Paper Pregnancy

Today DH and I met with our lawyer to start the petition to adopt our precious son. We have the parental relinquishment/consent to adopt affidavit from the bfather... which is HUGE! There was a time in the adoption process that Angie, DH and I were terrified to contact the bfather as we weren't sure how willing he would be. As further proof that this was meant to be, however, the Lord watched over all involved and when we did contact the bfather, though he was initially unsure, he quickly agreed (we believe after he spoke to his fiance) and has been on board ever since. Only weird thing is, I sent him a thank you note with the affidavit and he returned it with the signed paperwork... What does that mean? Was it an accident? Does he not want to have anything to do with River? The things that make you go, hmmm.... (a little shout out to early 90's R&B there!)

At our meeting with the lawyer we filled out the petition paper work and got a run down of what needs to be included with the petition. Here are the next steps in our adoption journey.

• Get fingerprinted for FBI and CBI background checks. (I must say it does bother me that we have to have the FBI and CBI approve us before we can be parents but unfortunately they aren't the only ones)
  
• Get a background check through Colorado's Social Service Dept. to make sure we haven't been convicted of any crimes against children.
  
• Check with the county we live in to see if they will require a home check be included with our petition.
  
• And then hurry up and wait thanks to the above mentioned bureaucracies we have to work with.
  

I must clarify that these are the next steps that we are aware of. I'm sure there will be more. But all I care about at this point is the fact that we are starting the official adoption process and are thus one day closer to legally becoming River's parents! DH and I are ecstatic to say the least!

Let the paper pregnancy begin. I know, I know, it is a little backwards. Usually pregnancy comes before a baby but we are rebells and are doing things our own way. For those unfamiliar with adoption lingo, the adoption process is sometimes referred to as a paper pregnancy because often the weight of the paperwork required to be filled out in the adoption process is pretty close to the extra weight you would have gained in a pregnancy. Crazy isn't it?

And now the best part of my post. A picture of River snuggling with Nico before bed!