Could this be it?

This morning, I begrudgingly wrote "compile licensing renewal paperwork" on my to-do list. If I'm being honest, I had been completely ignoring it for the past few weeks. While I didn't want to work on it, I knew that I need to have it started just in case Alex's adoption finalization happens after June 30th.

I got all of the kids down for their naps (yes, that's right, all three down at the same time) and I pulled out the licensing packet to start the process. As I went into my e-mail to gather a few documents, I noticed an e-mail from our case worker.

Our consent form was received by Clark County from Arizona, which was the missing piece when it came to finalization. Finally, a step in the right direction!

Our case worker gave me the green light to contact an attorney and two minutes later I was leaving a voice mail for the attorney's assistant. An hour later, she called back and I gave her the name of our case worker. Thirty minutes later, she called again to let me know that our case worker had already sent her all of the necessary documents and she was ready to prep our paperwork. After giving her a few pieces of information, she promised to have the document ready for us to sign on Friday. Once that is complete, we will wait to be assigned a judge and hearing date. Things are moving!!

Obviously, there can always be delays. I think the process of adopting Alex has proven that delays can be constant. However, I feel confident that we will complete his adoption by the end of June.

I cannot tell you how blessed I feel by the people who God has placed in this process. Our case worker is ah-mazing! Despite a heavy case load, she responds to requests and questions within the same day, whenever possible. She is flexible with visits. She genuinely cares about our case (which makes sense since she's been working on it for almost two years now). We had a great attorney for Jacob's finalization, but decided to work with an attorney who frequently works with county foster care cases. I've only been working with them for a day, but I'm already impressed. The assistant has gotten things to our case worker immediately and has been in contact with me several times today. I can already tell that I will like working with them.

This process has been tough, but the challenges and frustrations are starting to fade as I focus on how great it feels to be at the end.