Last Monday (August 21) our dossier went to Guatemala.

While at work the previous Friday I received a text message from Tera saying that our dossier was approved. I stood among my co-workers overwhelmed with the joy of knowing that we were moving on to the next step of our dossier and ever closer to bringing our daughter home. I wanted to tell them my good news but kept it to myself wanting to share it with Tera. I was very excited and would not be able to talk to Tera till much later in the day so I began to let my mind wander as most potential fathers probably do from time to time.
So let the shopping begin…and boy it sure has begun alright. On Tuesday we went to a local mall and spent the day there shopping at all of the baby and children’s stores there. Let’s see, there was Gap Baby/Kids, Osh Kosh, Old Nay and the infamous Hanna Anderson among others. We know couples who shop together and as most of us know it can be a disaster... sometimes. Especially if one spouse has different shopping habits than the other. We all know couples who are like this. One spouse wants in and out in 40 seconds flat and the other wants to peruse the aisles for two and half hours looking for that “perfect” item. This spells marriage counseling in the end. We are not the that couple. HOORAY we are not that couple!!! Tera has this knack of looking, finding, buying and moving on to the next shop in one seamless movement. I on the other hand am more like the typical male. In and out. But if there is something I like I will stare at it online for days before heading to the store to actually buy it so I guess I do spend a good amount of time “looking” at it. Tuesday was the exception… We looked and looked and looked at little girls clothes making sure we bought really nice things for “her” while in Guatemala and for when she eventually comes home. I looked long and hard learning about baby sizes and the surprisingly high prices of baby clothes. We had a great time and got lots of fun clothes, cute clothes and practical clothes. We don’t really have anything for her since this will be our first child so clothes and all the other items that we have bought so far are just the beginning of what we will be buying. It seems like a lot but we have been waiting for this for such a long time and we are trying to enjoy every second. Till next time.

A Milestone of sorts

Well our homestudy is now done and sent on to the next phase of the adoption process. We sent our documents to the consulate and the person who runs through our documents with a fine tooth comb. It is a good feeling getting to this point and I must admit that some tears of relief were shed when we the homestudy was finished up.
Now that we have gotten this far we can sit and begin to bite our nails while our homestudy is being looked at and THEN we can get even more nervous as we wait to be put on "the list" for referral. Till my next blog...
J

Hello there

It has been so long since my last post. I have been busy and tired and tired of being busy. We are finally at the end of our paper chase. We are waiting for the finishing touches on our home study and everything will be sent out as soon as that is done. The whole process of chasing down records, getting signatures, witness statements, making appointments with doctors and finding a notary that can actually sign their name legibly (thanks Jan) and all of the certification, authentication and time spent at our local Fedex and US Postal branch is insane. But looking back at what we have done so far I would do it all over again. I learned quite a bit about how the process works and how important it is when it comes to detail. Of course we aren't done yet and I am sure there will be many days of both hapinness and frustration ahead but at least we do have this section behind us for the most part and both Tera and I are more than eager to move on to the next stage of our adoption process. We began to do a bit of "window" shopping recently and I have feeling that I am going to enjoy it when we start making the purchases. I am sometimes without words when I think of this whole process because it can be so daunting. But then I think of the child that we have yet to meet, hold and already miss and all the distractions just disappear.
I have to take a moment to recognize my wife's ablities and accomplishments with the process so far with all of the people she talked to, all the emails sent and phone calls that had to be made. In essense she worked on it non stop, seven days a week till we got to where we are today...at mach speed. Kudos to you my love. Till next time...Hopefully sooner than later.
Jason