No News

We were really hoping to get news today that we received our official signature that would allow us to get our travel dates.  It was a long week of waiting and hoping, looking for that email every day.  I didn't expect to see it until Friday, but kept looking just in case.  Well, Friday came, I've never been so excited to wake up at 5:15 for work.  I was so sure the email would be there this morning.  The very first thing I did was go to my phone to check the email.....nothing.  Nobody has received notice of a signature this week.  There have been some changes in the government in our boy's country.  Not sure how or even if it will affect our process.  Hoping we get the much coveted signature next week.

Waiting for signature

Let's get this straight.  I'm sure you have noticed, but I am really not a blogger.  I would love to have new and exciting things to share everyday.  Truth be told, I just don't think our life is all that interesting. I do like to keep up to date on what is happening on the adoption process, which has actually been nothing.  The adoption process is a whole lot of waiting.  We did receive our verbal approval on April 24.  Now we are waiting for the written referral which will give us the go ahead to travel.  It looks like the people that received their verbal approval about a week ahead of us have received their written.  Hoping for next week.  I'm am thinking travel will happen the last week of May or the 1st week of June.  Can't wait to "meet" him.  Jerry will be travelling alone, so for me it will be virtual.

We have spent considerable time trying to decide what we will name him.  Should we change his name or not?  Our daughter liked his Reeces Rainbow name "Troy".  We went with that for quite awhile, but it just really wasn't working for me. We considered a number of different names, but it looks like we will just be keeping his birthname. I don't think we can share it yet, but it's kind of a nice name.

SUBMITTED

Things are moving along on the adoption front, albeit not as fast as we'd like.  Our dossier was submitted last Friday.  We will be reviewed at Thursdays meeting and hopefully receive our verbal referral then.  A theme of mine - it sure will be hard to wait.  Then it will be another few weeks before we receive the much sought after, official signature needed for travel.  We are really hoping that first trip will be in May.  Jerry will be travelling alone like he did during our last adoption.  It will be really hard not to be there, but I'll expect lots of updates and pictures.  Troy has been reported to have a hearing problem and in need of a hearing aid.  We don't really know the extent of the problem or if he has received the hearing aid yet.  We are looking at putting together a photo book through Costco for Jerry to take to give to Troy.  Might be nice for him to have pictures to learn about his new family.

On the home front, last week Meghan announced that he had lost recess for a day at school.  She didn't really want to fess up about what she had done.  I managed to get out of her that she was laughing because Kaden was being silly in class.  Not sure I received the whole story, but no word from the teacher so it must not have been too bad.  

I-800A Approval!!

YAY, we've been watching the mail for our decoder ring and it has arrived - the I-800A approval.  We received it yesterday about 4 days after our fingerprint appointment.  We did our our fingerprints on Tuesday morning.   Within the hour, we were on our way to the bank to have everything notarized.   The notary was a young woman who was new at being a notary and was a little bit nervous about the cover letter  for most of the documents.  But, we did get it done.  On Monday, Jerry will take all of the documents to Olympia, the capitol, about and hour and 1/2 to 2 hours away to get everything apostilled.  By Monday evening, the comleted dossier should be on it's way via Fed Ex.  Then we wait some more :(   I really don't do that part well.  We are hoping for the first trip in May.

Our stateside facilitator suggested that after the first trip, we may want to hire a local to give Troy english lessons to prepare him for the transission.  Apparently, this isn't too expensive and could really help.  We didn't do that with Kaden and Meghan.  Would love to hear from anyone who may have done this.

On a side note, we received an email last night from one of the workers at Kaden's orphanage.  She is wanting to hear about him and his family.  Can't wait to tell her how well he is doing and send over some pictures.

With our dreary weather during the winter, we have mostly been held up in the house annoying each other.  The first day of spring we got about 3 inches of snow (this is Seattle, mostly rain).  Can't wait for the weather to get nicer so we can get out and take some pictures we can share.  I know how people like pictures.

Still Waiting

There really hasn't been anything to report on the adoption front lately.  We are still waiting for our I-800A approval.  We do have a fingerprint appoint on the 19th.  They had some problems getting good prints for me last time.  I am doing lots of lotion in preparation.  Let's hope there are no problems.  We have been assigned on officer and found out that we didn't send in a copy of our home study with the application.  Silly me.  We sent that back yesterday.  Hoping for a very quick response after our prints are done.

Dossier is almost complete.  Waiting for just a couple of things back from our Social worker today and then our medical clearances should be done next week.  Last item of business is getting those family pictures printed out.

Jerry will be travelling alone to go visit Troy.  Can't wait for that to happen.  I am excited to hear about him.

Making Progess

I am excited to say that we are making some progress now.  I am really no good at waiting and that is the definition of the adoption process - hurry up and WAIT.  This past week we received our completed home study back and have sent off the I-800A to the USCIS.  Here's hoping for a quick response.  I am really not sure how long it is currently taking.  If anyone has any idea, it would be nice to hear.

Now we start on our dossier.  That will give us something to accomplish while we wait.  This week we also received our FBI clearances back.  We mailed them off to be appostilled.

Back to finances again - We have had so many unexpected expenses in the past couple of weeks.  Seems like it will never end.  Our newest big impending expense seems to be a new water heater.  Ours seems to be dieing.  We have six people in the house and are having problems getting through one long shower with warm water.  So now is the time to mention something I never have before.  We don't do fundraisers or ask for help financially.  But, if any of the very few of our reader find it in their hearts to donate something, it would really be appreciated.  Anything would help at this point.  Thanks to those who have already donated to Troy's fund.

Unexpected Financial Snag

Yesterday, we received some very unexpected financial news.  Our adoption agency discovered that somehow we show $6,000 short on our fees from our last adoption.  Boy, we sure didn't figure that into our expenses for this adoption.  I'm not sure where the funds will come from, but we are committed to moving forward and hoping everything will work out.  Can't wait for that tax refund to come.

No updates on the adoption process at this point.  We are still waiting for the home study to come back.