Hi today we got our fingerprint background check from the FBI. What a blessing. It took them 2 weeks instead of 4. I will be working on gathering photos of our family and friends for our dossier this weekend. Monday I am hoping that my doctor will sign the medical and I can get our paper work notarized and apostilled, and off to TOL on Tuesday am.
Pray that we can get this done. Update on Staci in the Ukraine: they have decided to adopt a 17 month old boy who needs surgery on his esophagus. I am soo happy that they are coming back with a little guy.
We have a number of families in our church who are also in the process of adopting. I know of 2 families adopting from Russia and another family is adopting an older child from China ( I think she is 9 yrs old and should be home in October). God is soo good. If you are interested in adopting AAI has 2 boys who need adopting now who are 4 yrs old. Have a blessed weekend.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Friday, July 25, 2008
Update on doctor appt
I had to check in with the doctor's office 48 hrs after getting my TB prick and everything looks good. The doctor's office had received all my results except for the HIV. My cholesterol was very good, happy about that. Chris didn't get to talk to the nurse about his results when he went back to get checked for his TB.
I did receive some bad news though. My doctor is on vacation this week and next. So he can't sign the paperwork until he gets back the first week of August. So much for "my" plan to get everything done and off by the end of July. God has a different plan!
I do have the social worker's license and child abuse background check in my hands so that is taken care of. We also sent a letter this week to AAI to cancel our services and Ukraine program with them. We will still use them though for our post adoption reports and any updates we need done on our home study.
Today I read of another family returning from the Ukraine without a child. It makes me so angry. They were wanting a girl, and did visit one in the orphanage after their second interview. They sent the medical info to their doctor here in the USA and decided not to adopt her. So very sad. I wish other families were seeing this and boycotting Ukraine so they would change their program to give referrals so families aren't paying thousands to go there and return home with no child. It seems very hard for me to believe there are no healthy children in the orphanages. But I also feel terrible for these children who are being left behind...I have noticed some agency's now stating under their Ukraine program guidelines that Ukraine is a good program if you are willing to be flexible in the age and health of a child or want a sibling group. So keep that in mind.
Staci and Damon are still waiting for their 2nd appt in the Ukraine. They are wanting a little boy and are open to siblings, I believe. Pray that they will find their little boy soon. This will be the beginning of their family. Until the next update,
I did receive some bad news though. My doctor is on vacation this week and next. So he can't sign the paperwork until he gets back the first week of August. So much for "my" plan to get everything done and off by the end of July. God has a different plan!
I do have the social worker's license and child abuse background check in my hands so that is taken care of. We also sent a letter this week to AAI to cancel our services and Ukraine program with them. We will still use them though for our post adoption reports and any updates we need done on our home study.
Today I read of another family returning from the Ukraine without a child. It makes me so angry. They were wanting a girl, and did visit one in the orphanage after their second interview. They sent the medical info to their doctor here in the USA and decided not to adopt her. So very sad. I wish other families were seeing this and boycotting Ukraine so they would change their program to give referrals so families aren't paying thousands to go there and return home with no child. It seems very hard for me to believe there are no healthy children in the orphanages. But I also feel terrible for these children who are being left behind...I have noticed some agency's now stating under their Ukraine program guidelines that Ukraine is a good program if you are willing to be flexible in the age and health of a child or want a sibling group. So keep that in mind.
Staci and Damon are still waiting for their 2nd appt in the Ukraine. They are wanting a little boy and are open to siblings, I believe. Pray that they will find their little boy soon. This will be the beginning of their family. Until the next update,
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Tuesday July 22
Chris had his doctor's appt today to get his blood drawn and tb prick. I am so proud of him because when we first met he did not like the sight of a needle or blood. Since we have been married he goes to the blood donation center and gives blood when ever they call him, which is often because he is type O.
Today our social worker emailed to say that by the end of the week we should have her notarized license and the other document we need. Great! Our blood work takes a week to get the results so then the only thing we are waiting for will be the FBI background check.
