Okay. Well, it's been a month since I last posted, so here it is.
We still have not been officially registered in Bulgaria yet! What once was thought it would take up to 6 weeks to translate our dossier has turned into a much longer process. I spoke with our adoption agency and was told that the translators only work 2-3 days/week and not necessarily 8 hours/day. With the influx of new applications rolling into Bulgaria they are back logged! I can't be upset with our agency, because it's out of their control. I can't be upset with the Bulgarian government, because what would that do? So, all we can do is just sit and wait and hope it's coming sometime soon. The good news is that they have not requested any additional paperwork from us (yet) as our dossier is in the review stage prior to registration.
We are keeping in mind that although this process is much harder than we originally thought it would be and not taking off a quickly as we originally hoped, that we still have a child out there somewhere for us. We are keeping the faith that all of this will fall into place when the time is right not only for us, but for our future child as well.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Friday, October 17, 2008
Just found out about 2 referrals!
Exciting news everyone! I just got the information below in an email. The referrals aren't for us or even with our agency, however, I think it's great news that things are finally happening as far as movement in Bulgaria and American families will soon be seeing their children!
Good morning! It is with tremendous pleasure that we are able to share with you this morning that Tree of Life Adoption Center has officially receieved two referrals! These families will be traveling in the next three weeks to meet their children! I know that the first question will be “how long have they been registered”.
Please remember how the referrals are given: (old information to most of you but placed as point of reference). When the dossiers are registered, they are also considered specific to the child you are interested in adopting. The number of girls that are available are fewer than the boys: most pre adoptive families want girls: the number of boys available are far greater than waiting girls. (this is just logistical: world wide, there are more boys born than girls). As a result, there will be more referral given sooner for boys than the girls. Also, as this is a ‘referral by request’ program(meaning that the children’s needs are to be primary before that of the requesting pre adoptive families: children are not photo listed as their appearance is not considered when being matched to a family), those children considered to be most ‘in need’ will be considered first(meaning that many families now think that Bulgaria is going to function similar to Guatemala and allow for very very young children to be referred and come home and this is inaccurate). The referrals will be a mix of all parameter of children: the older children, age 4-7, who are most at risk of being moved to the next age orphanages, (children who have been delayed families during the last four years when the country was under acclimation to the Hague), boys(always at risk due to gender), children who are part of sibling groups(most families only want one child at a time), children with medical needs(who should come home as soon as possible due to their need for medical monitoring or further intervention), healthy young children balanced along with when you were registered.
The little ones that were referred are a four year old little girl with a vision need and sibling boys who are 7 and 8 years of age. These referrals were given to two families that have been registered for a relative short amount of time and received referrals as a result of the parameters of the children they were willing to consider.
Our congratulations to these wonderful families!
Kay Montes Tree of Life Adoption Center Portland, Oregon www.toladopt.org
We are in hopes that our dossier will be registered by the end of October, so more news to come soon, hopefully!
Good morning! It is with tremendous pleasure that we are able to share with you this morning that Tree of Life Adoption Center has officially receieved two referrals! These families will be traveling in the next three weeks to meet their children! I know that the first question will be “how long have they been registered”.
Please remember how the referrals are given: (old information to most of you but placed as point of reference). When the dossiers are registered, they are also considered specific to the child you are interested in adopting. The number of girls that are available are fewer than the boys: most pre adoptive families want girls: the number of boys available are far greater than waiting girls. (this is just logistical: world wide, there are more boys born than girls). As a result, there will be more referral given sooner for boys than the girls. Also, as this is a ‘referral by request’ program(meaning that the children’s needs are to be primary before that of the requesting pre adoptive families: children are not photo listed as their appearance is not considered when being matched to a family), those children considered to be most ‘in need’ will be considered first(meaning that many families now think that Bulgaria is going to function similar to Guatemala and allow for very very young children to be referred and come home and this is inaccurate). The referrals will be a mix of all parameter of children: the older children, age 4-7, who are most at risk of being moved to the next age orphanages, (children who have been delayed families during the last four years when the country was under acclimation to the Hague), boys(always at risk due to gender), children who are part of sibling groups(most families only want one child at a time), children with medical needs(who should come home as soon as possible due to their need for medical monitoring or further intervention), healthy young children balanced along with when you were registered.
