Yesterday we had church. Anastasia is handling meeting new people much better, not that I blame her for being shy! She went into church with me for praise, then I took her back into the children's theater. She sat with me and watched, then once it was over she ran around like a crazy girl, just like the rest of them, dancing and singing.
Then last night we had our Welcome Christmas party for the children in Atlanta. It was a little more planned than I would have liked, but it was nice and very much appreciated. Each child had a sponser that bought them 3 gifts and sat with us for dinner. Our sponsers were very sweet and we enjoyed talking with them. Being around the translators was a little intimidating. Although they seemed very pleased with how well Anastasia was doing, and how pretty she looked. She calls all caregivers Mama, which I already knew, but I must say it did spark Mommy jealousy on my part. I have notices she does make a point to call me Mommy most of the time now, which I do think is different than Mama. One of the chaperones/translators took a picture of Anastasia and I to send back to our orphanage to show them how well she is doing.
Anastasia told the translator that she is having fun and she likes it here. She also told her that Ginger the dog pooped on the floor in her room, she was not happy about that. The translator just laughed. She also said she was very upset that she had left her other purse behind at the orphanage because it would have matched the dress she had on, and that the purse she had with her did not match!!! Oh, my we are in for it!
Santa was there for the kids and she told him she wants a purse and a phone for Christmas! Oh boy.
First thing when we got there I took her to go to the bathroom. She told me that she is Nastia, not Anastasia. When she first got here she told me "me Anastasia". When she comes home forever we don't plan on calling her Nastia unless she insists as it could cause some teasing. So we have decided for now we will call her Anastasia most of the time with a Nastia thrown in there to make her feel like we are not making her choose, or that they are referring to 2 different people. ALTHOUGH Cooper may be up to something, he has told her that his nickname for her is Stacia, and that is what he calls her most of the time.
She has definitly bonded more with the boys. This morning she picked up to foam swords and said "brother" and took off for the bedroom to play swords with Cody. He is very good with her, he paused his computer game to play with her! We went to Target to exchange the PJs her sponsers got her because they didn't fit. Then I took the kids to see Despereaux, they all said they liked it, but I must say not so sure I did. It was a little dreary and somewhat complex. Also it shows a father giving up his daughter as baby (he cannot take care of her), she is then enslaved, and later just happens to be reunited with her long lost father. Not really orphan friendly, but I don't think she noticed it.
At dnner she ran to her room to get her Target bag and show Papa her new pajamas. She seems to have a very healthy bonding with even Gary, so I suspect that she has had positive male figures in her life. After dinner Gary went to rent movies, it was supposed to be Cody's turn to go, but he said he didn't want to, so I asked Anastasia if she wanted to go. At first she said no, then when he went to walk out the door she changed her mind. So they brought back a Christmas movie and Cinderella, which she has been singing around the house, so I know she knows it and she was so excited to watch it.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Oh Christmas Tree!
We finally got our Christmas tree today. We wanted to wait for Anastasia, so it's up late this year. We went to a cut it down yourself place, we had fun! We had a blast decorating it. I am so happy we waited for her, she had so much fun.
I'll backtrack to yesterday. We went to Burger King for a birthday party. She had been so shy the past couple places we went I wasn't sure how she was going to be. At first she was really shy, then I made her sit in her own chair while I ate, and she is always happy to eat! Yesterday she had a banana, half a container of watermelon, a piece of plain bread, and a bagel with cream cheese, for breakfast! Today I limited her to a bagel with cream cheese and a bowl of frosted flakes.
My good friend Amy has a little girl who is in Cooper's class and she was very patient with Anastasia once Anastasia decided to go play. We were really surprised she did, it was soooo crowded and loud. She really came out of her shell, she was running and playing with the other girls. She had so much fun, and we had fun watching her. Up to this point her relationship with Gary has been based on snorting at each other and laughing and him tickling her. They had time to play more together and she actually let him put her to bed last night. This morning they had a big sword fight with the boys' foam swords, and they had so much fun with it. She then ran down the hall way and grabbed her brush and hairbow. She wanted Gary to do her hair! That was a sight to see!! She will now approach him and call to him when she wants something. I am the only person she will speak English to, and most of the time she whispers it in my ear.
We went to the mall today to see Nicole's son dance. She did not want to sit in the stroller. Once she got out she just ran and ran. She was so sweaty. Sometimes I see her walking slowwly, looking down at her legs, trying to make them straight, and to walk "normal". It breaks my heart!!
Today she ran up to me and hugged me so hard and then kissed me on the cheek an rocked me back and forth singing Mommy, Mommy.
She is such a joy always singing and happy, we are having so much fun with her.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
dreshka!!!!
I don't know how to spell it, but that's how to say dress in Russian, we went to Kohl's today, and that is what she said very excitedly, so of course I bought her one! How could I resist. But I had her say "dress please" in English first, ahh bribery!!! She has also said "drink please", wait, come on, I love you, thank you, santa claus, and several others, so she is learning. Well I say that, but I know she knows much more, but she doesn't want to show it for whatever reason.
Last night I had gotten sun catchers for the kids to paint, I figured that didn't require language, it was lots of fun, and got Cody to finally acknowledge Anastasia. I think he was very intimidated by the situation at first, scared by the way she walks, and just overwhelmed. But last night they started a friendly game of throwing the santa hat at each other, so that is progress!! Cooper is doing great, they both talk all the time, in 2 different languages, and get frustrated because the other one won't stop talking! Cooper is great with her, he talks to her even though she doesn't understand and tells her that she needs to learn English. Today he wanted to show her something and he told her to hold his hand so that she would not fall!
I had bought a stroller for kids with disabilities, it cost 400.00, and is already worth every penny. She can walk, and wants to, but for things like shopping, it's really better and more helpful if she rides.
Last night the boys went to bed early since they didn't have naps, and me and Gary sat on the couch with her and watched Little Mermaid, she didn't care that it wasn't in English. I had her pick out an ornament, and they had one that had a set of two Ariels, one as a mermaid and another as a princess with a dress, perfect!!!!! She loves them, and it's a fond memory for us, and symbolic I think. She is a mermaid now, beautiful and wonderful, and from somewere much different than where she will end up, Russia vs. America. After she is home forever, and has surgery on her legs, she will be like Ariel with her legs, where she belongs. And like Ariel, she sings and sings.
Our challenges so far: well the language obviously, but that will just take time
The biggest, is her disabilities I think, not for her, that is life as she knows it, but I became the mother of a child with disabilities over night. I have to bathe her, lift her onto the toilet if I don't want pee all over my floor, lift her in and out of the car, etc... That is a total life change. But a mission and purpose God has given me and one that I accept as much of a gift as it is a challenge. I thank God for my legs and that they work the way I need them too, easy and effortlessly. That is a huge part of our lives that we don't even realize, and I pray so hard that one day she will know that freedom.
Well, she has entertained herself for the 20 minutes I've been on the computer, the first since she's been here!! She wants me at her side, and says mama or mom, every minute or so. I told myself she will just have to learn, so I just sat down, and told her Mom was busy but that I would come in a little bit.
Type at you later!!
