Our final interviews and home inspection is complete. The reports are being written and we also need to obtain records from Mississippi. Our Immigration paperwork (I-600A, Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition) will be submitted along with one of the notarized copies of our home study. A copy will also go to our Agency in Alabama, in which we are adopting through. One is for the First Stage of our Dossier that will be sent to Taiwan and one is for the Second Stage Dossier, which will be hand-carried by us when we travel to Taiwan for our adoption.
However, the minutes leading up to our case worker coming to our home was all but fun! Expecting her at any minute, one of our smoke detectors went off, indicating a need for a new battery (working smoke detectors are on our home study checklist). Did we have that battery in stock at our house…of course not! Micah ran to the store only to come home to realize our computer didn’t work. This was important because a requirement was to have a home line in order to be able to call 911 in an emergency. We purchased MagicJack which is a cheaper way to have a home line, but it runs out of our computer. A picture then fell off the wall (nobody being near it) and in the final seconds Little Micah had a tantrum and ran up to his roomJ Our home is not usually that exciting! Nevertheless, we made it through the next 3 ½ hours and we are moving onto the next step.
The other day, Little Micah brought up the idea of having a little brother. I think he got this idea from a book we read. He said if he had one he would take care of him and teach him many things. I told him it would be a good idea. He then, to my surprise, asked me if the baby would grow in my belly. I explained to him that this time instead of growing in my belly his little brother or sister would grow in my heart. That was the end of that conversation! Not sure what he thought of all of it, but we are beginning to plant the seedJ We also purchased a huge map of the world and posted it downstairs. Lit’ Micah is fascinated with geography….his imaginary cubs are from China, Russia, and England (sometimes Australia)! We will be putting markers of family and friends that were born all over the US and World….again preparing our kids' minds and hearts for our little one from Taiwan.
Cathwel Service Taipei, Taiwan
