So, no news on children, but here is my new "baby" for right now.
New Addition to the Family!
I'd like to announce that we have a new addition to our family. I have been whining about this for months. I finally broke my husband down! I did everything but throw myself on the floor and scream and kick. That was coming next! So, without further delay...meet our new kitty...?????(he doesn't have a name yet!)
So, no news on children, but here is my new "baby" for right now.
So, no news on children, but here is my new "baby" for right now.
Update...there is no update!
OK, so I thought I would post to say that we got an update from the agency telling us that there is no update. For me, I guess it's nice to just hear something instead of wondering. Although, it's a little frustrating because there is no good reason that the re-accreditation is not being signed. Here is what was written and I'll let everyone else decide and/or make an opinion:
"As the holidays approach I understand that your concerns mount about when will you adoption occur. Adoptions are still occurring in Russia. We will have 6 families complete their adoptions this month, 11 waiting with children chosen to complete their adoptions, 4 families waiting to travel for the first time to meet their children and 3 families reviewing children.
While this is positive the referrals are not coming as quickly as any of us would like. We are still restricted due to the re-accreditation issue. With re-accreditation all adoption agencies are waiting for the ministry to issue re-accreditation certificates. We see no definitive obstacles preventing this so we think it is only a matter of their bureaucracy initiating this process. I do not have a prediction as to when this will happen accept to say that we are expecting this at anytime. How this affects you is in several ways. Usually we operate in over 30 regions but without this accreditation we need to process your adoption as an independent adoption and only a few of our usual regions have an independent legal process to move forward with adoptions. I believe that our current number of regions operating with an independent process is 11. You can see how that restricts referrals just by the number of regions. Being forced to operate currently under an independent process also affects how referrals are given and how we can present referrals to you, thus over half of the independent process regions require blind trips. This delay in adoptions is creating problems within Russia with a backlog of children in the regions filling the orphanages, shelters, and hospitals to overflowing. I heard that several recent child deaths in Russia have been attributed to this overcrowding. While there is internal awareness of the urgent need to open the adoptions up this delay highlights a reality of all adoptions in that they are political processed that can be insensitive to the needs of the children and more responsive to political whims or delays."
The kicker in there for me was that children are dying because of this. I know that Steve and I are not the only people sitting here waiting to be parents! There are children there that need parents and paperwork is NOT being signed because WHY? That's what's a lot frustrating. Perhaps I'm just a bit more irritated due to the holidays. Well that and I went to a party last night, oh forget the comment I was going to make. I wont' have a pity party here.
Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season. I have finally gotten in the spirit this year and I think our house looks great! We'll be having a house full on Christmas Eve. That should be fun!
"As the holidays approach I understand that your concerns mount about when will you adoption occur. Adoptions are still occurring in Russia. We will have 6 families complete their adoptions this month, 11 waiting with children chosen to complete their adoptions, 4 families waiting to travel for the first time to meet their children and 3 families reviewing children.
While this is positive the referrals are not coming as quickly as any of us would like. We are still restricted due to the re-accreditation issue. With re-accreditation all adoption agencies are waiting for the ministry to issue re-accreditation certificates. We see no definitive obstacles preventing this so we think it is only a matter of their bureaucracy initiating this process. I do not have a prediction as to when this will happen accept to say that we are expecting this at anytime. How this affects you is in several ways. Usually we operate in over 30 regions but without this accreditation we need to process your adoption as an independent adoption and only a few of our usual regions have an independent legal process to move forward with adoptions. I believe that our current number of regions operating with an independent process is 11. You can see how that restricts referrals just by the number of regions. Being forced to operate currently under an independent process also affects how referrals are given and how we can present referrals to you, thus over half of the independent process regions require blind trips. This delay in adoptions is creating problems within Russia with a backlog of children in the regions filling the orphanages, shelters, and hospitals to overflowing. I heard that several recent child deaths in Russia have been attributed to this overcrowding. While there is internal awareness of the urgent need to open the adoptions up this delay highlights a reality of all adoptions in that they are political processed that can be insensitive to the needs of the children and more responsive to political whims or delays."
The kicker in there for me was that children are dying because of this. I know that Steve and I are not the only people sitting here waiting to be parents! There are children there that need parents and paperwork is NOT being signed because WHY? That's what's a lot frustrating. Perhaps I'm just a bit more irritated due to the holidays. Well that and I went to a party last night, oh forget the comment I was going to make. I wont' have a pity party here.
Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season. I have finally gotten in the spirit this year and I think our house looks great! We'll be having a house full on Christmas Eve. That should be fun!
It's beginning to look a lot like.....CHRISTMAS!
OK, so I haven't been bit by the scrooge bug yet so I have been busy decorating for the holidays. It will be so much more fun next year when there are 2 little ones running around. I thought I would post some pictures of the house all decorated! I have spent the past 3 days doing this. Steve stepped in today and hung the icicle lights on the top part of the roof. We weren't going to and then the next door neighbor said we could use his ladder. Needless to say, I was off to Costco to buy more lights. I was a woman on a mission! Here are some pictures of the house. We couldn't have timed it better for Buddy to look right at the camera. I think he was wondering what the beeping noise was from the self timer. Too funny! Well, the pizza is just about here. Another gourmet dinner by Teresa.Happy Thanksgiving
Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I spent it with Steve at the fire station with the other families. Of course we ate plenty and I left with a very full belly.
No new news. Got an email from the director stating that there was no update. It was nice to be kept in the loop. Still hoping that all of the paperwork will be signed by the end of this month. Things are going to start slowing down with the holidays coming.
Hope everyone is well!
No new news. Got an email from the director stating that there was no update. It was nice to be kept in the loop. Still hoping that all of the paperwork will be signed by the end of this month. Things are going to start slowing down with the holidays coming.
Hope everyone is well!
Back to #3!
Well, I just got confirmation the other day via email that we are now back at #3. This is good news. Nothing new on the reaccreditation signing though. Still hoping that it will get signed by the end of this month. I was worried that Russia would shut down for the month of December. I thought I had read that somewhere. I was wrong. They basically shut down for the first 2 weeks of January. I just really don't see how we could be traveling by the end of January like the director told us could happen but I won't entirely rule it out. So, still playing the waiting game. However, the days seem to just be flying by. I can't believe Thanksgiving is next week. Yikes. That's good and bad news. It means the kids will be here before you know it. Bad news is, I have to start Christmas shopping . Oh how I dislike the holiday hussle and bussle. Just call me scrooge. That's it for now.
