GOOD NEWS

Today was a GREAT day! Not only for us but for Susan and Wayne too.. (click on the link on the side) they have a COURT DATE!!!!! CONGRATULATIONS.

And a big congratulations to Melissa and Mike who are in Moscow this week finalizing the paperwork to bring little Olivia home. (love the name) And to Lauren and Marco who are doing the same for little cupcake.

I want to thank all of the families for updating the blogs throughout the process. It has really helped me keep everything in perspective.--- and to keep in mind that in time it will be our turn!

Today we received our state police background checks.... and both say NO RECORD!!! YEAH!!!
I already knew that.. .but it is nice to know that the state agrees with me! Now I just need the child abuse clearances and our last home visit and it's off to Harrisburg to get it all appostilled and then it's off to Russia.

Our Bloggerfriend Christen (who is in Med school on one of the most beautiful tropical islands out there--- AKA---Grand Cayman! Not that I'm jealous or anything... I actually prefer building snowmen to sandcastles... NOT!!) Anyway she asked a good question...
How long have we been on our adoption journey?
Now this blog is used by family, friends and fellow bloggers. Some of the info will make sense to the adoption bloggers... while to the rest.. I apologize in advance if this bores you.

1. Jan. 2006 -- We applied to one of the summer hosting programs. We were going to host a little boy from Kazakhstan for about six weeks over the summer and then proceed to adopt him.

2. Spring 2006 -- Did a mini-home study and had all the background checks done. (thus ours are expiring now and we had to reapply)

3. Summer 2006 - Found out that the summer program was NOT going to happen due to visa issues with the kids.

4. Summer/Fall 2006 - I started to look around and research adoption agencies and countries. We decided that Russia was the country for us and I decided that the agency that was going to do the hosting program was not going to be the agency we would go with. So the hunt was on for an agency. And THAT'S when I found out about this "ACCREDITATION" thing! I spent quite a bit of time on the Embassy websites.. Especially the one in Moscow. I found out at the time there were only 16 agencies in the US that were accredited to adopt in Russia (That should change in a matter of days-- as the new batch of agencies are processed). I then spent time looking at each of the websites, calling them, and that's when I started to find out about this blog thing. I admit I was a lurker for several months before I started one. I found Melissa/Mike's website and she listed an e-mail once in one of her posts. SO I responded and introduced myself. She has been a big inspiration and a huge help through this process.
I should add the bloggers are a great source of information-- everyone is helpful on sharing info on their agencies, the countries, what to expect etc.

5. Nov. 2006 - We apply to CIS and submit the I600A.

6. Dec. 2006 - We get notification for fingerprinting. We both head to Philly to the CIS office. Also, since I was born in Bermuda I had to get my Naturalization papers Certified. Was that a task. The CIS website says make an appointment and come down. I did. The immigration officer looks at me and laughs and says you are the fifth one this month and we don't know why the website says to come here. We don't know what to do!! Well, after a long long long talk and another long talk with his supervisor (I was very nice.. it really was just a long talk) I convinced them there was a BIG difference between a notarized copy and "a true certified" copy!!! I then asked them to call the immigration officer for adoptions and see what needs to be done for the Russian Gov. They did this and then asked me to come back after lunch. They then agreed--- they are the only ones who can certify my Naturalization papers and now agree and see why a notarized stamp wouldn't work. They then proceed to give me three copies. I ask for two more just to be safe. Now I have five copies in case anyone loses any of them.

7. Dec. 2006 - We apply to our adoption agency. And we are approved!! Our home study is completed. We stayed with the same social worker agency since they already started the home study last spring.

8. Jan. 2007 - Our social worker e-mails our agency the home study. She reviews it and sends corrections.

9. Feb 2007 - We are waiting for a few things. Some of the corrections were to have some of the clearances (State police background/Child Abuse) redone/updated since they would be expiring in a month. Also our agency wants one more home visit with a newer date. That will be done next week.

And that brings us to today. I hope this is helpful to anyone who is just starting out. Our process was longer than some but shorter than others. Our agency director says she thinks we'll be traveling this spring for the first trip. I hope so. My husband has a conference in Disneyworld in Aug. and I'd love to go as a parent!! But then again I have to remember it's all out of my control now.

Things are Moving

Okay, we have a date scheduled with the social worker. She'll be here next week. And now we are on week two of waiting for the child abuse clearances. Hopefully they come this week or next. Then I can run to get everything appostilled and sent to the agency. The agency will then send it to Moscow!! The agency director said it is possible to have everything sent out by the first week or so of March. This is a goal I would to see happen.

Happy Days are Here Again

I just read an e-mail from my social worker. This is the first point of contact in two or three weeks. But it was GOOD! She said it wouldn't be a problem getting everything done and making the changes suggested by our agency director. And she added that she'd like to do the updated home visit within a week or two!!
YEAH!!! Cross your fingers!!

Not Much to Say

Hello,
I don't have much to say. Steve and I filled-out the forms for the state police/child/driver's records again. They went in the mail on Monday. We are hoping to hear back within two weeks or so. I'm not sure what to do about the social worker situation. Like I said, she was out of the office last week for personal reasons. So I understand her not getting/responding to my/my agency's e-mails last week. Now, after I didn't hear anything on Monday I sent a "touching base" e-mail Monday night , here it is Wednesday (1:30 am) and I still have heard nothing. This is a little annoying. She has a habit of not responding to e-mails and then she has a habit of saying she never got the e-mail. So what should I do? She has to redo a visit so I'm at her mercy for that. (our agency director would like a more recent visit-- it boils down to just having a visitation date closer to the dates that will be on everything once it's all finalized so that time lines and dates match up.) I was just hoping to have everything ready to go so when the clearance checks arrive we can get the home study notarized and apostilled. Is that too much to expect or ask?

