Christmas Eve

Well, after years of waiting and finally giving them an ultimatum, Courtney's parents have invited BOTH of us to Christmas Eve dinner!! "Wow, omg no way, you're lying" was my first reaction. But its official. This will be the first time in 7 years that I've officially met her parents. I couldn't be more nervous about it! But this is a really good thing. I've always wanted her parents to be involved in their grandchild's and our life and it looks to be starting down that path. I hope I make a good impression lol. We planned to go down to FL and spend Christmas with her sisters and brother in law anyway. So we will be spending Christmas day at her sisters house. Wow guys, i feel really good/nervous right now. We've got a month to ponder, hopefully by that time we'll be ready. Think of us briefly around that time :)

-S

Waiting Kids Video

Just found out our agency is making a new tape of current available children. Usually older children or children with special needs. We went ahead and ordered one. It will be nice to look at the babies and children and really nice to take a peek at the orphanage. Should be here 4 to 5 weeks!

-C

Savta (Grandma) Getting Excited

So Sari's mom is starting to get excited about the adoption. It's so fun to watch! She called this morning asking for the agency's website and also said "everywhere I go I see white families with black children and every time I think that's going to be us" She also decided she doesn't want to be called Grandma or Nanny (she said "she is just to young for that") she wants to be called Savta the Hebrew word for grandmother. So Savta is getting excited about the adoption!

-C

More Emptiness

Well, Caleb's room is completely empty, except for the couch which is staying but will be covered. Ready for a steam clean, paint and furniture! but all that comes later ;)

Happy belated Thanksgiving everyone

Well this was our last Thanksgiving without a baby. Pretty cool!

Starting Caleb's room

We started Caleb's room.. Well we cleaned out the closet LOL. We want to take our time hopefully it will take up some of the 6 months waiting for a referral. We'll probably have everything out of the room by this weekend. So here is the clean closet:

This space for rent

Got our Passports!

Woohoo! one more thing to cross off the list. Got our passports in the mail today! It only took around a month!

-S

The Life and Times of a Dossier

So I just got off the phone with the agency and she said my dossier was sent off (overnighted) yesterday! YAY! Well, its not as straightforward as I thought it would be... here is how the dossier travels

1) Dossier is looked at by the agency
2) Good looking dossier is sent to the Department of State in Washington, DC
3) Dossier is then overnighted to the Ethiopian Embassy here in the USA
4) Accepted Dossier is sent back to the Agency
That process takes about 2 weeks. then...
1) Dossier is prepared by agency
2) Dossier is sent to Ethiopia
That process takes around 5 days (1 day to process, 4 days to get to Ethiopia)

So I guess the question is when does our wait really start? Is it when the dossier arrives in Ethiopia or when it arrived at the agency a little over a week ago? Either way i'm glad something is happening!!

-S

International Adoption Doctors

We talked to the international adoption doctors today. They where very nice and helpful! For $300 they help us decide on referral, any medical updates, any prescriptions and the doctor is on call 24/7 when we travel to Ethiopia. I am very excited to have found them right away and can't wait to use there services.

excerpt from the website:

Pre-adoption services

Pre-adoption services are aimed at educating prospective parents about the unique medical and developmental issues of internationally adopted children and preparing families for their trip abroad. When you get your medical referral and photo and/or video, you can send it to us for an evaluation.



-C

A little optimistic

So I think we have been a little optimistic about when we will have our baby home. It’s hard not to be when there are no for sure answers about wait times and dates. I think May is early.. I think end of June is more like it. July is even more reasonable. We might have posted in the past end of May or June but secretly we where thinking April/May.. Well that’s gone now! Its so hard! We really want Caleb home by the middle of June. Its just a goal we set for ourselves ya know?!? We started last July it would be nice to have the adoption done in under a year.
Well that’s all we are kind of sad today :-(
-C

Support

Thanks ya'll :-) This is more support then we expected. I have to say we are pleasantly surprised. Thank you!

Anyway I think as far as the parent thing the next couple days will let us know truly how they feel. I think when we told them we where adopting it was total shock!! I don't think it was anything like they expected at all and that's why they didn't say anything good or bad. Really we saw them maybe 5 minutes the entire trip. I guess will just have to see how things go.

OMG it's something else we have to be patient for in the adoption!!! That's all adoption is a big lesson in patients!



On the + my sisters are great and SO excited! This will be the families first. So first time they will be called aunt. Pretty exciting stuff! Oh aunt sissy bought Caleb some gifts.

This isn't exactly what she got but close:

Update

It went ok. Not much was said but there was no screaming and crying :) We'll post more later on.

-S&C

Wish us luck

So the hardest part yet is this weekend… Telling my parents.. Huh I don’t want to! Can’t someone else?!?
Anyway done whining.
Wish us luck cause we are going to need a miracle!

