Update

It's been a little while since I updated everyone on the adoption process. Right now we are literally at a stopping point. Our HS (home study) visit was November 17th and we had hoped to have our HS report before Christmas so I could send a copy to our international agency in North Carolina and a copy to USCIS for our 1-600A application. (explanations of those terms are on the bottom right of the blog) We paid the agency their fee for the HS visit and report within a week of the visit. All of our dossier paperwork is complete (minus the HS report and I-600A) and all items have been apostilled. I literally just need a copy of the report and our paperwork is ready to be sent to our international agency. But that is not to be right now.

I pushed back my departure to Abu Dhabi as long as I could in hopes of having the report and contacted our SW (social worker) that is writing the report but she told me she would not have it done before I left. I considered having a friend pick up the report for us and put it in the mail but that's a lot to ask of someone. I was really feeling the holiday stress with preparing for the trip overseas, getting Christmas shopping finished by the 18th in time for the trip, getting Bella to my sister in AZ to be doggy-sat while we are overseas, geographically single parenting Artem, and the pressure of getting the dossier mailed off before I left. Something had to give. In November and December I set money aside to pay for the dossier fees and I-600A fees and both times something unexpected came up that required me to use the money for other things. Between the money, the report not being finished in time, and trying to logistically complete the paperwork with Randy and I on two different continents, I knew God was trying to tell me something...slow down and let it go. So I did, and it felt like a two ton weight had been lifted from my shoulders.

Once I get back to the states at the very end of January, we will see if our report is finished. We are both fine with how things are unfolding. We are not letting this get to us and both Randy and I feel like it's all part of a bigger plan that we have no control over. It will all work out the way it is supposed to despite our best plans.