Adopting Isaac

Thursday, June 28, 2007

It's Been a While

I know its been a while since we really blogged... sorry, I hope you all are still checking :D It has been a busy couple weeks and weekends! Last weekend we were at Piedmont Park all day Saturday and Sunday in the heat and this weekend my father comes in until the 4th. I'm trying to keep my mind off adoption but its not working.

I just wanted to write to tell you all that we are still alive and well.

How are you guys?

-S

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Our Reasons

Some people have asked why we decided to adopt from Ethiopia. I think I might have posted on this already but I will post again :)


We chose Ethiopia after a long time deciding and going over pros and cons of each country. The biggest reason is we looked at some statistics of the adoptions from Africa vs other countries and they were staggeringly low, one of the places that needs it the most. Skin color was never a factor to us and neither was Angelina Jolie but I really do applaud her. Just her status as a celebrity has raised awareness and visa's for children from Ethiopia have gone up dramatically since she adopted Zahara.
Another factor was money, Ethiopia was one of the countries that we could afford. I hope that doesn't sound bad to you guys but we all know in almost every decision money is taken into consideration. Also Ethiopia is one of the countries that you can get babies. :)

And those are the reasons :)

Have a good rest of the weekend guys!!

-S

Monday, June 18, 2007

Immigrant Visas Issued from Ethiopia

Wow its amazing how much a couple celebrities can make a country popular! We did not go with Ethiopia because of celebrities have adopted there but who knows if they hadn’t if we would have found info on the web on agencies and groups?!?!

Fiscal Year Number of Immigrant Visas Issued
2006 - 731
2005 - 440
2004 - 289
2003 - 135
2002 - 105

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Harry Potter

6 months 1 week and 1 day officially waiting for a referral but it feels like 6 years 6 months and 1 week LOL. Not much more I can say to that…
So lets switch gears totally. I am SO SO excited about the new Harry Potter book and movie!!!!!!!!!! The new trailer came on last night and I couldn’t get to bed right away cause I was just laying there thinking about it. We already preordered our books for the midnight release and our movie tickets for the midnight release :-) It’s so great to have something to look forward to. Is there nothing Harry cant do LOL Are there any Harry Potter fans out there? Any guesses on how the book ends? I think I might need a Harry Potter ticker on here ;-)
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Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Baby Teeth

S dad sent us a bunch of dental stuff to send to the orphanage :-) He is the best!! I have terrible teeth so I hope my babys teeth will be taken care of from day 1! It’s a big heavy box so I have no idea how our agency is going to get it to Ethiopia but I am sure they get donations over there all the time. Anyway thanks Sdad!!!!!

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

6 months

6 months today our dossier was sent to Ethiopia. I never thought I would make it this far without a referral. I should not be too terribly surprised when I think about it in months most people with our agency wait 6 months for a referral... I am surprised at how hard it is and I am terribley nervous we will not make it before courts close. Seriously it’s in the back of my mind all the time everything I do I am secretly thinking about courts closing. We are still doing a pretty good job at attempting to stay busy, we are painting the hall this week and S's dad comes into town in 2 weeks. I have gotten to a point where I really don’t care when I get a referral as long as it’s before courts close!!!

Monday, June 04, 2007

Increasing Immigration Fees: I-600A and Certificate of Citizenship

FYI..
Are you planning on submitting immigration paperwork anytime before the end of the year? If so, you'd be wise to get moving soon on this paperwork. The USCIS has announced a hike in immigration application fees starting July 30. These new fee increases will affect most adoptive families at two points: when they are submitting their I-600A, and when they are applying for a certificate of citizenship for their children.


The fee for the I-600A Orphan Petition will increase from $545 to $750. The fingerprint fee (or biometric fee, as they now call it) has increased from $70 per applicant to $80. You will need to pay that $80 fee for each person 18 or older living in your household with you. One small good thing about this rate hike, though: the $750 orphan petition fee now includes the fingerprinting fee for one applicant. So you will only have to pay the $80 fee for the second parent and any other adults living in the home.

Keep in mind that many immigration offices will allow you to submit the I600A without a complete homestudy. So if your homestudy is not complete and it is close to the end of July, I would recommend submitting the I600A without the homestudy, thus avoiding that increased fee. Of course they will not issue your I171H without the homestudy, but at least you will have avoided the higher fee.

Sunday, June 03, 2007

July 1st

Well, we have started the countdown. Some of you have asked about courts closing and such, July 1st is the cutoff to get a referral before court close. 27 days and counting...

Friday, June 01, 2007

Shots

We got our 2nd round of Hep shots today. We are 98% covered for Hep A and 78% covered for Hep B or at least that’s what the brochure said.

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