Updates

Our child abuse clearances apparently came through March 8th!! wooohooo!! Our social worker updated the homestudy with the revisions that our agency requested and has already sent it back to them for final review!! I went to the city Monday to get the required documents certified, so all we need right now is copies of the homestudy!! Soooooo close!!! I've made the required number of copies of all the dossier documents (except the homestudy) already. I am getting so excited! Can't wait to send that package off to the agency and get on the waiting list already. I know the numbers have gone up a bit since the end of January when the end of the list was at #24, and I think I just read somewhere that someone who just got on the baby girl list is at #31 and I also read that the estimated wait, once you get on the waiting list until you get a referral is 8-12 months now for an infant girl. I forget what it was for an infant boy, but it was about half I think and toddler girl/boy was about the same as infant boy. Our homestudy says 0-36 months so I believe we can change our preference if we decide to down the line for a toddler girl (24-36 months) should we choose to. I am also REALLY thinking about going back to Ethiopia to adopt our second child still (and dropping out of China). When it comes right down to it.. I want a child in this house.. period.

ANYWAY.. I made another little dress over the weekend and I FINALLY finished crocheting that little blanket I previously posted about. I found another half finished crocheted baby blanket in the closet so I'm working on finishing that too. Trying to keep busy so I don't obsess over getting on the waiting list too much! hahaha

I think that's all for now. Not must else going on.
Peace.

Sinuses & Sewing

I couldn't think of a better title for this post. LOL

First up, my sinuses are KILLING me! I have a sinus infection and down to the last day of anit-biotics tomorrow and yet it feel like I have a screwdriver going through my head. This seems to be a new recurring thing lately. I thought the Zyrtec-D was working, but I don't know if it's the infection or what but it's not working. Zyrtec-D and 2-3 Tylenols, then we can talk, at least for a little bit. Anyone out there in blogger-land have any suggestions for a killer sinus headache? Oh and the new thing is when I drink something cold, it goes straight to my head, like brain-freeze but without the fruity tasting Slushie.

ANYWAY... next is sewing. I've been on a mission. Not just sewing but crocheting too. As I start some new projects I've been forcing myself to finish some older projects that have sat around for a while. I recently finished this little dress I started probably about 6 months ago, maybe a little more.

Then there is the little baby blanket I've probably been working on for a couple of years off and on.. haha I have to be in the mood to crochet, and actually remember that I have something to crochet.. haha. It's still not finished, but I'm really close to finishing it.

Then there are the new projects... I finished the curtains for the nursery and a matching little crib quilt. I have more of the fabrics I used to make a crib skirt, sheet, pillows, etc.




I'm trying to decide what is next. Whatever it is, it has to be done with existing fabrics.. LOL I'm banning myself from the fabric store.

Tomorrow will be 5 weeks waiting on child abuse clearances. It's supposed to take 4-6 weeks. So any day now. Our homestudy is with our agency bring reviewed (I hope). Once the clearances come thru, and the homestudy is finalized, we can submit everything and get on the waiting list.. Can you hear the clock ticking????!!!!

I broke down over the past weekend and bought the new Sade CD for my birthday (14th). I LOVE me some Sade! There's one song on there.. caught me off guard and had me balling all over my sewing machine.. there isn't too much to the song but after everything I've gone through these past 7ish years.. to where I am right now, with a renewed outlook for this new adoption and yet another paperchase almost done and even with the talk of 2 trips to Ethiopia (and where is that $$ going to come from), it connected with me..

There's a long hard road ahead
But a voice inside me said
You know there's something that you need to know
It's gonna be alright
Said there's something that you need to know
It's gonna be alright
And when in this life in this life
When I can only turn my chin
I know it's gonna be alright
When this big old town is closing in
And I have lost again
Here I could stay
But I'll keep moving on
Here I could stay but I'll keep moving on
Could be I won't be wrong
There's a long hard road ahead
But a voice inside me said
Said there's something that you need to know
It's gonna be alright
Said there's something that you need to know
It's gonna be alright

It WILL be alright.

And on that note, I'm out. Peace.

Update to "First Date" HAHAHA

So today is hubby's day off and he just got up and came downstairs so I said "happy anniversary" and he is like "oh happy anniversary" and goes to kiss me, but before that I asked him what anniversary it was and he proceeded to say "umm wedding anniversary?" (which is in May), "log in date? house anniversary?".. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA so I proceeded to show him the blog and he goes " OH YEA, Pitch Black... I usually get that one, right !?!"

Yea Babe, I forgive you (again).

HAHA

First Date

Happy "First Date" Anniversary Babe!


