I've been unable to connect with anyone at the local police department to set up a time to get our fingerprints done, so this morning I figured out Plan B -- which is going to the county jail (about 20 miles away) and having it done there. So, that's our new game plan. "Fingerprints" is NOT crossed off the list, yet.
I did cross off "Dogs vet, Luger neutered" already, even though that's only half-accomplished. Magnum's been vetted, and Luger is going in tomorrow to be vetted and neutered. I stand behind my decision to cross it off the list already -- hahaha.
"Well water tested" is crossed off as well. Although we don't have the results yet, which is the last piece of our personal requirement, making sure we have the results for the home visit. I only crossed it off with one line, though, just in case. :)
So, what's left on the list? "Health Records" and "Tax Return". We need to provide a copy of our 2011 tax return (which I know we have around here somewhere . . . ) and get our health records form filled out. I don't forsee any problems with having those accomplished within the next week.
Amazingly, I haven't looked at the portfolios or resume' letters at all since Monday! Which surprises even me, because typically after I finish a big project, I have to keep looking through it obsessively to make sure there are no typos or other errors, and to make sure it is just exactly the way I want it to be. I have this odd, overwhelming sense of peace and assurance that I don't need to obsess over this "project" because it is exactly the way it is supposed to be, and there's nothing I need to do to change it. If that's isn't assurance directly from above, I can't imagine what it would be!
One of the questions everyone asks us is what our expected time-line will be. It's a little disappointing (both as the asker and the answerer) to hear the reply, "We have no idea !" but honestly, that's the answer. What we do know is that it should take approximately two weeks after our home visit for our official approval, at which time our portfolios and resume' letters will be "out there" and available for potential birthmoms working with our agency all across the state to view. At our screening interview earlier this year, we were told that we have to update our information every two years, so it could be that long or even longer until we've found a match, but "it usually isn't that long". I completely understand why our worker at the agency won't give us an expected time-frame either; since every single case in open adoption is different, there is no "typical" on which to base such generalizations. We could be that case that takes four years to find a match. We hope we're not, of course, but you never know. On the other hand, it could be two weeks; maybe a birthmother decides in the hospital after giving birth to place her child with an adoptive family. The "ideal" is that we meet the birthmother long before she gives birth, but sometimes that doesn't happen. There are just so many different ways this could play out . . . so please don't be offended when we tell you we have no idea when we will be matched or placed. We really don't know. Our hearts tell us 6-9 months, but there's no actual basis for that whatsoever. We hope to have a few months to get to know the birthmom and also to prepare ourselves mentally and environmentally for the addition of a newborn, but we also realize that might not be His plan at all. Hence my decision to name our blog "Let Go and Let God..." This is so out of our hands and completely in His.
On that note, I'm signing off for now. I know this isn't much of an update, since we're only making baby steps (lame pun intended!) forward at this point, but thanks anyway for reading and keeping us in your thoughts and prayers.
Until next time . . .
P.S. -- my first attempt at posting photos here:
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