In The Clear

Posted at 7:11 am on Friday, February 24, 2006

Susan returned my call. I explained that the husband’s mom is from Gyana, and his dad is from Trinidad. But he was born and raised here in America and his family lives here now. She said that if he was of an African American descent, South Korea would not allow us to adopt. Isnt that interesting?
But, its all good now.
I also learned that they’ve hired a new caseworker, Jessica, and she’s just now learning the ropes and will be handling our case, along with Susan. So, if anything bad happens from here on out, its Jessica’s fault. Poor girl.
Heh. I kid. Its the governments fault, so I’ve heard.

Nevermind, nevermind

Posted at 2:42 pm on Thursday, February 23, 2006

Got home from work today, to see “Carolina Adopt” appear on my Caller ID, not once but twice. I spent a moment hyperventalating and then checked the voicemail.
The first message, from Marie, announced that our application was approved and we should expect a big packet of paperwork in the mail soon. Yay!!!
The second message, also from Marie, said that she passed our stuff over to Susan, the representative for the Korean Program, and Susan pointed out that “South Korea is very picky about multiple ethnicities in families.” Seriously? Seriously?!?!
So, I have till wait till tomorrow for Susan to call me at work (I left her a message, kindly asking her to) and we can “clear that up.” Whatever that means.
Maybe I shouldnt have played the diversity card after all.
No no, he’s white. I’m just reeeeeally pale, so he looks darker next to me. Our last name is French, cant you see?

No Happy Birfday For You

Posted at 9:47 am on Thursday, February 23, 2006

According to FedEx, our application arrived at CAS a week ago. I was secretly hoping that I would get a phone call from them yesterday “Happy Birthday, we think you’d make a great mom!” but no such luck. If they dont call by the end of the day, I think I’ll call tomorrow.

Tour de US

Posted at 8:03 am on Wednesday, February 15, 2006

My application is supposed to go to Greensboro, NC. Can someone tell me why it arrived in Memphis, TN this morning?

Signed, Sealed… Deliveried?

Posted at 10:09 am on Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Okay, so I just dropped off our application with FedEx. I think God was trying to remind me that this application would be delivered by His grace, and certainly not by the competency of any FedExKinkos worker. Either that, or it just proves that I have terrible karma when it comes to sending/receiving packages. Worker Bill had no idea what he was doing. Eventually, he called his manager over, but she wasnt really paying attention, cause he had called her from another project. She walked him through some steps. Another girl came over, and lightened the mood. She said hello to me and then said “And next, Bob’s gonna come over here and watch too.” I laughed and said “Well, it IS a very important package…” and she smiled. Then she left me with Bill, who was still trying to figure things out. Eventually he got around to charging me, and printed out some stuff that I’m pretty sure he affixed in the wrong places on the package. But, whatever, God’s delivering my application, not Bill. And for that, I am thankful. And I have a tracking number, just in case.
So, lets talk about this application. It is our application to Carolina Adoption Services. They will review it, decide we’d make some lovely parents and agree to represent us in the process of adopting. Besides basic personal information, they ask a couple of questions. Here are the questions and our fluffy answers.
1. Please explain your motivation to adopt internationally. If you are infertile, please provide diagnosis and date of last treatment. : As we began discussing starting a family, we agreed adopting would meet our desire to provide a loving home for a child who needs one.
2. How will your family/friends accept a child of another culture and/or racial background? : We are an inter-racial couple, so we dont anticipate any conflict with family and friends.
Yep, we played the diversity card. It took me awhile to come up with an answer for that question. All I really think about is how my family will take the fact that I’m adopting. I dont think they’d care about it’s race. So, putting the adopting part aside and focusing on the culture, I think we’ll be a-okay. There were only two lines for an answer, and it didnt say anywhere “extended answers can go on the back of this page” so I assumed they want something short and sweet. My life story comes later.
The other big part of the application was the picture. We had to enclose a recent picture of us. I had R take a couple of pictures last night, but I didnt like the way they turned out, so I went with one I was confident of, our Christmas picture. I had asked a few people for their opinion, but no one managed to get back to me on time. So, I had to go with my gut.
So, now we wait. For them to contact us. And so starts the paperchase. Hmmm… let me see if I can track my package yet…

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