The little ones that were referred are a four year old little girl with a vision need and sibling boys who are 7 and 8 years of age. These referrals were given to two families that have been registered for a relative short amount of time and received referrals as a result of the parameters of the children they were willing to consider.
Our congratulations to these wonderful families!
Kay Montes Tree of Life Adoption Center Portland, Oregon www.toladopt.org
We are in hopes that our dossier will be registered by the end of October, so more news to come soon, hopefully!
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Our Dossier is in Bulgaria
Well, once again it seems as though forever ago that I posted last. Believe me when I say that it seems like forever that we've been in this adoption process....
Our Dossier was officially fed-exed to Bulgaria in early September. There was a lot of running around for last minute documents to complete it, but we did it! In a matter of a few short weeks from now, we should be registered with the MOJ. From there, it will be just a matter of waiting for our referral which could be right away or could take a year. We just don't know.
We did wire money to the attorney's office in Bulgaria (Bulgaria adoption agency) for the translation and legal work to submit to the MOJ. We are keeping our fingers crossed that everything will run smoothly and that we won't need to do a lot of updating on documents while we're in process.
I have been following other blogs and it seems as though there are a lot of others who also submitted their dossiers within the past few months. My thoughts and prayers are also with them that they soon find their children. It will be interesting to follow their blogs. When I start hearing about referrals coming through, I will finally begin to see light at the end of this long tunnel!
On a totally unrelated matter to our adoption, we are going to be busy today canning salsa! I love this time of year.... Jim and his buddy planted 162 tomato plants this spring and it looks to be another bountiful harvest! Our weather has been a little goofy this year, so we still have many green tomatoes on the vine, but plenty of ripe tomatoes to start canning. Looks like it will be about 3 back to back weekends of canning. The first two weekends will be salsa and the last weekend V-8 ( or in our case more like V-12) juice. What is so great about all of this is everything is from the garden, nothing store bought.
I hope everyone is doing well, and believe me, once we hear more you will be the first to know! Take care!
Our Dossier was officially fed-exed to Bulgaria in early September. There was a lot of running around for last minute documents to complete it, but we did it! In a matter of a few short weeks from now, we should be registered with the MOJ. From there, it will be just a matter of waiting for our referral which could be right away or could take a year. We just don't know.
We did wire money to the attorney's office in Bulgaria (Bulgaria adoption agency) for the translation and legal work to submit to the MOJ. We are keeping our fingers crossed that everything will run smoothly and that we won't need to do a lot of updating on documents while we're in process.
I have been following other blogs and it seems as though there are a lot of others who also submitted their dossiers within the past few months. My thoughts and prayers are also with them that they soon find their children. It will be interesting to follow their blogs. When I start hearing about referrals coming through, I will finally begin to see light at the end of this long tunnel!
On a totally unrelated matter to our adoption, we are going to be busy today canning salsa! I love this time of year.... Jim and his buddy planted 162 tomato plants this spring and it looks to be another bountiful harvest! Our weather has been a little goofy this year, so we still have many green tomatoes on the vine, but plenty of ripe tomatoes to start canning. Looks like it will be about 3 back to back weekends of canning. The first two weekends will be salsa and the last weekend V-8 ( or in our case more like V-12) juice. What is so great about all of this is everything is from the garden, nothing store bought.
I hope everyone is doing well, and believe me, once we hear more you will be the first to know! Take care!
Thursday, July 17, 2008
We Finally Got It!!!
Exciting news here. We received our I-171H yesterday. This is great news. We are now ready to send our dossier off to Bulgaria. I think the worst part of the wait has been waiting for this piece of paper. It was suprising that such an important paper looks so unimportant. When I got it in the mail yesterday, I held my breath while opening it. I was expecting to see all sorts of seals and stamps on it, but it's just a general letter. Oh well, I made copies of it for our baby scrapbook anyway!
