A Big Load Off!

We finally sent off our big stack of paperwork to Holt yesterday! After spending a couple nights grinding away, we finished our Personal Data forms. Those questions were not easy and took some thought to answer. That big yellow envelope represented so much time and effort, I sent it certified mail even though we weren't required to do so. I just had to be able to track it and know that it got there.
Last weekend was our first session of parenting classes that Holt offers and I was surprised at how helpful I found it. I just didn't know what to expect at first, but it ended up giving us a lot of information and advice on how to talk about adoption with our child and with other people. They also shared a lot of stories on what they have observed makes a child successfully bond with their new family and also walking us through some of the issues an adopted child may face.
A couple we go to church with was also at the class and is going through the adoption process with Holt as well. It's such a blessing to do this with them for lots of reasons, but at the class I became especially thankful that our adopted children will know each other and not feel like they are the only adopted kids in the world.
Next step is to go through our Country Guidebook, which for China is about an inch think and reminds me of the readers you used to get in college for some of your classes. It will give us all the information we need about our dossier.