Today marks 6 months since we requested our info packet from Gladney and began the adoption process. Today is also the day we finally got our first draft of our home study back!!! Because of all the crazy weather, the Gladney offices have been closed on and off, so it took a little longer than usual. We also finally got BOTH certified copies of our birth certificates in the mail today! It is funny how we have just been waiting on paperwork to roll in for the last month with nothing happening and now we get 3 things in one day. Once our home study is finalized, it will be sent off for our immigration approval and we should be done (for a little while at least) with paperwork!
The estimated time on the wait list has increased too, so while I was hoping we would get our referral by Christmas, it really will probably be early next year. :( We also upped our age range to 0-18 months because of this. We originally could only request 0-12 months because of Abbie's age (our agency requires a one year age gap), but since the process is taking a little longer, Abbie may be a little older by the time we get our referral.
We are glad to have the first 6 months of this process behind us. It really has gone by pretty quickly, and we know that God has control of the entire timeline. He knows who is supposed to be in our family and when they will be ready and waiting for us, so every delay has a reason (although it is HARD to see that right now!)