Paper Baby Update

I've been working on some of our 'straggler' documents this week that I didn't have ready when I turned in the bulk of Paper Baby #2.  In the past week, we've finalized Bryan's life insurance, had our fingerprints for federal background checks done, submitted our 'Dear Birthmother' letter and completed our photo collage, and finished our birthmother scrapbook and ordered it online.

Our Birthmother Letter & photo collage is what our agency will show to birthmothers to help them select a family.  It was a very daunting task to write this letter!  How do you put into 1 page all that you would like to say to someone in that situation?  We took the agencies advice and talked about our relationship and struggle with infertility, adopting Caleb, our home and jobs, our personalities and what we like to do as a family.  Hopefully our letter will speak to a birthmother's heart.

The scrapbook was a fun but time-consuming task!  I chose to do the scrapbook digitally on blurb.com (the same service I used to turn the first year of our blog into a book) rather than do a traditional scrapbook.  We will bring the scrapbook with us to our 'match meeting' when we meet the birthmother for the first time.  Our agency said it's a great way to break the ice and have something to look at together and talk about.  The birthmother will be allowed to keep the scrapbook after placement, and we will keep a second copy for our child.

Although it will not interest most of the readers of this blog, I want to record all of the documents I have gathered as a part of "Paper Baby #2".  Luckily none of these documents had to be driven to Austin to be state authenticated! :)  In addition to gathering these documents, we've also done a 3 hour orientation, will attend a 6-hour adoption training this Saturday and will have our home study done next Monday.

• Level of openness agreement (agreeing to open adoption arrangement)
• Criminal background check
• Fingerprinting
• Copies of Drivers License
• Floor plan of our home including dimensions and room purpose
• Directions to our home
• Autobiography for each parent (approximately 35 essay questions)
• Statement of income (last year's tax return)
• Copy of savings and checking account statements for the past 2 months
• Copy of any additional savings accounts (IRA, Mutual fund, etc)
• Proof of health insurance coverage
• Proof of life insurance coverage
• Felony affidavits (if applicable)
• Pet vaccination records
• Five references 
• Proof of employment (pay stubs)
• Good employment record (resume for each parent)
• Copy of marriage license
• Copy of birth certificates
• Statement from physician about the health of husband, wife & children
• Sign Acknowledgement of Behavior Policy
• Sign Authorization to Photograph
• Fire Inspection completed by local Fire Marshall
• Environmental Inspection of home
• Childcare Commitment Action Plan Form
• Type of Child Desired Form
• Birthmother Letter
• Photo collage
• Sign Release of Information for Website profile 
• Birthmother scrapbook

Whew!  I think that's it!!  We have finished all of that, except for the fire inspection (tomorrow at noon!), the health inspection (will be done during our home study), and a copy of my drivers license (which I renewed but have yet to receive in the mail!).  Although it looks like a long list, we have been lucky that our agency is allowing us to re-use many documents from Caleb's adoption, including our essay questions and references.

We will fill out our 'type of child desired' form before our home study on Monday.  At our training on Saturday they will spend a fair amount of time educating us on medical risks so that we can specify what situations we are comfortable with.  I am so grateful for Bryan's medical background as we make those decisions!  We have to specify what, if any, exposures we are comfortable with when it comes to cigarette smoke, alcohol or drugs.  We even have to specify if we are ok with 2 cigarettes a day or 5 cigarettes a day!  It is very specific but will hopefully help us to make a decision that we are comfortable with.  Making the decisions to fill out that form are the most daunting thing ahead of us right now.  We'd appreciate prayers for wisdom as we make those decisions, and most of all that God would guide our hearts to the child He desires for us to parent.  Please also pray for Bryan as he will be doing his own research and guiding those decisions for us as a couple.

We are so excited to move forward and feel like everything will be checked off the list after Monday's home study!  We are so excited to "hurry up and wait" !!!