All of our paperwork that needed apostille from other states have been returned to us. Tomorrow we will send in our MN paperwork for apostille and we should have it back next week. Once we recieve all this back the whole works (every piece of paper we have been accumilating during this process) will be sent to our adoption agency (with a fee of course) and sent off to Bulgaria for translation.
We don't want to get our hopes up, but we are still praying we have our child home by December or January! Lets keep our fingers crossed.
Many of you have commented that I'm not doing much with my blog. I guess there's not much to post when not much is happening. It is very hard to try and come across as positive about this whole experience when there isn't any updates. We are beginning to find all of this "adoption stuff" so overwhelming. We are mixed with emotion: excited, happy, scared, apprehensive. I'm not sure there's an emotion we haven't experience yet. We are only looking forward to the sheer joy of finally holding our little Zackery!
There probably won't be any other blogs until we have more news (praying for a referral soon!). Until then, take care and enjoy your summer
All of our paperwork that needed apostille from other states have been returned to us. Tomorrow we will send in our MN paperwork for apostille and we should have it back next week. Once we recieve all this back the whole works (every piece of paper we have been accumilating during this process) will be sent to our adoption agency (with a fee of course) and sent off to Bulgaria for translation.
We don't want to get our hopes up, but we are still praying we have our child home by December or January! Lets keep our fingers crossed.
Many of you have commented that I'm not doing much with my blog. I guess there's not much to post when not much is happening. It is very hard to try and come across as positive about this whole experience when there isn't any updates. We are beginning to find all of this "adoption stuff" so overwhelming. We are mixed with emotion: excited, happy, scared, apprehensive. I'm not sure there's an emotion we haven't experience yet. We are only looking forward to the sheer joy of finally holding our little Zackery!
There probably won't be any other blogs until we have more news (praying for a referral soon!). Until then, take care and enjoy your summer
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
No News (yet)
Hi Everyone.
March 20th was our last post. Unfortunately, not much "new news" to post.
We had our final homestudy in April and have completed our dossier. Right now our agency is reviewing in before we can send it onto the State of MN. According to our adoption agency, I should hear back from the state within two weeks or so after submitting it. When that is finished we will send it off to the Bulgaria MOJ. Once there, it's all in the hands of the Bulgaraian government and then the anticipation increases on our part and the wait really begins for us.
A few changes since my last post. Our adoption agency said if we wish to adopt siblings it would force the process to take much longer. So, ultimately we ended up changing our wishes (again) to just 1 healthy child (boy) under the age of 18 months. Jim and I are both comfortable with the change and feel thankful to be blessed with a child.
I finally broke down and decorated the nursery. It turned out so cute and now I'm impatient because the only one to sleep in the room (on the rug on the floor of course) is our dog Coach. I think he feels he's in heaven because it's the only "boy" room in our house. It is decorated in reds, navy blue, and yellow in a sports theme. I have slowly begun picking up clearance items at the local stores for things like sippy cups, toys, dinnerware, toys, etc. We also purchased a new high chair and car seat for our future son. This has been a lot of fun and such a roller coaster ride. We have a lot of clothing size 12-18 mos., but have put off purchasing any more clothes until we have him home.
Mother's Day was this past weekend and we had both our Mom's out for dinner. The only thought that kept running through my mind the whole day is that hopefully, this time next year, I can participate and be a Mother to a child who doesn't have 4 legs (referring to our dogs and deer). I also couldn't help but wonder what our future son was doing on this day. Does he realize there's two people out there who already love him and think of him constantly even if we can't even begin to visualize what he looks like? Is he happy right now? Does he know we're just waiting for the "word" and we'll be there? It is so hard knowing everything is out of our hands at this point. Sorry to sound so depressing, but these are the thoughts constantly occupying my mind and I also realize this wait will be worth it once we wrap our arms around our son.