Last night I had gotten sun catchers for the kids to paint, I figured that didn't require language, it was lots of fun, and got Cody to finally acknowledge Anastasia. I think he was very intimidated by the situation at first, scared by the way she walks, and just overwhelmed. But last night they started a friendly game of throwing the santa hat at each other, so that is progress!! Cooper is doing great, they both talk all the time, in 2 different languages, and get frustrated because the other one won't stop talking! Cooper is great with her, he talks to her even though she doesn't understand and tells her that she needs to learn English. Today he wanted to show her something and he told her to hold his hand so that she would not fall!
I had bought a stroller for kids with disabilities, it cost 400.00, and is already worth every penny. She can walk, and wants to, but for things like shopping, it's really better and more helpful if she rides.
Last night the boys went to bed early since they didn't have naps, and me and Gary sat on the couch with her and watched Little Mermaid, she didn't care that it wasn't in English. I had her pick out an ornament, and they had one that had a set of two Ariels, one as a mermaid and another as a princess with a dress, perfect!!!!! She loves them, and it's a fond memory for us, and symbolic I think. She is a mermaid now, beautiful and wonderful, and from somewere much different than where she will end up, Russia vs. America. After she is home forever, and has surgery on her legs, she will be like Ariel with her legs, where she belongs. And like Ariel, she sings and sings.
Our challenges so far: well the language obviously, but that will just take time
The biggest, is her disabilities I think, not for her, that is life as she knows it, but I became the mother of a child with disabilities over night. I have to bathe her, lift her onto the toilet if I don't want pee all over my floor, lift her in and out of the car, etc... That is a total life change. But a mission and purpose God has given me and one that I accept as much of a gift as it is a challenge. I thank God for my legs and that they work the way I need them too, easy and effortlessly. That is a huge part of our lives that we don't even realize, and I pray so hard that one day she will know that freedom.
Well, she has entertained herself for the 20 minutes I've been on the computer, the first since she's been here!! She wants me at her side, and says mama or mom, every minute or so. I told myself she will just have to learn, so I just sat down, and told her Mom was busy but that I would come in a little bit.
Type at you later!!
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
She's Here!
We got to the airport around 10:30 to discover that the russian flight had not taken off from JKK yet, it was being deiced. We kept getting word that they had taken off from the airport, then word that no they had not. We had a long night, but the boys were wonderful, Cooper slept for several hours, and then when he woke we just laid on a couch and cuddled. Daddy got to go to the gate with the New Horizons people to help bring the kids up from the gate when they arrived. They landed at 3:00 and did not make it up to us until almost 4:00 I think. The train closes at 1:00am so they had to walk the very long distance!! She was very very shy last night, happy but shy.
I couldn't get a picture because she would hide her face.
We got home around 5:45, the boys went straight to bed and I showed Anastasia around. We stayed up for about 1.5 hours gettting to know each other. She "wowed" at her room a lot, and at all the things in the closet, asking "me?" When I would say yes, she would say "OHHH Thank you" and "WOW" She sat on the floor by the closet and tryed on her new shoes. She then crawled over several feet where I was sitting and said, "Mama, thank you" and hugged me. She was so thankful and excited. She was talking russian telling me all sorts of things that I couldn't understand, but wished I could. I changed her clothes, she was quite stinky from being bound up in a pair of tights, jeans, 2 shirts and a winter jacket. She had blisters on her feet and a rash on her leg that was bothering her from where her jeans had rubbed her raw, poor thing. A little sympathy seemed to make it better.
We sat on the bed and looked at all her pretty little things, and she immediately picked out a pink purse I had bought at the goodwill to put them all in, and she has carried that with her everywhere we go. She loves the baby and stroller we had put in the room for her, she was wheeling it around and singing to the baby so sweetly when Gary walked in from putting the boys to bed. It was a different girl from the one he had seen on the way home from the airport hiding her face.
She loves Ginger, she giggled so hard when Ginger did all her crazy jumping around. She kept closing the door, she did not want me to leave the room. So I went and got ready for bed, and laid down with her, she just grinned. I started rubbing her hair to help her go to sleep, and she did the same to me, she's so sweet. She put her arm around me and was asleep in 10 seconds. I woke up several hours later, and went to my bed. All the kids woke at 9:30. I gave her a much needed bath, which was a little scary, because her body is so stiff she kept slipping. She was just laughing, it was me it startled. She ran to her closet after getting dried off and asked something which I figured was something to the effect of "what can I wear" I told her to pick anything, she said "WOW" She picked one of the princess dress up dresses, and as soon as she put it on she said something in russian followed by Papa. I know enough little girls to know what she wanted. So I asked her "do you want to show Papa your dress?" She nodded yes with a big smile. So we went and showwed Gary how proud she was of her new dress.
Gary took the boys to school and I stayed home and took a shower and got "real" clothes on her so we could go to Cooper's Christmas program. She sat well through that, and afterwards we went to Chick fil a.
Her host parents from this summer said they had taken her there, and she recognized it and was very excited. She ate a lot of chicken and french fries and red HI-C, which I actually persuaded her into calling juice. After she got done eating she kept looking at the play place, but I was nervous because I was not sure with her legs if she'd be able to get up the initial stairs that are pretty high. Gary saw her looking and asked if she wanted to go, and she immediatly got out of her chair and headed for it. She was a little slow, but she did it, for about an hour!! She would climb up and go down the slide and everytime, she would yell "mama" and wave to me.
I'll cover this evening and how her relationships with the boys are forming tomorrow, I would love to tell more tonight, but I need to get to bed. We got Cooper's and Cody's Christmas parties at school tomorrow, so I have to get up on time!!
Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers, this is such an exciting,yet of course challenging time, and we appreciate it.
I couldn't get a picture because she would hide her face.
We got home around 5:45, the boys went straight to bed and I showed Anastasia around. We stayed up for about 1.5 hours gettting to know each other. She "wowed" at her room a lot, and at all the things in the closet, asking "me?" When I would say yes, she would say "OHHH Thank you" and "WOW" She sat on the floor by the closet and tryed on her new shoes. She then crawled over several feet where I was sitting and said, "Mama, thank you" and hugged me. She was so thankful and excited. She was talking russian telling me all sorts of things that I couldn't understand, but wished I could. I changed her clothes, she was quite stinky from being bound up in a pair of tights, jeans, 2 shirts and a winter jacket. She had blisters on her feet and a rash on her leg that was bothering her from where her jeans had rubbed her raw, poor thing. A little sympathy seemed to make it better.
We sat on the bed and looked at all her pretty little things, and she immediately picked out a pink purse I had bought at the goodwill to put them all in, and she has carried that with her everywhere we go. She loves the baby and stroller we had put in the room for her, she was wheeling it around and singing to the baby so sweetly when Gary walked in from putting the boys to bed. It was a different girl from the one he had seen on the way home from the airport hiding her face.
She loves Ginger, she giggled so hard when Ginger did all her crazy jumping around. She kept closing the door, she did not want me to leave the room. So I went and got ready for bed, and laid down with her, she just grinned. I started rubbing her hair to help her go to sleep, and she did the same to me, she's so sweet. She put her arm around me and was asleep in 10 seconds. I woke up several hours later, and went to my bed. All the kids woke at 9:30. I gave her a much needed bath, which was a little scary, because her body is so stiff she kept slipping. She was just laughing, it was me it startled. She ran to her closet after getting dried off and asked something which I figured was something to the effect of "what can I wear" I told her to pick anything, she said "WOW" She picked one of the princess dress up dresses, and as soon as she put it on she said something in russian followed by Papa. I know enough little girls to know what she wanted. So I asked her "do you want to show Papa your dress?" She nodded yes with a big smile. So we went and showwed Gary how proud she was of her new dress.
