Letter from Hague Adoption

Yes we heard back from the Hague today and no it wasn't our approval letter. Rather, they want us to do our fingerprints again so were asking for the $160 we didn't send with our application. I just don't get the government. We had our fingerprints done in August people, why can't you use those? I sent them a copy of the letter saying we had them done in August and they were good for 15 months. But I guess every time you do different paperwork you need new fingerprints. All I can say is 'money, money, money. Money makes the world go round.' How about we rather give the money to the orphanages these kids are in, doesn't that sound like a better idea?

So Monday I will be throwing more money to the government so we can go get our finger prints done again. So this is number 3 for hubby and number 4 for me in the last year and a half! Can you tell I am a bit frustrated.

Good news, our agency had to referrels the last MOJ appointment and someone is going to court for thier child. I was really hoping to have a referral by this Christmas, last Christmas was bitter sweet. Any news from other agencies on referrels?

More Running Around

The running around is not adoption related, rather it is for volunteering at the hospital. I received my paperwork last Friday to fill out and a test. I completed it over the weekend. This week I had to get a tb test, blood drawn to see if I am immune to chickenpox and I had to get a flu shot. Easy right? Oh no. I had to wait 45 min to get the above done and then told that they were out of flu shots. So I called the hospital and had to go there today to get my flu shot. Tomorrow I have to go back to get my tb read. I still need to go to the NICU department for my tour and orientation before I can begin so hopefully can do that sometime next week. I will call tomorrow to set that up.

My kids still haven't received their flu shots because their doctor's office is out of them! I am seriously thinking about going down to the Health Dept to get them. Everyone around us is sick. Many schools closed last week and I am not putting my kids in the church programs until they have their shots. I am scared for Cathryn because she gets asthma when she has a cold and I have heard that with h1n1 people get respitory issues and then have to go to the hospital. NO thanks!

Halloween is around the corner, I will have to post pics of the girls, which reminds me I still need to make Caroline's costume. She wants to be a tootsie roll. Cathryn is going to be an angel. I love Halloween don't you? Especially the chocolate candy bars the kids bring home. My favorite holiday though is Christmas and Easter. The birth and resurrection of Christ! Have a safe weekend.

MOPS Sale

I sold a ton of big items and after giving my 30% to MOPS my take home is $192 to put towards our adoption. Yeah! I had quite a lot of maternity stuff left over because there was so much of it so I took it to a consignment store down the road. However, they take 60% of what I sell it for. I just want to sell it and get more than I would at a garage sale. So we will see.

So the $192 looks likes peanuts compared to what we just dished out ($1,000) but it is something right? We also have finally paid off our car so no more car payments. So that money will be going in the adoption savings account starting January.

Our church is also hosting an Adoption Banquet November 5th to raise money for their new adoption ministry. Some of the money will go into a financial fund for families who want to adopt but can't afford it. Great idea and blessing to many in the future! I am really looking forward to the evening, hearing testimonies and they will be having a silent auction. I will let you know how it goes. Have a great weekend, it is raining here and we will be siting in the cold watching our girls play soccer. So happy it is their last game.

I800A off today

I am so relieved to be mailing off our I 800A with our new/updated homestudy. I am off to get our homestudy apostatized for Bulgaria and mail all documents off. What a relief. Next is to hear back from USCIS, with an approval letter. Pray we don't have to redo our fingerprints, we just did them for the I600A in August, and that we will hear good news within a month.

Heard from our coordinator that Bulgaria MOJ is looking at Dec 2007/Jan 2008 dossiers. Wondering how many dossiers were sent to Bulgaria in 2008 anyone know? Hope to have a referral by this summer.

I am hoping to start volunteering at the NICU the beginning of November, need to get some paperwork filled out, blood work done and training. Can't wait as my arms are aching to hold babies.

1 Year and 7 months today

It has been 1 year and 7 months since we started the adoption process, and we are still waiting. Shame on us though, it took us almost a year to get all our paperwork ready because of me being a British Citizen (lots of red tape to get through). Praying this time next year we would have made our first trip to see our son. I think getting the referral and leaving our son after the 1st trip to Bulgaria will be the hardest for us. The referral will be difficult because we will have to decided if it is our son or not depending on health information (not looks). Then being with him for a week in Bulgaria and leaving him behind will be hard for sure.

Off to the NICU in an hour, so excited. Will let you know how it goes!

