Dossier Paperwork

On Tuesday, Jeremiah and I received our dossier instructions from CHI. Oh boy! We have a ton of work to do! We knew we would have more paperwork to fill out, but we didn't realize how much work was left to do. I'm beyond thankful that I have the summer off and I'm able to complete these tasks. Otherwise, I have no idea how everything would get done. Here are just a few of the things that I've been doing this week:
1. I called the doctor's office to talk with Olivia's doctor. We needed to ask her about the possible risks of some the special needs we are willing to accept. I also had to ask her to write a letter confirming that Olivia does not have any type of disease and she's up to date on her immunizations. We picked the letter up this morning.
2. Neither Jeremiah or I have a passport. We filled out the applications and I got my pictures taken. We hope to get these sent out on Monday.
3. Police Clearance Letter-We need to get a letter from the State Police saying that neither of us have records. It seems easy, right? Well I called the State Police in Joliet and told the lady what I needed. She seriously said this, "Um...they (CHI) don't know what they are talking about. You don't need a letter from us to adopt. You will get your background letter." I tried explaining that we really did need a letter on their letterhead and that the letter needed to be notarized. She again said, "Yah..um your background check letter will be fine." Ugh...I decided I would just call back another day.:) So, that's on my agenda for next week.
4. A notarized letter from the bank stating that we have accounts and that we have financial stability. Jeremiah did this for us!
5. Get a fire extinguisher-Jeremiah did this for us.
6. Read over the home study and make changes-we both had to read over this 30 page document.
7. I had to e-mail the lady who writes my paychecks to ask her to write a letter of employment. This letter also has to be notarized. I will get this letter on Monday.
8. I typed our fundraising letter and then we made a few changes to it.
9. Reference letters

Here are a few things we will be working on next week:
1. Copying our taxes from the past three years and attaching a cover letter to them.
2. Writing a letter telling the Ethiopian government why we want to adopt from Ethiopia.
3. Contact Health Alliance about the coverage of our future child.
4. Get 2 passport sized photos and attach them to a cover letter. Get notarized.
5. Fill out the parent commitment report
6. Get 3-5 photographs of our family and get a notarized letter stating that we are the people in the pictures.
7.Adoptive parent forms-fill out
8.Fill out Power of Attorney sheets
9. Affidavit of Dossier (will do this last)

We are waiting on our background check to come back. Once that comes back we can submit our I-600A to the USCIS. Then we will get our fingerprinting appointment in Naperville or Indy. I hope we get them back quickly so we can get this appointment set up soon. We'll need these results before we can send our dossier to Ethiopia.

Things I'm thankful that we already have:
1.Marriage license (multiple copies of this)
2. All of our birth certificates (multiple copies of all certificates)
3. Our medical forms
4. Olivia's Well-Baby form

Okay, so now you'll understand why I feel a little overwhelmed.:) It'll get done...it just may take a little longer than we expected. I know God is in control and He has the perfect child waiting for us. I'm not worrying about it, I just want to get it done.