Burried in Paperwork

I have dubbed this James' pregnancy. He is the paperwork guy, the deadline guy, the spreadsheet guy...you get the picture. True to form, James has us on the fast path to paperwork completion. Since we officially began the process and submitted our application on August 30th, we have completed two of our three home study appointments and have our third scheduled for Friday. All our paperwork has been completed, notorized and submitted and believe me, there is a LOT of paperwork - birth certificates, marriage certificates, passports, medical records, finger prints, police clearance - you name it, the government needs it. It's kind of ironic considering anyone can just get pregnant, but I get it.

Our first home study appointment was on September 10th and we met with Deb Peckham of Angel Adoptions. Since Holt, the adoption agency we are using, does not have a Massachusetts office, we selected one of their sister agencies to do our homestudy and act as our social worker. There were four Massachusetts agencies from which to select and Deb's personal phone call and easy conversation led me to select her agency without a second thought. When we showed up at her doorstep in Canton, about a 90 minute drive from us, my decision was immediately solidified. Deb was the epitomy of eccentric Jewish social worker and I'm not saying this to be stereotypical. My mom is Jewish and would appreciate every word of what I just said. She was drinking a Tab and while I have a "thing" about not liking the idea of soda, I loved that this was her beverage of choice. We chatted in her living room, her two dogs, Lola and Sadie snuggled in our laps and occasionally jumping up to eat a piece of paper that dropped to the floor. During the hour and a half we were there, we covered everything from why we were choosing to adopt to our parenting style (um, ad lib?), to our reasons for specifically choosing Ethiopia. When we left I felt one step closer to bringing our baby home, but knew there was a lot of work and waiting ahead of us.

As I suspect many families adopting from abroad do, we have been emersing ourselves in learning about the Ethiopian culture. What better way to reinforce our learning than to experience an authentic Ethiopian meal? So we went a little out of our way after our home study appointment to Cambridge where ethnic restaurants line the streets near MIT. At a restaurant called Asmara, we enjoyed a chef combo for two which we ate at little round basket-like tables with our hands.

James even had his first Ethiopian beer, Hakim Stout.

With full bellies and spice scented fingers, we made our way home, dreaming up names and visions of our new baby along the way.

Our second home study (September 20th) was much the same, this time with individaul appointments and a lot of briefing on our own childhoods and our parents' philosophies about parenting, etc. As usual, Deb, Tab in hand, was easy to talk to and seemed genuinely impressed at the rapid speed with which we had submitted all our paperwork to her office.

We have scheduled our third home study for Friday, October 1st and have completed all the documentation Angel Adoptions requires. Until our home study is written up, there is little to do, but wait....