Paperwork pregnancy

I have heard people call the time of working on paperwork in adoption a “paperwork pregnancy”.  I have a new understanding of that now.  WOW!  It sure is easier to have a baby the old fashioned way.

We have already turned in what seems like a full inch of papers, and that really was only to get access to the “real” paperwork.  We had a meeting at our adoption agency today, and my head is swimming with everything we need to do for our next steps.  Basically, we have to compile proof of every aspect of our life (birth certificates, marriage certificates, tax records, health reports, etc., etc.)  After we have most of this together, we will have our first meeting with our social worker for our “home study”.  After 3 visits with our social worker, she will complete the home study, and we will be able to ask for permission from U.S. immigration to adopt a foreign child into our country.  They will then send us approval to be fingerprinted.  After our fingerprints are “approved”, our entire file of paperwork, our “dossier”, will be sent to China.  We then wait to get approval from China to adopt a child.

Because we have applied for China’s waiting child program, we actually could be matched with a child at any time.  My hope is that we won’t be matched for a while.  We have at least 6 months of paperwork ahead of us, and I know that once I see that sweet face and have that child engraved on my heart that it will be torture to have to wait months and months before I can hold her in my arms.

So that is where we are now.  I’m excited to move on to this next step in the process.  I feel like I have a similar level of anticipation to what it felt like when we were newly pregnant, but it seems strange to have no idea of our due date! 🙂