Gary took the boys to school and I stayed home and took a shower and got "real" clothes on her so we could go to Cooper's Christmas program. She sat well through that, and afterwards we went to Chick fil a.
Her host parents from this summer said they had taken her there, and she recognized it and was very excited. She ate a lot of chicken and french fries and red HI-C, which I actually persuaded her into calling juice. After she got done eating she kept looking at the play place, but I was nervous because I was not sure with her legs if she'd be able to get up the initial stairs that are pretty high. Gary saw her looking and asked if she wanted to go, and she immediatly got out of her chair and headed for it. She was a little slow, but she did it, for about an hour!! She would climb up and go down the slide and everytime, she would yell "mama" and wave to me.
I'll cover this evening and how her relationships with the boys are forming tomorrow, I would love to tell more tonight, but I need to get to bed. We got Cooper's and Cody's Christmas parties at school tomorrow, so I have to get up on time!!
Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers, this is such an exciting,yet of course challenging time, and we appreciate it.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Tomorrow is the big day!!!
Oh my goodness, I can't even describe how I feel today, I am so excited!!! And very emotional, on the verge of tears at every second, in a good way, just weepy! Just keeping busy, because if I stop to let myself think about how close we are to meeting her, I cry, so I'm crying right now, of course, cause I have to think about it to type this.
The hosting agency said today that since she is special needs, that they are getting Gary a gate pass so that he can assist her once getting off the plane (crying even harder), at first I was jealous, but he got to see both of the boys first as they were lifted out of my stomach so I think Anastasia should be no different, her Daddy should lay eyes on her first. And I don't have to have my stomach cut into, so really it's a win win situation.
I am just cleaning house, since we will be so busy once she gets here. Finishing up my last Christmas shopping odds and ends, and that's it. The children arrive very late, 11:35, so I think after dinner tomorrow will be the hardest, killing time till it is time to go. Ok, I really have to stop sobbing, so I'll write more in several days once she gets settled in. Please keep us in your prayers, especially her, she has no idea who she is coming to stay with until she gets on the plane. She probably is under the impression it will be the family that kept her during the summer. It will be natural for her to be upset and disappointed when she realizes it is not. But on the plane they will read her our letter and show her our pictures we sent.
The hosting agency said today that since she is special needs, that they are getting Gary a gate pass so that he can assist her once getting off the plane (crying even harder), at first I was jealous, but he got to see both of the boys first as they were lifted out of my stomach so I think Anastasia should be no different, her Daddy should lay eyes on her first. And I don't have to have my stomach cut into, so really it's a win win situation.
I am just cleaning house, since we will be so busy once she gets here. Finishing up my last Christmas shopping odds and ends, and that's it. The children arrive very late, 11:35, so I think after dinner tomorrow will be the hardest, killing time till it is time to go. Ok, I really have to stop sobbing, so I'll write more in several days once she gets settled in. Please keep us in your prayers, especially her, she has no idea who she is coming to stay with until she gets on the plane. She probably is under the impression it will be the family that kept her during the summer. It will be natural for her to be upset and disappointed when she realizes it is not. But on the plane they will read her our letter and show her our pictures we sent.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
19 Days!!!
I can't believe it's been more than 3 weeks since I've posted. Those of you who are here know why. We moved this past week, with the help of some wonderful friends!! It was stressful to say the least, then I had to add a 3 day Christmas Show with my Uppercase Living stuff. And in between that we drove to Atlanta twice, once for an all day Hosting Training, and the other for a 15 minute fingerprint appointment. I know, now, that I am not Super Woman! But we got through it.
Our social Worker came Monday to do our Safety visit, and update our homestudy with our new home information.
We love living in a one story again, love it!!!
Cannot wait for Anastasia to get here!!! Time has flown by, my plan to stay busy is still working.
We may do a seperate Hosting blog while she is here. We have had to tell Cooper that we are not getting to "keep" her, he is heart broken. But Cooper loves to talk. Cody know the truth and that it is a secret. And if this is mentioned in front of her or the chaperones while they are here, we will be in trouble. It's hard to explain why.
Your part in this is that adoption is no longer mentioned in front of the boys. We just talk about how excited we are to have her coming to visit. No more talking about their new sister. I know we had to get them used to the idea for the homestudy and know we have to reverse it. But all for a good cause.
I'll post more later, I've got a little boy with an ear infection that needs some cuddles!
Our social Worker came Monday to do our Safety visit, and update our homestudy with our new home information.
We love living in a one story again, love it!!!
Cannot wait for Anastasia to get here!!! Time has flown by, my plan to stay busy is still working.
We may do a seperate Hosting blog while she is here. We have had to tell Cooper that we are not getting to "keep" her, he is heart broken. But Cooper loves to talk. Cody know the truth and that it is a secret. And if this is mentioned in front of her or the chaperones while they are here, we will be in trouble. It's hard to explain why.
Your part in this is that adoption is no longer mentioned in front of the boys. We just talk about how excited we are to have her coming to visit. No more talking about their new sister. I know we had to get them used to the idea for the homestudy and know we have to reverse it. But all for a good cause.
I'll post more later, I've got a little boy with an ear infection that needs some cuddles!
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
6 Weeks till Anastasia is here!
Sorry it's been so long since my last post. Things are moving along smoothly.
We are in between sets of paperwork right now, so I am getting a breather.
We are moving into a one story house in several weeks, we've got military renters moving into our house. This will not only save us a chunk of money every month but foremost it will provide a much safer environment for Anastasia with not having stairs.
Supposedly Atlanta is now caught up on their paperwork, so we got a letter from homeland security saying our INS paperwork should now only take 3 months rather then 5-6. This is great news. And given everything else goes smoothly we have no reason not to beleive that she will be home with us permantly before summer break.
The break in paperwork is nice, but it allows all the everyday concerns to start creeping in. Like, how will the children get along. How hard will it be to communicate with her in the beginning. What if she doesn't like us? How do I take 3 kids into a grocery store-one with Cerebral Palsy? What do put her in when we go places-a stroller, a wheelchair? People ask me repeatedly are you nervous, are you scared, are you worried? I know it is strange but no I'm not. Is Gary- yes, I think a little, but not about any of those things, mostly about being a girl Dad. I tell him he'll be fine, I've seen him with many of our friends' daughters and they all love him.
So during our little paperwork break we will be moving houses! Then as soon as we are in our house we will start the next set, so that way it will all have our new address.
Right now I am really praying about where to go for the financing. We've got over 25,000 in costs coming up. And no I'm not worried about that either! We don't have 25,000 dollars laying around, so we need to get a loan. So I am really praying to be lead to the best loan possible, as far as interest rate goes. We have the resources to pay on a loan every month. Thankfully due to the fact that God has lead us to a debt free life. So since we have no debt, people are more than willing to loan us money so that we can have debt!!! The American way! We had sold our minivan about 6 or so months ago, and bought Gary a little Toyota with cash and I took back the CRV. With all the travel we do, 3 kids will not be comfortable in the CRV, especially if we have a wheelchair to transport also. So the money we save every month by renting out our house, we go toward a car payment.