Some of you may have noticed I removed the timeline from our website. My intentions were well when I put it there, but it's just something else I need to track. Also, I don't like the reminder of how long this process could take!
Spring has helped occupy our minds somewhat. With each new plant that surfaces from the earth we are reminded we are one day closer to being a family! Jim is very busy at this time and is thankful he's in a new location closer to town. I am busy wrapping up my grants and working around the house.
We hope all of you are doing well. I'll start posting more frequently once we have some news for you...
March 20th was our last post. Unfortunately, not much "new news" to post.
We had our final homestudy in April and have completed our dossier. Right now our agency is reviewing in before we can send it onto the State of MN. According to our adoption agency, I should hear back from the state within two weeks or so after submitting it. When that is finished we will send it off to the Bulgaria MOJ. Once there, it's all in the hands of the Bulgaraian government and then the anticipation increases on our part and the wait really begins for us.
A few changes since my last post. Our adoption agency said if we wish to adopt siblings it would force the process to take much longer. So, ultimately we ended up changing our wishes (again) to just 1 healthy child (boy) under the age of 18 months. Jim and I are both comfortable with the change and feel thankful to be blessed with a child.
I finally broke down and decorated the nursery. It turned out so cute and now I'm impatient because the only one to sleep in the room (on the rug on the floor of course) is our dog Coach. I think he feels he's in heaven because it's the only "boy" room in our house. It is decorated in reds, navy blue, and yellow in a sports theme. I have slowly begun picking up clearance items at the local stores for things like sippy cups, toys, dinnerware, toys, etc. We also purchased a new high chair and car seat for our future son. This has been a lot of fun and such a roller coaster ride. We have a lot of clothing size 12-18 mos., but have put off purchasing any more clothes until we have him home.
Mother's Day was this past weekend and we had both our Mom's out for dinner. The only thought that kept running through my mind the whole day is that hopefully, this time next year, I can participate and be a Mother to a child who doesn't have 4 legs (referring to our dogs and deer). I also couldn't help but wonder what our future son was doing on this day. Does he realize there's two people out there who already love him and think of him constantly even if we can't even begin to visualize what he looks like? Is he happy right now? Does he know we're just waiting for the "word" and we'll be there? It is so hard knowing everything is out of our hands at this point. Sorry to sound so depressing, but these are the thoughts constantly occupying my mind and I also realize this wait will be worth it once we wrap our arms around our son.
Some of you may have noticed I removed the timeline from our website. My intentions were well when I put it there, but it's just something else I need to track. Also, I don't like the reminder of how long this process could take!
Spring has helped occupy our minds somewhat. With each new plant that surfaces from the earth we are reminded we are one day closer to being a family! Jim is very busy at this time and is thankful he's in a new location closer to town. I am busy wrapping up my grants and working around the house.
We hope all of you are doing well. I'll start posting more frequently once we have some news for you...
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Long Time - No Post
Well, it appears that February 4th was our last post. I wish there was something more to add and something exciting to share with everyone, but there just hasn't been much happening.
Jim and I have spent the last month moving into our new offices over the past month, so I haven't had a lot of time to focus on the paperwork end of this adoption stuff. What was once such an "exciting" adventure has turned into a bunch of grueling paperwork. We are still waiting to hear from INS about our application to adopt a child abroad. This could take up to another two months.
Today I took a "day off work while at work" day to finish working on our dossier. This was a huge accomplishment to get our "life story" finished. Now we are awaiting a financial summary from our accountant so I can put those numbers in. The rest will be up to our home study agency to complete.
I did email the home study agency requesting our 2nd visit. At this visit she will question us about our life history and how we intend to incorporate a child into our lives. She will then put her interpretations in with our dossier. Her final visit will take place prior to the submission of our dossier to Bulgaria for our final approval along with the adoption agency approval.