As you might have noticed I have added the Ukrainian blog that I have been following. Staci and her husband are there right now to get their first child, a son. I am praying for them that they do return home soon with him. There is another blog I am following, they are with the same agency we were with, but they haven't received their appt date yet so are still waiting. When they do I will add them to my favorite blog spot. I have looked for Bulgarian blogs but haven't found any,except one, they are adopting a down syndrome child from Bulgaria. Their blog is called Kenofamily adopting from Bulgaria.
When I read about families adopting special needs children it just brings tears to my eyes. Thank God for people like them to take the "really" needy children home with them, the ones that will probably never find families, and give them the love that they so need.
Today our social worker emailed to say that by the end of the week we should have her notarized license and the other document we need. Great! Our blood work takes a week to get the results so then the only thing we are waiting for will be the FBI background check.
As you might have noticed I have added the Ukrainian blog that I have been following. Staci and her husband are there right now to get their first child, a son. I am praying for them that they do return home soon with him. There is another blog I am following, they are with the same agency we were with, but they haven't received their appt date yet so are still waiting. When they do I will add them to my favorite blog spot. I have looked for Bulgarian blogs but haven't found any,except one, they are adopting a down syndrome child from Bulgaria. Their blog is called Kenofamily adopting from Bulgaria.
When I read about families adopting special needs children it just brings tears to my eyes. Thank God for people like them to take the "really" needy children home with them, the ones that will probably never find families, and give them the love that they so need.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Dr. Appt Today
Not much news as we try get all our dossier stuff together. I did have my doctor's appt this morning. I had to have blood drawn for HIV, HepB, Syphilis testing and a tb test. The office staff was so nice and understanding. They had our forms for the Ukraine so I had to give them new ones for Bulgaria. I didn't have to get tb tested for Ukraine but do for Bulgaria. They said the results of the blood work will be ready by the end of the week. Chris has his appt tomorrow at his doctor.
I am still waiting to hear back from our social worker about her license and child abuse background check she did on us for our home study. Please pray that we will have our FBI fingerprints back by July 31st so I can send our dossier off to our agency and then they send it to Bulgaria to be translated and admitted to the Ministry of Justice so we can be put "in line" to receive a referral.
The time line looks something like this:
1. Send dossier to TOL in OR
2. The send it to Bulgaria (8days to get there Fed Express)
3. The agency there translates it for us (2-4 weeks)
4. They send it to the MOJ who then approve it and put in "in line"
5. Then we wait for 9-12 mths to receive a referral.
Until next time, God bless
I am still waiting to hear back from our social worker about her license and child abuse background check she did on us for our home study. Please pray that we will have our FBI fingerprints back by July 31st so I can send our dossier off to our agency and then they send it to Bulgaria to be translated and admitted to the Ministry of Justice so we can be put "in line" to receive a referral.
The time line looks something like this:
1. Send dossier to TOL in OR
2. The send it to Bulgaria (8days to get there Fed Express)
3. The agency there translates it for us (2-4 weeks)
4. They send it to the MOJ who then approve it and put in "in line"
5. Then we wait for 9-12 mths to receive a referral.
Until next time, God bless
Friday, July 18, 2008
Friday July 18, 2008
Good morning friends and family! Yesterday we had our fingerprints redone and sent them to the FBI in Virginia. USCIS should have received our request to change countries from Ukraine to Bulgaria.
Last night AAI had a doctor talk to "waiting families" about immunizations and screening test adopted children need to have when they come to the USA. He gave us suggestions on what to take with us when we travel (meds for our children). There were a lot of families adopting from Ethiopia there, one couple was adopting from Liberia and two families were adopting from Russia/Ukraine.
The doctor has 6 children and 3 of them are adopted. We might use his office/partners as our doctor for our son when he comes home. He mentioned how orphans are a blessing from God and made in His image.
We are still waiting on our social worker from AAI to send us her license. This is pretty much what we need for Bulgaria's dossier:
1. Power of Attorney for agency in Bulgaria
2. Power of Attorney for TOL American agency
3. Letter to Ministry of Justice stating why we want to adopt, age, gender, description of our family, home, employment,etc.
