Put a fork in it

Our home study is DONE! I can't believe it. One of our references got lost in the mail, but as soon as our social worker gets the new one we are approved!! But....

this is me. We are doing things differently than most because of our consultant. We will be working with three agencies in Utah and one attorney in Florida. This will help increase our exposure and hopefully get us matched faster. If we were only using the Ohio agency that did our home study, we would be done with all paperwork. So I realize we've brought some of this on ourselves because we chose to use the consultant. Now I have multiple applications, information sheets, and other requirements to sort through and fill out. It stinks. I'm tired of it all. But I keep going because I'm trying to keep my eye on the prize. Also, when I start to get fed up with this whole process I try to put myself in the birth mother's shoes. If I were giving up my child for adoption I would want to make sure that the parents are well prepared and have had every kind of clearance imaginable. That helps me keep my perspective if I start to get angry. I'm anticipating that we'll be active in about a month. I'm waiting on a certified copy of our birth certificates to come in the mail, and we have to go to the bank to get our loan because one agency requires proof that we have the money. I've finished putting together our profile books (all 23 of them!) and they are ready to send out soon. I'm so excited, but I'm also scared to death. I can't believe we've made it this far!