostly to make sure that we aren’t felons or child abusers. My prints aren’t very pronounced and the guy asked if I washed my hands a lot. Duh! Needless to stay Steve’s very bold and almost jumped off the page. Clearly, not a hand washer:)

Have I mentioned the home study yet? That is a series of meetings with a social worker who then does a write up for the AZ courts to say why you are OK to adopt. This needs to be formatted for Poland but still be in accordance with AZ law. We had the in home meeting with the social worker on Friday. So, you can guess what we did all week: clean, clean, clean! As usual, I over did it and the home study was nothing close to some of the horror stories you might hear.

We have done really as much as we can at this point. And now, we wait again.

Hope that gets everyone up to speed. Any if you have any questions, don’t be afraid to ask.

Also wanted to post a favorite picture from vacation. The other little boy in the picture is Austin. He is my cousin’s son. Guess how old you think Austin is…

He just turned 7! He is only a year and a half older than Nolan. He might have been the bigger one but it was Nolan who was the aggressor. They had a great time together.