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!
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