Girl's Room Pictures
OK, so both of these rooms are still a work in progress. I just wanted everyone to see how they are starting to look. I mentioned before I believe that we are going to have a mural painter come in and paint both of the rooms. I am also adding a picture of the signs I made with their names for their doors. Thanks to Steve, both of the rooms got finished on this lovely 3 day weekend. It was actually nice to stay home and get some of this done instead of running around in the motorhome. Also, thanks to my VP @ work who lent me all of his power tools! I could NOT have imagined hammering in all of those nails one by one! Plus, that nail gun is now my new favorite power tool. I could have put 3 million of those nails in the wall! Just call me tool belt diva! That's it for now.
Pictures of our boy's room!
OK, I mentioned that I would post some pictures of the rooms as we progressed. Well, here is the boy's room. We are pretty much done in there. We are going to have a mural painter come in and paint some cute stuff on the walls. Not too much though, I dont' want it to over power the room plus I still have to have room on the wall for some cute trinkets.
That's pretty much it. I don't have any updates. We're still #4 on the list and waiting. I'm still hoping that we're home with the kids before summer. Actually now I hope it's sooner seeing as we signed up for a motorhome rally in South Carolina in May. It would be a lot of fun to take them to Mrytle Beach. I just love that place! I don't know how much I'm going to love being in the motorhome with TWO kids who are bored to death!
Hope everyone is doing good. Enjoy the weekend!
And the Delays continue...
OK, so I just received an email today with an update to the reaccreditation. Here it is...
"Dear Families:
The re-accreditation is still pending. Unfortunately we feel that we have been misled about dates for signing so we are still waiting. I asked for a best guess and the latest is they believe it will be towards the end of November considering some new procedures for signing off on the accreditation. I apologize for the difficulty this creates for all of you. We sincerely wish that we could resolve this immediately. As you know we are still sending families for adoption through the independent process but this has caused most of the trips to be blind or partially blind. This past week I have received referrals from Tver & Novgorod plus our families that have accepted Ykaterinburg are traveling for their referrals."
So there it is in a nutshell! If this continues, I just might go stir crazy. This is so hard not knowing. When you're pregnant, at least you know when the baby is coming. I just have to guess and wait. This waiting thing is really becoming more and more difficult.
Well for now, we'll continue to wait. Hope everyone had a spooky Halloween!
"Dear Families:
The re-accreditation is still pending. Unfortunately we feel that we have been misled about dates for signing so we are still waiting. I asked for a best guess and the latest is they believe it will be towards the end of November considering some new procedures for signing off on the accreditation. I apologize for the difficulty this creates for all of you. We sincerely wish that we could resolve this immediately. As you know we are still sending families for adoption through the independent process but this has caused most of the trips to be blind or partially blind. This past week I have received referrals from Tver & Novgorod plus our families that have accepted Ykaterinburg are traveling for their referrals."
So there it is in a nutshell! If this continues, I just might go stir crazy. This is so hard not knowing. When you're pregnant, at least you know when the baby is coming. I just have to guess and wait. This waiting thing is really becoming more and more difficult.
Well for now, we'll continue to wait. Hope everyone had a spooky Halloween!
We've Been Bumped! We're #4 now!
Well, after all of this referral stuff going on with the agency, I thought for sure we had moved up in line. Not so! We've actually been bumped back to #4. I knew this was a possibility. They were unsure whether another couple was going to get their paperwork in and go with an additional region which was Russia. Well, they did and that's what bumped us back. No worries. As I said in my earlier post, we are probably going to be traveling after the new year some time. Guess we'll be getting on the internet and purchasing some SERIOUSLY warm jackets. How do you say, BUUURRRRRR!! Pretty much, I would walk through 3 snowstorms to get to our children.
The rooms are coming together. My body hasn't seen this much manual labor in YEARS! The boy's room is painted red and blue with a fireman theme and the little girls room is painted pink and lavender. The lavender is beadboard/wainscoting. I think it is going to be super cute. I also contacted a mural painter today who is going to come out to the house and possibly paint both of the rooms. Too exciting. I'll just be glad when the rooms are done so then we can slow down a bit before the kids get here. I just might be able to get my books read before they actually get here!
Hope all is well with everyone who is reading. I will post pixs of the rooms in progress so you can see our hard work in progress! I am too happy with myself for using a miter saw, a nail gun, an air compressor and ripping out baseboard and installing new stuff! I'm not going to quit my day job that's for sure. When would I have time to post here? (he he he)
The rooms are coming together. My body hasn't seen this much manual labor in YEARS! The boy's room is painted red and blue with a fireman theme and the little girls room is painted pink and lavender. The lavender is beadboard/wainscoting. I think it is going to be super cute. I also contacted a mural painter today who is going to come out to the house and possibly paint both of the rooms. Too exciting. I'll just be glad when the rooms are done so then we can slow down a bit before the kids get here. I just might be able to get my books read before they actually get here!
Hope all is well with everyone who is reading. I will post pixs of the rooms in progress so you can see our hard work in progress! I am too happy with myself for using a miter saw, a nail gun, an air compressor and ripping out baseboard and installing new stuff! I'm not going to quit my day job that's for sure. When would I have time to post here? (he he he)
Update on the Reaccreditaion
OK, so here is part of an email that I received last Friday from the director of our agency...
"We are continuing to wait for the reaccreditation, which we again think is imminent. There was some initial indication of it being signed this week which did not happen so hopefully this will be done next week. We have referrals still promised from several regions that hopefully will also come soon. I wish I could be more definitive about the exact day but as you have all discovered Russia does not operate in time predictable ways."
I sent him an email today asking when he thought we might make our first trip. He said he didn't have a flow on the referrals yet. Which means if this reaccreditation goes through, it could speed up. His guess was that we could travel by the end of January.
So things are moving along. It's good and bad news. Good news is that I have time to finish the kids' rooms. Bad news is, I want this to happen tomorrow. I just want them home with us now!
So the waiting game continues.....stay tuned!
