We are officially a Waiting Family!

I am so very, very excited! Our dossier was reviewed and was perfect except for one thing: we accidentally sent Jason's hospital birth certificate instead of the state-issued one. Fortunately, we have a copy of that one also (it's from 1977, but I can't imagine that will matter--Virginia is still Virginia), so I will mail it to them on Monday morning. And our contact person at the adoption agency said that she's added us to their waiting families list!*

So what does this mean? To be honest, not a whole lot. Our dossier will be translated and sent to Ethiopia (or maybe it gets sent and then translated? I forget which comes first). Then we wait. Because we're open to special-needs or healthy males between 0-30 months, it could be fairly soon or it could be several more months. We can request information and adopt a waiting child, or we can wait for a referral. Since our age range is wider than many adoptive parents, who want to adopt babies, we may not wait very long. Or we might. There's really no way of knowing--I've heard stories of people who've gotten referrals of toddlers within days and stories of people who've waited longer than some people wait for infants. Who knows?

But I still can't stop grinning.

*(Yes, this is the point at which some people will say you're "paper pregnant". Please don't use the term with me. The idea of being pregnant with a toddler is just horrifying.)

Gee, waiting is sure fun!

We requested information on a waiting child the other day; however, we found out today that his information is already being reviewed by another family. They will only share the information with one family at a time, so we're discussing things. I told the remarkable Amanda that I had the strangest feeling of something being *right* with this profile. She gave me chills with her answer: "That feeling you are having is no accident…something big is just around the corner." Then they told us that the profile was already being reviewed. And yet, that feeling remains.

There were two other boys who we initially thought met with our age range, so we thought we might look at them. But they were less than a year younger than Patrick (one was 9 months younger and one was 10 months). We were OK with that at first, because they'd be far enough apart that they'd be in different grades in school, then we reconsidered. Our agency prefers at least a year apart--I don't think they would mind so much with a toddler adoption, since Patrick will likely be 4 when his little brother comes home and 4 and 3 are very different than if we'd been caring for a 1-year-old and a newborn. But it just doesn't feel quite right.

There is another little boy, though. His birthday is right before Jason's, which would be a lovely addition to our whole family having birthdays between November and January. He'll be 2 in November. If the other family accepts a referral for the first little boy, we may request his information.

For now, we'll just wait a little longer. But it feels much better to be waiting from the point of having all our clearances approved and our dossier done than it did in June.

Just starting out

OK, I've started a blog that's accessible to everyone who is interested. We'll use this to post updates to our adoption process, as well as family posts once in a while.

Here's a quick recap of what we've done so far:
2003: started talking about adoption, gave birth to Patrick after minor infertility testing and treatments
2004: started trying to have another baby
2005: resumed fertility treatments
2006: continued fertility treatments
attended Resolve (national infertility organization) adoption fair
stopped fertility treatments
decided to adopt from either Vietnam or Ethiopia
requested information from adoption agencies who work in Vietnam and Ethiopia
2007: decided to adopt from Ethiopia
decided to adopt a toddler boy
decided that we are open to a special-needs child
February--chose an adoption agency (Child.ren's Ho.me Society and Fam.ily Services)
Filled out initial application
Chose a homestudy agency (Fam.ilies Fi.rst in Atlanta)
Submitted homestudy application
March--accepted to CHS.FS
Completed homestudy visits with social worker
April--completed homestudy paperwork
May--received completed homestudy
Sent in USCIS application I-600A (Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition)
June--accepted to CHS.FS Ethiopia program
completed additional CHS.FS requirements for accepted homestudy
fingerprinted by USCIS
July--received USCIS approval form I-797C
CHS.FS accepted completed requirements
given final documents for Ethiopia dossier preparation
August 30--mailed completed dossier to CHS.FS
September 1--requested information on a waiting child

So that's where we stand right now. I'll be updating information as we get it.

Also, just to be clear--we want to protect our son and his privacy. We will not be providing his history or extensive information about his birth family, either here or privately. It's his information to share with people as he chooses. We're not trying to be rude, but it's not fair for others to know that before he does.

I'm happy to answer most questions about our adoption, so ask away!

--Erin