So for you prayer warriors, we need prayer for some good loans!
Both of the boys are doing wonderful, and are really excited about Anastasia coming, even Cooper!! They are wonderful boys, and will make great brothers for a little girl.
I am curious however how Mr Chatterbox Cooper is going to deal with a child who doesn't speak his language! That should be very interesting!!
We are in between sets of paperwork right now, so I am getting a breather.
We are moving into a one story house in several weeks, we've got military renters moving into our house. This will not only save us a chunk of money every month but foremost it will provide a much safer environment for Anastasia with not having stairs.
Supposedly Atlanta is now caught up on their paperwork, so we got a letter from homeland security saying our INS paperwork should now only take 3 months rather then 5-6. This is great news. And given everything else goes smoothly we have no reason not to beleive that she will be home with us permantly before summer break.
The break in paperwork is nice, but it allows all the everyday concerns to start creeping in. Like, how will the children get along. How hard will it be to communicate with her in the beginning. What if she doesn't like us? How do I take 3 kids into a grocery store-one with Cerebral Palsy? What do put her in when we go places-a stroller, a wheelchair? People ask me repeatedly are you nervous, are you scared, are you worried? I know it is strange but no I'm not. Is Gary- yes, I think a little, but not about any of those things, mostly about being a girl Dad. I tell him he'll be fine, I've seen him with many of our friends' daughters and they all love him.
So during our little paperwork break we will be moving houses! Then as soon as we are in our house we will start the next set, so that way it will all have our new address.
Right now I am really praying about where to go for the financing. We've got over 25,000 in costs coming up. And no I'm not worried about that either! We don't have 25,000 dollars laying around, so we need to get a loan. So I am really praying to be lead to the best loan possible, as far as interest rate goes. We have the resources to pay on a loan every month. Thankfully due to the fact that God has lead us to a debt free life. So since we have no debt, people are more than willing to loan us money so that we can have debt!!! The American way! We had sold our minivan about 6 or so months ago, and bought Gary a little Toyota with cash and I took back the CRV. With all the travel we do, 3 kids will not be comfortable in the CRV, especially if we have a wheelchair to transport also. So the money we save every month by renting out our house, we go toward a car payment.
So for you prayer warriors, we need prayer for some good loans!
Both of the boys are doing wonderful, and are really excited about Anastasia coming, even Cooper!! They are wonderful boys, and will make great brothers for a little girl.
I am curious however how Mr Chatterbox Cooper is going to deal with a child who doesn't speak his language! That should be very interesting!!
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Yea, oh Happy Day!!!
Our homestudy is finished, our wonderful social worker just emailed to let us know, and I will be able to pick it up and mail in our INS forms today or tomorrow!!!
I feel like I just peed on a pregnancy test, and got 2 lines!!!
59 days till Anatstasia is here!!!
October is flying by, my plan is to keep busy, and it is working. This month I started my business with Uppercase Living, had my first Open House.
Listed our house with a Realtor.
And have been busy getting donations for our Fundraiser Rummage Sale this Saturday.
Our wonderful friends the Mandleys are coming to visit Sat-Monday, we are so excited they are coming!!
I met another woman online, through a yahoo group for the hosting agency. She is adopting a little girl from the same orphanage Anastasia is in!! They hosted their little girl this past Summer. They are using the same agency and just mailed in their INS form yesterday, so we will be able to share our journey together!! So that is really nice to have right now.
I feel like I just peed on a pregnancy test, and got 2 lines!!!
59 days till Anatstasia is here!!!
October is flying by, my plan is to keep busy, and it is working. This month I started my business with Uppercase Living, had my first Open House.
Listed our house with a Realtor.
And have been busy getting donations for our Fundraiser Rummage Sale this Saturday.
Our wonderful friends the Mandleys are coming to visit Sat-Monday, we are so excited they are coming!!
I met another woman online, through a yahoo group for the hosting agency. She is adopting a little girl from the same orphanage Anastasia is in!! They hosted their little girl this past Summer. They are using the same agency and just mailed in their INS form yesterday, so we will be able to share our journey together!! So that is really nice to have right now.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
68 Days- Some New News
Yeah, we are so excited. W
After some of my deep research, you guys know I love to research. I ran across something that lead me to beleive that we can in fact travel on our first trip, before INS approval. I know all this is hard to understand, but Atlanta is taking 5 months to process adoption INS forms, other states are currently taking 1-3 months. We had been told that we had to wait until our INS form was approved before we could travel on our first trip. NOT TRUE-yours truly, one very determined Mama Bear, found out that is not true, and confirmed it with our agency last night!!!! So we could travel as soon as February, when we thougth it would be May at the soonest, so this is good news for us, one less day in the orphanage is great news! So months is even better.
We've had one tie up with our homestudy, that we are getting taken care of today. And then it will be finalized.
Also Gary's passport is holding us up a bit, since he was born in Greece while his Dad was stationed there, we needed further proof that he is a US citizen, which luckily his father had, and he has mailed to us, and it will be in the mail today to the passport office.
After those 2 things, we will be sending off our INS paperwork (I600A). Yea!
We also discovered that one of our friends whom also is our neighbor not only has studied Russian culture extensively, but also speaks it! So that is great for us, we feel blessed to have her experience this with us!
After some of my deep research, you guys know I love to research. I ran across something that lead me to beleive that we can in fact travel on our first trip, before INS approval. I know all this is hard to understand, but Atlanta is taking 5 months to process adoption INS forms, other states are currently taking 1-3 months. We had been told that we had to wait until our INS form was approved before we could travel on our first trip. NOT TRUE-yours truly, one very determined Mama Bear, found out that is not true, and confirmed it with our agency last night!!!! So we could travel as soon as February, when we thougth it would be May at the soonest, so this is good news for us, one less day in the orphanage is great news! So months is even better.
We've had one tie up with our homestudy, that we are getting taken care of today. And then it will be finalized.
Also Gary's passport is holding us up a bit, since he was born in Greece while his Dad was stationed there, we needed further proof that he is a US citizen, which luckily his father had, and he has mailed to us, and it will be in the mail today to the passport office.
After those 2 things, we will be sending off our INS paperwork (I600A). Yea!
We also discovered that one of our friends whom also is our neighbor not only has studied Russian culture extensively, but also speaks it! So that is great for us, we feel blessed to have her experience this with us!
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Just plugging along
We had our last homestudy appointment yesterday, she came to our house, looked around, talked to the boys, etc... It went great, our social worker is wonderful though.
74 Days until we meet Anastasia, that is when she will get here for the month she will be here over the holidays, we can't wait!
We are having a Fundraiser Garage Sale Oct. 18th, we are putting the word out there, and as people contact me I am going and picking up donations!
I have signed up with an at-home business, Uppercase Living. Something I swore I'd never do, but this is right up my alley, since I love decorating.
Check out my new website http://caras.uppercaseliving.net
Other than that nothing new to report, the social worker has to finish putting the report together, than we will send off a copy of our homestudy report with our INS form to Atlanta, and wait for our approval, and our official fingerprint appointment. Yes we've already been fingerprinted, on 2 different types of cards, but obviously there is something else they need to fingerprint for. This is the approval that takes so long here, Atlanta takes 5 months most other states are processing them in 1-3 months. And we can't take our next step until we get that approval.
