TUESDAY'S PLAN

Tuesday, I went to Kani's school and met with his teachers. That was a very interesting experience. It definitely took me back to my days of student teaching in Pittsburgh city. I also met the lady who had come forward to adopt after we had been matched. That was...awkward. What do you say? Nee-ner-nee-ner-nee-ner? I'm sorry? It was just strange.

After the school, I went to meet with seven of Kani's caseworkers to discuss the remainder of the transition and how that would be scheduled. Since we now are CPR certified, we are able to go on an unsupervised visit. We'll do that this Saturday. After that (typically), the Dept likes to schedule two day-time visits at the adoptive parents' home, then two overnight visits, then two weekend visits (two overnights back to back). Given the distance between where we live and where Kani lives, we were able to agree to drop the two day-time visits. So as it stands - we'll have our first overnight visit next weekend. Since we anticipate the evening hours to be the most stressful (the only time Kani has been away from his home overnight has been when he has been in the hospital). So rather than have him come up Friday after school (and arrive at a totally strange home after dark), I requested that they bring him Saturday morning, so he can arrive around lunchtime. Then he'll have the whole day to adjust to the house before we have to try the bedtime routine. He'll then go home Sunday. If this first overnight visit goes really well (or he has a really bad reaction when he goes home), we may forgo the second overnight and head straight to the weekend visits. Again, with the long trips in the car, this can be a very tiring process for a little guy. Indeed, we've been traveling back and forth every weekend this month and it is not fun even for adults (yet, totally worth it).

So, the soonest he could move in would be Saturday, February 14th. I don't necessarily anticipate this move-in date. However, it looks like the latest he would move in would be Saturday, February 28th. So we're on the home stretch anyway. We've got about a month before move-in. We have plenty of things to do in anticipation of the transfer to arrange for services, transfer medical files, etc. But we're getting to the end - which is really just the beginning of our life together as a family. Our state law says that he will need to be with us for six months before we can finalize the adoption. So, we may be able to schedule that towards the end of the summer.

We're just glad that this should be our last overnight visit "down there." Of course, we do still plan to visit after placement, so that Kani can see his friends/housemates/nurses/etc. But it will be different then, I think. I will enjoy continuing to see the other kids there. They are really too precious for words. It's hard to be unhappy around them!