Awesome

"We will not build orphanages. We will empty orphanages. We will help without hurting. We will not just give children things. We will give them ourselves. We will do what we can to unite children to a life-long family. We will not measure success anymore by dollars given. We will measure success by how many children have been placed in a permanent family"

-Kay Warren

The Plan

On Friday afternoon when I left school, Tyler and I had a scheduled phone orientation with our adoption agency.  I think it was information overload to Ty, but for me it was WONDERFUL!  I've been looking over ALL the paperwork and e-mails and feeling super overwhelmed (which I have probably mentioned in almost every blog post, haha).  But when we sat down on speaker phone with our agency rep and he walked us through every single thing that we need to do, it made me feel SO much better.  Although there is a LOT to do throughout the course of this adoption, I feel so much more at ease knowing how and when to do it all.  I don't so much mind the paperwork (my profession has prepared me for that, haha!) but I was stressing about knowing how to go about it all.  Also, not only am I a planner, but I am a nerdy notetaker (always have been, since middle school).  These are all the notes that took in about an hour of talking with our agency:

So, I wanted to give a little overview for those of you that are curious about our process.  This is the plan that we have right now, but this is specific to Uganda and to our agency. Also, with any plan..especially in adoption, things can change.  But for now, here is what we are looking at in the order that we will complete each step:

• Home Study:  Right now, we are working on our home study.  Since our agency is out of state, we had to choose a local NC agency to complete this step.  During this step, we have to gather lots of documents like birth/marriage certificates, background checks, insurance stuff, etc.  We will also meet with a social worker who will talk with us about the adoption, visit our house, and help educate us in parenting an adoptive child.
• Government Approval:  Once our home study is complete, we will apply with the U.S. government for approval to adopt a child from Uganda. 
• Dossier:  While waiting for approval from the government, we will begin compiling all the documents that are needed for our dossier.  The dossier is a big pack of paperwork that includes our home study, U.S. approval, certificates, more background checks, pictures, etc.  This is the document that will be sent to the Ugandan courts.  When they receive this document, they will review it and then put on on the waiting list to be matched with a child.  
• Referral:  This is what we will receive when Uganda matches us with a child.  We will receive pictures, medical info, etc. for our child.  Once accepting the referral, our agency's lawyer in Uganda will set up a court date and we will get ready to travel to meet our child!
• Travel to Uganda:  Once in Uganda, we will meet our child!!!!  We will then attend our first court date and request guardianship of the child.  We then wait for an answer from the judge which could take a few weeks.  While in Uganda we will bond with our child, sight see, and make lots of memories.  We will also take the child for medical visits and do other "legal" stuff.  After receiving guardianship from the judge, we will go to the U.S. consulate to receive passports, etc for our child.
• Back Home:  When we come home, we will finalize the adoption and obtain U.S. citizenship for our baby!  Also, we will have visits from our social worker to help us through the process of adjusting and bonding.

Whew!!!  Lots of information for you guys out there, but I know that many people have asked us about the process and what all we have to do, so I thought this would be the best way to answer questions. 

As always, thank you for all the love and support you continue to show us!