The answer to "How's the adoption going?"

I warned y'all a few weeks ago that October was going to kill me...

And although I'm not dead yet, we are not even half way through.  Girl's Trip and Fall Break Camping trip down (pictures soon)...field trips, fall gatherings, mission trips, Bama Football trip all still loom...

But since it's been on my mind (and also part of the reason my house stands under a good inch and a half of dust), I'll give you a good 'ol adoption update. 

At least the laundry is done.

Let's do this bullet point style.  Mainly so my OCD brain can make sure we get it all.

• You know that Alabama background check I told y'all we have to have?  Well, it's been completed and returned to the appropriate folks.  And free of a criminal record.
• And you know all the blood work we found out we had to have done?  The last piece of paperwork for that was picked up today.  And good news...neither of us has TB.  Or HIV or syphilis.  And our livers are functioning at top notch level.  No, I'm not kidding.  These are the things they ask when you are adopting.  I wear a size medium underpants and an 8.5 shoes, depending on the brand.  There.  Everything about me is now completely out in the open for all to know.  (That may have crossed some kind of line...)
• Our home study is officially complete and was mailed today to be given the official signatures needed.
• I did have to request an additional background check through the state of Kentucky that is required by our home study agency, but fortunately I was able to do that today online and it was completed in a matter of minutes.  And yes.  I do have a criminal record in Kentucky.  There is something quite sobering about reading how you've been charged guilty and sentenced.  The offense:  speeding 23 mph over in a school zone.  Yeah.  I'm a criminal.  In my defense, I didn't know I was in a school zone.  And the normal speed limit was 45.  Which would have made me going just 3 mph over.  But Mr. Policeman didn't care.  Let's hope China doesn't either.  I'm not really worried.
• Our I-800A is filled out and is only waiting for one small correction and our John Hancock's and off it will go with a grand amount of money, where I think we then wait to have appointments assigned to us for fingerprinting.  You know, in case we have committed a crime that the 47 background checks didn't catch.

And after that we wait.  For approval of our I-800A.  And for our dossier to go to China.

But I'll let you know when that happens.

Wow.  That was a lot. 

Okay.  It may not seem like it to you, but that was a good month worth of work...emails, phone calls, doctor visits, driving from one side of town to the other getting the right paperwork.

I'm pretty sure this child needs her own assistant and she isn't even here yet.

I have a few more adoption posts brewing.  They are just still in the 'ol brain.  But I'll go ahead and title them just to give you a little teaser...

Be on the look out for:
"What shall we call her?" and "The Hard Paperwork"

Yeah.  My interest is peaked too!