Home Study Scheduled

I heard from our social worker today! We have an appointment for Tuesday, September 7. It'll be an all day, one time visit. Guess I know what I'll be doing Labor Day weekend.... cleaning house.

We also made another trip to the Jones county courthouse. Tom noticed last night that the date on the signature block was wrong. They had entered "October" instead of "August." It wasn't any problem, just an extra trip we hadn't planned on.

County Certifications Complete

Wow, that was easy! I called up the court clerk's office today. The lady asked me who the notary was, how many documents I had and when I wanted to pick them up! Cameron I drove over an hour later and the certifications were waiting on the counter. I wrote out a check, received a recept and we were on our way.

They are now safely stapled to the documents and the documents are now awaiting their state certifications.

We're still waiting to hear from our SW. We did learn second handed that our SW does have our file. I called our agency this morning, so hopefully we hear from her tonight or tomorrow.

Notarization Day

This morning we took all your documents to the credit union to be notarized. Having everything notarized by one notary will make things much easier for me, as I'll only have to get one signature certified at the county level. Which means only one trip to the county courthouse. I hope to make that trip on Monday. Then it's back to waiting.

We still have not heard from our social worker. We are so anxious to set up and have our home visit.

Orientation is Over!

Yesterday we drove to North Atlanta to attend the required orientation with our agency. Unfortunately, I didn't learn anything, but we did get to meet a two nice couples who are just starting out.

Afterwards, we took Cameron to "'Donalds" for lunch and then to the Children's Museum of Atlanta. They currently have a neat exhibit called Monkey King: Journey to China.

On Monday, I have to get Cameron's Pediatrician to fill out a medical form. Then we wait for our social worker to call!

We have all our documents for the dossier now. Except of course for the I-171H. We won't get that until we have our home study completed and submitted to the USCIS.

The next step with the documents is to get them all notarized. Then they go to the county to be certified, to the Secretary of State for state certification, and finally to the Chinese Embassy for authentication.

Our plan is get them notarized on the 21st of this month. Then the following week, before we leave for California, I will get them county certified. We will probably wait for the I-171H before getting everything state certified.

Our whole timeline now depends on when we get to see our social worker and how quickly she can get our narrative written.

Yesterday we did go to the county sheriff's department to have our criminal background checks done. It took three tries, but we finally got a letter that we think meets the dossier standards. One more document to check off! I bought colored stars to reward myself for each step accomplished. Hopefully, soon, I'll see all gold stars!

Cameron and I went in the afternoon to get a copy of Dante's rabies certificate. We need that as part of our home study and have to bring it to our orientation meeting on August 14.

We bought tickets to go to California at the end of this month. It'll be a forced vacation from the adoption process. We'll get to see Cameron's grandma, my grandma and aunt & uncle and go to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk.

I'm hopeful that we will have all our documents approved and our home study to USCIS by September 15. It's not beyond hope that we will be DTC by the end of October. In that case, we may be matched with our little girl in April!

Everything at the doctor's office went well yesterday. The doctor was great! We feel luck to have found him.

We're planning on going to the sherrif's office tomorrow to get our criminal background checks. We'll also try to find out what is involved in getting our septic tank inspected, and if it needs to be done, since we're almost hooked up to the local sewer system.

I heard from another mom who has the same social worker as we do. They met with her last weekend and shared what a positive experience it was. So, I'm looking forward to our meeting, instead of dreading it.

We're also trying to work out a trip to California for the last weekend of August. It'll be a break away from the paperchase.

Physical Exams Today

Tom and I are getting our physical exams today. Once again a doctor's office has come through for us. We called this morning and explained that we needed an exam so that we could adopt and the receptionist told us she'd see how soon she could get us in.... "Would this afternoon be soon enough?" You betcha!

We have an orientation to attend on August 14 with our adoption agency. After that we will hear from our social worker, Shannon, who will update our home study. We are hoping to work in a visit to the Children's Museum of Atlanta that day to see an exhibit on the "Monkey King" of China.