The Lost Art of Letter Writing

This little story is a great example of just how confusing the international adoption process can be.

Our state agency requested 5 references.  We chose two of my friends (since childhood), two of Doug's friends (also since childhood), and my coworker (we spend 40 hours a week together, it gives a professional perspective, she's a good writer...).  After each of them received reference "forms" containing 5 short essay questions, we finally received one packet (of many) from the international agency.  They require 3 reference LETTERS, and one needs to be Elliott's teacher due to his age.  Cue an email frenzy between myself and RH at the state agency.  When the dust settled, we decided on the following:

• 2 references would continue with the form
• 3 references would scrap the form and do the letter in order to meet the dossier requirements
• Switched out my coworker for Elliott's teacher
• In the end, we would still be meeting the 5 references total required by the state agency

So, several weeks later, here we are with 1 form returned, and as of today 2 letters returned. One of each still to go.

Welcome to an international adoption; isn't this fun stuff?! :)