74 Days until we meet Anastasia, that is when she will get here for the month she will be here over the holidays, we can't wait!
We are having a Fundraiser Garage Sale Oct. 18th, we are putting the word out there, and as people contact me I am going and picking up donations!
I have signed up with an at-home business, Uppercase Living. Something I swore I'd never do, but this is right up my alley, since I love decorating.
Check out my new website http://caras.uppercaseliving.net
Other than that nothing new to report, the social worker has to finish putting the report together, than we will send off a copy of our homestudy report with our INS form to Atlanta, and wait for our approval, and our official fingerprint appointment. Yes we've already been fingerprinted, on 2 different types of cards, but obviously there is something else they need to fingerprint for. This is the approval that takes so long here, Atlanta takes 5 months most other states are processing them in 1-3 months. And we can't take our next step until we get that approval.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Not sure who all is reading this!
Eventually I think I will make this blog only accessable with a password, so I really would like to know who visits.
Kate rocks, she has left several comments, Thanks Kate!
To leave a comment just click on comments at the bottom of the blog.
There is nothing new, our last appt. with our homestudy social worker will be the next Tuesday the 30th.
Thank you to everyone who wrote reference letters. I feel like I should write a 1 page letter about how wonderful you are!!!
And to all my wonderful friends, if I've been slow to return your calls or emails, I am so sorry, I have been so wrapped up in this and running around like crazy. Everyone has been so supportive and helpful, thank you so much!
Kate rocks, she has left several comments, Thanks Kate!
To leave a comment just click on comments at the bottom of the blog.
There is nothing new, our last appt. with our homestudy social worker will be the next Tuesday the 30th.
Thank you to everyone who wrote reference letters. I feel like I should write a 1 page letter about how wonderful you are!!!
And to all my wonderful friends, if I've been slow to return your calls or emails, I am so sorry, I have been so wrapped up in this and running around like crazy. Everyone has been so supportive and helpful, thank you so much!
The Post I HATE
Alright, I had put a link up before for donations, but took it down. But yesterday after our pastor spoke on generosity, I changed my mind, I am putting a link back up.
So I switched the way I am doing it, this money will go directly to the hosting program. We have 700.00 due to them by Oct. 15 and another 700.00 due on Nov. 15th.
Your donation will be tax deductable, and we won't have to pay taxes on it since it is going straight to the hosting program, which is non-profit.
Please, don't give what you don't have, anyone who knows Gary and I know that we don't like debt, so please don't add to yours!
http://www.active.com/donate/orphans2008/suttles
Thank you, and God Bless
So I switched the way I am doing it, this money will go directly to the hosting program. We have 700.00 due to them by Oct. 15 and another 700.00 due on Nov. 15th.
Your donation will be tax deductable, and we won't have to pay taxes on it since it is going straight to the hosting program, which is non-profit.
Please, don't give what you don't have, anyone who knows Gary and I know that we don't like debt, so please don't add to yours!
http://www.active.com/donate/orphans2008/suttles
Thank you, and God Bless
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Countdown
88 Days Until We Meet Anastasia.
We just got back from Ohio last night and we are tired, but we had a great trip.
The last of our paperwork for the homestudy should be done this week. I got my passport in the mail while we were gone.
The New Horizons has it's photolisting up of children available to host for this Christmas, if anyone is interested.
We just got back from Ohio last night and we are tired, but we had a great trip.
The last of our paperwork for the homestudy should be done this week. I got my passport in the mail while we were gone.
The New Horizons has it's photolisting up of children available to host for this Christmas, if anyone is interested.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Yes, just working on paperwork
I have my doctor's appt. this week for her to do my paperwork, and Gary will do his sometime this week.
I have to go to the ped. to get the paperwork about the boys. And it looks like I'll have to take Cody to get a shot because they say he got his Hep Bs 10 days apart instead of 2 months, so know they want him to get another one. Not so sure about that, because I know he didn't get any immunizations 10 days apart.
Other than our reference letters, which we have 2 already completed, just not in our hands, our paperwork for your homestudy is almost complete.
I have to go to the ped. to get the paperwork about the boys. And it looks like I'll have to take Cody to get a shot because they say he got his Hep Bs 10 days apart instead of 2 months, so know they want him to get another one. Not so sure about that, because I know he didn't get any immunizations 10 days apart.
Other than our reference letters, which we have 2 already completed, just not in our hands, our paperwork for your homestudy is almost complete.
Friday, September 5, 2008
One word-Paperwork
We have one homestudy appt. left to do, we just have to get all our paperwork in first.
Reports from the kids doctors
Reports from our doctors
And a couple other odds and ends
I applied for my passport today.
Reports from the kids doctors
Reports from our doctors
And a couple other odds and ends
I applied for my passport today.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Paperwork, paperwork, paperwork
We had our first homestudy appointment yesterday. Our social worker is very nice and everything seemed to go really good.
This Wednesday Gary will have his one on one appointment with her and Thursday I will have mine. After that we wait for the paperwork to come back, consisting of our background checks that we had to send off for. Once we have all our paperwork complete, then she will do our home visit to check the safety of our home, see the room we'll be using for the child, meet and talk to the boys, etc...
This Wednesday Gary will have his one on one appointment with her and Thursday I will have mine. After that we wait for the paperwork to come back, consisting of our background checks that we had to send off for. Once we have all our paperwork complete, then she will do our home visit to check the safety of our home, see the room we'll be using for the child, meet and talk to the boys, etc...
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Lots of Paperwork
Just been working on lot of paperwork. Gary and I both have to do this 8 page autobiography thing. So we been hacking away at that.
We have our first homestudy appt. on Monday. There will be a total of 4 appointments with out social worker:
1. Both Gary and I, at the social worker house, to discuss everything from the day we met to now.
2 and 3. are one each for Gary and I to discuss things one at a time with the social worker.
4. At our house, to inspect the safety of the house, make sure we have room for one more, and for her to meet the boys and get their take on everything.
Which by the way is total opposite for them.
Cooper of course wants nothing to do with anything that would take attention away from him. It has comforted him some to know that it's not a baby we are adopting. So now he says he wants a sister only if Cody does.
Cody has been awesome, beyond what I expected. He looks through the adoption brochures. He's found Russia on his globe in his room. He asks tons of questions. He is very sad that the process will take a long time. He set aside all the pink toys in the house, pink power rangers, etc... Him and Anastasia are the same size, and yesterday I was looking at clothes for her at the mall, wondering what the difference was between 6x and 7 and he let me hold up the girl pants to him so I could tell the difference.
He's really being so sweet and he is so excited!
We have our first homestudy appt. on Monday. There will be a total of 4 appointments with out social worker:
1. Both Gary and I, at the social worker house, to discuss everything from the day we met to now.
2 and 3. are one each for Gary and I to discuss things one at a time with the social worker.
4. At our house, to inspect the safety of the house, make sure we have room for one more, and for her to meet the boys and get their take on everything.
Which by the way is total opposite for them.
Cooper of course wants nothing to do with anything that would take attention away from him. It has comforted him some to know that it's not a baby we are adopting. So now he says he wants a sister only if Cody does.
