I-800Aaaaaaahhhhhhh

Finally, some action. 

Adoption has a lot of hurry up and wait.We have been in "wait" mode for a while. Waiting is not fun.

Adoption is marked with many hold ups and many small victories. Today was a good day. 

     We had our last home study visit in early July. Since then, we have been waiting for our social worker to write up our home study. This is the physical document that talks about Jason and I, our relationship, our kids, our jobs, and our families. It says why we want to adopt and what type of child our social worker says we are qualified for. In other words, its super important. We couldn't go any further without it. 

     In the state of Illinois, after the social worker approves you, your home study still has to be approved by DCFS. Illinois is the only state that has this extra step. Unfortunately, there is only one lady in the entire state that does this job. What we thought would take less than a week ended up dragging out for what felt like forever. 

     Finally today we got it. The golden ticket. Our home study and DCFS approval.

So what does this mean? Now we can move on to the next step. 

Now we can apply for our I-800A. So what's that? According to our agency the I-800A is approval from the US Government-specifically the FBI, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services-for us to adopt internationally. 

We filled out more applications, made more copies of our passports, birth certificates, and marriage licenses and wrote another check. 

Oops, didn't realize I was wearing my F*CK cancer shirt. I think Big Jim would have wanted it that way.

I rushed home as soon as I was done with my last patient (sorry kid whose stitches I took out too fast) to make it to the post office before it closed. 

We made it! That is one important envelope. On its way to Texas. 

So what happens next? I wish I could say we're getting close, but the truth is we're not. Now we wait for this I800-A approval. That step has been taking on average 55 days. So we wait again. 

Here's what I know so far- This is hard. Really, really hard. It takes one million times more patience than I have. It takes 100 times more organization than I usually have. This is NOT for wimps. 

Here's what else I know- It's worth it. SHE is worth it. I am already head over heels in love with someone I've never met. So really, it doesn't matter how many times we have to sign our name. It doesn't matter how many copies we have to make at 9:00 at night. It doesn't matter how many checks we have to write. All I've seen is 5 little pictures. All I've read is a few translated words written by someone who doesn't love her. 

IT'S ENOUGH. 

I KNOW she is worth it. No matter what.