Ten years ago today hubby and I went on our first date. We went to see "Pitch Black" at the mall. Such a romantic devil he is I tell you! LOL Now the only reason I remember the date is because it was in 2000, easy year to remember, and because it was 2 days before my birthday. For YEARS after that, hubby couldn't get the first date day or my birthday straight. LOL Must be "guy" thing. I think he has is straight now, 10 years later, but we shall see. LOL

Obstacles... & Organization

"All adoptive families must now travel to Addis Ababa to be present for their court appointment. There have been rumors of this change for several weeks now, and the change is a direct result of the dramatic increase of "revocation" cases - cases in which the adoptive parents decline to bring their children home after they have passed court. This will mean families will make two trips to Ethiopia to complete their adoptions, which will certainly increase the time and money required for adoption."

When we started thinking about doing a second adoption first (while waiting on China) and was researching countries, there weren't alot of choices for us to begin with due to travel, age limit for an infant, etc. One of the requirements we immediately scratched off the list was any country that required multiple trips. Ethiopia was perfect, one trip, 5-7 days and the court process was done beforehand so the only thing you had to do when you went to Ethiopia was the Embassy appointment and pick up your child. Since choosing Ethiopia, it has felt right from the beginning. So much so, that I was even considering going back to Ethiopia for our second (originally first?) child and giving up on China. The trip is shorter, the process and paperwork seem to be even smoother than when we paperchased for China, and I like the idea of both of our kids (was always planning on having 2 children) being from the same country. Right now we're sticking with China, but I'm getting off the topic..

Apparently, the Ethiopia process has just changed as of yesterday, requiring both parents to travel to Ethiopia 4-8 weeks after referral (not exactly sure about the timeframes) to meet the child and appear for the court date, then leave the child there and come home, then go back to Ethiopia (not sure if it has to be both parents the second time but I don't think so) in another 10-12 weeks (again, not sure of the timeframe) for the Embassy appointment and to bring your child home.

This is a HUGE change. Probably another $6000-$7000 to travel a 2nd time, although I'd travel 5 times if had to. I'd REALLY like both of us to travel the second time to pick her up. On the positive side, we both CAN travel for the court date. I'm sure some families don't have that opportunity and that's sad. Also, the child will be a US citizen upon arriving in the US as both of us will be meeting the child beforehand, which is good. And we will get to meet our child sooner since we have to appear for the court date, but then on the negative side, we'll have to leave her there for possibly 3 months.

Overall, I'm surprised that I'm not more upset by these new turn of events. I haven't handled these types of roadblocks and obstacles that well in the past. When I told hubby he just said "we'll figure it out, it's not like we're not going to go". Always the positive one. But I'm not feeling positive or negative about it. Maybe I'm completely desensitized to all these bumps in the road now. All I know is, I'm going to Ethiopia. I'm going to have a daughter. Maybe I've been so pumped up working on the nursery FINALLY that nothing is going to bring me down.

Speaking of the nursery. I finished "remodeling" the closet in the nursery and I moved some things into it already. I put a second rod in and the closet is a little deep so I also put some narrow shelves in the back, all removable when she gets older (if she's still in that room). I didn't want to waste any space! haha


I'm working on the curtains next. I have a bunch of fabric I had bought a while ago to make bedding and such for the nursery. That should keep me busy for a while. haha

Random Thoughts...

Three posts from me in one day! LOL There's just so much going on.. so much on my mind and want to document some of it before I forget.

First, I don't think I mentioned that the age range we requested for our Ethiopia adoption is 0-18 months for a girl, to be known from here on out as "Baby Girl", since I haven't picked a name yet. And yes.. I said "I" haven't picked a name yet.. LOL Hubby got to pick Raven, which we are going to save for our Chinese daughter and I get to pick a name for our Ethiopian daughter. That's fair right? lol Why are we requesting another baby girl? Well because we can, LOL, but really because I always wanted a daughter, and should at some point down the road we don't/can't finish our China adoption (always a possibility) I really want to have a daughter. As far as age range, if this adoption is completed within the next year and a half, I'd like to experience at least a little bit of the infant months before I get much older. Those are probably pretty common reasons I think, and probably contributes to why so many people request infant girls. I'm guilty.

But I am also fully aware that that is part of the problem with international adoptions sometimes... large numbers of prospective adoptive parents requesting baby girls can lead to some agencies going to unethical lengths to provide the supply (to be blunt). I trust that my agency is finding families for children who are already orphaned/relinquished and not finding children for families (by unethical means). If I have to wait longer, so be it. Even with the horrendous wait with China, I still wouldn't sign up with an agency promising super fast placements.

