Well, at least our dossier is! Hee hee! Sorry if I got anyone excited - I couldn't help myself.
Beth sent me a quick note to let me know she handed our dossier to S in our agency's Moscow office this morning. Yay! After the DHL snafu that families from our agency experienced a few weeks back, we are thrilled, grateful and comforted knowing that Nick & Beth carried it over the Atlantic for us. Thank you again!
On another note, I received an email from USCIS this morning. She assured me that our I600A was delivered to the right department and that our invitation for fingerprints will be mailed out tomorrow. I'm not sure when the fingerprints are scheduled for, but I'm glad we will find out by the end of the week.
I just finished stalking the blogs of the families who are traveling this week, and am happy to report that it went very well for those who met their little ones for the first time today. Your son's sound absolutely adorable! The families who are in the 10 day waiting period enjoyed a day of exploring and have provided invaluable information for those of us who will be traveling soon. Thanks for all of the tips of places to go, groceries stores to use, etc.
I'm hoping that once I travel, I can repay some of the kindness we have received from our fellow CSS families!
Prayers for our Children
Monday, January 28, 2008
Sunday, January 27, 2008
More off of the To Do List!
Enough Already! Fingerprints that is. Okay, so we’re waiting on our invitation from USCIS to have our fingerprints done so that they can process our I600A. That’s old news. It turns out we need yet ANOTHER set of fingerprints taken since we decided on the Moscow region. This 3rd set will be for the FBI to process & confirm (again!) that we aren’t bad people. We visited our Sheriff’s Office on 1/23 to have the prints taken and FedEx’d them Clarksburg, WV that afternoon. The FBI request form says the normal processing time is 12-16 weeks. Yikes!! Many of the families from my agency who have had this accomplished recently said that by writing “for international adoption, please expedite by ” they have received their clearances back by their requested date. I believe one family has been waiting for their prints well past their requested date, so the system isn’t perfect but normally seems to run smoothly. We decided to ask for our prints back by February 5th. We’ll see what happens! Oh, and once we do get them back they need to be apostilled which means another trip to Richmond for one (or both) of us.
Ana gave me some great suggestions for passing my time, one of which was to get a jump start on the Visa application and photos. We can’t fill out the Visa app entirely since we need to know travel dates, where we’re staying, etc., but we were able to get the photos done yesterday (4 each since we’ll need Visa’s for each trip). I had completely forgotten we needed the photos so thanks Ana for the great idea!
I also decided to call our bank on Friday & see what the process will be for getting the crispest (is that a word??) US dollars possible for our trip. Thankfully our agency doesn’t require us to carry a huge amount of money as others do, but we do need enough to cover things like paying our driver & translator each day, as well as the 8 dr. medical thing and other stuff. The USD’s have to be as new and “pretty” as possible which can be difficult for the amount of money we need to take. I read on a chat group just tonight that one family’s payment of $1700 was rejected simply because it was creased in the middle (they had folded it in half I guess). Another family’s bills had a very small purple stamp on the back, which apparently caused red flags and that money was rejected as well. So, the bills we need must be perfect! Our bank can’t “order” new money for us but said they will start collecting bills and placing them in a special Baby C vault until we reach the amount we need. I’m hoping this won’t take a long time for them to collect, but I’m also grateful they’re going to help us out with this.
What else? I’ve started making a packing list, compiling names of recommended travel agents, putting pretend dates into sites such as Travelocity & Kayak to see what fares would be like if we got travel dates 2 weeks out, checking out Peace Travel apartments and reading up on whether frequent flyer miles can be transferred/donated.
Oh, and I’m also making an instruction sheet for Judy. #’s 1-100 remind her that “THE DOGS DO NOT GET PEOPLE FOOD NO MATTER HOW MUCH THEY BEG AND ACT LIKE THEY’RE STARVING.” I know this reminder will do no good whatsoever because Judy has “Sucker” stamped on her head when it comes to my pups. I know we’ll be coming home to dogs that weigh 200lbs and 120lbs instead of 135lbs and 85lbs respectively. Other stuff on her instruction sheet will be our vet’s phone #, the 24 hr emergency vet clinic info, how not to set off the house alarm and what to do if she does set it off, etc.
So I guess that’s about it for now. I did email the USCIS lady I spoke to on Friday & gave her the info she asked for. I’m hoping she has a chance to call me back tomorrow with good news.
To wrap up, join us as we rejoice for the families from our agency who are in Moscow right now. Rob & Dede have been in Moscow for 10-11 days. They had a successful court date and are now just waiting a few more days to get their son home. Nick & Beth, who stuffed our dossier in their carry on luggage, and Mark & Sinziana are all making their first trip this week and get to meet their little ones for the first time tomorrow! I feel like I’m leaving other families off of this list and I apologize if I am! The point is that these families have had both struggles and celebrations throughout their journeys but look at where they all sit tonight! In a country far away, and very cold, and yet so close to child God has entrusted to them. How amazing is that?
Ana gave me some great suggestions for passing my time, one of which was to get a jump start on the Visa application and photos. We can’t fill out the Visa app entirely since we need to know travel dates, where we’re staying, etc., but we were able to get the photos done yesterday (4 each since we’ll need Visa’s for each trip). I had completely forgotten we needed the photos so thanks Ana for the great idea!
