Friday Update #5

Friday Update #5, some good...some bad...some...just bureaucracy....I think...

We got a huge chunk of papers done this week and only have a few left that require more effort than just going to the notary BUT we're now getting really concerned about the fact that we have not yet gotten to speak to our social worker directly to discuss or schedule our in-person meeting.  Our placement agency is also getting concerned with the delay.  I left a message and sent an email today to the home study agency to request a phone call ASAP to discuss the delay and the best path forward, but I have not heard anything back yet (I also called several times throughout the day and no one picked up.  Usually they are really prompt, so I am hoping that they are at a conference today or something, but I am definitely getting nervous about this! :-(

On to brighter news, here's the updates on last week's list:

• Get the third reference letter for the dossier notarized-I believe all dossier letters are now notarized and should be in our possession by Sunday! We are waiting on 1 homestudy reference letter (yes Pastor R, this means you:-)
• Organize all paperwork to see what else needs to be done/printed and notarized-DONE:-)
• My PA child abuse clearance arrived today (yay!) I need to forward it unopened to our home study agency for them to review, also mail them our home study reference letters-SENDING ON MONDAY PROVIDED THEY CALL ME BACK
• Get that darn criminal clearance notarized paper at our local precinct-Um yeah, turns out we're going to have to take a notary with us to 1 POLICE PLAZA, WHAT?!?!?!?! 
• (M'kay for those of you not in NYC, here's  1 Police Plaza, looks like a barrel of laughs and a paragon of efficiency, right?!?!?)-
• Mail our last non-notarized home study form (if possible, I think we have to wait so that the financial information matches our dossier financial information which includes the bank letters)-SENDING IN THE PACKAGE ON MONDAY PROVIDED THEY CALL ME BACK!
• Figure out if Ababa's unemployment letter will work for our dossier-PRETTY SURE IT WILL:-)
• Continue to push for our in-person homestudy meeting-APPARENTLY WE NEED TO PUSH HARDER!
• Ababa has to get his medical forms done tomorrow-STILL WORKING ON THIS
• Follow-up/track:
• Passport applications-IN PROCESS, they cashed my check.  Ababa's isn't in the online system yet, but we did expedited for his, so it should be here around the same time as mine :-)
• bank letters-DONE:-)!!!!!!! YAY!!!!
• notarized employment letter-Pretty sure this is all set, if not then Ababa can get it quickly
• BONUS-We also started our mandatory training:-) Cultural Sensitivity training-DONE:-)

List for this week:

• PUSH FOR IN-PERSON HOMESTUDY!!! This will entail a 3-5 hour interview at our house, the social worker writing the homestudy, our placement agency editing the draft, the social worker making edits, and then...the final version gets sent to NY State for approval which can take a few weeks...see why we're getting concerned?!?!?!?!?!?!
• Confirm Ababa's unemployment letter is all set
• Re-do our sworn statements of no criminal activity b/c we each need one, not one together like we did.
• Get Ababa's medicals done!  It's tricky coordinating the chest xray, Dr's schedule, and notary...
• Get letters from references and mail as part of package to home study agency (provided they call me back on Monday and everything is kosher!)
• Do the USIC training (4 hours) and 6 hours of additional training, we need to hear from our home study social worker if NYS has any requirements about what we should do...are you seeing a theme here? :-(
• Other than that, we wait for our last clearances and passport to come in and get ready for Thanksgiving:-)