Cody has been awesome, beyond what I expected. He looks through the adoption brochures. He's found Russia on his globe in his room. He asks tons of questions. He is very sad that the process will take a long time. He set aside all the pink toys in the house, pink power rangers, etc... Him and Anastasia are the same size, and yesterday I was looking at clothes for her at the mall, wondering what the difference was between 6x and 7 and he let me hold up the girl pants to him so I could tell the difference.
He's really being so sweet and he is so excited!
Monday, August 25, 2008
New News
We got the official word today that Anastasia is available for adoption!!!
The Hosting program sent us her first and last name, Date of birth, and orphanage #, so that the agency we plan on working with could check for us.
Her birthday is Feb. 2nd!!!!!!! Our boys birthdays are Feb 20th and Feb 22nd!!
Then we were emailed her hosting families information. I called and spoke to the mom, we only spoke for about 10 minutes, she was on the way out the door. But what she did have time to tell me was that Anastasia is a girly girl, sweet most of the time, loves dolls, dressing up, cooking, etc... But she's also a tough one. When presented with a walker that the host mom had borrowed for her, she was very offended, and would not use it. She said she can walk on her own, but does fall sometimes. She is going to email me the report from John Hopkins, which will be a help. Host mom did say her legs are very stiff, but from what she said it didn't seem to keep her from doing whatever she had her mind set to do.
Host Mom said Ana (I'm not nicknaming her yet, it's just a long name to type), listened well in church, and most of the time, but there were several instances when she threw temper tantrums (wouldn't be true girl if she didn't), the one she said was the worst was when she couldn't have a doll she wanted at the store. Thank God, Host Mom stood her ground and didn't buy it. She said they were even able to go back to the toy department without a problem. I thanked her, because we don't intend to give her everything she wants while she's here, especially since we hope to have her as a daughter one day, we don't want to create a monster.
Host Mom said she'll talk to me more later. She is also going to email me a picture of Ana playing dress up.
The Hosting program sent us her first and last name, Date of birth, and orphanage #, so that the agency we plan on working with could check for us.
Her birthday is Feb. 2nd!!!!!!! Our boys birthdays are Feb 20th and Feb 22nd!!
Then we were emailed her hosting families information. I called and spoke to the mom, we only spoke for about 10 minutes, she was on the way out the door. But what she did have time to tell me was that Anastasia is a girly girl, sweet most of the time, loves dolls, dressing up, cooking, etc... But she's also a tough one. When presented with a walker that the host mom had borrowed for her, she was very offended, and would not use it. She said she can walk on her own, but does fall sometimes. She is going to email me the report from John Hopkins, which will be a help. Host mom did say her legs are very stiff, but from what she said it didn't seem to keep her from doing whatever she had her mind set to do.
Host Mom said Ana (I'm not nicknaming her yet, it's just a long name to type), listened well in church, and most of the time, but there were several instances when she threw temper tantrums (wouldn't be true girl if she didn't), the one she said was the worst was when she couldn't have a doll she wanted at the store. Thank God, Host Mom stood her ground and didn't buy it. She said they were even able to go back to the toy department without a problem. I thanked her, because we don't intend to give her everything she wants while she's here, especially since we hope to have her as a daughter one day, we don't want to create a monster.
Host Mom said she'll talk to me more later. She is also going to email me a picture of Ana playing dress up.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Update-sorry it's been a while
Hello everyone.
I know it's been more than a couple days since I've updated. This process is very emotional and I told myself going into it that I was going to be patient and not freaking out all the time, well that's not happening.
First of all, I didn't hear back from the Host Director until yesterday (Friday).
I obtained a photolisting of those orphans that went back to their country this last week without being "spoken for"-meaning noone said they wanted to adopt them while they were here.
So there was one girl who caught my eye, a 6 year old, with mild Cerebral Palsy. Mostly affects here legs, does not use a walker or anything. We believe she is normal cognitively from what the summary said from her host family. I wasn't sure why it said she was up for adoption since she is only 6, from Latvia they have to be 9, I thought perhaps it was because she has special needs. Upon showing her to Gary, he was just as smitten as me, she's got one of those faces that shines with joy.
So yesterday I called the Host Director's cellphone. She is really busy since she leaves for Latvia today, but I had to know if this little girl was still available. So she says, oh yes she knows who the little girl is and yes she is available. But then she says, she is from Russia. UGHHHHHHHH. So I explain to her that I can't adopt from Russia because I take Zoloft, she says, yes you can I adopted from Russia and I take Zoloft.
Russia has no law against antidepressants (some do), it's just a prejudice that the country has against using those types of medications.
So I call our homestudy social worker, and she says if my doctor says I have no mental illness (which I don't, shush your mouth, some of you, I know what your thinking), then she does not have to disclose my meds!!!!
The director of the hosting program gave me the name of an adoption agency that she works with. I left them a message and the Owner/Director called me last night around 9:00. She warned me that he was hard to understand, he's from Astonia. Well that was a understatement!!! I had to concentrate really hard to understand him. He asked me several questions, like how many children do we have, how many bedrooms do we have, how much money do we make, and what do we do for livings, etc... Then he made it very clear to me, he needs the girls Name, Date of Birth, and Orphanage number, so he can make sure she is adoptable, he said he doesn't like people to get their hopes up to high until he finds that out first. Too late about the hopes being up.
The office manager will be getting me that information either tomorrow or Monday along with contact information of the family who hosted her so that we can get mor insight on what the girl is like.
Once we find out wether or not she's available we will post her name, and a little more information about her.
This week we sent in our application for the homestudy.
And we got our fingerprints and local back ground checks done.
This morning Gary mailed the fingerprints to the proper places (we hope).
I don't know how people went through this before the internet.
I know it's been more than a couple days since I've updated. This process is very emotional and I told myself going into it that I was going to be patient and not freaking out all the time, well that's not happening.
First of all, I didn't hear back from the Host Director until yesterday (Friday).
I obtained a photolisting of those orphans that went back to their country this last week without being "spoken for"-meaning noone said they wanted to adopt them while they were here.
So there was one girl who caught my eye, a 6 year old, with mild Cerebral Palsy. Mostly affects here legs, does not use a walker or anything. We believe she is normal cognitively from what the summary said from her host family. I wasn't sure why it said she was up for adoption since she is only 6, from Latvia they have to be 9, I thought perhaps it was because she has special needs. Upon showing her to Gary, he was just as smitten as me, she's got one of those faces that shines with joy.
So yesterday I called the Host Director's cellphone. She is really busy since she leaves for Latvia today, but I had to know if this little girl was still available. So she says, oh yes she knows who the little girl is and yes she is available. But then she says, she is from Russia. UGHHHHHHHH. So I explain to her that I can't adopt from Russia because I take Zoloft, she says, yes you can I adopted from Russia and I take Zoloft.
Russia has no law against antidepressants (some do), it's just a prejudice that the country has against using those types of medications.
So I call our homestudy social worker, and she says if my doctor says I have no mental illness (which I don't, shush your mouth, some of you, I know what your thinking), then she does not have to disclose my meds!!!!
