Monday, August 8, 2011

Unless You've Recently Been Arrested


Recently we visited the Louisville, Colorado Police Department.  The Louisville Police Department was one of the few places that offered fingerprinting in the morning.  Most were afternoon or evening hours.  It was much easier for us to go there in the am, before Tyler had to head to work just down the street. 
We both actually felt a little nervous on the way there.  We don’t know if it was a little bit of excitement or nervousness, it kind of felt as though we had done something wrong.  As always though, it was exciting to get one more item on our Adoption To Do List, done! 
            We arrived earlier than our appointment, so we signed in, wrote the check, and had a seat.  When the lady peaked her head out of a locked door, she called out “9:45.”  We briefly debated over who should go first and the woman then asked if we were together.  Because we had consecutive appointments, she let us go back at the same time.
            We passed through the security door and walked down a long corridor, planked with meeting rooms and offices.  We turned left at the end of the hallway and then through another secure door, with a little blue sign on the wall that read, “booking.”  Hopefully that will be the only visit either of us ever makes to a booking room.
            Now, unless you’ve recently been arrested, fingerprinting is not what you think it is.  We took our turns standing in front of the fingerprinting machine as the woman entered our demographic information into a computer.  After she verified our information, the fingerprinting began.  She sprayed our fingers with water, then held them on a glass plate, where a red laser “photocopied” or fingerprints.  That’s our best layman’s explanation anyway.  She then printed our fingerprint cards and showed us the way out.  Chelsie managed to snap a picture of the process and then we posed for some goofy celebratory pictures outside…




Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Give Thanks and Answers


Since our announcement we have received so much support!  Thanks everyone for your thoughtful and caring words.  You're love and prayers are appreciated, now and always.

We've also been asked several questions.  The best of which was, "What country are you adopting from?"  Great question!  If anyone else is wondering, we've chosen domestic infant adoption, in other words a newborn from the United States.  Tyler was adopted as a domestic infant and it's exciting to be able to do the same as we add to our family.  A domestic infant adoption also allows us the possibility of having an open or semi-open adoption.  This was something that sounded scary when we first started looking into adoption, but now we believe that openness will provide everyone involved with rewarding relationships.

Another good question has been, "how long will it take?"  We really are just starting the process.  Getting certified entails us getting a lot of paperwork filled out and submitted.  We also have to complete 16 hours of specific training.  We'll have to take a CPR certification course and background checks have to be completed on both of us.  Then our agency will complete our home study.  The agency will visit with us in our home, both together and individually, over several different interviews.  They'll also inspect our home for certain safety, cleanliness, and space requirements.  Getting through our home study should take us 4 months or more.  Once we have successfully completed the home study process, we will be in the profile or wait list stage.  Then we just wait and pray for as long as it takes.  Wait times vary; it could take a matter of days or even years.  So, we really have no idea.

We'd love to answer any more questions you have.  Just leave any questions in the comment box, and we'll be sure to answer.

Sunday, July 17, 2011

It's Only The Beginning

It's official, we're starting the adoption process!  I guess you could say we're expecting to be expecting!  We're also going to try our best to share the process with our family and friends.  We are looking forward to this journey.  We're excited and hopeful.  There's a lot to do, but it feels great.  We welcome prayers during this time.