On our original application, we stated we wish to adopt a 1-year old male. With time, our hearts have grown softer and we have decided that if siblings are available (the oldest no older than 3 years old and the youngest no older than 1 year old and siblings that are 1 boy and 1 girl) we would adopt both. Also, we have decided that if twins are available, up to 1-1/2 years old we would adopt twins (male). The chances are pretty unlikely with the criteria we have stated, but stranger things have happened! You just never know!
Spring is definitely here. Wehit 33 degrees today and our snow is finally melting! We can't wait for summer!
Hope all of you are doing well, and we'll talk to you soon! Happy Easter!
Jim and I have spent the last month moving into our new offices over the past month, so I haven't had a lot of time to focus on the paperwork end of this adoption stuff. What was once such an "exciting" adventure has turned into a bunch of grueling paperwork. We are still waiting to hear from INS about our application to adopt a child abroad. This could take up to another two months.
Today I took a "day off work while at work" day to finish working on our dossier. This was a huge accomplishment to get our "life story" finished. Now we are awaiting a financial summary from our accountant so I can put those numbers in. The rest will be up to our home study agency to complete.
I did email the home study agency requesting our 2nd visit. At this visit she will question us about our life history and how we intend to incorporate a child into our lives. She will then put her interpretations in with our dossier. Her final visit will take place prior to the submission of our dossier to Bulgaria for our final approval along with the adoption agency approval.
On our original application, we stated we wish to adopt a 1-year old male. With time, our hearts have grown softer and we have decided that if siblings are available (the oldest no older than 3 years old and the youngest no older than 1 year old and siblings that are 1 boy and 1 girl) we would adopt both. Also, we have decided that if twins are available, up to 1-1/2 years old we would adopt twins (male). The chances are pretty unlikely with the criteria we have stated, but stranger things have happened! You just never know!
Spring is definitely here. Wehit 33 degrees today and our snow is finally melting! We can't wait for summer!
Hope all of you are doing well, and we'll talk to you soon! Happy Easter!
Monday, February 4, 2008
Beginning our Dossier
Hi Everyone:
It's been a busy week so far doing more paperwork and jumping through hoops.
On Friday we received our Dossier requirements for Bulgaria. We need to have all sorts of documents Apostilled by sending to the Secretary of State. The Dossier is basically certified/aspostilled documents of everything we have pulled together so far.
Jim and I went in for fingerprinting on Saturday to the Law Enforcement Center. All the staff was so nice and had many questions as far as how this process works. What should have taken ten minutes lasted nearly an hour! They made us promise that as soon as we have our little guy home to take him there so they can meet him.
We received our I-797C (Notice of Action) from Homeland Security/Immigration Services on Saturday also. This is good news since it means they are actually reviewing our I-600A at this time. We will need to go to Fargo, ND to USCIS so thay can caputre our biometrics (whatever that means). Our appt. is scheduled for February 13th.
The licensed social worker will be to our house this Thursday to begin our home study. I think we're about as prepared as we're going to get for that. We are just thrilled everything is running as smoothly as it is.
Weather outside is beautiful today! In the 20's which seems like a heat wave compared to what we've had the previous weeks.
We'll post again soon!
It's been a busy week so far doing more paperwork and jumping through hoops.
On Friday we received our Dossier requirements for Bulgaria. We need to have all sorts of documents Apostilled by sending to the Secretary of State. The Dossier is basically certified/aspostilled documents of everything we have pulled together so far.
Jim and I went in for fingerprinting on Saturday to the Law Enforcement Center. All the staff was so nice and had many questions as far as how this process works. What should have taken ten minutes lasted nearly an hour! They made us promise that as soon as we have our little guy home to take him there so they can meet him.
We received our I-797C (Notice of Action) from Homeland Security/Immigration Services on Saturday also. This is good news since it means they are actually reviewing our I-600A at this time. We will need to go to Fargo, ND to USCIS so thay can caputre our biometrics (whatever that means). Our appt. is scheduled for February 13th.
The licensed social worker will be to our house this Thursday to begin our home study. I think we're about as prepared as we're going to get for that. We are just thrilled everything is running as smoothly as it is.
