Really?? All of this to become a parent again?

I don't know how to describe the way I'm feeling today. Excited because the ball is in our court right now - one of the very few times of my infertility journey/ adoption journey that "we're in control" but overwhelmed and scared because the ball IS in our court right now and we have so much to do, it's surreal. And we have to do it right and want all this paper work/ home study part (the part we control) done before Christmas so we CAN enjoy the holidays and just relax and pray that our baby is out there and will be coming into our home in 2011.

Why doesn't everyone who wants to become a parent have to do this absurd amount of paper work, and be questioned to death....we wonder (just kidding)! And this is our second round at becoming parents, so we would like to think we have ourselves in "order" to be good parents. I don't know....maybe we should ask Sophia :)

We chose a Home Study Agency this week. That's a big relief - and now that's why the ball is in our court. We've paid our next lump sum of dollars to these folks and they get to come into our homes and our lives and "interrogate" us! Kidding, sort of. That's what we think but actually I know the best interest of the social worker is to see us successfully adopt a baby. So they send us a packet of information that requests more information than the hardest college exam I can remember. Let me not bore anyone with details (call me if you want more, ha) but we are seeing phrases and words like this:
Application (50 pages at least)
FBI Fingerprints
"Getting to know you" form - Bill and I need to spend hours talking to each other about "each other". This one is where we may fail :) Not really, kidding of course - we have learned A LOT about how each of us can/ does/ does not handle situations, etc through last few years actually.
Monthly budget
W2 forms
Bank statements
Criminal history/ sex offender registry (REALLY??)
Physical
TB Tests
HIV Tests
DMV driving record for 11 years (I think I had a speeding ticket, but not sure how long ago!)
Credit report (you'd think a lot of people go into debt after all the infertility costs and adoption costs)
Explanation of Sworn Statement or Affirmation
Letters of reference that we are suited to be good parents!!
Floor plan of our home - who is a good artist?
1040 tax forms - 3 years worth
Do your smoke detectors work? Fire extinguishers? Carbon monoxide detectors?

They will visit our home 3 times in the next 60 days to be sure are/ will be good parents and our home is "in order"....then 4-6 visits post-placement - once the baby is in our home. Not for free of course. The social workers first visit in less than 2 weeks - 11/22.

We leave to take our angel to Disney tomorrow for our first trip! We are ecstatic and you can imagine how excited Sophia is as well. We can't wait for this vacation, perfect timing. Hopefully our last vacation just the 3 of us :)