It's started or down the long and winding road

Well, last Friday we officially started the adoption process. Yes, I suppose technically we started it with our first $45 payment to get the application packet. But really that was just us showing interest (as well as a little taste of what it would be like to write checks to Children's Home Society). Last Friday we sent in our application (and a check that was a bit bigger). By sending in the application we officially stated that we, Andrea and Jeff, wanted to adopt a child, give Mia a sister, and go global.

For me, this was really not such a monumental event. I really wanted it to be, but it was not. I don't know what I expected. Perhaps I thought that it would be similar to telling people that we were pregnant or perhaps it would have been similar to being told that I just paid off my student loans. I don't know. But what I do know is that it was an event and then it was over.

Now, don't get me wrong, I am excited about expanding our family. Mia can't wait to have a sister. And Andrea and I speak about adopting more children and having an even bigger family. But that will be decided in the future.

So, now we have to wait for all the paperwork to get to CHS. We have signed releases for everything from our health records to mental health records, from criminal records to our first grade school records. All this seems a bit over the top. I get it, but it just seems like so much information. Really, if you think about it, there is nothing that stops us from having a child (or 20) by natural birth (of course I can think of at least one person who is reading this and saying that Jeff you are just too old to have that many children. But my answer to that is that if Tony Randall can, so can I.). But when we want to adopt, then there are many, many things that we have to do. Again, we are excited and a bit anxious about the whole process, but this dichotomy has presented to us as odd.

So, where are we now? The next step, as we understand it, is that we will have to attend a two-day meeting where CHS will try to scare the pants off us (note to self: wear underwear). If we decide that we are still interested, then we take and finish a test, turn it back in, get a social worker (and no I can't be our social worker), finish a home study (hopefully this will be just after our annual house cleaning day/party), submit more paperwork and then wait. The whole process from last Friday to fruition should take anywhere from 6 to 9 months. However, this time, Andrea will not be growing a being inside her and we will not be able to see progress (although the up-side is that she won't get morning sickness, just many sleepless, anxious nights).

Other then that, not much is happening. I am still working at the hospitals, Andrea is still at the University, and Mia is still wonderful, but still won't eat vegetables (a real problem for parents who are basically vegetarians).

Actually this deserves it owns blog. The battle with Mia and her vegetables is continuous and lethal. In the one corner is Mia. A product of two very stubborn parents and who also believes that she can taste food before it enters her mouth. I actually believe this to be true. Example: Mia can tell the difference between sweets and any other food just by looking at it, such as peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with sweet potato puree (perhaps she has superpowers and we need to harness these for world peace). She also has superpower eye sight. She is able to see even the most minuscule, tiny fleck of green hidden under what seems to be inches of cheese on a cheese only pizza. Last night she actually tasted a small piece of whole tomato and stated to gag on it, a piece that was almost naked to the human eye, which actually required that I take my glasses off and hold it a mere centimeter from my eye (and even then I was convinced that there was anything there).

In the other corner are sweet, delicious and colorful vegetables. Simply stated the two will never meet. So we try to trick her. I have put them in pancakes and in sandwich spreads. She knows. Oh yes, she knows they're there. Although, to be fair, she will eat spinach in pancakes even if she knows it's in there. But that is it. So the saga will continue, and I will continue to write about it until I can write that we have overcome. In honor of this Monday, let me say that I too have a dream!