What's with all this Paperwork!?!

A lot of people have asked us what is entailed in this second pack of paperwork. I will tell you - a lot! Holy cow!  And it's not all paperwork, some is going out and doing or delivering so other people can do their part.

So below is a partial list of what we have done so far/what we need to do. (Feel free to skip to the end)!

-We both had to get physicals and paperwork done by our doctor saying we are healthy enough to adopt

-Ella's dr also had to fill out paperwork based on her last physical. Plus we needed copies of her immunizations. (Thankfully they didn't make us come in for another physical! Just took it from her birthday check).

-There is paperwork on finances as well as tax forms.

-Paperwork on us! We both had to fill out a 70 question autobiography all about ourselves. This was by far the hardest part of the paperwork thus far! They wanted to know everything! We definitely had to spend serious time thinking things through.  (Things such as explain your teen year, an outstanding childhood experience, goals for your marriage and family, how you discipline, etc.)

-We had to have our employers fill out a verification of employment, and insurance verification. 

-We have to have 5! Letters of references. Luckily we are blessed to be surrounded by amazing people who were willing to help.

-We have to have copies of our driver's licenses and social security cards (which should have been the easy part, but someone (me) couldn't find their social security card so I had to go and file for a replacement- which took FOREVER! (Just as Ella)).

-We have to have certified copies of our birth certificates and marriage certificate

-Adoptive family social and health history (everything medically you could ever want to know about us and way more)

-And a whole lot more paperwork explaining ourselves and for the birth mothers to look at and learn about us. We have to write a birth parent profile, and a short letter, containing enough about us to make them want to pick us!

We also have to both get cpr certified!

Sheesh! I didn't even list everything!

The incredible thing is that we set a goal to finish all of this by the end of January. We got the paperwork packet on Friday. It is now Wednesday and we only have 2 things left on the entire list (one of them being cpr certified which is not dependent on our schedule unfortunately - but even that has come together way smoother than we expected).

We decided at the end of November that it was right for us to adopt. Here we are in the middle of January almost completely done with everything! Erik and I feel so strongly that this adoption is supposed to happen NOW. That our baby is waiting and we better be ready. This hasn't given us a whole lot of time to save and get ready, but the Lord has already blessed us so much in helping all of this paperwork go smoothly that we know it is meant to be and he will continue to bless us.

Thank  you for all of your support and prayers!

Ali and Erik

https://www.gofundme.com/cbhnyxbw

Erik waiting for his physical - he wanted to title this post "let's get physicals"

Ella playing while mom got birth certificates - she's been incredible as I've dragged her all around town.