Shout-Outs, Accolades and Never-Ending Gratitude!

This post is long-overdue and I'm sure it won't do justice to the individuals as it should, but I will not be remiss for one more moment in mentioning the people without whom we absolutely could NOT be doing this!

First of all, our social worker, MBK! This woman is a Saint on Earth and a Tarheel fan to boot!! During the home study process, your life is completely and utterly invaded by your Social Worker - from your childhood and your relationship with your parents and siblings all the way through your school years and courtship of your spouse. Your background is checked (in our case, including a few speeding tickets on the part of my husband!) (Incidentally, I had NO speeding tickets to show up....but then again she only had to check my married name...) The Social Worker visits your home and asks you a zillion questions regarding your infertility and your friends and how you resolve issues with your spouse. A Social Worker checks your bank accounts and pay stubs and your monthly budget. The Social Worker makes you write an autobiography and a pie chart and take internet classes that last MONTHS because she wants to be sure YOU know what you're getting into. All of this...all of this invasion into our private lives, our Social Worker somehow managed to make ENJOYABLE!! We learned so much about ourselves and each other and about the pros and cons of international adoption. I don't know how she did it, but MBK actually made us look forward to her visits! We asked her anything and everything we wanted to know and she was honest and knowledgeable and so open to sharing what she has learned from her years of working in the adoption community. The truth is, we could NOT have made it through those first few months without her constant guidance and support and help. She is an amazing woman and I am so glad that we found each other. After our adoption is complete, MBK will be involved in our lives for a while - at least a year - as we are required to submit post-placement reports on a regular basis to our agency. I'm so looking forward to sharing Odin's first year home with her! If anyone ever needs a recommendation for a GREAT Social Worker in N.C., let me know. I think ours was the cream of the crop!

Next, the individuals who were willing to write reference letters for us. Believe it or not, the adoption agency thinks your friends should be willing to submit paperwork attesting to your excellent parenting skills! Our best friends, N&DS wrote a recommendation letter for us, despite NS having known my hubby for most of his life and being able to tell some pretty crazy stories of his adolescence.
C's good friend from college, AB also wrote a letter for us, one which glowingly recommended us for parenthood...and I know that 'cause she let us read it, LOL! Although we don't see AB nearly as much as we want to because she lives a good way away from us, she was thrilled to be able to write a letter.
My friend AH, whom I've known for...well since before FRIENDS was a series, wrote a recommendation for us as well. AH is MY version of hubby's NS, meaning she knows all my crazy stories and was actually a big part of most of them, ha ha. I don't see her nearly as much as I'd like, either...somehow life just gets away from us. But she wrote our recommendation and then, just for good measure, came to the house one night and notarized a blue gillion documents for us!
Our last letter writer was my friend CH who I worked with for a lot of years and who somehow despite our very different upbringings and backgrounds, still totally "gets" me. She is one of the 5 Women on Earth that I could work with and not feel like strangling after a few weeks. We just click and she is (and will always be) one of my dearest friends.
So, to N&DS, AB, AH and CH, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!!!!! Really and truly, we couldn't have made it through even the first obstacle without you! We love you all and are so blessed to call you our friends.

Next I have to thank THE NOTARIES! Anybody involved in adoption will tell you if you aren't friends with a Notary when you start, you probably will be by the end. (Luckily for me, I am very good friends with two Notaries!) The supply of paperwork which has to be notarized is truly never-ending!! In the beginning, my friend AH actually came to our house and notarized all of our initial paperwork and wouldn't take a dime to do it. Her sister, KB is also a Notary and has notarized all of my documents since our referral. Which actually would've been a LOT - maybe 9 documents I think - even IF I hadn't had to re-do some of them. Over and over again. Seriously....I've seen poor KB more in the last 10 days than I have in the last 4 months! There was the initial visit to get the NC SoS stuff notarized, then the return visit a few days later to get the passport copies notarized (why didn't I realize they had to be notarized in the FIRST place...duh!) and of course, the RETURN visit today to have the REVISED POA application notarized because TECO called and needed a couple of changes made!! Ack....can you say writer's cramp?! Yep, KB is a real trooper and didn't complain at all - and just like her sister refuses monetary compensation. So in lieu of that (at least for now....a big dinner on me is in their future!) I have to publicly acknowledge their amazing contribution to this endeavor. I simply would NOT be here without these girls, the notaries, my friends. They are THE BEST and I love them both to pieces!!

At one point we had some trouble with our police reports (trouble meaning for some CRAZY reason, our county reported EVERYTHING, even 20-year old traffic tickets of my husband's that NO OTHER COUNTY in the universe would include on a background check!) A friend of mine who works at the City Police Dept. was able to get the Chief of Police to write letters on our behalf stating that we were good citizens and had no outstanding warrants, etc. This eliminated the need for us to use our actual background information and thus try and explain to the Taiwanese government why C had minor traffic incidents when he was 16-19 years old. This friend was YN and she was so wonderful to go to the trouble to type the letters for us in the form that we needed and get the Chief of Police to sign them himself. It was such a blessing to us and we really appreciate YN doing this for us!

We also want to acknowledge the support and love from our families which has meant so much to us during this process. Although it was hard to hear at times, when family members would ask us, "Have you heard anything yet?" it reiterated to us how excited they all are and how anxious they are for this little one to be a part of THEIR family. It's easy to say he's joining "our" family....but he will be a part of something so much bigger than just C or I. And they are all waiting with arms wide open to greet him. When we married, we merged two amazing and wonderful families and we love them all so much!

Last, but not least, as the saying goes, I want to thank my Internet Friends. Last November when we began to investigate adoption, I never would have imagined the group of women I would encounter. From the ducky board to the yahoo groups and webmd I have made life-long friends. These women taught me so much about the process and what to expect and I always knew I could go to them with any questions I had. These are real-life examples of the successes of adoption, and they are my heroes.

I was afraid when I started that this might get long, and I guess it has. But why shouldn't it?! Thank-You's should never be cut short.

Again, to those of you who have contributed, even a tiny bit, to our becoming parents...THANK YOU! You have helped us to obtain our dream of parenthood. And that, my friends, is no small feat!