[froggygirl30]

Hello All,
I haven't been here in a while and just wanted to give an update and ask a few more questions. My husband and I are planning on adopting. We have decided that China is the right place for us. Due to our financial situation we cannot start as quickly as we want. We are planning on taking my check all of next year and putting it in the bank and jus relying on my husbands check to get by. That will be about 11,000 dollars in the bank for next year (that's including the insurance that is taken out and for my daughters college fund). Then my work will give us a loan of 10,000 dollars for adoption and we can start making payments whenever we can. So that will give us the money we need to start our adoption in 2007. I'm a little anxious only because I would like to get started sooner but being financially stable before adopting is really important for us.

My question is, since it will be another year until we get started, is there anything I could do or that you have done to make the time go by faster. I fear that I'm going to try myself crazy with anticipation. Thank you for all the support that you all have given. I could not ask for a better community of people to share our story with.

[darthweef]

My suggestion would to pull together all the documents that you will need that are not going to expire :

1. birth certificates. multiple copies
2. marriage certificates. multiple
3. write your autobiography. - this took us forever.... so much reminiscing. Spend a good amount of time on this since a really comprehensive autobiography will speed up your home study when the time comes.

4. Make decisions : who will write your reference letters ? You generally need 4 reference letters, do you have people that you feel comfortable asking for that, have you decided upon who you are going to ask.

5. Tax documents for the last few years.

I can not think of anything else off the top of my head, but there is planty you can do for the time your waiting.

Have fun...

Stephen
stephen@ouradoptionblog.com

[cakegirl]

Good idea to get the docs together.

Also, you could use the time to educate yourselves on certain things. Maybe buy a "Learn Mandarin" book/CD set. Do a first aid course (including baby/child resuscitation), a parenting course, etc.

Rebecca

[cakegirl]

Another one that I'm doing (because I have a long wait too - waiting to be 30 and then waiting while they take longer to assess me because I'm single)... I'm cross-stitching a whole series of bear pictures! Each one takes maaaaany hours, and as I finish them, I'm slipping them into a clear plastic envelope in my "Adoption" folder. It's a cheap form of entertainment - only costs about $10 per cross-stitch, and each one lasts a long time. Once I've finished the series, I'll get some nice matching frames and frame them, and use those to decorate the nursery.

Rebecca

[stephdpenn]

Froggygirl30,
We just finished up with all of our paperwork and are waiting on our I-171 now. I do not know what all your agency will require so I can only give you advice on what we had to gather.
On the marriage and birth cert. don't go overboard on ordering copies. We only needed 1 to send with our dossier everyone else including INS only wanted copies. I could have saved some money had I known this in advance as I ordered 3 copies of everything. Also I ordered everything thru VitalCheck online and the marriage license was no good. We had to go to the courthouse in the county we were married and get it from there. Everything else from VC was fine though.
If you do not have a copier go buy one NOW! I spent many hours in the floor next to my copier printing off this and that.
If you are using an agency out of state, then find a social worker in your state that you feel good about to do your home study.
As far as the autobiography thing goes, we never had to 'write' one. Our agency and our sw gave us pages-yes pages-of question and answer sheets. This is what the sw used when writing our homestudy. So again find out what your agency & sw need in advance because I would hate for you to write your auto. then have to redo it by answering their specific questions.
You will need you tax papers for the past 3 years. China needs the 3 yrs. our sw only needed lastyear.
Do decide on who will do your references. We had to have 4 friends and one family member.
If you need to update your shots, go ahead. I was a couple of years behind on my tetanus.
If you do not already have a doctor to do your exam then start 'shopping' around for one. I have heard how some doctors seemed bothered by this. Our's was wonderful! He had a smile even when he had to redo a few things and walked with us to the notary's office.
Find out where to get your local police clearance from. At first our local sheriff's office said they could not do that, the highway patrol does it and the highway patrol had done said they don't do local clearances. Well the sheriff of our county happens to be a good friend and once he knew we needed it we got it the same day.
I also recommend buying these books 'The Lost Daughters Of China' 'Wanting A Daughter, Needing A Son' and I swear this was my adoption Bible at the start 'The Chinese Adoption Handbook'.

If I think of anything else I will add it later. Best of luck.

[odi]

Don't get the birth and marriage to early they can't be more than two years old including the time it takes to paperchase for the rest of the dossier. You should get your passport though because they are good for ten years.
As for the year and making it pass quickly, I took a Tai Chi class and I really enjoed it. I also worked on cleaning, organizing and child proofing my house. Even if you have other children you will have less time in the future and most houses can use a touch up. I also spent a lot of time reading books about China (most from my library although I did buy a couple).

Good Luck waiting, I know it is hard.
Diana

[froggygirl30]

Wow thank you so much everyone. You've been extremely helpful. I really appreciate it.