"We are continuing to wait for the reaccreditation, which we again think is imminent. There was some initial indication of it being signed this week which did not happen so hopefully this will be done next week. We have referrals still promised from several regions that hopefully will also come soon. I wish I could be more definitive about the exact day but as you have all discovered Russia does not operate in time predictable ways."
I sent him an email today asking when he thought we might make our first trip. He said he didn't have a flow on the referrals yet. Which means if this reaccreditation goes through, it could speed up. His guess was that we could travel by the end of January.
So things are moving along. It's good and bad news. Good news is that I have time to finish the kids' rooms. Bad news is, I want this to happen tomorrow. I just want them home with us now!
So the waiting game continues.....stay tuned!
We'v Moved Up...We're #3 now!
OMG! I had a dream last night that we were #3 in line. Steve wanted me to call the agency to see if they had gotten the documents we left on Tuesday and the minute I picked up the phone, she called. They did get the documents but I didn't do the authentication correctly. I had to have each document done separately. Oops! I then told her about my dream. She looked through the paperwork and told me I was psychic because we really were #3 in line now. This really made my Friday the 13th! So things are going along quit nicely. I think I should knock on wood though. We have had a few speed bumps though. They aren't even that big either. One of them being this authentication thing and the other being that the department of justice sent out our letters and they spelled my middle name wrong. Had to call them back and re-send them. When I told her what they had done, her response to me was, "did we really?" No, I'm just calling you to joke around with you! HELLO! Here's your sign! Oh well. Things are just moving along. I swear, I now feel like we could travel right after the new year. How cold will that be in Russia? I think I need to kick it up a notch and get the painting done in the room. We have primered 1 already thanks to Steve! I think I'll do the other one when we get home Sunday night. We're currently in Pismo Beach. Then I'll have to actually determine which colors we want to paint. The girl's room is going to be pink and lavender. The little boys room, can't decide on the hue of colors. Thinking Blue and red and we're going to do a fireman theme in there. I have to find a painter though who can paint stuff on the wall. Eeks. So much to do. Oh well, for now, I'm going to go back to enjoying our weekend away. Although I could have done without the HUGE thunder and lightening show last night. It had the dog freaked out 6 ways from Sunday.
Adoption Options Picnic
First of all, I just have to tell everyone that I finally have a crib. This ebay nut finally got one! YEAH! It is a Pali and they start in the stores around $350. I got mine from an Orange County lady for $180 and it included the mattress. The really great thing is that it matches the changing table I got off of ebay(for $41) perfectly. I couldn't have planned it any better. Guess I owe this to my mother for teaching me how to find a bargain! Thanks Mom!
On the adoption front, this past Saturday, Steve and I drove down to San Diego to attend our adoption agency's reunion picnic. It was a beautiful day and there were lots of people there. I felt a little weird being there with no children but that subsided quickly. One of my message board buddies told me to look for a couple and once I saw them, I walked right up and introduced myself. They were very helpful and I love talking to her. She also adopted a boy and a girl at the same time from Russia. She was very informative and gave me her email address. After that, Steve and I just sat on the bench in front of the playground and just watched the children. They were all so beautiful. It just makes me want this NOW! I want the children home with us ASAP. While we were sitting on the bench, a guy came up to us and asked if we were adopting from Russia. We said yes and he said he was in the same boat last year. He was so friendly. We walked with him over to the swings and Steve and I took turns pushing his 20 month old Connor on the swing. He and his wife have been home for 3 months now with their son. He was also very candid and informative and gave us his business card to contact them with any questions. I am finding that all of these post adoptive parents are so willing to help and answer questions. He told us that next year it was our job to find another person sitting on the bench and talk to them. I told him I liked that idea. It falls under the "pay it forward" category. Loved it!
After the picnic, we had our appointment with the psychologist. It was more of an interview so she could write a letter stating that we're not wack jobs or anything. And just so you all know, yes we did pass! Some of you might be asking how....don't know! We collected all of our documents and we were on our way. $400 less in our pockets but we got everything we needed. Of course the traveling notary took his share as well. I think I have told many of you that practically everyone has their hand in this cookie jar! Oh well. If it brings our children home to us, I'm all for it!
So skip ahead a few days and we are again traveling down to San Diego again. Poor Steve is sick and we drove down there on a Tuesday so we could listen to a speaker that the agency had brought in. She is a pediatrician that specializes in adoption medicine. She was really great and had a hand out for us. It basically went through all the things that we could encounter medically before, during and after this process. It was great for Steve to hear all of the things that I have been reading about. I think he thought I was being "freaky" about wanting to have the kids evaluated when they get home. This doctor told us to have it done within 2 weeks of returning home. I found a guy, who is a doctor, out in Long Beach that was referred to me by the agency. He and I have already spoken. I know this sounds freaky to do this so early but I don't want them to tell me it's going to be a 3 month wait before we can get in. I want to be able to be proactive here instead of reactive. WOW! What an educational thing to say. Guess all this educational background helps. Also, it would be difficult to go to a regualr pediatrician and expect them to be up to date on international adoption issues along with health issues and vaccines. By going to someone who understands this, they will give us a thorough evaluation instead of, "go home and feed and love them." The speaker last night told us the same thing. It was sort of funny last night, Steve leaned over to me and whispered, "do all of this times TWO!" I guess I didn't fell overwhelmed because I have been trying to read my books. I am hoping to get a lot more reading done this weekend. Steve and I are leaving for Pismo Beach tomorrow, Thursday Oct. 12th, for a long weekend with the American Coach group. So in some aspects I want the kids to be home tomorrow but then I pop back in to reality and think of the fact that I still have 2 rooms to decorate, 2 books to read, doctors to find, 2 wardrobes to buy, etc., etc. I then realize we still need a little bit of time to get prepared and the way these past few months have been flying by, it'll be March before I know it.
