Wonderful fingerprinting ink

So today is kind of funny. I need to get an Interpol check done and this of course involves fingerprinting. Well, apparently I have very dainty lady fingers with shallow ridges and grooves (which the other officer teased was just a line to cute girls). So they had to do a full hand print. This is before I have to go do a presentation to the brownies group in town (6-11 year olds). So I get to talk to them while I have fingerprinting ink still stuck on my fingers. I'm sure they'll think I'm a total criminal. I think I'll go scrub some more.

Government Agencies

So on the adoption front things are slowly happening. I got a phone call from A Act of Love on Nov 11 saying they had received my registration forms and fee, but they couldn't do anything with them until they received an Article 15 letter. So, I call my agency (who wasn't at work on Rememberance Day, so tried the next day) who said they have my Article 15 letter (still puzzled on what it is...) but didn't think they needed it yet but would forward it on to them ASAP.

So then I decided life wasn't busy enought, crazy I know, and tried to figure out Canadian Immigration paperwork. I have finally figured ou that sponsorship is my only option as the adoption will be completed after I return with my baby from the US. So I merrily start on the paperwork only to be stumped. In filling out the form I came across a section that asked if the adoption will be completed abroad or in Canada. Well, at this point I don't know, it will depend on which state the baby is born in as to their specific laws. So I decide I better call Canadian Immigration and Citizenship, so my form actually gets processed and not sent back to me. Here is where the fun started. CIC's telephone tree is rediculous it took me several tried to find out what buttons to press to get to talk to a person and not just have pre-recorded info given to me. So when I finally get the option to press 0 to talk to a call center agent, I'm thrilled. Only to hear, "all our call centre agents are busy with other calls, please call back later" and a dialtone! I was expecting a 'wait on the line until someone can take your call'. So frustrated I call several times before I could speak to a woman. She told me to check both boxes and put a note explaining the situation on it. She told me it wont get kicked back to me for doing that but we'll see. So my morning was a bit frustrating. My next call was to Canada Revenue Agency to get a "Option C printout' so I can fill out the financial part of the sponsorship form. This call took me 3 minutes, what a difference. Apparently no one usually want to talk to Canadian Revenue Agency! So I guess tonight I'll skip the financial part and work on the rest of the paperwork. Yipee!

Sent in Registration!

I am quite happy! Things are moving forward again. I received my adoption loan yesterday and so quickly express posted my registration to Utah. Things are finally moving forward!! I should be contacted by A Act of Love sometime next week to do an intake interview and then I'll get the final paperwork. I'm working on this, the parts that I know what to do! I've taken an emergency childcare first aid course, which I would recommend to anyone. I learned how to deal with infant choking, CPR, etc. In particular for me, I'm really happy to know what to do about choking, as this really worries me.
On the other front I had great fun babysitting my niece on Saturday. I finished painting the nursery and will post pictures after I completely finish it.

Babysitting

So a bit slow on the posting huh! Nothing really has hasppened around here. And by that I mean adoption wise. This week I got my hair cut, painted the nursery (almost done), had my dishwasher repaired and picked up a car seat. The car seat is for me eventually but the reason I picked it up from a friend is that I'm babysitting my niece tonight. She is 5 weeks old and I'll be watching her for 61/2 hours, great practice! Today my parents helped me pick up a crib and glider rocker from Sears as I only have a Kia Rio and it totally wouldn't fit. They helped me assemble it (the instructions were horrible, it took all 3 of use and some head scratching to figure it out), so the nursery is starting to look like a nursery and I keep having to look in it. Not really believing it's even possible.

As steps keep being done in this long process, I'm starting to actually let myself believe it will happen. As before I totally could not let myself become too invested, I'm slowly allowing myself to believe. Starting to get excited!

What's Up

So where are things adoption wise now? Well, everything is looking really good. My homestudy is finished, I've reviewed it and signed off on it. It should be totally finished early next week. I applied for an adoption loan and was approved :) So nothing is holding me back now!!! Also my friend with 3 children has offered me some great used baby items, so I'm very pumped to be beginning my baby collection!!

Stress!

Well, now that my plans are settled now the hard part comes. All the planning and trying to finance everything. I am pursuing an international adoption loan through National Bank of Canada. Everything looks good and they have ot sent the application off, but don't think their should be any problems. But and it's a big but, they are insisting that I travel to their office to sign the loan papers in Vancouver. Vancouver is about an 11 hour drive from where I live or generally a $500 flight. Fortunately, there is a seat sale I can take advantage of, which cuts the price more than in half. So it looks like I will be traveling to Vancouver for a ~10 min appointment on Oct 20th. It will be a really boring day that I spend mostly in airports, but I doubt anyone can come even close to the great perks in this loan.
On a better front I am painting the nursery a bright yellow, so it's starting to come together and I'm trying to arrange plans for child care, maternity leave, etc. So I'm trying to take breaths and not be too stressed out about everything!

Decision Made

So on Tuesday I received the info from the adoption agency in Utah. It looked really promising; so Wednesday I called them with the many questions I'd been accumulating over the past few weeks. Again I was really happy with all the answers. So I have decided to adopt throught the US with an agency called A Act of Love. Why you might wonder? Well, they have an African American program as well, so I've not changed things so much and I can get an infant, something I'm really looking forward to. The timeline is really short. Once all the paper work is in Utah, the longest they have ever had someone to be matched in this program is 6 months! So I'm now looking at having a baby in my posession sometime in the spring or summer!!! It is panicing me a little as I'm now where near ready witht he nursery, etc. So I'm going to get busy!