Adopting Patience.

Matt and I went to the LA County Orientation on 11/4 for our next step (which was actually a step back) in the whole Adoption process. Since we’ve moved to Whittier, we had to start over. Different Counties, different systems. But I keep hearing this LA system is quicker and easier than Orange County. Which is good for us, but sad as well. There are over 2,500 kids in the Foster Care system in LA alone! It's hard to think about only helping one or two kids for now when there are SO many out there needing loving homes. But, you have to start small before you can grow big, right?

Anyway, one thing about starting over was, we got to hear the 3 hour Orientation speech…twice. Yay. But, at least this one was a little entertaining… people showed up almost an hour late (even though all the info says “show up 15 mins early or you won’t get a certificate of completion at the end of the class.”) then they proceeded to make a scene when the social worker teaching the class told them to leave.

I’m no expert on this situation, but if I was trying to adopt, I don’t think I’d start a fight with the social worker before things even got started, ya know? Hmm.

During this exciting Orientation, we found out that the 6 week “MAPP” class that we need to take, doesn’t start until Jan. 31^st, 2012 due to their holiday break. Of course! 3 more months of waiting, waiting and waiting...Waiting. I’m pretty sure Someone is teaching me something here because as anyone can tell you, I am NOT a patient person.

So, since I have 3 months to sit around and wait for the process to begin of receiving a child, you get to sit around reading about me waiting. Lucky you.

PS-MAPP Stands for “Permanency and Safety: Model Approach to Partnerships in Parenting.”

Pretty much it’s just a really long name to justify the really long classes that we’ll be going to. Once we get started, it will be a 6 week course, with 3 hours on Tuesdays and 3 hours on Thursdays. It sounds like a lot but we’re still excited to start going through the whole process.

After the classes are completed and we have our Foster care license, we will be visited by a social worker numerous times to make sure we aren’t crazy. Oh wait, I mean to make sure our house is suitable for children and all the safety regulations are being met.

So there it is, your little update. I’d just like to thank the people that have been asking about our adoption process and praying for us! I don’t get to hear “how’s your fetus doing?” every other minute, so it’s nice to hear that people still remember that we are preparing for a little Mericle of our own!