Another Delay

So - we thought we were on our way, that our paperwork was screaming down the magic paperwork highway that leads to united families.

We were wrong.

We were notified by our Home Study agency...that they were missing some paperwork. Two of the three requested documents I had copies of and took care of easily. The other document was a physical on Caitlin. This document needed to state that Caitlin was free of communicable diseases and basically healthy.

No problem - except that we couldn't get Caitlin into the doctors on base for 2 1/2 weeks. Thankfully, we called around and called in a favor, and we only had to wait 3days. But keep in mind these things:

1. We had asked for a meeting a month prior to this to go over all paperwork and ensure that nothing was missing. So that if there were things missing, they could be worked CONCURRENTLY with the clearance paperwork. CONCURRENT is apparently a radical concept.

2. This physical required a notarization of the doctor's signature. Once again, called in a huge favor to find someone that could do this for us.

3. This made me wonder, IF a child in our home had Hepatitis B for instance, it sounds as if we could not be approved by the state of Alabama to adopt more children. Many children are born with HIV and/or get Hep B in orphanage settings. Both of these diseases, while serious, are manageable from everything I have researched. It was just a sad thought to realize that this could really be a limiting factor in adoption.

So - we got this paperwork done and are now waiting for the ICPC office in Alabama to approve our Home study and then send it to Immigration in Atlanta where we begin that process. (more fingerprinting and more processing) We were informed today that we just "have to wait so we don't jeopardize" our home study agency's relationship with the ICPC office and prevent them from getting any "inside help" in the future. I think maybe we could USE some of that "inside help" if there is any!!!!!!! It could take a month for ICPC to approve us. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr..........

So...my friends....we wait and are grateful for the chance to celebrate Christ's birth during this time of Advent. How appropriate - for Advent means a time of "expectant waiting." Yes....we celebrate Advent!