Timeline

Adoption Timeline of Events

9/20/08- We attended the Family to Family Fall Adoption Conference and learned more about the entire process and heard the stories of birth mothers and adoptive families that have worked with the agency (including Patrick and Andrea! Patrick spoke at the conference, and Ella and Corinne were there too). Hurricane Ike almost resulted in the conference being cancelled, but they went ahead with it anyway!

9/21/08- I emailed Charlene, the wife of a doctor whom I called on when I was still doing Pharmaceutical Sales, to see about a recommendation for a social worker who could do a Home Study for us in Louisiana that would meet Texas standards as well.

9/22/08- Charlene emailed back and recommended Lisa, a LA-certified social worker, and I emailed her right away!

9/24/08- Lisa agreed to do our Home Study for us!

10/8/08- Lisa sent us a bunch of paperwork, and we began filling it out.

10/11/08- We attended an America World Adoption Association “Spirit of Adoption” seminar- which happened to be held at a church less than a mile from our house, and hosted by none other than Charlene (the doctor’s wife mentioned above)! It is the agency whom Steven Curtis Chapman (the famous Christian music artist) and his wife used.

10/15/08- We contacted five family members and friends to ask them to be references for us (which meant filling out a 5-page questionnaire about Andy and I) as part of the Home Study requirements. All of them agreed to do this, and we are SO grateful to them for their willingness to do this for us.

10/17/08- We had our first of three meetings with Lisa (the social worker doing the Home Study has to meet with you three times).

10/24/08- Andy’s background check (fingerprinting) comes back clear (of course!) from the FBI, but my fingerprints are rejected- the quality was too low.

11/5/08- We had the second meeting with Lisa.

11/12/08- My 2nd set of fingerprints is rejected by the FBI.

11/13/08- I downloaded a free software program (Scrapbook Flair) to use for completing our profile (for the purpose of “showing” us to birth mothers). I then completed one page just to see if it would work correctly, and I liked the way it turned out.

12/13/08- The last and final meeting with Lisa- the Home Study is complete!!

12/15/08- My 3rd set of fingerprints is rejected by the FBI :(

1/12/09- I let Jennifer and Maxine (at Family to Family Adoptions) know that our home study was done and that we wanted to sign on with them if they would accept us (and our Home Study). I began working diligently on our profile.

1/17/09- Mailed application, initial fee, and the signed copy of the Home Study to the agency.

1/22/09- The agency officially accepted our application and Home Study per TX standards.

2/7/09- I finished the profile today and printed off a copy (14 pages). Unfortunately, a few of the pictures didn’t print out on the pages, so Andy tried to download an “update” to the software from Scrapbook Flair’s website, and once he did that, we lost the entire profile! It will no longer open up, and I am going to have to re-do the whole thing. Luckily, because I had printed the one copy, I can copy the text on each page instead of trying to remember what I had written…

2/14/09- Finished the re-doing the profile and emailed it to the agency for Jennifer’s approval!!! What a great feeling, and how ironic to finish it on Valentine’s Day. Seems sort of perfect because we are going to have so much LOVE for whatever baby the Lord decides to give us!!!

2/16/09- Jennifer said the profile looks great, so we printed 6 copies (14 pgs each) on our color printer at home, and Andy also posted the profile online and we emailed family and friends with an update on the process and gave them the link to the profile so they could see it. Everyone was SO supportive in their email responses- thank you to all of you!!! Here's the link: picasaweb.google.com/amparrish61904/OurAdoptionProfile

2/17/09- I had a scary fingerprinting experience in St. Martinville. I had to go to the correctional facility to use the fancy scanning fingerprinting machine, and that necessitated going up to the second floor holding-cell area where they book the prisoners! While I was being fingerprinted, a man in handcuffs was being booked into the jail! Yikes- but I’ll do almost anything if it means we eventually end up with a successful adoption :)

2/18/09- Andy brings the printed profiles to the Office Depot here in town to be bound.