We continued to move forward by starting our 1-600A form (Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition) which was approved by Citizen & Immigration Services on May 15, 2005. Next step, waiting for an appointment for FINGERPRINTING!
By July 2005, we were ready to have our homestudy done, part of which is about our employment. Yikes!! The ball barely got rollin' and now we have a problem. We had to place our first "panic mode" phone call to Dillon. This is when we realized that we had made a good decision to adopt through Dillon. They were so calm on the phone and assured us that people change their jobs during the adoption process all the time (ie: take a breath!). So we did.
Children's Home Society did our home study. It consisted of interviews, and a visit to our home. Both representatives were so nice. Patrick and I were both so nervous. I suppose it is only natural to try and impress, but I resisted the urge to bake cookies or anything like that :). The meeting went great. It was like we had known them forever, except the conversations were all about us and we didn't find out anything about them!
During the homestudy, we were told about a family who also adopted a little girl from India, named Malini who had just turned 5. We were dying to hear another families adoptive story and so we met them one sunny afternoon in a local park. After a full day of talk, talk, talking, we paused for an ice cream. It dawned on Malini as she sat on her daddy's lap eating ice cream that she didn't really understand who we were, so she asked her daddy. He told her that we were adopting a little girl from India too. I will never forget her response. She said, " OH! Can I watch?" We explained it wasn't happening that day and all got a good chuckle out of it.
Is It A Sign?
I began receiving a magazine called Working Mother...which was funny because it was addressed to Patricia! One day I collected the mail with my magazine on the bottom of the stack. I absent mindedly flipped over the stack of mail revealing the back of the magazine and there was an advertisement. The picture was of a spider's web with words spelled out within the webbing. It said, "You will have twins in 16 months!" WOW! Is it a sign? It still gives me shivers!
Independence Day
In August 2005, we celebrated India's Independence Day with Malini and her family. It was a wonderful event. The festivities were filled with music and dance that told the history of the evolving country. Everyone was dressed in their beautiful saris in every color in the rainbow. Patrick and I really stuck out at this event! Dinner was served at dusk on this extremely hot day, so we chose to eat our delicious curry outside. All the teenagers were gathered along the parking lot talking, probably dying to leave the event that as teenagers seemed boring, I'm sure. A car pulled up along side the gaggle of teenagers, the driver cranked the stereo and got out which brought the crowd to life. The music was obviously from a Bollywood film and all the kids knew it, as well as, the choreographed dance moves that went with it. The scene was fascinating to watch. First the girls sang and danced and then were echoed by the boys just like the movie. It was so hard not to stare at our private show. The kids were oblivious to us watching; the amazing event unfolding as if the dancers were performing on auto pilot. And then, just as quickly as it started, the music ended, the formation of dancers dispersed and the kids went back to talking. It was just too cool!
Finally, on September 15, 2005 our homestudy was complete and Patrick was employed. Yeah!