People keep asking me where we are in this process. We're on the referral list waiting for them to call us and give us a referral which basically means they will be offering us 2 children. We are number 5 right now in line. I guess I should see if we have moved up at all. We have also basically completed our Dossier which if you all remember was a list of documents we had to compile. It will then get translated and sent to Russia. The only things that are not done are the time sensitive documents which are the police letter(yes we have to have the police dept. write us a letter), our employment letters and another doctor physical. These are only good for 3 months so we will actually get these done after we accept the referral. If you have been reading the other posts I have done, we keep hearing that things will begin to open back up once the reaccreditation comes through which they are hoping will be taken care of by the end of October early November. We are still really hoping to travel by March. Steve says February. We'll just have to wait and see. Going to the picnic and seeing all of those adorable kids didn't help this waiting period. I have been meeting a lot of people those who are post adoptive and they are very willing to help which makes it better.
Alrighty, now that this has turned into a novel, I might just get back to work! Hope everyone is doing well. Keep my children in your thoughts and prayers. They are in an orphange right now not even knowing what is coming their way and that 2 parents are waiting for them and loving them already. They may not be dreaming of us but you know we're dreaming of them!
On the adoption front, this past Saturday, Steve and I drove down to San Diego to attend our adoption agency's reunion picnic. It was a beautiful day and there were lots of people there. I felt a little weird being there with no children but that subsided quickly. One of my message board buddies told me to look for a couple and once I saw them, I walked right up and introduced myself. They were very helpful and I love talking to her. She also adopted a boy and a girl at the same time from Russia. She was very informative and gave me her email address. After that, Steve and I just sat on the bench in front of the playground and just watched the children. They were all so beautiful. It just makes me want this NOW! I want the children home with us ASAP. While we were sitting on the bench, a guy came up to us and asked if we were adopting from Russia. We said yes and he said he was in the same boat last year. He was so friendly. We walked with him over to the swings and Steve and I took turns pushing his 20 month old Connor on the swing. He and his wife have been home for 3 months now with their son. He was also very candid and informative and gave us his business card to contact them with any questions. I am finding that all of these post adoptive parents are so willing to help and answer questions. He told us that next year it was our job to find another person sitting on the bench and talk to them. I told him I liked that idea. It falls under the "pay it forward" category. Loved it!
After the picnic, we had our appointment with the psychologist. It was more of an interview so she could write a letter stating that we're not wack jobs or anything. And just so you all know, yes we did pass! Some of you might be asking how....don't know! We collected all of our documents and we were on our way. $400 less in our pockets but we got everything we needed. Of course the traveling notary took his share as well. I think I have told many of you that practically everyone has their hand in this cookie jar! Oh well. If it brings our children home to us, I'm all for it!
So skip ahead a few days and we are again traveling down to San Diego again. Poor Steve is sick and we drove down there on a Tuesday so we could listen to a speaker that the agency had brought in. She is a pediatrician that specializes in adoption medicine. She was really great and had a hand out for us. It basically went through all the things that we could encounter medically before, during and after this process. It was great for Steve to hear all of the things that I have been reading about. I think he thought I was being "freaky" about wanting to have the kids evaluated when they get home. This doctor told us to have it done within 2 weeks of returning home. I found a guy, who is a doctor, out in Long Beach that was referred to me by the agency. He and I have already spoken. I know this sounds freaky to do this so early but I don't want them to tell me it's going to be a 3 month wait before we can get in. I want to be able to be proactive here instead of reactive. WOW! What an educational thing to say. Guess all this educational background helps. Also, it would be difficult to go to a regualr pediatrician and expect them to be up to date on international adoption issues along with health issues and vaccines. By going to someone who understands this, they will give us a thorough evaluation instead of, "go home and feed and love them." The speaker last night told us the same thing. It was sort of funny last night, Steve leaned over to me and whispered, "do all of this times TWO!" I guess I didn't fell overwhelmed because I have been trying to read my books. I am hoping to get a lot more reading done this weekend. Steve and I are leaving for Pismo Beach tomorrow, Thursday Oct. 12th, for a long weekend with the American Coach group. So in some aspects I want the kids to be home tomorrow but then I pop back in to reality and think of the fact that I still have 2 rooms to decorate, 2 books to read, doctors to find, 2 wardrobes to buy, etc., etc. I then realize we still need a little bit of time to get prepared and the way these past few months have been flying by, it'll be March before I know it.
People keep asking me where we are in this process. We're on the referral list waiting for them to call us and give us a referral which basically means they will be offering us 2 children. We are number 5 right now in line. I guess I should see if we have moved up at all. We have also basically completed our Dossier which if you all remember was a list of documents we had to compile. It will then get translated and sent to Russia. The only things that are not done are the time sensitive documents which are the police letter(yes we have to have the police dept. write us a letter), our employment letters and another doctor physical. These are only good for 3 months so we will actually get these done after we accept the referral. If you have been reading the other posts I have done, we keep hearing that things will begin to open back up once the reaccreditation comes through which they are hoping will be taken care of by the end of October early November. We are still really hoping to travel by March. Steve says February. We'll just have to wait and see. Going to the picnic and seeing all of those adorable kids didn't help this waiting period. I have been meeting a lot of people those who are post adoptive and they are very willing to help which makes it better.
Alrighty, now that this has turned into a novel, I might just get back to work! Hope everyone is doing well. Keep my children in your thoughts and prayers. They are in an orphange right now not even knowing what is coming their way and that 2 parents are waiting for them and loving them already. They may not be dreaming of us but you know we're dreaming of them!
And the delays begin....
OK, so we have hit our first delay. I am going to try and explain it to eveyone the way it was explained to me. Instead of typing it again, here it is straight off of the agency's webiste...
"Unfortunately our Russian re-accreditation has not been officially approved. Two ministers involved with signing our accreditation have resigned, and now we must wait until two new ministers are appointed. The President of Frank will be traveling to Russia to see
Adoption Options is able to work in some regions in Russia, by allowing us to work independently. We had some families travel and complete their adoption despite this issue, and do continue to receive referrals in those regions. However, there remains several regions that do not allow for this, causing many families to have a delay in their adoption process."
I received an update from the director stating that this could be resolved within the next month. Once this happens, this is when he expects things to really open back up again and the referrals will come a bit faster. This is how I understand it. He did state that some families were receiving "blind referrals." This means that the only thing we would know is the child's name, age and sex. Steve and I talked about it and we have come too far to rush into this. Basically we both looked at each other and said, "we're out on this!" Good thing we agree.
