Completed Home Study Draft received!

We received our first copy of our home study to look over. It sounds great.  We just have to send back a few corrections to be made.  Our FBI background check came yesterday in the mail.  It was perfect timing because that was the last documentation that we needed for our home study.  Our completed home study is 16 pages long.  I guess that is why we had to talk to him for about 4 hours to answer all his questions.  It would take a long time to type up all the information as organized as he did.

I think that it would be great for every parent to have to think how much they want to provide for a child.  It has been really fun to read the references and recommendations for us to become parents.  I think all parents should receive kind letters from friends, family, or strangers that learn of them that tell of what great parents they are or will be.  It has been very uplifting.

Now onto our citizenship paperwork or whatever it is called!  We had to wait for our completed home study to send off additional paperwork for our dossier!  More paperwork, yeah!  If it weren't for emails, I think we would have used about 4 trees by now!

Still Working on Dossier

We are just in a waiting game for documents to come back to us.  Our home study was supposed to take 2 weeks.  It is now going on the fifth week.  We need our home study to complete other forms for our dossier.  It seems so close, but yet so far away.  We are still waiting for one document that we sent off on 2/17/10.  They said it could take 6-8 weeks.  Finding some required documents are like going on an impossible easter egg hunt on the internet.  I'm glad I have a sister-in-law that deals with adoptions in Utah.  It has helped!  We need to keep taking our adoption education classes and finish those soon.  Scott has set the deadline of April 30, 2010 to have our dossier complete to send off to be apostilled.

Scott was funny but terrible last night.  All our friends are on pins and needles waiting for good news.  We went out with them last night.  While we were eating, he tells them that we have good news!  You could see their eyes light up.  I was trying to think of the good news he was talking about.  I was confused until he shared his "good news".  Then he told them that our local MLS soccer team Real Salt Lake was not going on strike.  I thought one of them was going to hit him.  It was a downer for them, but he loved it!  

Completing Dossier

I received a new list of documents to gather for our dossier.  Our dossier is the stack of paperwork that we send to Poland to show our capabilities and qualifications of being parents.  We have quite a few of them already gathered due to previous notices and our home study requirements.  It is sometimes exhausting to have to apply for some documents because of the time frames or the process.  We have already stood in lines for hours to receive a long list of paperwork.  Although on the flip side, it is nice to have a list to work towards because it occupies my time and mind with a purpose to accomplish.  I guess I did have about three days to have down time and destress from the home study and previous requirements.  Here's to a new adventure!

Home Study Part 1 Completed

We had our home visit today!  I have to admit that I was pretty nervous and unsure of what else I could do to get ready.  I've heard other people say that it wasn't a white glove check, but it never hurts to get rid of the dust bunnies and cobwebs!  It also helps to keep the hands busy.  My house was as close to spotless as it has ever been.  


Our visit lasted 1 hour 45 minutes.  We hit it off with our social worker right away with sharing stories and cracking jokes.  We answered a lot of questions about our families, home, and neighborhood.  I was the most nervous when he asked questions of Scott alone.  I wanted to know what he was asking so I could think about my answers.  It was totally fine.  After I answered questions about my family, we took him on a tour of our home.  We opened all the doors, and he peeked in.  I was ready for him to look closely at baseboards and carpets, but he didn't.  At the end, he told us that we have a very nice home.  There wasn't anything that we needed to improve.  He said he'll try to get the home study completed within the next two weeks which seems to be quick according to what I've read online and other resources.  We have one or two more phone call visits, but the first big hurdle is over!  


We are so relieved and elated!  After the home study, we just went out to lunch and a day of shopping and hanging out with family and friends.  It was a fabulous day even though the sun only came out for a few hours!

Home Study

Tomorrow we have our home study at 9am.  We are ready!  Our house is cleaned from top to bottom, and we've been studying our adoption education.  All the documents are gathered and filed neatly.  I don't think I've ever been so organized or clean freakish in my life!  I will update tomorrow!  Wish us luck!

Preparation Stage

After our application was accepted by St. Mary's International Adoption Agency, we were excited to get the process started.  There has not been much down time to sit around and wait.  We have been running around gathering documentation and CLEANING!  We now have a kid friendly home.  It was exciting to put up child locks and a gate on the stairs.  By the time we get our Princess Vespa, we will be a professional at opening cupboards and removing plug protectors!  It has actually become quite fun to deep clean every nook and cranny of our house because I know the purpose is to provide the best home possible for our little Vespa.  We have our Home-study in a week.  It is the first deadline to have our house spotless and presentable.

We have also started our adoption education courses. The information and statistics can be a little startling, but I know that through our continued reading we will be prepared to care for our Vespa in all scenarios.  I find it extremely interesting to learn so much about the possible conditions and how greatly they can be improved with understanding and loving parents.

Scott and I are overjoyed at coming closer to meeting our child.  We are hopeful that the adoption will take place by next Spring.

First Stage: Acceptance

We have applied and have been accepted to adopt a young child from Poland through St. Mary's International Adoption Agency.  They have been wonderful in facilitating information and paperwork.  We are quite excited to get the process underway and work towards building our family!  My husband, Scott, and I have waited for a few years to start our family.  It has been really wonderful to feel the love and support from our extended family and friends during this time.  They seem enthusiastic to help in anyway to make our dreams come true.  We cannot wait to bring our little Polish Princess home.  Her nickname so far has been Vespa because my husband's biggest love, AFTER me of course, is his Vespa scooter.  Our only "Baby" right now is our 14 almost 15 year old Golden Retriever named Alabama. We look forward to the blessings of making our family bigger.