On Your Mark, Get Set, . . .

Tuesday night was the information meeting at the adoption agency. Carly came with me and there were a few other couples there as well. I met "Mary", the lady we'll be working with on our home study and dossier. She is a very nice lady with a lot of patience. I must have asked a million questions and kept her behind after everyone else had left. There are so many unknowns in this whole process and, as we researched the actual picking up of the child and bringing him or her home, I became overwhelmed with the logistics of it all. Unfortunately, I cannot plan every minute detail in advance. That's very hard to accept for a perfectionist/OCD-type like myself.

We meet with our pastor (and his lovely wife) this weekend. I know that I feel the calling to adopt, and Jeremy feels it. It's just good to discuss with our pastor before getting too far along.

The biggest obstacle is the still the cost. The amount, over the course of nearly two years, is not outrageous in and of itself. It's just that the majority of the cost needs to be paid early on and we're short about $6,000. There are grants available, but we can't apply for those until our home study and dossier are submitted, and payment is due upon submission. (Very much like the - You can't get a job until you gain experience and you can't gain experience until you get a job!)

One piece of good news is that the term "special needs" has a very broad definition and we are open to a child with conditions which would qualify as "special needs." That opens up more grants for which we can apply. It's amazing to me what qualifies. So many are superficial conditions which I wouldn't think of as needing any special treatment. Many are so superficial that no one would even know it was there. And, to be completely honest, isn't just being an orphan a "special need" all to itself?

We have the formal application nearly completed. I think there are some employment questions still unanswered because I need to pull out old tax returns. If the meeting with our pastor goes well, I think we'll be sending it off early next week. If approved, we will be sent the home study packet and begin the process of getting our passports, downloading and filing several legal forms, getting our fingerprints taken, undergoing physical exams, and many other requirements to complete the dossier. The estimated timeline is about 2 to 3 months, though I've read several other blogs where the couple took 6 months or more to get everything in order.

Please pray for us that, if this is God's will, doors will be opened and finances will be available when needed. Most of all pray that, whether it is with us or another couple, that all the children who are without a safe, loving home will soon be in one.