So, here we are in the waiting game. We are going to a picnic this weekend that the agency is putting on. I am looking forward to talking with other families who have been through this already and am especially looking forward to meeting the families who have brought 2 home at once. I have already emailed 2 different families and they have emailed me back. Both were very generous and wanted to answer any of my questions and both offered to have me call them. I am so glad that people are so nice. I hope to return the favor some day.
Well, I guess when I get an update, I will update that info here. Until then, tick tock, tick tock. My hope is still to be home by summer which I think is a very realistic goal. I ran this by the director and he agreed. YEAH!
Hope everyone is well. Take care.
"Unfortunately our Russian re-accreditation has not been officially approved. Two ministers involved with signing our accreditation have resigned, and now we must wait until two new ministers are appointed. The President of Frank will be traveling to Russia to see
Adoption Options is able to work in some regions in Russia, by allowing us to work independently. We had some families travel and complete their adoption despite this issue, and do continue to receive referrals in those regions. However, there remains several regions that do not allow for this, causing many families to have a delay in their adoption process."
I received an update from the director stating that this could be resolved within the next month. Once this happens, this is when he expects things to really open back up again and the referrals will come a bit faster. This is how I understand it. He did state that some families were receiving "blind referrals." This means that the only thing we would know is the child's name, age and sex. Steve and I talked about it and we have come too far to rush into this. Basically we both looked at each other and said, "we're out on this!" Good thing we agree.
So, here we are in the waiting game. We are going to a picnic this weekend that the agency is putting on. I am looking forward to talking with other families who have been through this already and am especially looking forward to meeting the families who have brought 2 home at once. I have already emailed 2 different families and they have emailed me back. Both were very generous and wanted to answer any of my questions and both offered to have me call them. I am so glad that people are so nice. I hope to return the favor some day.
Well, I guess when I get an update, I will update that info here. Until then, tick tock, tick tock. My hope is still to be home by summer which I think is a very realistic goal. I ran this by the director and he agreed. YEAH!
Hope everyone is well. Take care.
We're #5 in line!!!
WOW! I can't believe it's been a month since I have updated this. Time is just flying by now that I am back to work. I swear, every night I come home and think I will update this thing and I don't. So here I sit at work, not working, and typing away. So much i feel has happened since the last post! So here it goes!
Once we got the home study back, we also got some contracts to sign. Well, we signed those and had them back in the mail in no time flat. We then got a HUGE packet of paperwork called our Dossier. The gal we are working with now told me not to panic. I got the packet in the mail, of course after stalking the mailman, and what did i do....PANIC. I was quickly going through all the paperwork thinking, oh my god, oh my god, this is a ton of info we have to gather. Well, once i actually sat down and read through it, I noticed that a lot of the things we had to do, the agency was actually going to do. Yah for me! Needless to say, I got the packet of info on Tuesday afternoon, got to work on Wednesday and worked on it all day. Steve asked me if I gave the school district any time that day, like he's one to talk, and I said a little. I finished the paperwork on Friday afternoon and we drove to San Diego on Monday. I guess to let you know about the paperwork that was included in that packet...a little bit of everything. There were 39 things listed out that I had to compile. Luckily, once I stopped panicing, I only had to do 1-26 and the agency had to do the rest since they also did our home study. I had to copy our passport pages 1 & 2 onto a specific page they included and I had to make 7 copies of each passport. I also had to make copies of the deed to the house on their document, fill out other odd and end stuff pertaining to power of attorney, placement stuff, russian registration, etc. All of these documents had to be notarized, then taken to the county and then sent off to the state. I took a total of 44 documents to San Diego to be notarized. Most notaries charge $10/document. Heloo! Luckily, I called the agency and was sort of complaining that the county of San Bernardino charges $10/document to authenticate the notary. This was adding up rather quickly. Michelle, our coordinator told me that if I came to San Diego, she could do them for us for FREE! Needless to say, we were in the car driving down there. The second reason we went down there is because the county of San Diego only charges $2/document to then authenticate the notary. So basically by driving down there, we saved over $700. Michelle has an assistant who then took the documents (for the bargain price of $75) to be authenticated and then on to the state level where all of those documents will then get apostilled. The state will put their stamp of approval on it and Russian will recognize it. If anyone has heard of the Hague convention, that is when this seal came about. I guess now that you are reading this, you know all of the flaming hoops of fire we are jumping through to get these kids home to us and why we don't want to go through this again, hence adopting TWO children at once.
OK, I'm sure the last paragraph was sort of all jumbled up. Sorry. I am at work and trying to multi-task. So basically, I still have some other things to finish up with the dossier. They are time sensitive though and some are only good for 3 months. We do however have the necessary documents in to recieve a referral, 2 in our case. The other documents we have to get are, good conduct letters from the police department, a letter from a psychologist, a letter from our doctor, medical certificates and letters from our employers. All of these are time sensitive documents that are only good from 3-6 months. We'll get them a bit later. Again, we will have to have all of these documents notarized, authenticated and then apostilled. In some of the cases, we will have to bring a notary with us so they can watch the doctors sign their name. More flaming hoops of fire!
You may be asking where we are at right now. I asked the director and he said that we are number 5 in line. This means that in just our agency, we are 5th in line for a referral. Our coordinator told me that she thinks I set a record in getting all of those documents back to her so quickly. She said some people take 3-4 months to get them back. With that being said, if the people who are number 3 or 4 don't have the necessary documents back to the agency, they will have to get passed up and they will come to us with the referral. So we're just in the waiting game right now. I told the director that I have a couple of books to read and also 2 rooms to decorate. I think the referrals will be here before we know it and I won't be ready. Needless to say, whatever happens, I know I will be running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Most of you reading this know me and you already know this!
Well, I guess I will get back to work. I will have to post some pictures of the cute rocking chairs that Steve and I bought for the kids. I have been trying to be really good but it is hard. I just want to shop like crazy! Especially the very cute VRROOW coat that mom and I both saw at Costco. Too cute! For now, I will remain calm. I am trying to only buy things that will go in their rooms to decorate. Once we know the ages though, look out! Janet and Leslie keep telling me to quit shopping because there won't be anything left for a shower! Oh please ladies! There will be TONS!
Best wishes to all reading this!