Neonatal intensive care unit..

I am very excited. I am going to the NICU at the local hospital in our area and get to see the babies and what goes on there. I am hoping to volunteer and hold babies, or talk to the babies in the hospital. I was talking with a friend that I pray someone is holding our son and loving him until we get him. She then mentioned that there are some babies in the hospital that need this too, because the parents live to far to do this daily or they are in foster care (she is a nurse). So that is what I am going to do. I am going to hold babies, pray over them and love on them. The other new happening is I am going to start training to run a 5K in May. Never thought I would ever say that.

Adoption news; we received a bill from AAI for our updated homestudy. It will be $503. So that will be mailed tomorrow, and hopefully we will have our homestudy by Friday. Then we will mail it off with our I800a form with $670. Got a love that money flying out the door! Please continue to pray that we will recieve our approval from the American government in a timely fashion and that we will receive our referral in the near future. If we receive our referral in January, Calvin should be home by May. If we receive a refferal in July we should have Calvin home by Christmas. What a Christmas present. Will let you know when we recieve our approval.

Homestudy Done

Heard from our social worker that our background checks came in this week from AL and SC and she turned in our homestudy to our agency yesterday. So we should have it in our hands this time next week. This means we then get to pay them for the homestudy and pay USCIS $670 for the I800A form. I am so relieved that we will have this all mailed in to USCIS by the end of this month. We have already updated our fingerprints so hopefully we will get an acceptance letter by December. Wishful thinking maybe, but all things are possible when God is in control.

The MOPS sale started today, I of course went and bought some things (only spent $18) for the girls for Christmas. There were tons of people but also tons of stuff. Hope we make some good money to pay for the adoption. Have a good weekend!

MOPS sale

Today I had some friends over for breakfast, then went to gymnastics with Cathryn, did some church nursery organizing and then went over to a friends to label clothes for the Mothers of Preschoolers consignment sale. I was told they were out of seller numbers (had reached their quota) but my friend only used a third of her amount (allowed 300 pieces of clothing). So I went to her house and labeled my stuff to sell with her stuff next week Friday and Saturday. I didn't realize how much I had in maternity clothing! I have probably 200 pieces of clothing- infant, toddler and maternity, wouldn't it be awesome if it all sold! I guess on Saturday it is half off day. The money I make will go straight into our adoption fund. Every bit helps. I am also selling big items : bassinett, swing, stroller, vibrating seat, play saucer but I am keeping our pack and play for Calvin and our crib.

Adoption news: our social worker still hasn't received our background clearance checks yet. Still waiting. If we don't hear anything by the end of next week, I will be calling S.Carolina and Alabama. Still waiting and praying for you Calvin. Can't wait to hear your little footprints running down the hall, can't wait to snuggle with you when you wake up in the morning, can't wait to read you a bed time story, can't wait to play with you and just touch you. I miss you even though we haven't even met yet!

Waiting 9 months

We were registered Jan 6, 2009 so tomorrow it will be 9 months of waiting. I am hoping we are half way there if not closer. I am guessing the MOJ is starting to meet again this month to give some referrals again, summer is over folks!

A friend of mine mentioned that her church was having a MOPS sale if I wanted to sell some children's clothing. YES! We need to make some money for our adoptions. So yesterday I emailed and called the person I am supposed to get my paperwork from, didn't reach them so left a message. I then went through Cathryn's stuff, found some maternity clothes and sorted. Only to find out this morning they have enough vendors so I will have to sign up for the February one. Oh well!

This morning I decided to sort through all the stuff in our basement storage/laundry area because I have a cold and was not going to the gym today. I found more baby stuff and maternity clothing. Yeah. So put all in bags, labeled them for February's sale. I love having an organized home. Next will be the garage, we do the garage every spring and fall, how can it get so disorganized in such a short time! Oh yeah, we don't put things back where we got them from!

So as we wait for our paperwork stuff go get back and our updated homestudy, I am organizing and fixing up our home. Our kitchen looks sooo much better, amazing what a little bit of paint can do, new lights and next month I will buy some curtains. LOVE IT! Next on my list of to do is Calvin's Room and our master bedroom. Calvin needs blue curtains and a blue area rug. Our room needs some color paint. Have I told you how much I hate painting!

So excited to see some children coming home (special needs). Looking forward to hearing about some young healthy kids being referred. I thought boys were supposed to be quicker! Have a blessed week friends.