4. Home study
5. Social worker's license (who did the home study)
6. Agency license (that did the home study)
7. Photo's of our family and home
8. Finger prints by FBI (background check) for both of us
9. I171 H adoption approval letter from USCIS
10. copy of our taxes
11. Medicals for both of us (blood work for HIV etc.)
12. Doctor's license
13. Marriage certificate
14. Photocopy of passports
15. Child abuse clearance for both of us (Social worker to give to us as she got it for our home study)
Will write more once we have something to report. Please keep us in your prayers as we wait to bring our son home. Pray for his safety, that he is being cared for and loved on when needed and that we will continue to seek God's will and be obedient to Him.
Last night AAI had a doctor talk to "waiting families" about immunizations and screening test adopted children need to have when they come to the USA. He gave us suggestions on what to take with us when we travel (meds for our children). There were a lot of families adopting from Ethiopia there, one couple was adopting from Liberia and two families were adopting from Russia/Ukraine.
The doctor has 6 children and 3 of them are adopted. We might use his office/partners as our doctor for our son when he comes home. He mentioned how orphans are a blessing from God and made in His image.
We are still waiting on our social worker from AAI to send us her license. This is pretty much what we need for Bulgaria's dossier:
1. Power of Attorney for agency in Bulgaria
2. Power of Attorney for TOL American agency
3. Letter to Ministry of Justice stating why we want to adopt, age, gender, description of our family, home, employment,etc.
4. Home study
5. Social worker's license (who did the home study)
6. Agency license (that did the home study)
7. Photo's of our family and home
8. Finger prints by FBI (background check) for both of us
9. I171 H adoption approval letter from USCIS
10. copy of our taxes
11. Medicals for both of us (blood work for HIV etc.)
12. Doctor's license
13. Marriage certificate
14. Photocopy of passports
15. Child abuse clearance for both of us (Social worker to give to us as she got it for our home study)
Will write more once we have something to report. Please keep us in your prayers as we wait to bring our son home. Pray for his safety, that he is being cared for and loved on when needed and that we will continue to seek God's will and be obedient to Him.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Bulgarian Dossier
TOL received our signed paperwork today and emailed us what we need to gather for our dossier. For the Ukraine we had to get fingerprinted and send it to the State of Michigan to do a background check. For Bulgaria we have to redo our fingerprints at the police station and send it to the FBI to have our background checked. This is on our to do list tomorrow!
Also for Bulgaria we have to get our social worker's license, which we didn't need for the Ukraine. So I just emailed her for this. Chris and I also have to have blood work done for HIV, Hepatitis and Tuberculosis. Hopefully we can get appt. for next week.
My hope is still to have everything done by the end of July so please pray for us so we can get our dossier together quickly. The FBI check supposedly takes 3-4 weeks, and I am requesting they do it in 2 :)
After doing all the above, we are told that we will most likely have to redo our homestudy, fingerprints and medical because they expire after 12 months and have to be updated for court. We are being told we could receive a referrel of a child in 12 months and court is about 12-16 weeks after that. Then we travel a second time to bring our son home. I am so glad that this program is a bit less expensive than Ukraine because after we redo all this stuff it will probably cost us the same amount as the Ukraine.
I am following a couple in the Ukraine who are wanting to adopt a son, they haven't blogged since they have been there (this week). I am praying that they do bring a child home.
Thank you for reading our blog and for your support.
.
Also for Bulgaria we have to get our social worker's license, which we didn't need for the Ukraine. So I just emailed her for this. Chris and I also have to have blood work done for HIV, Hepatitis and Tuberculosis. Hopefully we can get appt. for next week.
My hope is still to have everything done by the end of July so please pray for us so we can get our dossier together quickly. The FBI check supposedly takes 3-4 weeks, and I am requesting they do it in 2 :)
After doing all the above, we are told that we will most likely have to redo our homestudy, fingerprints and medical because they expire after 12 months and have to be updated for court. We are being told we could receive a referrel of a child in 12 months and court is about 12-16 weeks after that. Then we travel a second time to bring our son home. I am so glad that this program is a bit less expensive than Ukraine because after we redo all this stuff it will probably cost us the same amount as the Ukraine.