Once we got the home study back, we also got some contracts to sign. Well, we signed those and had them back in the mail in no time flat. We then got a HUGE packet of paperwork called our Dossier. The gal we are working with now told me not to panic. I got the packet in the mail, of course after stalking the mailman, and what did i do....PANIC. I was quickly going through all the paperwork thinking, oh my god, oh my god, this is a ton of info we have to gather. Well, once i actually sat down and read through it, I noticed that a lot of the things we had to do, the agency was actually going to do. Yah for me! Needless to say, I got the packet of info on Tuesday afternoon, got to work on Wednesday and worked on it all day. Steve asked me if I gave the school district any time that day, like he's one to talk, and I said a little. I finished the paperwork on Friday afternoon and we drove to San Diego on Monday. I guess to let you know about the paperwork that was included in that packet...a little bit of everything. There were 39 things listed out that I had to compile. Luckily, once I stopped panicing, I only had to do 1-26 and the agency had to do the rest since they also did our home study. I had to copy our passport pages 1 & 2 onto a specific page they included and I had to make 7 copies of each passport. I also had to make copies of the deed to the house on their document, fill out other odd and end stuff pertaining to power of attorney, placement stuff, russian registration, etc. All of these documents had to be notarized, then taken to the county and then sent off to the state. I took a total of 44 documents to San Diego to be notarized. Most notaries charge $10/document. Heloo! Luckily, I called the agency and was sort of complaining that the county of San Bernardino charges $10/document to authenticate the notary. This was adding up rather quickly. Michelle, our coordinator told me that if I came to San Diego, she could do them for us for FREE! Needless to say, we were in the car driving down there. The second reason we went down there is because the county of San Diego only charges $2/document to then authenticate the notary. So basically by driving down there, we saved over $700. Michelle has an assistant who then took the documents (for the bargain price of $75) to be authenticated and then on to the state level where all of those documents will then get apostilled. The state will put their stamp of approval on it and Russian will recognize it. If anyone has heard of the Hague convention, that is when this seal came about. I guess now that you are reading this, you know all of the flaming hoops of fire we are jumping through to get these kids home to us and why we don't want to go through this again, hence adopting TWO children at once.
OK, I'm sure the last paragraph was sort of all jumbled up. Sorry. I am at work and trying to multi-task. So basically, I still have some other things to finish up with the dossier. They are time sensitive though and some are only good for 3 months. We do however have the necessary documents in to recieve a referral, 2 in our case. The other documents we have to get are, good conduct letters from the police department, a letter from a psychologist, a letter from our doctor, medical certificates and letters from our employers. All of these are time sensitive documents that are only good from 3-6 months. We'll get them a bit later. Again, we will have to have all of these documents notarized, authenticated and then apostilled. In some of the cases, we will have to bring a notary with us so they can watch the doctors sign their name. More flaming hoops of fire!
You may be asking where we are at right now. I asked the director and he said that we are number 5 in line. This means that in just our agency, we are 5th in line for a referral. Our coordinator told me that she thinks I set a record in getting all of those documents back to her so quickly. She said some people take 3-4 months to get them back. With that being said, if the people who are number 3 or 4 don't have the necessary documents back to the agency, they will have to get passed up and they will come to us with the referral. So we're just in the waiting game right now. I told the director that I have a couple of books to read and also 2 rooms to decorate. I think the referrals will be here before we know it and I won't be ready. Needless to say, whatever happens, I know I will be running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Most of you reading this know me and you already know this!
Well, I guess I will get back to work. I will have to post some pictures of the cute rocking chairs that Steve and I bought for the kids. I have been trying to be really good but it is hard. I just want to shop like crazy! Especially the very cute VRROOW coat that mom and I both saw at Costco. Too cute! For now, I will remain calm. I am trying to only buy things that will go in their rooms to decorate. Once we know the ages though, look out! Janet and Leslie keep telling me to quit shopping because there won't be anything left for a shower! Oh please ladies! There will be TONS!
Best wishes to all reading this!
Completed Home Study...In the Mail!!!
Well, just got news that the home study was put in the mail today so we should have it pretty quickly. What does this mean you may ask? Well, it means that we have now moved on to our dossier preparation and gathering MORE info from different people and probably more doctor visits. It also means that we are on the referral list. As soon as we get the home study, fill out some contract papers and of course mail them more money, we will officially be on the list! Yeah for us. From there it becomes a waiting game for the referrals. In the meantime, the bureau of citizenship immigration services (BCIS) has sent us our fingerprint appointment so we'll have those done. They gave us between 8/25 - 9/9. How nice that we got the letter on the 29th! We're going in on Saturday the 9th. This will be our 2nd set of fingerprints. Basically, things are coming together and we are hoping to have our children home by summer. If you ask Steve, he'll tell you now that we hope to have them home by spring time. That would be nice but I'm not going to hold my breath. If that ends up being the case, we'll have to buy some serious winter clothes for visiting Russia in the middle of winter! How do you spell BUUURRR! These 2 SoCal parents are going to freeze their butts off! Well worth it though.
I have started shopping for "stuff" and have become an Ebay addict. I bought a carseat and just called the company today and they are going to ship me out, FOR FREE, the shoulder straps that are the leopard print! Good God! Our little girl will learn how to say VRROOW before anything else! I also bought a glider rocker for the room. I'll have to take pictures and post them. I have other little things as well. I bought the cutest little pink blanket that says, "little princess" on the corner. I also have a 12 month old outfit that has a little fire truck on the bottom. It is so cute. I found some matching bibs as well. I just like to walk into the room and look at the stuff and imagine little kids in those clothes or just playing. Makes me feel good!
Alrighty, I hope everyone has a fantastic Labor Day Weekend!!
I have started shopping for "stuff" and have become an Ebay addict. I bought a carseat and just called the company today and they are going to ship me out, FOR FREE, the shoulder straps that are the leopard print! Good God! Our little girl will learn how to say VRROOW before anything else! I also bought a glider rocker for the room. I'll have to take pictures and post them. I have other little things as well. I bought the cutest little pink blanket that says, "little princess" on the corner. I also have a 12 month old outfit that has a little fire truck on the bottom. It is so cute. I found some matching bibs as well. I just like to walk into the room and look at the stuff and imagine little kids in those clothes or just playing. Makes me feel good!
