So, for part of our homestudy paperwork we have to get fingerprinted and send the cards to the FBI for processing (a report is then sent to our agency). We also have to do this for the GBI, which is all electronic and much easier. But the FBI ones can take around 6 weeks for processing so we needed to do this ASAP. I asked to come in late to work Wednesday morning so we could go to the sheriff's department and get this done. I had called last week and asked about their hours and if there was a charge, to which someone told me there was no charge if it was for an adoption and we could pretty much come anytime except for like an hour during lunchtime. I called again Tuesday to ask about the cards they were supposed to be done on and was told there was a $5 charge for each (exact cash only- good to know), and that we needed to bring our own cards and they needed to be the "official" blue and white cards because their printer would not fit anything else. Our home study agency had just said to print out the card, which she had sent as an attachment, onto regular white paper in black and white and this would be fine. Well, for our county apparently it is not. So, we spent most of the day Tuesday trying to figure out how to get "official" fingerprint cards or how to print our own. We were both so stressed over this. Finally I decided it would be fine if they were in black and white (hopefully it will be) and I would print them myself onto cardstock which is what the cards normally are and cut them down to size. So, I spent $15 on a pack of cardstock, printed a ton of copies and borrowed a small paper/picture cutter from Jessica (thanks Jessica!) and cut them down to the size of the print out. Well, at some point I discovered the "official" cards are 8x8 and the ones I printed out were 8x9 (also tried downloading them from the FBI website but it was the same size). So, we were praying that some how this would work since the sheriff's office printer was set for 8x8 cards. They do your fingerprints electronically now and print out the images onto the cards, so their template in the computer has to fit onto the card. So, we get there Wednesday morning pay our money and hand the cards to the two ladies working. They both start looking at the cards and eventually comment that they are bigger than theirs and don't know how it will work- no way really... (sarcasm). So, I got back first and she opens the printer to put our cards in as she comments that she doesn't know how it will work, at which time I see that she has the "official" blue and white cards in there. So, I ask if we can pay for 2 of theirs and she kind of looks at them and then proceeds to take two out and doctor them (which apparently she has to do to anyone of them that are not for someone "checking in" to the jail-haha). All I could think was thank you Lord! It seems so minor but He took care of us needing those cards, which we had stressed over. She printed mine and then did Jarrod's and off we went. Easy as pie, once we had the cards we needed! Jarrod said it was a sign to him that the Lord was watching over us and was in control. Jarrod had commented Tuesday that it would have been easier to get arrested and get fingerprinted than it was to get fingerprints for an adoption- funny but it was beginning to feel very true. But we mailed the cards off today and hopefully they will be processed and returned with no issues- please pray for that. Thanks to everyone who tried to help us figure that out on Tuesday. Seems minor but we are so thankful the Lord took care of exactly what we needed and it was just another sign that we are on the right journey :)
Our family profile questions have been turned in and our consultant (Cheri) has finished our "narrative" - needs a few edits but its mostly done. We are going to hopefully have our 75-100 pictures compiled by tonight or tomorrow and will put on a CD and mail to Cheri to add to our "narrative which will become our family profile that birthmothers will look at. Other than that we are just trying to plug away at our home study and get at least something done every day/night. Hopefully, it wont take too much longer and we can turn it in and get approval. Then we can start applying to the actual adoption agencies and start being available for birthmothers to look at- yay! Please pray that God would continue to bless our journey and everything would go smoothly and quickly. We can't wait to have an addition to our family!