I am following a couple in the Ukraine who are wanting to adopt a son, they haven't blogged since they have been there (this week). I am praying that they do bring a child home.
Thank you for reading our blog and for your support.
.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Homestudy for Bulgaria
We received a call from AAI to say our homestudy is ready to be picked up. YEAH. So tomorrow morning I will pick it up. We will mail one to USCIS and TOL (our new agency). We have to sign some contracts for TOL and hopefully will be completed with our dossier by the end of the month. I have to get all our paperwork appostiled and notarized. Once everything is mailed to Bulgaria I will give a sigh of relief.
We returned from Alabama this past Saturday, and the girls had so much fun camping with my mom (even though it did rain at night). They got to swim at the beach, collect pinecones, play on the swings and make toasted marshmellows. Now back to reality of cleaning house, grocery shopping and doing laundry:)
Leave a comment if you want we would love to read them.
We returned from Alabama this past Saturday, and the girls had so much fun camping with my mom (even though it did rain at night). They got to swim at the beach, collect pinecones, play on the swings and make toasted marshmellows. Now back to reality of cleaning house, grocery shopping and doing laundry:)
Leave a comment if you want we would love to read them.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
I171H Received
We got back today from celebrating the 4th of July with our family, to find a letter from Homeland Security. I ripped that thing open and was thrilled to see we finally got our I171H approval letter to adopt.
We turned in our I600A April 18th, then our homestudy (the first one) the first week of June. They originally sent us a letter in the mail saying it was taking 3 months to get and it was one week shy of 3 months.
Now all we have to do is get our medical and send in our dossier to Bulgaria. I am thinking it will be by the end of this month, which means July of next year we should have a referrel of our son.
Have a great 4th of July weekend:)
We turned in our I600A April 18th, then our homestudy (the first one) the first week of June. They originally sent us a letter in the mail saying it was taking 3 months to get and it was one week shy of 3 months.
Now all we have to do is get our medical and send in our dossier to Bulgaria. I am thinking it will be by the end of this month, which means July of next year we should have a referrel of our son.
Have a great 4th of July weekend:)
Thursday, July 3, 2008
New Homestudy for Bulgaria
Well our social worker should be done with our new homestudy today, but then it has to be notarized. So we wont have it until after our vacation! Once we get our new homestudy we will sent a copy to USCIS so we can get our I171H. This is the only document left that we need for our dossier (other than medicals for us).
We had to redo our homestudy because it said "Ukraine" and "18-24 mth old". We were told that no children were available under 18 mths in the Ukraine. In Bulgaria the children are put on the registry for 6 months and then can be adopted. Like Ukraine, the citizens are able to adopt the children first and most families want the young, healthy children. So we are asking for a 12-24 month old.
I have been researching Roma and Gypsy because 80% of the children in the orphanages are Roma the other 20% are Bulgarian. The Roma children are olive, brown hair and brown eyes. They are looked down upon in Eastern Europe and most of them are unemployed and living in ghetto's. So I am sure most of these children have living parents who love them but can't afford to take care of them. Terrible really! We are being told it could take 12 months AFTER we submit our dossier to receive a referrel, which means I am sure we will have to redo our dossier as it is only good for 12 months and we had a few things notarized in April/May. The fingerprints and I171H are good for 18 months. Please pray that as soon as USCIS get our new homestudy we will receive our I171H so we can get this going.
We had to redo our homestudy because it said "Ukraine" and "18-24 mth old". We were told that no children were available under 18 mths in the Ukraine. In Bulgaria the children are put on the registry for 6 months and then can be adopted. Like Ukraine, the citizens are able to adopt the children first and most families want the young, healthy children. So we are asking for a 12-24 month old.
I have been researching Roma and Gypsy because 80% of the children in the orphanages are Roma the other 20% are Bulgarian. The Roma children are olive, brown hair and brown eyes. They are looked down upon in Eastern Europe and most of them are unemployed and living in ghetto's. So I am sure most of these children have living parents who love them but can't afford to take care of them. Terrible really! We are being told it could take 12 months AFTER we submit our dossier to receive a referrel, which means I am sure we will have to redo our dossier as it is only good for 12 months and we had a few things notarized in April/May. The fingerprints and I171H are good for 18 months. Please pray that as soon as USCIS get our new homestudy we will receive our I171H so we can get this going.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Our adoption Journedy Thus Far
Welcome to our adoption blog. We thought this would be a good idea to start so friend and family can keep up with what is happening (or not happening) along our journey to bring our son home.