Alrighty, I hope everyone has a fantastic Labor Day Weekend!!
Whew! We made it!
Well, the home study is over and we made it through. I tried to kill myself before hand though. In all my smartness, I decided 48 hours before hand to frame numerous different family pixs and hang them. I also decided to hang other decorative items that I have been putting off for more than 3 years. Nothing like a good home study to get your ass in gear! Then while I was walking through Target, I found 2 huge prints that would go above our bed. Decided to throw those in the card. It wasn't until I got out to the car that I was in a bit of a predicament. I was driving Steve's Nissan Z. Have you seen the truck in these cars? It's basically NON existent. I had 2 huge framed prints and a few other bags. After a bit, everything was in the car and I was on my way home to try and hang everything on the wall. While in the middle of hanging everything, my housekeeper called to say she would be able to come by and help clean. THANK GOD! That way I was only up until 11pm instead of 1am getting the house together. On top of everything else, work was crazy off the hook too. I came in to my "old" school taking over the master schedule with a brand new principal. Yikes! I had major changes to make the same day I had to leave work at 2pm to make it home in time. Luckily I got out of there on time and still had a complete head of hair.
I opened my email about 5 minutes before the social worker got there. I had asked a quesiton on the Russian Adoption board for some advice. One of the gals replied back that her social worker didn't like an immaculate home. Wholy shit! I'd just spent the past 48 hours picking up things that had been laying around for MONTHS and cleaned off 1 year of crap that had accumulated in the "scrap room." I was a little nervous. I told Steve to throw some dirty laundry on the floor. I decided it was too late and was just going to go with it.
The home study really wasn't that big of a deal. The social worker interviewed the 2 of us together and then by ourselves. While Steve was doing his interview, I went upstairs and laid on the sofa and took a little cat nap. It felt good after trying to burn the candle at both ends. Total time for the home study was about 3.5 hours. She sent us an email today telling us she had a nice time meeting us. That was very nice. She also sent us some websites and books to buy.
So from here, the social worker is going to type up a report. She's going to send it to us for review and then we'll send it back to her so she can formally type it up. After that, it'll go to the BCIS (Immigaration) for approval. Of course before all of this can happen, we have to send them a check. Once the home study report is done, we go on the referral list. I didn't think it would happen that fast. I thought we'd have to wait for approval from the BCIS. Yeah, we could be parent by this summer!
We were watching an Adoption show on Discovery Health this evening. For some reason, it made me cry. I wonder if AF is on her way again. Just watching that show makes me excited for our time to come. Guess just having the home study makes me feel like we're one step closer. We have a lot of hurdles to jump over and we just made it over one of them.
Well, tomorrow is Saturday and I am going to sleep in. All this running around like a chicken with it's head cut off is catching up to me. The house is sooooo clean it actually scares me so I dont' have to worry about cleaning. Not like I worried much about it before.
It's late and I think I'm gonna hit the hay! Hope all is well with everyone.
I opened my email about 5 minutes before the social worker got there. I had asked a quesiton on the Russian Adoption board for some advice. One of the gals replied back that her social worker didn't like an immaculate home. Wholy shit! I'd just spent the past 48 hours picking up things that had been laying around for MONTHS and cleaned off 1 year of crap that had accumulated in the "scrap room." I was a little nervous. I told Steve to throw some dirty laundry on the floor. I decided it was too late and was just going to go with it.
The home study really wasn't that big of a deal. The social worker interviewed the 2 of us together and then by ourselves. While Steve was doing his interview, I went upstairs and laid on the sofa and took a little cat nap. It felt good after trying to burn the candle at both ends. Total time for the home study was about 3.5 hours. She sent us an email today telling us she had a nice time meeting us. That was very nice. She also sent us some websites and books to buy.
So from here, the social worker is going to type up a report. She's going to send it to us for review and then we'll send it back to her so she can formally type it up. After that, it'll go to the BCIS (Immigaration) for approval. Of course before all of this can happen, we have to send them a check. Once the home study report is done, we go on the referral list. I didn't think it would happen that fast. I thought we'd have to wait for approval from the BCIS. Yeah, we could be parent by this summer!
We were watching an Adoption show on Discovery Health this evening. For some reason, it made me cry. I wonder if AF is on her way again. Just watching that show makes me excited for our time to come. Guess just having the home study makes me feel like we're one step closer. We have a lot of hurdles to jump over and we just made it over one of them.
Well, tomorrow is Saturday and I am going to sleep in. All this running around like a chicken with it's head cut off is catching up to me. The house is sooooo clean it actually scares me so I dont' have to worry about cleaning. Not like I worried much about it before.
It's late and I think I'm gonna hit the hay! Hope all is well with everyone.
Homestudy is here!!!
Geez, finally an update. Folks have really been after me to update this thing. This is sort of like have a diary. Well, our summer vacation road trip is over and we're back home and back to work. This week has been a bit crazy. I have been coming home at around 7pm every night, eating dinner, getting things together for the next day and falling into bed. Doesn't leave a lot of room to get on the internet. Sooo, enough with the excuses....
Dear Diary...just kidding...Our home study is scheduled for this coming Tuesday the 15th. Yikes! She's coming at 3pm and told us that it would last for about 3 hours. Whatever will we talk about for that amount of time. Knowing me, I could talk her ear off til midnight! Those of you who know me know that's true. The house is pretty clean, but then again, have any of you ever know us to have a dirty house? Hopefully the housekeeper will come on Tuesday to help out so it's freshly clean smelling. Other than that, I'm not sure what else I'm supposed to do.
I'm not really all that nervous about this. Should I be? Anyhow, I'm going to go get ready and go to work. YES! If figured it's Saturday and saying, she's going to work. YUP. Things are a bit behind and who can pass up a comp day. I need all of them that I can take with having to travel to Russia twice.
Hopefully everyone is enjoying the last bit of summer. Take care.
Dear Diary...just kidding...Our home study is scheduled for this coming Tuesday the 15th. Yikes! She's coming at 3pm and told us that it would last for about 3 hours. Whatever will we talk about for that amount of time. Knowing me, I could talk her ear off til midnight! Those of you who know me know that's true. The house is pretty clean, but then again, have any of you ever know us to have a dirty house? Hopefully the housekeeper will come on Tuesday to help out so it's freshly clean smelling. Other than that, I'm not sure what else I'm supposed to do.
