We're on our way

We mailed our application packet today:
Official application
2 signed contracts saying that we agree to anything they want to do to us
Certified check (using money that was supposed to be part of my hubby's car down payment!)
The postman said it should reach Indianapolis in 2 days.
It's so scary to send money through the mail, let alone documents that have so much personal information about us. Oh well, if the bad guys are gonna mess with you, they're gonna mess with you.
Now we wait. We wait for our agency to review everything to make sure (yet again) that we're good enough to continue with this process. We've already been "pre-approved" but I guess that doesn't count for much. The pre-approval was free, now the gloves are off, I guess.
I have no idea how long it'll take until we hear back from them.
The next step is for them to open our case and assign us our social worker. Which means in a nutshell, more paperwork, another big check followed by a HUGE check, followed by more paperwork and more waiting. Which leads me to another thought. My husband and I just saw one of those Save the Children (or some charity) commercial showing all those needy kids and I asked him why adoption takes so long? There are MILLIONS of needy kids out there. I can even almost understand the astonomical cost, I'm willing to pay it. Believe me, I can totally understand all the background checks. But WHY SO LONG??? I mean, we sign on the dotted line, we get fingerprinted and checked and re-checked and we willingly pay the fees.......let's just get on with it!! I know I'm not the most patient of people (I even admitted it on my autobiography) but the sooner we get these kids out of their current situation, the better. Doesn't that just make sense?
Anyway, we're in this for the long haul. However long it takes, we're gonna just stick with it and ride it out. What else can we do??