For those of you who don't know, we are not adopting from Ukraine anymore. Rather we are in the process of adopting from Bulgaria through Tree of Life (TOL). We started our journey in March by applying to Adoption Associates, Inc. (AAI) and then started our homestudy in April. We have most of our documents ready for our dossier but are still waiting on our I171 H from USCIS. Since we changed the country we are adopting from we had to send a letter to USCIS this past week to have them change that on our I600A. Another hiccup with changing countries at this point is that we are uncertain as to whether we have to fill out the I800 instead because Bulgaria is Hague certified. I emailed USCIS and they told me we are grandfathered in, so we do not have to fill out the I800.
You might be asking yourselves, why we are not adopting from Ukraine anymore? Well I have been reading other blogs of families who are were in Ukraine wanting to adopt toddler age children, and they were having 2 appointments with the SDA and coming home without a child. This was after being in the country for 5weeks. Well we just cannot afford to be in the Ukraine for that long financially and also we would miss our children back home. So, through God's providence I received an email from another adoption agency saying their Bulgaria program was open again because the USA and Bulgaria were Hague certified. So I looked into Bulgaria and talked with my husband about it and we felt that this would be the best place to adopt our son. With Bulgaria you receive a referral (like Russia) and medical info then you travel to visit your child ( you have to be in the country for 5 days) then return home for 12-16 weeks (while paperwork is being done to adopt your child) then you return again for another 5 days to get your child. That is a total of 10 days which is much doable. Also the children look a lot like me, olive, brown eyes and brown hair.
So that is the latest on our adoption. We are in the process of redoing our homestudy, which our social worker said should be done when we get back from vacation and then hopefully so will our I171h then we can ship everything off to Bulgaria. The wait is between 12-18 months for a boy age 2 yrs old is what we are being told. So please pray that everything will go smoothly so we can be in the waiting process for our referral. Will write when we have something to tell.
For those of you who don't know, we are not adopting from Ukraine anymore. Rather we are in the process of adopting from Bulgaria through Tree of Life (TOL). We started our journey in March by applying to Adoption Associates, Inc. (AAI) and then started our homestudy in April. We have most of our documents ready for our dossier but are still waiting on our I171 H from USCIS. Since we changed the country we are adopting from we had to send a letter to USCIS this past week to have them change that on our I600A. Another hiccup with changing countries at this point is that we are uncertain as to whether we have to fill out the I800 instead because Bulgaria is Hague certified. I emailed USCIS and they told me we are grandfathered in, so we do not have to fill out the I800.
You might be asking yourselves, why we are not adopting from Ukraine anymore? Well I have been reading other blogs of families who are were in Ukraine wanting to adopt toddler age children, and they were having 2 appointments with the SDA and coming home without a child. This was after being in the country for 5weeks. Well we just cannot afford to be in the Ukraine for that long financially and also we would miss our children back home. So, through God's providence I received an email from another adoption agency saying their Bulgaria program was open again because the USA and Bulgaria were Hague certified. So I looked into Bulgaria and talked with my husband about it and we felt that this would be the best place to adopt our son. With Bulgaria you receive a referral (like Russia) and medical info then you travel to visit your child ( you have to be in the country for 5 days) then return home for 12-16 weeks (while paperwork is being done to adopt your child) then you return again for another 5 days to get your child. That is a total of 10 days which is much doable. Also the children look a lot like me, olive, brown eyes and brown hair.
So that is the latest on our adoption. We are in the process of redoing our homestudy, which our social worker said should be done when we get back from vacation and then hopefully so will our I171h then we can ship everything off to Bulgaria. The wait is between 12-18 months for a boy age 2 yrs old is what we are being told. So please pray that everything will go smoothly so we can be in the waiting process for our referral. Will write when we have something to tell.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)