Finally in Our Hands!

Well our social worker finished up our homestudy May 1st.  I thought (or someone told me?) it would take a few weeks to finalize the document.  I knew a few people at both our agencies needed to review it and I would need to make edits as needed.  It took two months!  Most of the time I didn't hear any updates so it's been a bit of a boring time in the process.  But I do feel like we've used the time to continue to get to know China.  We got to have dinner cooked by a family who moved here from China a few years ago.  It was very fun to get to know them better and try some authentic food! Gray especially said he loved all of it and he and two of the girls there enjoyed comparing their dumplings eaten totals:)

I've also read more books on China that have helped me get a better grasp of the country's recent history, particularly the Cultural Revolution.  Very interesting to see such a different world from what our country has experienced.

So finally our homestudy arrived in the mail yesterday and I was able to send of our 1-800a form to immigration today.  We have also applied for one grant and almost have one more to submit, plus some others in the works.

Very soon we'll start sending off our dossier papers to be authenticated and then sent to China, at which point we'll be logged in their system and able to be matched!  Some families from our agency recently visited some of the partnership orphanages in China and it was exciting to see their pictures and begin to hear stories.  Looking forward to moving along and figuring out who our girl is!