Are we criminals??

We don't know yet, but we get to find out later this week! Joy of joy, we get to go to the county jail to have background checks run on both of us ... Doesn't this sound like fun!

Blood!!

Both Eammon and I went for our required physicals and other than my passing out when my blood was drawn, it wasn't too bad. We found out that we both are doing well healthwise ... Yeah! We have to go back later in the week to get the results of our blood work and hopefully to pick up the completed medical reports and final doctor letters.

More paperwork

Now that I received our marriage certificate, I can mail off my passport to renew it and have the name changed to my married name. You would think I would have done it sometime during the past six years, but why rush things? Eammon has to have his renewed too, so we have to find out how to do that for a UK passport. Hopefully it will not be a long and involved process.

Mail

Yeah! Our marriage license arrived today and has already been certified by the Secretary of State, so it is ready to be sent in to the Chinese Consulate for authentication. We will hold it until we have all the other documents, and send it in one package.

Home visit with the social worker

Tonight we met with the social worker and had our home visit, which took almost 3 hours. The questions weren't too bad or probing and I feel that we did O.K. We each have to meet with her again individually and then one more time together as a couple. Hopefully we will complete this part of the process and have the home study report written up and submitted by the 2nd week in May. That of course depends on us receiving all the documentation in a timely manner.

Hannah Frank referral!

Our friends Donna & Eric, just received their referral, for their lovely daughter Hannah!! Check out that adorable face!!

Birth and marriage certificate requests

Today I mailed off requests for a copy of our marriage license and a copy of my birth certificate. Eammon has to have one of his brothers get a copy of his birth certificate, and then once it is received, his brother will have to take it, in person, to the Chinese Consulate in London. What a pain, the consulate does not accept items through the post, only in person!

Home Study Orientation meeting

I am so sick with bronchial pneumonia, I really should have spent the day in bed, not going near anyone. Had I done that though, we'd have had to wait an entire month before we could start our home study. Our agency CCAI, requires that all families attend a Home Study Orientation Meeting which thankfully counts as the first of the four required pre-adoption home study visits. So, this morning Eammon and I attended the meeting with a room full of hopeful adoptive families. In my drugged cough drop popping state, it seemed as though many of the families had not read a single page of the documentation that had been previously sent to them so there were lots and lots and lots of questions.

We didn't really have the opportunity to talk to any of the other people as I think they were avoiding us. Truth be told, I do sound like a hacking, boozing, chain smoking Barry White...Shoot I'd stay away from me if I could!

In the end though, we submitted our autobiographies, our home study service agreement, our home study payment, copies of our water and sewer bills and our safe home checklist. Reference letters have been sent and received by our listed references. Now that we have attended this meeting, our assigned social worker should be contacting us within the next week to start our visits.

Now finally, a piece of advice. If you're going to be popping lots and lots of cough drops, make sure to use the ones with sugar, not the sugarless as they cause other problems and when you're already sick you don't need these problems too! Take my word, lesson learned.

We can start our paperwork

The CCAI Service agreement and first agency fee were received and accepted in the Denver office. We received our Adoption Dossier Guide which is a 50 page document to help us in preparing our China Dossier. Our next step will be to attend a Home Study Orientation meeting, which is only held once a month. We have started working on our autobiographies and compiling some of the paperwork required by the social worker.