I'm poised on the starting line of the Paper Chase.
Our pre-application is in and, apparently, approved as an emblem reading "Child Placed" now fills the spot on the Waiting Child List where M's photo once beamed.
Now, I need to submit the application to the actual adoption agency ($600), schedule our home study ($600 at start and $550 when finished) and be ready to hand over $1500 in a dossier fee to the agency once our application is approved. The other agency fees which would usually be spread over several months will come due all around the same time, I suppose. (These will be so much easier to stomach once I have a darn job!)
Fundraising needs to be started in a meaningful and hard-hitting way.
I have a post office box ready to start receiving $5 donations from friends and strangers alike. I'm still interested in finding someone who could use the Typepad tools to create a template specifically for this blog (I think it uses CSS language) and to make some handy, sidebar access available for people to link to important places. I don't need anything complicated, so if you know of someone whom I might be able to bribe with leftover Halloween candy or freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, e-mail them my info or e-mail their info to me.
What I also have is a husband who is knee deep in the HOOAH of an impending, no-notice deployment. In my experience, this means he will be of no help, which is totally cool with me. What is decidedly NOT cool with me is when he becomes a hindrance. His behavior lately reminds me a lot of Dory from Finding Nemo. And, even though like Dory he is very cute, it is no less maddening when the chips are down and you are constantly filling in blanks and reminding someone--we already decided that.
At least he has FINALLY taken the gigantic step to tell someone in his family, namely his favorite cousin (who happens to be his only relative who lives in our county), that we are looking to adopt a little girl from Ethiopia. She was thrilled and very interested in hearing all about it. I hope this interest will calm him unfounded anxieties about familial reactions. It certainly did lead to an immediate change in his demeanor.
This weekend, I'll be posting detailed information on 3 potential ways these 4,000 people can lend me their $5. And then, perhaps I will enlist some blogging buddies to join me in a Blogburst of international proportions.
Until then, it's time to print off some forms and start filling in the blanks.
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