Ups and Downs

In the midst of our planning and excitement as we proceed with our adoption, Jon's mother Judy (Nana) was unexpectedly admitted to the hospital with AML (leukemia) on July 26. She immediately began 7-days of in-patient chemo, followed by another 3-weeks in the hospital struggling to survive the treatment. During that time, various combinations of Jon, Angela, and Matthew spent 15 days in Seattle.

First Meeting with Social Worker. In the middle of one extended Seattle visit, on August 10, we had our first appointment with the social worker assigned to prepare our home study. Rescheduling our meeting would have meant a month delay in our adoption. Because of various time challenges that we are already facing, this did not seem like a viable option. So, on August 10, we left Matthew in Seattle and drove 3 hours to meet with Barbara.

Well... we met with Barb when we finally arrived at her office. After initially exchanging E-mails with Barb to set up the meeting, Angela Mapquested directions to Barb's address. That address, complete with "Suite Number," is actually a P.O. box at a Fred Meyer. After much scrambling and frantic telephone calls, we arrived 30 minutes late. Apparently, Barb usually gives her physical address and directions during an intake telephone call that we missed out on. What would a meeting with a social worker be without a little excitement and miscommunication, after all?

After our interview with Barb, our neighbor, Cheri, and her boys met us at Red Robin with hugs and cherry crisp. That energized us for the drive back to Seattle.

Home Visit. Initially scheduled for August 26, our home visit was rescheduled. On September 2, Barb came to our home to continue our interview, meet Matthew, and generally form an opinion about our family. The night before our home visit, we learned that Judy's leukemia is not in remission and she is not a candidate for additional curative treatment. Since then, various combinations of Jon, Angela, and Matthew have spent 17 days in Seattle helping get things in order and maximizing our time with Nana.

Home Study Drafted. Barb sent us the first draft of our home study on September 19. It consists of 13 pages, of which about 8 are personal/family-specific. Our lives in a nutshell. Most importantly, it includes the statement "Jon and Angela are approved to adopt one healthy, female child up to the age of twelve months." After providing factual corrections to Barb, she sent the draft to AGCI. We are anxiously waiting for AGCI's approval of the home study so that Barb can finalize it and we can finally submit our dossier to Ethiopia.

Dossier. With the exception of the much-anticipated home study, our dossier is complete and ready to mail. It includes a letter from us to the Ethiopia Ministry of Women Affairs explaining why we want to adopt our daughter from Ethiopia and what we can offer her, along with financial information and documentation, reference letters, birth and marriage certificates, criminal background checks, and photos of our family and home.