Weather outside is beautiful today! In the 20's which seems like a heat wave compared to what we've had the previous weeks.
We'll post again soon!
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Home Study Process Begins
We finally found a home study agency to perform our home study. The agency contacted us to let us know this will begin in our home February 7th.
Robbin is going nuts cleaning closets, organizing, and cleaning like a mad woman! It's funny how it takes someone to inspect your home before a person decides to take care of things that should have been done years ago! We have cleaned out closets and have managed to "bag" 8 trash bags full of clothing to donate to the Salvation Army; precious quilts/blankets made by grandparents/great grandparents have been preserved and packed away in totes; all of our "growing up" things from our youth have been packed away in totes as well; a ton of books have been boxed to be donated to Northern Lights; lots of Robbin's "rummage sale bargains" from over the years have also been placed in totes and will be donated to the Humane Society for their rummage sale in the fall.
On another note, Jim has been busy doing the finish work on his office/shop and we'll hopefully be moving into our offices by the end of February. We also received an antique buffet table from Robbin's mom which Jim and I have been busy restoring and it is absolutely beautiful!
Weather here is real cold today - 9 below zero and 45 mph winds. Not sure I'll go to work today - weather man is saying no travel advised. We'll see how it looks when the sun comes up. If not, I'm sure I can find another closet to clean!
Robbin is going nuts cleaning closets, organizing, and cleaning like a mad woman! It's funny how it takes someone to inspect your home before a person decides to take care of things that should have been done years ago! We have cleaned out closets and have managed to "bag" 8 trash bags full of clothing to donate to the Salvation Army; precious quilts/blankets made by grandparents/great grandparents have been preserved and packed away in totes; all of our "growing up" things from our youth have been packed away in totes as well; a ton of books have been boxed to be donated to Northern Lights; lots of Robbin's "rummage sale bargains" from over the years have also been placed in totes and will be donated to the Humane Society for their rummage sale in the fall.
On another note, Jim has been busy doing the finish work on his office/shop and we'll hopefully be moving into our offices by the end of February. We also received an antique buffet table from Robbin's mom which Jim and I have been busy restoring and it is absolutely beautiful!
Weather here is real cold today - 9 below zero and 45 mph winds. Not sure I'll go to work today - weather man is saying no travel advised. We'll see how it looks when the sun comes up. If not, I'm sure I can find another closet to clean!
Thursday, January 24, 2008
I-600 A mailed to USCIS!!!!
We finally got all our paperwork together and mailed to USCIS. This is a huge hurdle for us! Hopefully it won't take long to get our approval so we can keep moving forward!
We finally found a new home study agency. They are a little more expensive and are based out of Moorehead, MN. I've spent the last few days calling and trying to find other agencies, but just haven't had much luck. We will be receiving our home study contract agreement tomorrow and will send it in right away. The home study agency feels they will be able to begin right after we do our fingerprinting for the Adam Walsh Law, and the fingerprint cards will be in the mail tomorrow as well.
Our adoption agency is still feeling very strongly that all of this will move extremely fast for us, and that we could have a referral as early as April. It's hard not to get our hopes up, but we're trying to keep the faith. I have been researching other agencies, and ones that had cancelled their Bulgaria programs late last year have now begun accepting applications again and it seems as though they feel something is soon to break loose and the process will move much faster now than in the past. I hope everyone is correct!
The weather is still so cold up here! Until we talk to everyone again: STAY WARM!
We finally found a new home study agency. They are a little more expensive and are based out of Moorehead, MN. I've spent the last few days calling and trying to find other agencies, but just haven't had much luck. We will be receiving our home study contract agreement tomorrow and will send it in right away. The home study agency feels they will be able to begin right after we do our fingerprinting for the Adam Walsh Law, and the fingerprint cards will be in the mail tomorrow as well.