ANYWAY... back to timeframe... my agency's estimate for how long from the time the dossier is submitted to being matched is 5-8 months (estimate), of course, on the longer side for a baby girl. Total time from application to travel is 12-18 months. So I've been thinking, if we get our dossier in by April, we could possibly be matched this year, maybe early next year. That's kind of an overwhelming thought.. IN A GOOD WAY! But then I start taking it even further.. it's possible that right now, Baby Girl has been conceived. And there is so much sadness that goes with that thought, knowing that so much loss has to happen for Baby Girl, Baby Girl's mother, father. family, before we can be matched with her. So many conflicting emotions go with the thought that she might be conceived already. Does Baby Girl's mother know she is pregnant? What is she thinking? Feeling? Does she already know she will be unable to care for her? I can't even imagine. SIGH

Finished Painting!

BEFORE

AFTER

I finished painting the nursery this past weekend! It's such a happy bright room now... lol I want to go with dark furniture like espresso color, I think it'll look nice against the bright walls. It's a smallish room so I think I'm going to go with a crib that converts to a toddler bed and a small dresser. Not sure about a changing table yet. Will probably wait till we're matched to decide on that.

Next step is to start moving some clothes I already have into the closet!

Homestudy Visit #3

We had our last homestudy visit today! Woohoo!! We are soooo close to being able to submit our dossier! Probably another 2-4 weeks for the last clearances to come thru then just get one more doc notarized and certified and then off to the agency it goes!

More Documents In!

We got our letters of good conduct from the police station today!! WOOHOO! Those took just over 3 weeks and the notary date is good (more than 12 months before it expires) which is what I was worried about.

The only things we need to do now are to wait for the child abuse clearances to come thru so that the homestudy can be finalized and reviewed by our agency, and then when I have that I can put it with all the other dossier docs and then get the final document, affidavit of dossier, notarized, and then get that and the power of attorney letters county and state certified and then make copies of everything and off to the agency they go!!! WOW! I can't even believe that we've gotten most of it done in one month!! The hardest thing was probably making sure the notary's commissions didn't expire within 12 months.. and also having to get a traveling notary for hubby's employment letter and our medical letters. Required a little coordination but worked out fine. Let's just hope that once the agency reviews everything that nothing needs to be redone. I already know that several documents are good as I already scanned them and sent them to our agency for review, so I think we'll be fine there.

So now we just wait for the homestudy.

Homestudy Visit #2

We had our second homestudy visit today at a Starbucks. It was pretty quick as the social worker has most of what she needs to write the report (since it's basically an update). We'll have our last visit next Thursday and then pretty much just have to wait for our child abuse clearances to come back in 4 weeks or so.

We also picked up our medical letters for the dossier today, so that's done. Woohoo!

I STARTED THE NURSERY!

After more than 3 years waiting to do this, I FINALLY decided to start working on the nursery!! I've been wanting to do this sooooo bad!!! But with the state of our China wait, I didn't want to have to see an empty baby room for years. And now that we've started our Ethiopia adoption, I've been so excited at even the thought of being able to do this now, so I'm just going for it! I had been trying to decide on a paint color for a few weeks and I narrowed it down to a nice, bright, happy yellow a couple days ago so I just decided to go get the paint yesterday and I started painting today! I still have to do a second coat and then paint the trim but I am loving it so far! I've also started looking at cribs, again, and I think I am going to go for a dark chocolate finish or a dark walnut finish.

Before

After (1 Coat)

On another note, we have our second homestudy visit Wednesday and we're going to pick up our medical letters Wednesday too. We are sooo close to being done with all the dossier paperwork at this point. I can't wait to get on the wait list!!!!

34 Months

I actually had to think about how many months it's been since we were logged in for China. I think it's a side effect of being knee deep in Ethiopia dossier prep... lol

We had our first homestudy visit Monday and Friday is doctor's appts and NYS fingerprinting and getting a BUNCH of documents notarized. I think the thing that is going to hold us up the longest is the child abuse clearances.. which is supposed to take 4-6 weeks. Let's hope closer to 4, than 6. lol

Chinese New Year/Spring Festival 2010

Blog Makeover!

It was time for a change. I made a new header and changed the background and updated some things on the sidebar to make all pretty pretty. I used papers and elements from the digital scrapbooking kit I made. I also wanted to add to the blog that we are now officially pursuing TWO adoptions and wanted to add some Ethiopia things to the blog. I'm VERY excited about this new turn of events and I wanted the blog to reflect that excitement a bit!

