Trucking along

Ironically, since I know that it is currently impossible to get the approval from USCIS, I am feeling much better. I guess I just can't stand the unknown.

We're gathering paperwork for our home study update, and our social worker will visit our new home in 1.5 weeks, right after we move in.

In the meantime, we've been crazy busy. We finally realized that movers are not magically going to appear out of the blue, and that we actually have to pack up our stuff ourselves. Imagine that. So we're frantically trying to jam our belongings into boxes. Where did all that stuff come from? Why have we been lugging it with us every single move? I don't know, but it is coming with.

I've also been super stressed at work, which is such a blessing in disguise, because while I am running around like a chicken with its head cut off, I have absolutely no time to think about the adoption.

Hopefully this next week will fly by and we'll be in our new place next Friday. and ready for the social worker visit. I am also praying that our home study update will be completed on time to go to USCIS before their deadline. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Cutest Commercial Ever - Totally Unrelated

This is so adorable, I had to share!

You've got mail - it's just not what you hope it is

When I saw that we had mail from USCIS today, I got very excited. But when I saw that it was on white paper, my excitement quickly dwindled.

On a positive note, we know that someone has touched our file. On a not so positive one, there has been a royal screw up regarding some documents and our home study, and we're going to be back to paperchasing again. So after almost 7 months of this, we're back at the beginning.

Please excuse me while I have a screaming fit and my first official nervous breakdown of this adoption.

Note to Self

Thinking about the lady at the local USCIS office every single waking moment does not make her process our I-600A any faster. Must find new things to obsess about.

Why is this anyone's business?

Since I am a HGTV addict, I have been blissfully spared from an overkill of Michael Jackson coverage in the media. But even in the little bubble I live in, I have been exposed to all the speculation and talk around his death. I totally get that he was an icon and that people are going to talk about his life and his death. I also understand that many people have different opinions about all the drama in his life. I wasn't there, so I cannot judge what actually happend (or didn't).

Here's what irks me as a PAP: the constant talk about his children. Why are people so interested in who the biological parents are? And why do so many people think that the children should live with their bio mothers, when they haven't been involved in their lives for years, or even never. Why do people care if Michael Jackson was their biological father? Even if he wasn't - he was their dad.

I think it would be a blessing for these children to know their biological parents (assuming that MJ was not the sperm donor), but who these parents are and what relationship they have with these children should be a private matter.

I got into a shouting match with someone over who the children should live with, because this person was convinced that the kids must stay with their bio moms, or at least another blood relative.

It makes me so sad for my future children that society seems to value blood over love. So many people will not be able to accept us as a family, because we will not share genes.

The first purchase for baby

We weren't going to buy anything for the baby until the referral, but there is one thing we thought was really important and we felt it would be best to go ahead and make the purchase already. So we bought a house!

We really wanted to give our child a permanent home that he or she can grow up in, so we started looking for homes several months ago. Let's just say we didn't have the best of luck, but we finally closed on a home last week. We will be moving at the end of July! I have to admit that it is a major step for me to move to the suburbs, but the need to provide a stable home in a safe area outweighs my irrational fear of the 'burbs. It can't be that bad, right?

I have never understood why people always seemed to buy houses when they were about to have a baby, but here we are, doing the same thing. We're really looking forward to finally settling down and having a home.

Of course this means that we will get to see our social worker again to do a home study update, which in turn will have to be forwarded to USCIS. I am hoping this will be smoother than I fear!