The director of the hosting program gave me the name of an adoption agency that she works with. I left them a message and the Owner/Director called me last night around 9:00. She warned me that he was hard to understand, he's from Astonia. Well that was a understatement!!! I had to concentrate really hard to understand him. He asked me several questions, like how many children do we have, how many bedrooms do we have, how much money do we make, and what do we do for livings, etc... Then he made it very clear to me, he needs the girls Name, Date of Birth, and Orphanage number, so he can make sure she is adoptable, he said he doesn't like people to get their hopes up to high until he finds that out first. Too late about the hopes being up.
The office manager will be getting me that information either tomorrow or Monday along with contact information of the family who hosted her so that we can get mor insight on what the girl is like.
Once we find out wether or not she's available we will post her name, and a little more information about her.
This week we sent in our application for the homestudy.
And we got our fingerprints and local back ground checks done.
This morning Gary mailed the fingerprints to the proper places (we hope).
I don't know how people went through this before the internet.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
He will lead and I shall follow
So I am going to just paste the email in this post, except, I'll take out names of people and agencies and such.
Hello Cara!
Well this is just too funny....I have to tell you that apart from my work as Exec. Director of this agency, I assist families who wish to adopt from Latvia for a hosting program called New Horizons for Children. I do that work under One ***** Adoption Services. We use the same attorney that an **** Door uses! What a coincidence! I don't want to step on **** Door's toes as I believe they require you to use them for your home study if I am not mistaken? You may want to ask them if you are going to be working with them. We would be happy to work with you too and I certainly know what Latvia requires in the report so you would be well taken care of! Yes, you can start the home study without knowing the agency but I would not advise releasing it until whomever you decide to work with has reviewed the report.
Have you considered the possibility of hosting a child/children from Latvia through New Horizons this Christmas? They are planning a mission trip August 23rd to interview children for this Christmas. You could talk to New Horizon's Director about the child/ren you wish to adopt and she can be on the look out on her trip. Her name is **** ******. Please tell her I referred you! Their website is: http://www.newhorizonsforchildren.org/ and they also work with An **** Door so you can make a decision as to which avenue is best for your family if you hosted and then pursued adoption. Their summer hosting children just returned a couple of weeks ago and there are some who are not being adopted that you could even get more information on. You are aware that you can only adopt children age 9 and older from Latvia, right? Or a sibling group of three or more if under age 9, or special needs.
There is no longer independent adoptions from Latvia since the Hague was implemented on April 1st. So, you would have to file an I800A and I would not do this until you have found a Hague accredited placing agency to work with. I'm attaching instructions on how to do that (disregard the One ***** information until you have decided on an agency).
Once the home study is done you have to file CIS and prepare a dossier. I'm not sure if I'm answering this question correctly, can you explain a little more?
Thank you again and let me know what you think about all of this!
Yes, my jaw dropped to the floor, and I think a loud schreechy sound escaped my my mouth.
OK God, I get the point.
Hello Cara!
Well this is just too funny....I have to tell you that apart from my work as Exec. Director of this agency, I assist families who wish to adopt from Latvia for a hosting program called New Horizons for Children. I do that work under One ***** Adoption Services. We use the same attorney that an **** Door uses! What a coincidence! I don't want to step on **** Door's toes as I believe they require you to use them for your home study if I am not mistaken? You may want to ask them if you are going to be working with them. We would be happy to work with you too and I certainly know what Latvia requires in the report so you would be well taken care of! Yes, you can start the home study without knowing the agency but I would not advise releasing it until whomever you decide to work with has reviewed the report.
Have you considered the possibility of hosting a child/children from Latvia through New Horizons this Christmas? They are planning a mission trip August 23rd to interview children for this Christmas. You could talk to New Horizon's Director about the child/ren you wish to adopt and she can be on the look out on her trip. Her name is **** ******. Please tell her I referred you! Their website is: http://www.newhorizonsforchildren.org/ and they also work with An **** Door so you can make a decision as to which avenue is best for your family if you hosted and then pursued adoption. Their summer hosting children just returned a couple of weeks ago and there are some who are not being adopted that you could even get more information on. You are aware that you can only adopt children age 9 and older from Latvia, right? Or a sibling group of three or more if under age 9, or special needs.
There is no longer independent adoptions from Latvia since the Hague was implemented on April 1st. So, you would have to file an I800A and I would not do this until you have found a Hague accredited placing agency to work with. I'm attaching instructions on how to do that (disregard the One ***** information until you have decided on an agency).
Once the home study is done you have to file CIS and prepare a dossier. I'm not sure if I'm answering this question correctly, can you explain a little more?
Thank you again and let me know what you think about all of this!
Yes, my jaw dropped to the floor, and I think a loud schreechy sound escaped my my mouth.
OK God, I get the point.
the call to the agency
So Friday morning I tell myself I just need to call. Then we could at least figure out where to go from there. So I called the agency that the hosting program recommends. I was connected to a director and asked the big question. I felt like I was telling him I was a serial murderer, could I still adopt a child please? He said the only countries that the antidepressants would be alright with would be Latvia and Lithuania. He said all the children adopted by foreigners would be 9 years or older. Somehow I was good with that. Like I said -decisions that we never thought we would make. I think because I could really tell that it was not me in control here, and I was being lead to whatever our decision was supposed to be and we would not be given more than we could handle.
Before I went to dinner last night I filled out forms on 2 different home study sites to be contacted with more information. But for some reason I said we were undecided on agency and country. Man, was I waiting for God to hit me up side the head or what?
I immediately received a reply email form of the agencies from a very nice lady I'll call SWLady (SW stands for social work). SWLady lets me know that they have someone in our town that could help us, and that they try to get things done as quickly as possible. Overall she was very nice and informative. So I shoot her back an email telling her that actually we were thinking of Latvia, had spoken to one agency, but had not decided on anything yet.
I tell Gary she is very nice and that I thought we should use them to do our home study.
When I got back from dinner she had emailed me back.
Before I went to dinner last night I filled out forms on 2 different home study sites to be contacted with more information. But for some reason I said we were undecided on agency and country. Man, was I waiting for God to hit me up side the head or what?
I immediately received a reply email form of the agencies from a very nice lady I'll call SWLady (SW stands for social work). SWLady lets me know that they have someone in our town that could help us, and that they try to get things done as quickly as possible. Overall she was very nice and informative. So I shoot her back an email telling her that actually we were thinking of Latvia, had spoken to one agency, but had not decided on anything yet.
I tell Gary she is very nice and that I thought we should use them to do our home study.
When I got back from dinner she had emailed me back.
our adoption options-or not
In the mean time I start researching our adoption options. Like I said I really felt like Ukraine was not for us. Over the next couple days I had requested information packages from several agencies. The options were overwhelming, as well the costs involved as everyone knows.
So Wednesday I get my first packet in the mail. As I start reading I run into the information about parent requirements, most of which I was aware of: age, marriage time, etc..
Well then comes a statement that would quickly limit our options. It was something to the tune of: Countries A,B,C,D, and E will NOT consider parents who are currently taking or have taken antidepressants in the past several years. WHAT? Not even for simple issues like clinical depression or anxiety. So I knew my diagnosis of fire-breathing PMS would not fly with them.
At this point I'm disappointed , but not like I would expect. I had a feeling God was closing doors to show me which ones were open. The options had been overwhelming. And well now, they were very limited, really I wasn't sure now what our options were. Domestic adoption was one, but it's not one that we were considering, even though they would accept parents with antidepressant history.