Our adoption agency is still feeling very strongly that all of this will move extremely fast for us, and that we could have a referral as early as April. It's hard not to get our hopes up, but we're trying to keep the faith. I have been researching other agencies, and ones that had cancelled their Bulgaria programs late last year have now begun accepting applications again and it seems as though they feel something is soon to break loose and the process will move much faster now than in the past. I hope everyone is correct!
The weather is still so cold up here! Until we talk to everyone again: STAY WARM!
Monday, January 21, 2008
Oh No! We lost our home study agency!!!!!
Well, it's been another interesting week. The home study agency we were going to use to prepare our home study was not approved by our adoption agency due to some "full disclosure law". Apparently, this home study agency was in big trouble in 2001, however, has since then remedied their situation. Because of this, our adoption agency could not allow them to proceed with our home study. We got this news early Friday morning, and Robbin immediately contacted several other HS agencies. Our adoption agency is in the process at this time researching those that I contacted. Hopefully, we'll know by the end of the week who is approved so we can keep moving forward.
In the meantime, we are required to do online testing related to Adoption Education. We downloaded the information (about 100 pages or so) and we began submitting our test answers on the 16th of this month. Today, we have officially completed the course! Although at times this was extremely dull and boring reading material, it does have very good information. This was very intensive reading on:
In the meantime, we are required to do online testing related to Adoption Education. We downloaded the information (about 100 pages or so) and we began submitting our test answers on the 16th of this month. Today, we have officially completed the course! Although at times this was extremely dull and boring reading material, it does have very good information. This was very intensive reading on:
- Attachment & Bonding
- Behavioral/Mental Disorders
- Culture & Identity
- Effects of Institutionalization
- Effects of Stress in Early Life
- Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
- Malnutrition
- Prenatal Drug Exposure/Prenatal Exposure to Maternal Smoking
- Sensory Integration Disorder
- Special Regional Considerations
- Travel and Transition
We are still waiting for our copies of our Certified Marriage License (I don't dare mail to original for fear my copies won't arrive) and a few other documents. We will at that time mail in our I-600 A which is the most important part at this time. After that we will begin working on our Dossier preparation.
Things are moving so much quicker than anticipated and it has been a very interesting experience thus far. We are hoping things keep moving forward at the pace it has this past month. Our adoption agency has reassured us that this is the easiest part, the hardest part will be the wait! I'm sure between Jim and I, we will find ways to stay busy during the wait.
We'll post again when we have more exciting news.
Monday, January 14, 2008
It's Home Study Paperwork Time!
I just completed (for the most part anyway) documentation needed by the home study agency out of St. Paul. They sent all the documents to me via email for me to complete. This was even worse than all the paperwork we have had to prepare for our adoption agency out of Charlotte, NC by far!! We do understand, however, that all these questions are necessary to determine/prove that we would be suitable parents. This paperwork included a 5 page application; an 8 page contract; DOJ Certification of Identity for both of us; a 4 page individual fact sheet for both of us; and many consent forms for both of us for background checks. We should be receiving our fingerprint cards in the mail by the end of the week and we will need to go the the local police station to be fingerprinted, then these will go to the FBI for them to do our background checks which they will remit to the home study agency when complete.
It feels so good to have this part of the "paper chase" complete. Now all I need to do is get ahold of Betty or Kenny to notarize all this stuff. I'm sure they're getting tired of me by now!
On a more positive note: Robbin is trying to keep in mind that with each hour she spends on this greuling paperwork and with every dollar we submit with our paperwork for so many different agency fees, we are that much closer to adopting our future child. After we have our child, all of this will have been worth every hour spent in preparation and the gift of growing as a family will be priceless!
It feels so good to have this part of the "paper chase" complete. Now all I need to do is get ahold of Betty or Kenny to notarize all this stuff. I'm sure they're getting tired of me by now!
On a more positive note: Robbin is trying to keep in mind that with each hour she spends on this greuling paperwork and with every dollar we submit with our paperwork for so many different agency fees, we are that much closer to adopting our future child. After we have our child, all of this will have been worth every hour spent in preparation and the gift of growing as a family will be priceless!
