Things are Starting to Move...Finally

This weekend we will be signing off on our homestudy.  So glad this part of the process is over and we can move on to the nitty gritty of the adoption.  This next part will  prove to be much more difficult.  However, God has sent us someone who can walk us through the process and who has contacts in Africa.  She is keeping me afloat as there is no way I could navigate this alone.  She is an amazing blessing.  It is such a complicated process. I wouldn't even know where to begin.  I still don't think I understand it all.  It seems everytime I start getting a picture of what we have to do, something is added or changed. 

Not too many people know about this blog so it is safe to write that we would like to adopt two girls, twins, from Ghana.  It is a long story how we came to know of these girls and that is for another post.  But they are safe, well-cared for and not in an orphanage. When we went to the adoption agency this past week, we spent some time discussing other options. As we don't have 20-25 grand floating around, it re-affirmed that this is the only route we can take.  Though I have tried hard not to have any attachment to our girls, once you see some pics it is all over.

We would like to do this adoption independent of an adoption agency.  Today I have to phone the ministry to find out about  a letter that is required from the province.  If it is possible to attain this letter without an agency, we will cut ties with the agency.  This is due primarily to financial limitations.  We don't want to spend a ton of money to find out we can't go through with the adoption.  Though I do believe this is God's plan for us...everything seems to point to Ghana.

I have put together a little Christmas package for our African princesses.  I hope they receive it. God bless you L and L and  keep you safe.

Last Interview

We have finally had our last interview with the SW.  Thank goodness. We sure were getting sick of answering the same questions over and over again.  The questions are quite invasive and quite detail oriented and a lot of them irrelevant. Don't get me wrong, she is a lovely lady and all but boy we both just felt so tired of it all.  Anyway, we are waiting now to sign off on our home study (that could take another 2 weeks) and then on to the next step to complete our dossier (not sure what those steps are).  We still have to take a few more courses and join an association that will be a support network for us.  I am thankful for that.  She also recommended a book for us to read called, Connected Kids.  She said it is a practical book  and that is always good to have on ones' shelf.  So there is a bit of a sigh of relief now but there are definitely going to be challenges ahead.

X's Interview

Little Man had his visit with the SW.  It was really cute.  I told him that she was coming to play with him and to talk about  his possible future siblings.  So I think he was quite happy to have someone down on the ground who was going to play trains with him.  I was so proud of my guy's guy who wouldn't reveal his four year old feelings to just anybody (assuming he has ANY feelings at all about the adoption situation other than excitement).    She kept asking him questions like, "You are going to have to share your mommy.  How do you think that will make you feel?"  And my son would look at her pause and then say something like, "Well, this train here is diesel train and it can go slowly through crossings..." I mean he is talking about his feelings. It is just that most of his feelings revolve around trucks and trains. 

4th Interview

We had the fourth interview with the SW.  This time around it was about our parenting style and about our relationship.  All in all, I think it went alright.  Ben and I both felt that we had been to a marriage counselor after the session.  She even asked us to rate our marriage on a scale of one to ten.  At that point, I spoke up and said that that was a really horrible question.  Who has a perfect 10 anyway?  We got out of answering that.  I am still mad about that question.  The questions do seem a bit redundant and one does tire of the same questions formulated differently and asked a 100 different ways.  We have finished the course work and have to write the essay and then we should be close to complete.  It will be closer to five months that to four to complete this darn thing.

This Thursday Nov. 3rd, she will be interviewing X.  I wonder how that will go. 

Immigration

Today we started the immigration process.  Step 1 anyway.  We are still, at least, a month from finishing our home study but that too will come to an end.  Then the more challenging part  of the adoption process will begin.  I  pray that we continue to heed the call of God and that he shows us His Mercy along the way.

Welcome News!

Today I phoned the adoption agency and it seems that though we are not home study ready, we can still apply to immigration.  As we intend to adopt from Ghana, we may begin the process. This is welcome news as I was feeling so much like things were lagging and that there was nothing I could do to move forward.  But now onward we go!

Third Visit

We survived the third visit which was talking about our childhood.  Actually, my childhood was wonderful so it was really nothing.  The only disappointing thing about it all was that we still have three more interviews.  I THOUGHT we only had ONE left.  It really is an agonizing process.  We are three months into the process, half way, and who knows how long it will take to get three more interviews.  It is really discouraging.  I know, at least, in some states in the US, they only have to do about half the interviews we have to do. What remains is talking about parenting, our marriage, and adoption.