In the back of my mind I had the possibility of getting to host a child we would want to adopt from the hosting program. But I figured we would just wait that out till they put the Bios and information for the host children up on the website in September. Gary had put the application in Excel form for me so we could type it up.
And I figured I better get ahold of an agency that dealt with Latvian adoption to see what Latvia's policy on the antidepressant thing was. But I couldn't get up the nerve I was too afraid of what they would say.
So Wednesday I get my first packet in the mail. As I start reading I run into the information about parent requirements, most of which I was aware of: age, marriage time, etc..
Well then comes a statement that would quickly limit our options. It was something to the tune of: Countries A,B,C,D, and E will NOT consider parents who are currently taking or have taken antidepressants in the past several years. WHAT? Not even for simple issues like clinical depression or anxiety. So I knew my diagnosis of fire-breathing PMS would not fly with them.
At this point I'm disappointed , but not like I would expect. I had a feeling God was closing doors to show me which ones were open. The options had been overwhelming. And well now, they were very limited, really I wasn't sure now what our options were. Domestic adoption was one, but it's not one that we were considering, even though they would accept parents with antidepressant history.
In the back of my mind I had the possibility of getting to host a child we would want to adopt from the hosting program. But I figured we would just wait that out till they put the Bios and information for the host children up on the website in September. Gary had put the application in Excel form for me so we could type it up.
And I figured I better get ahold of an agency that dealt with Latvian adoption to see what Latvia's policy on the antidepressant thing was. But I couldn't get up the nerve I was too afraid of what they would say.
continued...
I did more research on the Host program out of Atlanta -New Horizons for Children-
It is a Christian organization, meant to give these children a chance to experience America and a christian family life for a month. And in addition, although it is not an adoption agency, it does give these children a chance at being adopted, that they would not otherwise have. It gives people a chance to see what adding an older child to their family would be like. About 80% of the host children end up getting adopted by their host families or someone they met while here in the states.
I found other blogs online that people had made about their experience with the hosting program and for some of them, the experience of adopting these children afterward.
So as I read all this information, I am shaking and have tears in my eyes. I have this overwhelming feeling this is something that's going to have a huge impact on our lives.
It is a Christian organization, meant to give these children a chance to experience America and a christian family life for a month. And in addition, although it is not an adoption agency, it does give these children a chance at being adopted, that they would not otherwise have. It gives people a chance to see what adding an older child to their family would be like. About 80% of the host children end up getting adopted by their host families or someone they met while here in the states.
I found other blogs online that people had made about their experience with the hosting program and for some of them, the experience of adopting these children afterward.
So as I read all this information, I am shaking and have tears in my eyes. I have this overwhelming feeling this is something that's going to have a huge impact on our lives.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Closed Doors that lead to Open ones
After reading all about the Hosting program it sounded like a real possibility and like God had lead me right to it. But it wasn't what I had imagined, so I kept researching. Well Wednesday I got my first packet in the mail from one of the agencies I had requested information from. I was so excited. As I was reading through the information I come across a road block it states something to fact of " Country A, B, C, D, E and F will not consider parents who have taken antidepressants in the last 5 years." Even if it's for mild depression or anxiety. So I knew my diagnosis of fire-spitting PMS wasn't going to fly either. So basically all the countries we could consider were way to expensive or didn't accept any parents with a history of antidepressants.
In the mean time I was researching Latvia and the Hosting Program. I ran into stories of many successful adoptions resulting from the Hosting. Only 20% go in with the attention of adopting and over 80% of the children get adopted!! I should probably explain that the Hosting is meant as an opportunity for the children to have an experience in a Faith based home and to allow people to sort of test out how an older child may fit into their family. It is not an adoption agency, but does have connections to some that they recommend.
Adding On
So to many of you this will be new news but we are starting the adoption process.
It has been a crazy few days, full of decisions, decisions we never thought we would make.
First off from the beginning, I always said I wanted to adopt. But I wasn't ever sure if Gary would ever really want to. But as our kids are not babies anymore we have realized we want a bigger family. I can't handle another pregnancy and I certainly cannot handle another baby with colic. So we did always know that we would not be having another on our own, and we would not be adopting an infant. So about 6 months ago I told Gary I was ready, and asked if he really ever thought it was something he would want to do. He said yes-eventually. So I just told him to tell me when. Well he did tell me when, this Sunday. So you better believe I hopped right on the computer to research our options.
Several of you know that Ukraine was our intended country. But something told me that was not the right country for us, after over a year of me thinking it was. So I thought alright, I'll just start researching other countries. Well some are upwards of 50,000, I ruled those out. On Monday I was researching and came upon a site about hosting older children for the summer to come and live with you, experience an american family life, etc...
So I did a search for host programs out of Atlanta and New Horizons for Children popped up.
They host Latvian orphans, they have summer program and a winter program. Children are recommended by the directors of the orphanage usually for doing well in school, good behavior, etc... Then people from the agency go and interview the children and decide who will be host children. Oh and by the way I had never heard of Latvia, it is next to Russia FYI.
Sooooooooooo as I'm reading this, I am getting to excited. Actually excited is not the right word for it. I started crying. Not only do they have a winter hosting program, but they are traveling there August 23 and shortly after will have a photolisting and bios of the children for people to choose from. How cool is that, not only is God answering my prayers but He know I like immediate results and boy is He giving them to me. So I call Gary and tell him and he's totally on board. Even though these children are a little older than we imagined we would be adopting.
--Ok I'm going to split this up into several posts because I ramble and some people may not want to read it all at one time.--
It has been a crazy few days, full of decisions, decisions we never thought we would make.
First off from the beginning, I always said I wanted to adopt. But I wasn't ever sure if Gary would ever really want to. But as our kids are not babies anymore we have realized we want a bigger family. I can't handle another pregnancy and I certainly cannot handle another baby with colic. So we did always know that we would not be having another on our own, and we would not be adopting an infant. So about 6 months ago I told Gary I was ready, and asked if he really ever thought it was something he would want to do. He said yes-eventually. So I just told him to tell me when. Well he did tell me when, this Sunday. So you better believe I hopped right on the computer to research our options.
Several of you know that Ukraine was our intended country. But something told me that was not the right country for us, after over a year of me thinking it was. So I thought alright, I'll just start researching other countries. Well some are upwards of 50,000, I ruled those out. On Monday I was researching and came upon a site about hosting older children for the summer to come and live with you, experience an american family life, etc...
So I did a search for host programs out of Atlanta and New Horizons for Children popped up.
They host Latvian orphans, they have summer program and a winter program. Children are recommended by the directors of the orphanage usually for doing well in school, good behavior, etc... Then people from the agency go and interview the children and decide who will be host children. Oh and by the way I had never heard of Latvia, it is next to Russia FYI.
Sooooooooooo as I'm reading this, I am getting to excited. Actually excited is not the right word for it. I started crying. Not only do they have a winter hosting program, but they are traveling there August 23 and shortly after will have a photolisting and bios of the children for people to choose from. How cool is that, not only is God answering my prayers but He know I like immediate results and boy is He giving them to me. So I call Gary and tell him and he's totally on board. Even though these children are a little older than we imagined we would be adopting.
--Ok I'm going to split this up into several posts because I ramble and some people may not want to read it all at one time.--
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