-C

PS
On the up my sisters are going to be thrilled!

Grandpa's Gifts

So I was talking to my father the other night and he suspiciously asked if I still had his consumer reports login and password (he had given it to me once to look up camcorders). I said no, and he said "well, let me give it you. I'd like you to look up the best stroller and car seat and I would like yo buy those for you." Awww that was so sweet! the first gifts for his first grandson. Here are pictures



The car seat is an Evenflo Titan, Consumer Reports best buy





the stroller is the Quattro Tour Deluxe in Fusion, also a Consumer Reports best buy :)

Good news and good days!

Man we have just been having good news and good days one after the other. I hope it doesn’t stop!


Good news today is..

Looks like its pretty certain that I will be working from home at least 3 days a week! That’s going to be SO great once Caleb gets here! Now we just have to find a daycare that we like and that will only charge us for the 2 days that we bring him in. Also hope the promotion is something I am actually good at since I am going to be doing something completely different then what I am doing now.

More good news the dossier is officially in the mail overnighted!

-C

Hot Damn! the Dossier's Done!

YES! as of about 10 minutes ago, the collection of papers aka the Dossier is FINISHED! I went to the Secretary of State's office to get the Power of Attorney with the Great Seal, went to work to get the notarized employment letter and then got my 8 passport photos and that marked the END of the paperchase!! For you all who do not know a lot about adoption, now we are just waiting for a referral. That means just waiting for our baby!

2 Days off of work: PTO
The Great Seal, 8 Passport photos, criminal clearance, Notary certified and parking: $73
First part of the dossier preparation: $2000
Finally in the wait for our baby: Priceless


ok, that was a bit cheesy, but I'm allowed. This is a great day y'all!

-S

Progress

All we have left is:

1. Notarized Police clearance

2. Notarized Medical statement

3. Notarized Bank statement

4. Notarized employment letter

5. Passport photos

6. Send power attorney and state seal page Notarized to MY secretary of State (for state certification notary) (with and return envelope)

7. Two notarized reference letters (one down one to go)

All we have left is the hard stuff. LOL

-C

Good news bad news

Bad news first…
The agency has an online email group. In the group there is a page of averages. Things to understand are:
1. This average comes from an agency email group NOT the agency
2. The list was not complete

It looks like the average time for accepting a referral for an infant is 5 months! Understand this includes:
1.People waiting for a girl only (girls have longer wait time)
2.People who turned down other referrals before accepting

Still I think our original 3 month plan is a little off…. I guess 4 months is more like it.



Good news..
The average person waiting for a referral for an infant gets a baby 4 months old at referral and 7.5 at pick up.. We where right on target with that one!!





Also for those of you who have not adopted or are not adopting. After referral the child is yours you may not be with them but they are yours you pay for diapers and food you have pictures and medical history. At the point of accepting the referral he is our baby we just have to wait to get him.
SO..
We will be mommies in 4 months March or April!! Have our baby in our arms in 8 months so in June!!!! And that's by going on the skewed email averages.. But that's all we have to go on…

-C

So much paperwork!

Great news we got the dossier!!! Look at all we have to do!

1 Notarized homestudy

2. Notarized birth certificate

3. Notarized Police clearance

4. Notarized Medical statement

5. Notarized Bank statement

6. Noterized1040

7. Notarized employment letter

8. Notarized Letter the Ethiopia

9. Notarized Power of attorney

10. Notarized Power of attorney to Geertji

11. Proof of I600A was sent

12. Notarized Post placement agreement

13. Notarized Placement agreement

14. Notarized child report

15. Passport photos

16. Fee discloser

17. Statement of understanding

18. Invoice

19. Send cover document to Washington’s Secretary of State (with note and return envelope)

20. Send power attorney and state seal page Notarized to MY secretary of State (for state certification notary) (with and return envelope)

Don’t get me wrong. We are so excited!! The more paperwork we get done the closer we get to our baby!

-C

YAY! Our Money is Gone!

Ok, so that title may be a little deceiving. What I mean by it, is I just looked at our bank and the adoption agency has cashed the check! So hopefully that means they received the contract and other paperwork, looked it over and everything was good! So hopefully that ALSO means they've already sent out the instructions to start the dossier!! AH! 4:30 could not come soon enough to check the mailbox!!

-S

My Pumpkin Can Kick Your Pumpkin's A$$

So, this has absolutely nothing to do with the adoption, but perhaps a bit to do with parenting :) Carving pumpkins. This is my first attempt at not actually carving the pumpkin but "shaving" it at different thicknesses to produce a desired result, in this case Bruce Lee. Whatcha think?