and yet more paperwork....

We got the forms for the last of the criminal background checks yesterday. So hopefully Bill will get that done and in the mail today. You have to get a criminal background check for every state you have lived in for the past 10 years. Meaning I got to do NH and MA, and Bill did NH, MA and Indiana. They all have different forms, different rules and of course all want their own fees as well.
We need to get all of that paper work back from each state before they can complete our homestudy.
It is also time to start gathering our references from those who have agreed to write them. I need to call everyone so they have the address to mail it to and hopefully they can get them out before the holidays when everyone gets really busy.
We faxed our bios over to the social worker today as well, so that part is done.
I also mailed the guardian letter to my brother to sign. Normally no big deal, except that he is in the peace corps in Albania and the mail isn't that reliable....SO it will likely be a month before we get that back from him (assuming it isn't lost and we have to send it again) and then we can forward it to my sister-in-law in CO to sign it as well.
They don't call it the Paper Chase for nothing...

Things are moving along rapidly, but it's never fast enough. Especially knowing that once we get all the paperwork officially mailed to China, it will be 6-12 months before we get our referral.....