Great Times in CA and Homestudy Finished!

This has a been an action-packed month!  We traveled to California over the 4th to visit our friends and family.......it was good to see everyone.  As you can see from the photo, Madeline and Olivia are in heaven being with their friends (they miss them so much).

Our homestudy was officially finished yesterday!  That is a big piece of the adoption paperwork.  It will be sent to the Department of Homeland Security (immigration) and we will hopefully receive the required form (171-H) in the next 2 months.  Virginia is notoriously slow in getting those 171-H documents out.  Once we get that.......all of our dossier paperwork gets notarized and authenticated by the state and finally gets sent to Ethiopia.  

Last Saturday we went to a picnic where we met about 10 families from our area who have adopted Ethiopian children.  It was an amazing experience!  One family had 12 kids (6 bio and 6 adopted).  All of the kids had such a great time and we learned so much about the process and adjustments once the children are home.  

We are off to Baltimore this weekend for a short trip.  We haven't ever been there before, so we are going to a baseball game at Camden Yards, visiting the aquarium, and touring the  Inner Harbor. The Orioles are playing the Anaheim Angels.......think we'll have to cheer for the Angels!

Exciting week!

Well, (sigh of relief) , we completed two of the home-study interviews and it went well (at least I think so). Our social worker is great and really made everyone feel at ease.  She probably knows more about us now than most of our friends and family!!!  It really was nothing to stress over.....I can say that now that it's over :)  While we are off visiting friends and family in California, she'll be writing up the report.  Then we meet back with her on July 17th to review the report and then it gets sent for review (which can take 10-12 weeks) at which point we will receive a form called an I-171 that will allow us to bring the baby back into the US when it's time.  Whew!  So many steps to go thru.  But for the most part, the home-study it coming to a close and we will then start gathering paperwork for our dossier.  If all goes well, I am hoping we get everything on it way to Ethiopia in September......but much of it is out of our control, so we wait (and wait and wait)!