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Current update
Wow! It has been a crazy two weeks! We completed our application to the adoption agency we are working with, received our confirmation that we were accepted and received our contract. We completed the contract last Thursday and had it notarized (I feel sorry for poor Betty in Crookston who got stuck with notarizing a zillion forms) and mailed it back to the agency with their agency fee. Friday we received confirmation they had received our contract and then the paperwork began!
Part of this process is obtaining 4 certified copies each of our birth certificates, marriage certificate, and previous divorce decrees. Seems like an easy task, right? How about NO! Jim's part was easy, just had to place a call to Kenny at the recorder's office and he'll have them ready for Robbin to pick up on Tuesday. I guess that's the great thing about being born in TRF! Anyway, since Robbin was born in Mississippi, this requires using VitalChek to order her certificates at a ghastly cost. So, I log in to Vital Chek and they don't like my new name. Then it asked me to fax them a copy of my drivers license. Not a problem right? Well yes, it was a problem because the scanner I've had has decided to die, so I have no way to send them a fax copy right away. So, I'll have to start all over with that Monday. As most of you who are reading this know, Robbin was married at a young age in Hamilton, MT. So, I called Ravalli Co. Clerk of Courts to order a copy of my divorce decree. Guess What???? I don't even remember anymore the date or the year I divorced, let alone when I married back then. I have nothing at home anymore to even research it. Well, at least they were nice. They told me if I could give them a date range I could request this from them in writing for a fee as long as I give them a date range. So, this is another brick wall I'm up against right now. I hope the date range I gave them is correct. Along with all that, we need letters from our doctors that we are not insane, have AIDS, or any other kind of deadly diseases. This is easy for Robbin since she sees her internal medicine doctor regularly. However, Jim has not seen a doctor in well over ten years, so he's in need of a physical in order to obtain a letter from his doctor. He's gone ice fishing right now, so I'm sure he'll be real impressed when I tell him. With him pushing 40, it's time anyway.
We are waiting for our package to arrive from the agency and should have it Monday or Tuesday next week. This will have another stack of paperwork to complete. Our home study social worker also has a stack for us to complete, so Robbin will be very busy over the next few months. This is all such a "hurry up and wait" process.
Part of this process is obtaining 4 certified copies each of our birth certificates, marriage certificate, and previous divorce decrees. Seems like an easy task, right? How about NO! Jim's part was easy, just had to place a call to Kenny at the recorder's office and he'll have them ready for Robbin to pick up on Tuesday. I guess that's the great thing about being born in TRF! Anyway, since Robbin was born in Mississippi, this requires using VitalChek to order her certificates at a ghastly cost. So, I log in to Vital Chek and they don't like my new name. Then it asked me to fax them a copy of my drivers license. Not a problem right? Well yes, it was a problem because the scanner I've had has decided to die, so I have no way to send them a fax copy right away. So, I'll have to start all over with that Monday. As most of you who are reading this know, Robbin was married at a young age in Hamilton, MT. So, I called Ravalli Co. Clerk of Courts to order a copy of my divorce decree. Guess What???? I don't even remember anymore the date or the year I divorced, let alone when I married back then. I have nothing at home anymore to even research it. Well, at least they were nice. They told me if I could give them a date range I could request this from them in writing for a fee as long as I give them a date range. So, this is another brick wall I'm up against right now. I hope the date range I gave them is correct. Along with all that, we need letters from our doctors that we are not insane, have AIDS, or any other kind of deadly diseases. This is easy for Robbin since she sees her internal medicine doctor regularly. However, Jim has not seen a doctor in well over ten years, so he's in need of a physical in order to obtain a letter from his doctor. He's gone ice fishing right now, so I'm sure he'll be real impressed when I tell him. With him pushing 40, it's time anyway.
We are waiting for our package to arrive from the agency and should have it Monday or Tuesday next week. This will have another stack of paperwork to complete. Our home study social worker also has a stack for us to complete, so Robbin will be very busy over the next few months. This is all such a "hurry up and wait" process.
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