Adoption Journal

The Journey Begins - Nov 03 to May 04

Nov 4, 2003... We watched Adoption Stories on the Discovery Health channel and it spotlighted Commonwealth Adoptions International. We were both very moved by CAI's love for these children. We got online and requested information from CAI.

Nov 10, 2003... Received information from Commonwealth Adoptions International. They produce a wonderful book of stories from adopted families. We sat and read these stories over and over. There was a flier in the packet about an open house in Tampa that weekend. It was only 7 1/2 hours away, so we decided to go.

Nov 13, 2003... Contacted Compass Bank about a 2nd Mortgage. This is going to be expensive, so we want to have all the money upfront.

Nov 14, 2003... Tim Plummer came and did an appraisal on our house for the loan.

Nov 15, 2003... Traveled to Tampa to visit with Commonwealth Adoptions International (CAI). They had an open house where we got to meet the adoption managers and some of the families. It was a very positive experience. It helped us to decide to go with CAI as our agency. We were a little strapped for cash this month (spent too much remodeling the house!), but when we stopped for gas we found $80. We left our number at the gas station and no one claimed it. What a blessing... it paid for our hotel room.

Nov 17, 2003... Signed the contract with CAI and sent in the initial deposit. We also made contact with Phil Boyd, a local social worker, to start the Home Study. We also received copies of our marriage and birth certificates.

Nov 19, 2003... Appraisal came in very high on our house. This allowed us to get a large equity line of credit. Way more than we could have hoped for.

Nov 20, 2003... mailed "initial" BCIS form I-600A. This takes a long time to get processed, so we wanted it in the mail right away.

Dec 2, 2003... Mailed initial money and paperwork to CAI to start the Preliminary package and Dossier Prep.

Dec 6, 2003... We met with Amy Jamieson at her office to get all of our Preliminary Package documents notarized. We are very grateful to Amy for all the work she has done. There have been a lot of documents and she always notarizes them with a smile!

Dec 7, 2003... Phil Boyd came to our home to do the Home Study. He sat with us for several hours and just talked about our lives. Phil is a great person and also an adopted parent. He is going to China next week to pick up his second adopted daughter. We were very nervous about the home study, but Phil made it easy. He basically just wanted to get to know us and make sure we knew what we were getting in to.

Jan 7, 2003... Met with Phil Boyd in Pensacola to review the first draft of the Home study. We saw pictures of his new little girl and she is gorgeous.

Jan 23, 2004... Received the final notarized copies of our Home Study.

Jan 27, 2004... We drove to Tallahassee to get all of our documents Apostilled. Some of the documents weren't correct, so we had to redo some of them. We bought Susan Hawkes some cookies and brownies because she was so nice in helping us.

FEB MAR APR... ENDLESS WAITING. NO NEWS. We had one typo on the home study that we had to redo, but nothing big.  We called our Agency every Monday.  We wanted to hear from them every week. Even if it was just for them to say "No News."  We liked knowing that we were still on their minds. The waiting continues... 


Continue...