Pregnant on Paper

Well, we just sent in another batch of paperwork. This one had almost everything for Packet Three. Our medical reports came back, everything was fine, we knew it would be. We had to send two copies for each of us and of course they had to be notarized. It also had the Dossier preparation fee. So now we are just waiting for the meeting with the accountant. That's really all we have left in Packet Three. We are still waiting for our last set of fingerprints to be taken and to find out who our social worker will be for Home Study. But those two things are out of our control, they have to contact us.

We are hoping they will contact us soon, because some of the documents can't be over a certain number of months or weeks old. If it takes too long we may have to re-do some of the documents, they call that The Paperchase Take Two. We are so hoping we don't have to do that. We are keeping our fingers crossed that everything will be done in a timely fashion, and nothing will need to be done over.

So, now it's just the accountant letter, and homestudy. They said once you start your Home Study they need to do 4 visits. They also said that they can do that in a 2 week period if necessary. The Home Study is where they interview us both seperately, then together, and check out the house and surroundings. It doesn't sound too bad. After they do all of that, they will write up our homestudy and send it out to be authenticated(4-6 weeks). After the Home Study comes all of the waiting, and waiting, and waiting, and waiting.

I think lately the waiting has really started to sink in. How long we will actually have to wait. I am trying to stay really positive, but after 7 years of utter disappointments, and the want I feel for a child, some days it's difficult. I swear we're going through the same emotional roller coaster as we would if we were actually physically pregnant. We are pregnant on paper. But we do have a lot of stuff to keep us busy-new projects. The nursery, the home improvements, and the making of the quilt.

In Northern China there is a tradition of a 100 Good Wishes Quilt, or a Bai Jia Bei. It is a quilt that is made to welcome the child. It consists of pieces of fabric that friends and family contribute and from those pieces of fabric the quilt is made. Friends and family select a piece of fabric for the quilt, plus a scrap of the fabric is attached to a note that has a wish or blessing for the child. The scrap of the fabric with the wish is put into a scrapbook for the child and when she gets older she can match the fabric on the quilt to the scrapbook and see who's fabric it was and what their wish was for her. I am very excited about this project. We will not start it until the Dossier is sent to China-this Summer. I love this whole tradition though. I'll post another blog just about the quilt with more information at another time.

So I'm done babbling today, it just is starting to feel like a long time away, as it's said we are Pregnant On Paper and it takes longer than 9 months. Although everyone wants time to slow down, we want it to move quickly!

Love to everyone,
~Alli & Gary