Still gathering paperwork over here. Got a couple of reference letters done today, have some things that SHOULD be in the mail, I hope. I can't wait to take a big batch of papers to the bank to get notarized (FOR FREE!). Our first homestudy visit is Monday so I've been cleaning like a maniac! There are soooo many things going on in my head right now.. lol

I've been thinking of names for our second daughter who will come to us first.. lol Raven is reserved for our China daughter, can't believe it's been so long since hubby picked that name. Actually a bit of a funny story, which might only be funny to me.. lol but when I was thinking of names for our Ethiopian daughter (whether we keep her first name of use it as a middle name), I was listening to music on TV, the channels that play the songs and tell you a little about the artist, classic hip-hop, and an old Monie Love song came on.. ANYWAY.. it said her real name is Simone.. and I was like ... Ohhh I like the name Simone.. and I think Monie is a cute nickname (I'm really into nicknames) so it went on my list. Then a few days past I don't think much of it.. but then watching the same channel again (which I don't really watch as so much listen) and same some .. same line came up that her name is Simone.. Oh yea, I remembered I like that name. Then I start thinking how the names of our daughters would go together.. We'd have a Raven and a Simone.. as in Raven Symone.. The actress.. "That's so Raven".. the little girl from "The Cosby Show".. LOL I was like.. ummmm no. We cannot name her Simone..people will think we did it on purpose (if they even know who Raven Symone is.. ) LOL but I still like the name. But then it gets better. Hubby was speaking to insurance company about a letter for our dossier that we need. The first person he talked to wasn't helpful at all and basically told him they can't send us the letter. I made him call back and speak to someone else (sorry babe!) and the second lady told him sure no problem, she'd start the process to get the letter out to us. So he's finishing up with her and he asks her name and he writes it down while I'm watching.. and her name is Moni.. Short for Monica, not Simone.. but still, it was weird.. and those things I always think are signs.. like I MUST name her Simone or something lol So I can't get the name out of my head now!!.. ANYWAY.. so to make a LOOOONG story short.. I've been trying to think of other names INSTEAD of Simone.. lol Got a few in mind, still have to work on it!

Peace

Busy Week

It's been a busy busy week! I've managed to compile 13 out of the 29 items for the dossier, some just need notarizing and we're waiting on 9 more to either be mailed to us or picked up. The Ethiopia dossier will be MUCH MUCH easier than the China dossier, mostly because we only will have to get 2 documents county and state certified, and the agency takes care of the authentications. The hardest part is that everything except the birth and marriage certificates need to be notarized as originals, meaning doctor's signature needs to be notarized, employment letters signed by an HR person need to be notarized, etc. It's moving along nicely though. Our first homestudy visit is the 15th, and we'll need 3. I want so badly to get on the waiting list asap!! lol I have such a fear of getting on the waiting list only to find out it's more than doubled from when we first started. LOL Gee, I wonder why that could be?? LOL

We went into the city today to order Freddy's BC. Only waited on line in the cold for what seemed like 30 minutes.. but was probably 15. Then waiting on another line for about an hour and a half. 3 minutes at the window when we finally got there, and we were done. If it wasn't so cold out we would have gone to a museum or something, maybe do a little shopping.. maybe next time. We were both done after standing in that line for so long.


Good night.

Referrals - April 4 & 5, 2006

We're Approved!!!

WOOOHOOOO!!! We found out from our agency today that our application has been approved to adopt from Ethiopia!! We can officially start the paperchase!!! We've been told that the timeline from application to travel is 12-18 months. We'll let's just say after being told almost the same thing for China, I'll believe it when I see it.. haha but I've been doing alot of yahoo group searches and message board searches and hopefully 18 months will be accurate. I feel like I have soooo much to do now!! WOW. I'll be studying our dossier guide all weekend, getting prepared to start Monday requesting docs. I'll probably type up what I can this weekend too. I'm just a little excited!! Can you tell?

(Random Internet cat pic.. lol )

33 Months

It's been 33 months since we've been logged in with China. I almost forgot. I've been so preoccupied with this new possibility of starting another adoption. I can't wait till we hear something about our application, hopefully some time this week. I can't believe I am actually looking forward to starting another paperchase. I've already started spring cleaning, a little early. lol I'm just ready to get moving.

New Developments...

It appears that our first daughter won't be from China......







She'll be from Ethiopia!!!!



HOPEFULLY!! We mailed the application to our agency today to start a concurrent adoption through Ethiopia!!!! I may be jumping the gun a bit, but we spoke to our agency last night and I can't think of any reason why we wouldn't be approved so let's hope for the best!! I'm VERY excited to say the least!

I know I've been a pretty quiet blogger for a while now.. well first it was because I just couldn't deal with the wait. I was trying to keep busy with other things. Ironically to keep my mind off the China adoption, I started learning some scrapbooking design and started creating a China adoption related digital scrapbooking kit! Anyway, more about that in future posts as I'm still trying to add more items to the kit to make it packed full of goodies. :-)

Not too long ago, my agency started an Ethiopia adoption program, at which point I started to really start looking into the process. After much research and number crunching, we've decided to just go for it! We are still waiting for Raven in China, she'll just be our second daughter!

I haven't felt this good in a looooong time! I'm ready to dive into another paperchase. BRING IT ON!!

Referrals - April 1-3, 2006