Getting back on the horse

Hi everyone,
I know it's been a very long time since our debut post, but we're committed to getting things going again! much has happened since. Where to start?

After we put our dear cat Latte to rest in late August, we have since completed our homestudy with Bay Area Adoption Services. The home study is one of the first major milestones that we need complete on the road to adoption. Basically, it's a ton of paper work, essays, getting letters of recommendation (notarized), doctor appointments and tests (all notarized), finger printing, and a series of interviews with our social worker. The last of the interviews included a visit to our home, which of course will be the future home of our child!

That's the short version, but don't let that fool you! It's a lot of time and a work, but we just keep our eyes on the prize. So now what happens? Well, we're onto the second phase where we sign up with a referral agency, one that will ultimately put a child in our home. This is going to require more applications, more paperwork, and many of the same papers and letters (except different).

Adoption can be stressful. It's a self-regulated process. no one is hanging over our shoulders making sure we're doing things. and life can offer distractions. for example, right now I (Chaat, author of this post) am sick and have been ill for several days. it's been debilitating. Also, I had been traveling for work. Bek and I recently took some time away from home, but we didn't get nearly as much done on adoption as we wanted to during the vacation. and we've been working on some major house projects that have sucked up a lot of time and energy. Here are a couple of pictures from our recent trip to the Mendocino coast and Anderson Valley.


We've got other friends adopting, and that's been supportive because we know what each other is going through. and that helps. We're signing up with message boards and researching and all that. sometimes it can be frustrating to think about all this work we have to do, when we KNOW there is a child out there meant for us. International adoption wasn't always this laborious, but it's grown in popularity (thanks Madonna and Brangelina), and several countries recently have been closed for adoption, and there are a lot more rules and regulations that did not exist before (Hague Convention).

Well, that's a little teaser for now to let you know that we're back on the Blog. We promise to be more current and up to date with our journey. And we'll also explore more about the process, externally (what we need to do) and internally (what's going on in our heads as we march ahead). thanks for reading and for all your support!