Two weeks in Florida and two years to adopt

Today marks two weeks since I spent my first night at our new home in Florida. So much has happened in two weeks that in some ways it feels like we have been here for years. However, in the same breath, we still have so much to do ... moving is a lot of work ... that it feels like we have not been here very long at all. It's not just the moving part but all the paperwork and requirements that go along with it. We need to become Florida residents as soon as possible (No income tax!). We need to let everyone and their mother know our new address before our mail stops forwarding. We need to contact t-mobile and change our cell phone plan. Our digital phone line isn't getting a good connection. The list goes on and on.

I am back at work this morning after taking most of the weekend off for a visit from my Aunt and Uncle. Actually I've been back at work since Ed and Janet left this morning at about 6am. We have a grant due at Mayo on Wednesday so I have a ton to do. More to do than should probably allow for this "blog break" but hey, I'm taking it anyway. We had a wonderful weekend with our company. I was excited to get to show someone else our new home, the base, and the fact that I finally have a real, certified guest room and guest bathroom!

In other news, I wanted to take the chance to answer a few questions regarding the adoption process we have entered into. I am, basically, as clueless as most of you are. This is all new for me. That being the case, I'll provide as much information as I can. The main question I have had is regarding how long all of this will take.

The answer: quite awhile.

Currently, we are attempting to get some basic paperwork together to submit to "America World", our adoption agency. This paperwork includes a letter from JB's employer and a financial statement indicating our networth. As I have mentioned before, China has some requirements that other countries do not have including networth. We are not forseeing any problems with any of this paperwork, however, until we get all this in, we have not been officially approved to adopt through America World or through China. If for any reason they didn't approve us, it may mean that we are still eligible for adoption, just possibly not through that country. It could also possibly mean we are not eligible through their agency. As I said earlier, we think everything should go through fine, but we have to wait and see.

Once everything is approved, we would move forward with our "Home Study". This is where a social worker comes to your home for a series of meetings to "prove" you are qualified to adopt. Following this approval is a wide assortment of paperwork we have to compile for our "dossier". All in all, it will probably take 4-6 months before all of this is completed.

Once this is completed, we begin our wait for a "referral". We are waiting for the Chinese government to tell us which child is ours. This wait is approximately 18-20 months.

Once we get our referral, we then have an approximately 6-8 week wait before we would fly to China to pick up our daughter.

So, all in all, the wait from the day we decided (last week) until the day we bring the child home is about two or two and a half years. Sigh .... I guess we will all learn patience together won't we? :)