Within two weeks of filling out our paperwork, our adoption specialist, Kelly Richards, called us to set up our first meeting with her. We were both very excited and couldn’t wait to officially begin the process.
In addition, we began to create our profile. This contained pictures and information about our families and the two of us. We wanted to give a well-rounded picture of who we are as a couple and the things we like to do, both individually and together. We also wanted to show all of the experiences we have had since we got married…whether it be traveling or taking a photo caravan safari at the Wild Animal Park. All of these things have shaped who we are, so we wanted to include them in our profile.
Also, throughout the month of April, we filled out more paperwork. We had our fingerprints taken and sent off to the federal government for a background check. I also had a doctor’s appointment to get a physical and have some tests done to make sure I was healthy. Everything came back just fine. So, we began to complete most of our paperwork in the month of April.
We had our first meeting with Kelly (our adoption specialist) on April 29, 2009. We had one snafu on the time, but we didn’t mind waiting a little bit longer. Eventually everything came together and we began the meeting and it went really well. We discussed a lot of different things, including our backgrounds, how we met, why we decided to adopt, why we chose Bethany, and our jobs. We really enjoyed our conversation with Kelly and felt very comfortable talking to her about all of this information. This was the first of 3 meetings that we will be having with Kelly.