There happens to be a lot of work to do in each stage of the fost/adopt process, except in this stage. It literally consists of waiting, and at the very end of the waiting, reading over all the paperwork, signing it, and then waiting some more for certification. What is actually happening during this waiting period is your social worker is doing a TON of paperwork. She is writing a GIANT report on all things YOU, and why you would be an awesome parent. So make sure you thank your social worker, because who really likes to write reports?
While we waited to be certified, we decided to have some fun! Luke and I took our first international trip together to Belize. Luke’s parents moved in with us for a few weeks while their house was being finished up, we hosted our first Fourth of July party, and we had our first adoption shower!
This is the view from our amazing hotel, Costa Blu. We absolutely LOVED our hotel, all the Belizean’s we met, and our whole experience in Belize. It made waiting a LOT easier.
The weekend we got home we threw a Fourth of July party and then the next weekend we were given our first adoption shower! Which was such a huge blessing! Thank you Kati, Haylie, and everyone that came. Clearly we were trying to stay busy…or kill ourselves.
A couple of days after our shower, on a Monday, we had our meeting with Jessica to proofread the giant report. She had finished our paperwork. It was time to sign. Luke and I went into her office, and the three of us together went through her report with a fine-toothed comb. We read and Jessica put the corrections into the computer as we went along. It took quite a bit of time, but we got the report corrected and signed. The plan was to go back on Thursday to sign a section that we didn’t get to.
After signing the completed document, it would then be submitted to fact-checking. Once approved and corrected, it would be sent to Jessica’s supervisor who would read over it and then certify us. That process usually takes about three weeks, we were told.
But we never made it to Thursday….on Wednesday, July 13th we got a shocking phone call.