Back to Paperwork

The forms for our child abuse clearance and police background checks came in the mail today. So I'm in the process of filling them out again. Family members on my side will get a kick out of this, the child abuse clearance asks for every address since 1975!!! Yep!!! Oh, like I have a chance of getting all of them listed!! Anyway I'm not too worried, I've been cleared twice before without everyone listed, so I'm sure since it's only been a year and I still live in the same place everything will be fine.

The dogs have a BAD case of cabin Fever!! It's really bad. It's too cold for them outside and yet they are so stir crazy it's driving me crazy. I called home the other night and asked Steve what he was doing, he said I'm chasing the dogs around my chair to try to tire them out.
Yea, it's bad. Poor little guys and Big guy!! The warm weather is just a few weeks away! I HOPE!

Standstill

I called my social worker around noon today. She is not in the office and won't be until next week! So... there goes my wishful thinking that we could progress quickly. My selfishness ended when the office manager told me there was a death in her(social worker's) family and that's she won't be in until Monday. So this I can be patient for... and understand. It's not like she's on a cruise to Bermuda or something. It'd be easier to be upset if she was sitting on a beach sipping umbrella drinks.

I did probe to see if there was anyone else who could help us in getting our clearances started. The office manager said she could mail us the forms. I said that would be great!!

And if you read Susan's comment to my last post, we too have many questions/answers that our agency director would like to see added our home study. Things like occupation of my mother and Steve's mother. I guess the home study talked about our father's jobs but not enough about our mothers. In reality I think we could be done with everything within a week, except for the new dates for the child abuse clearance checks. And if that comes in two weeks -- okay three to four.. I could be in Harrisburg getting it all apostled by the beginning of March. That would be nice. And my husband can give a sigh of relief... he's being inducted into the State Hall of Fame for Wrestling March 10. He knows from here on out all our commitments are on standby. But it is nice to know we can both attend this ceremony and he can stand there and be honored. Good for him.

You know this "I'm not in control thing" just might be working out. But I won't say that too loud just yet!!!

UPDATE!!

So our agency director got back to me about our home study.
I'm not too sure if what she sent is okay news or bad news... She listed plenty of suggestions for our social worker.
Some, simple things like: move this section to page three...this section to page two etc.
to things a bit more complex like: one of our clearance checks is about to expire.
So she wants new ones for both of us. I think at most the checks take like 30 days to get back.. but I'm not sure, it may be quicker since they really only have to check the past year.
I guess the real question will be how long it will take our social worker to make the changes.
I'm hoping for a quick turn-a-round!!

A Few Shout Outs

I've been surfing my usual sites and found several things I'd like to share. (I can't share everyone this time.. but if you are feeling left out.... please send me a message if you would like one too-- and I'll post your site in the next "shout out" edition. :) )

First check out Debbie's site.. she did a great job listing the cities many of us are adopting from. I loved it. Thanks Debbie. Now if only there was a way to get a map and put dots on it!!!
http://russianbrown.blogspot.com/

Also Check out Steve's site.. (loved his superbowl commercial post about feeling old!!) He also listed the top Disney movies... (and if my husband Steve is reading this.. yes dear I told you there are dads out there blogging TOO!!!) Thank you Steve... (Stef's Steve.. not my Steve)
http://frwl-fromdad.blogspot.com/

Susan and Wayne have done a great job journalling their first trip for us. It happened back in January. Each day she posts a new entry, I find it extremely enjoyable to see what happened when they first met their two sons and then when all four of them were together.
http://www.susanandwayne.blogspot.com/

Also Congrats to those who are in Russia right now.. Melissa/Mike
and Lauren/Marco will be by the weekend!!
Melissa/Mike http://mmrussianadoption.blogspot.com/
Lauren/Marco http://laurenandmarco.blogspot.com/

The Waiting Game

I know it's been a few days since my last post. I'm sorry. I was kinda hoping to hear something from our agency director about our home study. Did she like it? Are there revisions to be done? I guess reading all the blogs over the past few months I just hoped Monday would bring something good for me.
It's funny my husband and I were at the mall the other day and he said it's getting harder to go shopping with me. It used to be -- he'd look in the men's section and I'd look in the ladies, but now he finds me in the toy section. And boy do we have fun!
He is a big kid at heart. My sister/brother-in-law and mother/father have the new Wii. And now as we look at toys Steve keeps moving over to the electronics section. I know he would love to have a Wii to play with Boris. He even tried to justify it by telling me a Wii would improve his score on the church bowling league. (it comes with a bowling game). Luckily every store is currently sold out around here. I told him if we have Boris by June that wouldn't be a bad father's day gift.

Our Three Darlings

Meet Butkus (100 lbs black lab)

Walter (10 lbs mini poodle)

and Sophie (10 lbs bishon).

All three are anxiously awaiting Boris's arrival.

Butkus will turn 10 this month and looks forward to his daily walks, Walter will turn three in April and enjoys resting on your lap, while Sophie is a wild woman and needs someone to play fetch.

My hope is that Boris is an animal lover because obviously we are. Actually I hope he likes small dogs. You see I'm a small dog person. Steve on the other hand is a big dog person. Thus our marriage created a blended family of big and small dogs. Right now the small dogs out number the big dog. Now.... as long as Boris likes small dogs Butkus will be able to keep the coveted title as "THE BIG DOG." The ONE and ONLY BIG DOG. However if Boris likes big dogs then I may need to rethink things a bit.