Progress!

It's been awhile since I last posted an update, and I can't believe how much I have to share with you.

After submitting our application, we were contacted almost immediately by the ICPC Case Manager. Within the week, we already had an appointment to go get our fingerprints done through the Department of Family Services. Aside from our prints, we had to sign up for a Kinship Foster Care Training Class. When I called, I was told that we would be placed on the waiting list because there were no openings. What a bummer! Being the Type A person I am, I freaked out that we might now meet the deadline of May 27th. Our Case Manager assured me that we would be fine. If our class went longer than the deadline, they would grant us a license contingent on completion of the class. About a week later, they opened up spaces and we signed up. We'll have class every Friday in the month of May, finishing on May 31st!

This past weekend, we went to Phoenix to celebrate Matt's dad's 60th birthday. I contacted a social worker in Tucson to see if there was any chance to visit with Alex. She got me in contact with his foster mom, and we met them on Sunday. It was great to see him, especially for Matt and CJ who had not met him before. He is a sweet little baby! He looks so much healthier than when I last saw him. He has put on almost 4 pounds! His foster mom is amazing. She is clearly taking very good care of him. He is her 18th placement. Talk about commitment!


Matt and CJ, with sweet little Alex.

This morning, we met with our Case Manager for our first home visit. It was a relatively short visit because she has a copy of our Arizona home study which provides a lot of the information she would need. We'll have one more visit after this - a safety walk-through of our house - which will be scheduled as soon as we finish our class. After that, we'll wait to hear from Arizona about picking Alex up! My guess is the 2nd or 3rd week of June.

We look forward to starting our classes on May 3rd, and will keep you posted on all of our progress.

Starting From Scratch

If you read my last post, you'll know that there was a chance that we'd have to start over on our home study. In an attempt to remain positive, I kept telling myself there was no way that they would ask us to start over again after we just gotten things moving. I spoke with our case worker from the ICPC office and sure enough, we are starting from scratch.

For whatever reason, the Clark County ICPC office needs to complete the home study, as opposed to allowing our agency to simply share their report. Unfortunately, this means that all of our work over the past five weeks is for nothing. Even our fingerprinting will have to be done again.

It would be very easy to get angry and throw myself a pity party. Actually, I really wanted to do that. In my head, I have a hundred reasons to say "poor me." Some may even agree that I have just cause to respond based on my emotions. What I have to remember is anger and self-pity will not change our circumstances. Throwing a fit or allowing myself to fall into a depression will not get our home study done. We have decided to just move forward and do what is necessary to bring Alex home. From the beginning, we've told people that we would do anything to bring him into our family. Well, this is our chance to prove that. Don't get me wrong; I am frustrated by how things have gone. I have just resolved to handle it differently than I've handled some things in the past.

I firmly believe that God is at work in this. While that may sound cheesy or cliche, I really hope you can hear (or read) the sincerity behind it. One day, I hope to look back and recognize exactly why things happened this way. We had frustrations in our journey to adopt CJ, and now we understand why certain things happened. Had we moved any faster or slower, we may not have been matched with Brooke. In the grand scheme of things, an extra couple of weeks is just a small blip in our life story.

One silver lining is the cost. If this turns into an adoption, there will be very little cost to us. While we would pay almost anything to make this happen, it is awesome to think that we can use those funds to benefit our family in other ways.

This morning, I submitted our application to be a foster family. We're waiting to get an appointment for our fingerprinting (most likely this weekend). We'll need to take a training course and have them come to our house for a visit. Unfortunately, the class is full right now, so we're on the waiting list. Being that our case is a little unique, I'm hopeful that they will find a way to get us in. We have to complete this process in 60 days.

Your continued prayers are appreciated!

Can't We Catch A Break??

Maybe it's because Alex has already arrived, or maybe I'm just not a patient person, but I am starting to feel like roadblocks keep popping up. It's really hard to know that he is cuddling up in a foster parent's arms, when I feel like he should be in mine. I understand that there are steps and policies that need to be followed, but it does not make it any less frustrating.

Last week, we had quite a bit of activity. A social worker from Tucson called me to get working on the ICPC (Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children) paperwork. We got a few updates on the situation, although there are still a lot of unknowns. A few days after that, our agency sent us a packet of questionnaires that needed to be completed. I'm not sure how we didn't get to this sooner, but it is what it is. In total, there are about 60 questions ranging from our childhood to our marriage to our parenting. They are very similar to the questions we answered during CJ's adoption process. I don't mind answering all of these questions, but we can't schedule any meetings until we submit them. Ugh!

Monday, we received a package from the Clark County ICPC office. We were excited because it was a lot faster than we had expected. When I opened it up, it was a home study packet for their office. As I read through, it was asking us to complete two more packets of information and to schedule our home study appointments and fingerprinting. Odd...we already did fingerprints through the agency, and we are in the middle of the home study process. Thoroughly confused, I called the case worker that was listed in the packet. It turns out, we may need to get our home study done through Clark County. Not the news I was hoping for - we just submitted our payment to the agency two weeks ago. When I explained the situation, the case worker said she would see what could be done. I would hate to think we've wasted that much time and money. We're now waiting to hear back from her. We'd appreciate your prayers that they will accept the home study from our agency.

One thing is for sure, we are a one-of-a-kind situation. There is literally nothing normal about this process. I realize that each adoption is unique, but this is ridiculous. I just have to keep reminding myself that every step we take, and every payment we make, will be well worth it in the end. I truly believe that God is at work in us right now, and that these steps are in place for a reason. I just pray that I can keep a positive attitude about it.