Paper Chasing

That's what this stage of the adoption process is called. So far the chase is going fairly smoothly. The only glitch has been ordering our marriage license and birth certificate. The computer froze up just after I entered the credit card info, and I can't get ahold of anyone to see if it went through or not. So I'll give that a few more days and then try again. Here are the things we've completed so far:

-applications to placing agency and homestudy agency
-adoptive training
-reference letters
-driving records
-Erin's physical and blood work (no results yet, but I'm assuming everything's fine)
-kids' medical forms
-rabies vaccination proof (for Shadow, not us)
-application for child abuse clearances

Here's what we still need to do for our homestudy and dossier:
-Heath's physical and blood work
-employment letters
-financial records of various sorts
-written statement of our plan to provide space for the child
-write our adoption letter to China (why and who we want to adopt, promise of good care, etc.)
-get fingerprinted for criminal clearances
-have our homestudy interview
-get our completed homestudy
-do I-800A (and get fingerprinted again)
-get our newly certified marriage and birth certificates (just in case that info changed since we did this last time)
-get new passport photos for the dossier and travel

This list is shorter than last time. There are several things that we don't have to redo, which is quite nice. Once all of the above (and anything I might've forgotten) is done, we can submit our dossier and wait for a match to a child. I feel like we're making quick progress this time. It certainly is less overwhelming than before! The only downside about things going quickly is that it means we have to come up with the money quickly. Those of you who are praying for us, please pray that God provides that in a timely manner! It will be a little cheaper than the first time, but not much.