Progress Update:
It has been awhile!
Nearly another month has passed in our adoption journey. I wouldn't say time is flying by, but we are really staying busy! I was messaging with another fellow adoptive parent, and she said it perfectly...it's an odd twilight zone type experience.So what have we been doing? I'll update from the last post...
May 1: We really started collecting item donations for our garage sale. The response from people willing to donate items was AMAZING! If you're reading this, THANK YOU!
The next checklist was released to us consisting of:
* Central Child Abuse Registry Instructions
* Permissions to request child abuse clearance for Ohio and Mississippi
* Restrictions Concerning Provision of Adoption Services
* Review of possible offenses that could come up in our check (but we know these are clear!)
This packet consisted of gathering some more documents to send. We also had our ODJFS 1691 form approved after some revisions. This contained information about past employments, places we have lived, people in our home, etc.
May 1-13: Garage Sale prep! Every night, I would go and pick up items from awesome people that were willing to donate to our garage sale. In total around 15 different families donated items. And EVERY SINGLE FAMILY would give me a hug and had the nicest well wishes to send me on my way. Granny, Scott, and I would sort/clean/ and set up tables to get ready for the sale. It was HUGE!
May 14-16: Garage sale time! Nearly EVERYTHING was sold! We did not price anything (except a few larger items) and took donations in any amount people wanted to give for their garage sale treasures. Signs were posted so everyone knew the cause. HUGE success. We are excited to announce that we made $2000 during our garage sale!!! So blessed and thankful to everyone that stopped by and/or donated items. We met many people that had adoption stories...and even a couple that used our agency. Loved connecting with everyone.
May 15-18: Scott and I worked on our homestudy questionnaire for hours! This consisted of pages and pages of questions so that the agency knew more about us, and could give our Social Worker the answers to be discussed in our up coming homestudy visits. We submitted this and it was approved on May 19th.
May 20: Our next checklist items were approved. We were asked to submit copies of our marriage and birth certificates, education records, proof of citizenship, and employment verifications. Also released was our 12 session homestudy training. We have been busy reading and writing summaries for hundreds of pages of information...should have this wrapped up soon!
May 21: Started working on our next checklist...which is where we are at now. This one will take awhile. We need to submit medical statements from our doctors, fingerprinting, background checks, financial statements, reference letters from our 4 amazing references, a safety audit with our social worker, Child Characteristics checklist (basically what we are and are not open to in a match), Fire Inspection, and copies of our tax documents....phew!
Upcoming on May 30: A home visit with our social worker...I believe this is when the safety audit will take place. We have followed a checklist and feel our home is safe, clean, and ready for a baby!
Other things that have happened...
Our t-shirt fundraiser was a HUGE success! We have sold 113 t-shirts. Please keep posting your pictures to our Facebook Group (anyone can join!) Click HERE to see our Facebook group and post your Hope for One pictures! If you did not get a t-shirt, we still would love your family pictures! Feel free to post or message them to me. We will start working on our parent profile and birthmother book VERY soon! (Maybe this week!) We reopened the t-shirt fundraiser for a couple days for those that still wanted to purchase them. You only have until TONIGHT at midnight (May 26) to order. Click HERE to order your t-shirt.Thank you notes: We are working on 'thank you' cards to send out. We have been terribly slow at this, though they are coming :) THANK YOU to those of you that have sent donations, ordered Pampered Chef, Thirty One, t-shirts, or shopped at our garage sale. We are just so thankful.
Upcoming (and LAST scheduled fundraiser).....
That's it for now! Hopefully I will have more to post after Saturday. As always, THANK YOU for your support. We are blessed to have each of you in our lives!
Part of baby Watson's future family over the weekend!
Great Granny, Lori (my uncle's fiance), Great Uncle Danny, Grandpa Carl, Grandma Kathi (Lindsay's parents), Aunt Haylee, Cousin Ridge, and Uncle Chris! (Lindsay's brother)
Our adoption agency!