I'm not really all that nervous about this. Should I be? Anyhow, I'm going to go get ready and go to work. YES! If figured it's Saturday and saying, she's going to work. YUP. Things are a bit behind and who can pass up a comp day. I need all of them that I can take with having to travel to Russia twice.
Hopefully everyone is enjoying the last bit of summer. Take care.
The Paper Chase Begins!
Well, while we were in Idaho, I received a call from the agency. They told me by the time we got home, there would be an envelope with a packet of info for us. Needless to say, I was anxious to get the mail when we got home unfortunatley, we had to wait a day since it had been put on hold and Steve had to pick it up at the post office. WOW! I have been reading in the adoption handbook that there was a lot of paperwork but wholy cow! We are only home for 2.5 days and they are jammed packed. We have been running around trying to get the motorhome ready for the next big trip which is going to last 5 weeks. We have also been trying to get some of the adoption stuff done as well which makes for two very tired parents to be at the end of the day. Guess we'll just call this training!
As of right now, we have filled out the I-600A form which goes to the state of california. We had to fill out this form and provide birth certificates, marriage certificate, divorce documents and $685 for them to look at this and also take our fingerprints. Once they get our homestudy from the agency, then they will hopefully approve us and send us what is called the I-171H form which let's us know that we are good to go to adopt in Russia. From there we have to work on getting our Dossier together. I can't even look that far seeing as we have a ton of paperwork to gather together for our homestudy and yes that required another set of fingerprints and MORE money. I think I will have to find this money tree that my parents always talked about! At least I know we are working towards something instead of just wondering what might be. I know that after all of this, we will be parents. I actually bought us 2 backpacks that are perfect for our flight home with our TWO new babies! I just had to buy something. Pregnant women get to buy cute stuff for their baby to be, I buy backpacks that will double as diaper bags to fly 17 hours home on a plane. I already feel sorry for the people who have to sit near us!
Well, I hope everyone is having a great summer. I am off to bed to catch some sleep so I can get up tomorrow and run around like a chicken with my head cut off again. And this is supposed to be my time off from work. Good thing! I need to go on vacation so I can go back to taking naps while Steve drives us down the road to our next destination. I'll enjoy it while I can. I'm hoping our next big motorhome trip will have 2 new babies to ride along and that will be a whole new adventure in itself!
Hugs to all!
As of right now, we have filled out the I-600A form which goes to the state of california. We had to fill out this form and provide birth certificates, marriage certificate, divorce documents and $685 for them to look at this and also take our fingerprints. Once they get our homestudy from the agency, then they will hopefully approve us and send us what is called the I-171H form which let's us know that we are good to go to adopt in Russia. From there we have to work on getting our Dossier together. I can't even look that far seeing as we have a ton of paperwork to gather together for our homestudy and yes that required another set of fingerprints and MORE money. I think I will have to find this money tree that my parents always talked about! At least I know we are working towards something instead of just wondering what might be. I know that after all of this, we will be parents. I actually bought us 2 backpacks that are perfect for our flight home with our TWO new babies! I just had to buy something. Pregnant women get to buy cute stuff for their baby to be, I buy backpacks that will double as diaper bags to fly 17 hours home on a plane. I already feel sorry for the people who have to sit near us!
Well, I hope everyone is having a great summer. I am off to bed to catch some sleep so I can get up tomorrow and run around like a chicken with my head cut off again. And this is supposed to be my time off from work. Good thing! I need to go on vacation so I can go back to taking naps while Steve drives us down the road to our next destination. I'll enjoy it while I can. I'm hoping our next big motorhome trip will have 2 new babies to ride along and that will be a whole new adventure in itself!
Hugs to all!
Our First Step is completed!
Well, as of Friday June 16th, our application was mailed off to Adoption Options in San Diego. I reminded Steve that they have to accept us FIRST! We can get all excited about this, but what if they turn us down? He says he's not worried. Just gives me one more thing to worry about.
I have been head long into this Russian Adoption Handbook. There are some things in there that really worry me. I was sort of being "polyannaish" about the whole thing I guess. I just thought, I would go over there, pick up my children, love them to pieces and everything would be OK. That isn't always the case. HELLO! Like to gauge their weight by their months ie. a 16 month old weighs 16 lbs or that they shower them with cold water which gives them issues with bathing(well, Steve thinks I have issues with bathing so maybe me and the kids will get along :-)). YIKES! I guess I can read about being "institutionalized" but can't really understand that and what those children go through. I'll keep reading though just to be prepared.
Many of you already know that tomorrow we'll be off in the motorhome for 2 weeks in Idaho in our sandbuggie. I'm hoping the agency will call us while we're up there so we can really get this process going.
Our next BIG step is the homestudy. Guess if I thought writing the one page paper for the application was stressful, this homestudy outta take the cake!
Hugs to all!
Received our agency application
I got this idea from a website and thought this would be a good way to keep everyone updated on our process and journey to becoming parents.
We received our agency application the other day. I felt like I was stalkling the mailman. I felt like I was back in grade school and loved when I got mail! We have been busy filling out the information and gathering things together. We have to write a 1 page summary. Talk about being back in school. I'm not worried about getting an "A", now I'm worried that I'll be good enough to be accepted into motherhood!
We are off on our motorhome trip this Sunday. We are trying to get our application done in time to mail it in before we leave. We are diving in to this with both feet and plenty of heart! We're very excited to know that we are now on a path that will lead us to becoming parents instead of the unknown! We are very excited about this and hope that you will share in this happiness with us!
We received our agency application the other day. I felt like I was stalkling the mailman. I felt like I was back in grade school and loved when I got mail! We have been busy filling out the information and gathering things together. We have to write a 1 page summary. Talk about being back in school. I'm not worried about getting an "A", now I'm worried that I'll be good enough to be accepted into motherhood!
We are off on our motorhome trip this Sunday. We are trying to get our application done in time to mail it in before we leave. We are diving in to this with both feet and plenty of heart! We're very excited to know that we are now on a path that will lead us to becoming parents instead of the unknown! We are very excited about this and hope that you will share in this happiness with us!
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