The longest post ever.

     So, a lot has happened since our last post! Our Home Study was approved by both Holt and Villa Hope which was HUGE for us! Once we received our notarized copies of the HS we were ready to file our I800A (which was tricky). The I800A is a form we send to the US gov't to determine our eligibility and suitability to adopt a child who currently resides in a convention country (Thailand). We basically have to ask their permission to adopt our child and send them some money.. So, our baby will be coming home on a different visa than the more common kind since the adoption will be finalized here in the US instead of in Thailand. Every country is different but it is more common to finalize the adoption in country so that when the child steps on US soil they are citizens. This will not be the case for our child. We will have to go to the Thai Embassy in Washington D.C. about 6 months after we return home to finalize everything. ANYWAY, our HS agency didn't know this about Thailand SO it caused a lot of confusion. In the end, after speaking to a friend that I met on our Facebook Thailand Adoption page everything was more clear. She explained the process to me which I then explained to the HS agency. I was freaking out that the HS agency didn't know this (because it affects how you file the I800A form) but everything worked out. So, we mailed our I800A last week! BIG STEP! I received an email stating that they received the form (YAY!) but then I checked the mail yesterday and they had mailed us a form that said I forgot to send in the money for the "biometric fee" which is the fingerprinting fee. Oops. So I mailed the check yesterday. Yes, more money. I hope that's all I forgot!
     Now we are working on the dossier (which is the accumulation of documents that will ultimately go to the Thai gov't for them to review). Basically its everything they need to know about us and our agencies. We only have 2 more documents that we need to add to it. Our HS agency didn't realize we needed these 2 documents so they mailed them to us last week on Friday. I have been a crazy person. I thought we would receive the documents in the mail yesterday since she sent them on Friday. Nothing. Then this morning I called the post office and asked them to hold my mail this morning so I could come pick it up (our mail doesn't run at our house until 2-3pm). When I got to the post office this morning they told me I didn't have any mail today...WHY??!! So, I called my HS agency and she told me she sent it regular mail (no tracking or anything) so she doesn't know why it isn't here yet. She told me she will FedEx the documents overnight so I should receive them tomorrow. So the reason I have been a crazy person about this is because once we get these 2 documents we are waiting on, I have to get everything certified with the county and state. This means I will have to go to the courthouse in Opelika for the County Seal and then drive to Montgomery for the State Seal. I have to work Wed and Thur this week and then we are leaving for Birmingham on Friday so this delays us another week. :( After the State Seal we will mail it to a courier and they will physically walk it through certification through the US Dept of State and then the Thai Embassy in Washington DC. Once that is complete the courier will mail it back to us and we will mail it to Holt and then we'll be on the waiting list for a referral! So, that being said we are getting closer and I'm getting antsy!
     But I know this is just part of the journey and I need to be patient. We are so blessed to already be at this stage in the process and we only began this journey in January. One family I know is about 2 weeks ahead of us in the process but they started their adoption journey 2 1/2 years ago. We have a lot to be grateful for! Please pray for patience and wisdom! Yesterday I found myself being so careless. I had to mail off that check I mentioned earlier and I didn't realize the address was a PO Box so I can only mail it through the post office. DUH. For some reason I had it in my mind I was mailing this FedEx so I went to 3 different places looking for someone to ship it FedEx. The 3rd place I realized I couldn't even ship it FedEx because it was a PO box. I felt really stupid.
     Anyway, sorry this one was so long but I just wanted to let everyone know the details of whats going on! Thanks for following! We have received so many encouraging words and we really appreciate your support! We'll keep you updated!