I also decided to call our bank on Friday & see what the process will be for getting the crispest (is that a word??) US dollars possible for our trip. Thankfully our agency doesn’t require us to carry a huge amount of money as others do, but we do need enough to cover things like paying our driver & translator each day, as well as the 8 dr. medical thing and other stuff. The USD’s have to be as new and “pretty” as possible which can be difficult for the amount of money we need to take. I read on a chat group just tonight that one family’s payment of $1700 was rejected simply because it was creased in the middle (they had folded it in half I guess). Another family’s bills had a very small purple stamp on the back, which apparently caused red flags and that money was rejected as well. So, the bills we need must be perfect! Our bank can’t “order” new money for us but said they will start collecting bills and placing them in a special Baby C vault until we reach the amount we need. I’m hoping this won’t take a long time for them to collect, but I’m also grateful they’re going to help us out with this.
What else? I’ve started making a packing list, compiling names of recommended travel agents, putting pretend dates into sites such as Travelocity & Kayak to see what fares would be like if we got travel dates 2 weeks out, checking out
Oh, and I’m also making an instruction sheet for Judy. #’s 1-100 remind her that “THE DOGS DO NOT GET PEOPLE FOOD NO MATTER HOW MUCH THEY BEG AND ACT LIKE THEY’RE STARVING.” I know this reminder will do no good whatsoever because Judy has “Sucker” stamped on her head when it comes to my pups. I know we’ll be coming home to dogs that weigh 200lbs and 120lbs instead of 135lbs and 85lbs respectively. Other stuff on her instruction sheet will be our vet’s phone #, the 24 hr emergency vet clinic info, how not to set off the house alarm and what to do if she does set it off, etc.
So I guess that’s about it for now. I did email the USCIS lady I spoke to on Friday & gave her the info she asked for. I’m hoping she has a chance to call me back tomorrow with good news.
To wrap up, join us as we rejoice for the families from our agency who are in Moscow right now. Rob & Dede have been in Moscow for 10-11 days. They had a successful court date and are now just waiting a few more days to get their son home. Nick & Beth, who stuffed our dossier in their carry on luggage, and Mark & Sinziana are all making their first trip this week and get to meet their little ones for the first time tomorrow! I feel like I’m leaving other families off of this list and I apologize if I am! The point is that these families have had both struggles and celebrations throughout their journeys but look at where they all sit tonight! In a country far away, and very cold, and yet so close to child God has entrusted to them. How amazing is that?
Friday, January 25, 2008
I Refuse to Withhold Chocolate from Myself…
…but I’ll get to that in a bit. It’s not all about me. Not tonight.
I want to start by congratulating the families from my agency who are traveling tomorrow. Norm & I are absolutely thrilled for each of you. We are encouraged by your faith, your strength, your positive attitude, and your journey thus far. We will lift you up in prayer each day this week and ask our family and friends to do the same. Safe travels and many hugs are sent to you, as well as wishes for much happiness and joy when you meet your children on Monday!
Beth – we can’t thank you enough for finding room in your carry on for our dossier! We are comforted knowing it is in safe hands and will be in Russia, delivered to S in a few short days. Thank you!
Now, on to my pity party. I am bummed. Why? First, I allowed myself to get hooked on possible timelines. I allowed my expectations to rise, even though the rule of thumb for international adoption is to keep your expectations low so that you aren’t disappointed. Good advice but difficult to follow.
I called our USCIS office yesterday and they called me back today. I decided to explain how quickly we can travel once we have our immigration approval and to try & get a sense of their processing timeline. I’ve heard that if you explain that their approval is the only thing holding you from traveling, they can often expedite the process. Not so with our office. She wasn’t nasty at all when she said this and in fact was apologetic and extremely nice. But they do process the 600A’s on a first come, first served basis and they do not sway from that. So that was bummer #1.
Bummer #2 happened when she told me that their 9 week timeline begins once they have your fingerprints, which we have yet to receive our invitation to do. We thought the 9 weeks began the same day we submitted the I600A but apparently that is not the case. You may remember that Norm hand delivered our 600A on Monday, January 14, and we were a little nervous about the cashier getting it to the right person. Well, the nice lady I spoke to today didn’t comfort me a whole lot about whether the forms DID make it to the right person. She expressed concern that we hadn’t received a confirmation letter or fingerprint appointment yet. She was actually calling me from her cell phone (impressive, despite her other news) so she couldn’t check her records but assured me that is the first thing she is going to do when she gets to the office Monday. Please, please pray that Ms. Cashier Lady didn’t lose or misroute our paperwork as this obviously would not be a good thing!
She did have some news that was a little encouraging but I’m going to remain skeptical. She said that 9 weeks is (supposedly) the worst case scenario, and that often the time between fingerprints & approval is “significantly less” than 9 weeks. As lovely as that would be, I don’t think it’s healthy for me to focus on this possibility much.
Such is the life of an international adopter! Ups and downs, and one day complete and ultimate joy when your little one is home for good!
At the beginning of January I wrote a post of things I had to look forward to this month, one of which was the chocolate boutique at my friend Nancy’s house. It was originally scheduled for tomorrow evening but we rescheduled it to tonight. Perhaps this is another God wink…an event that God knew I would especially need today, and yet when we rescheduled the date I didn’t think twice about the significance of doing so. On any other day, given the mood I am in at the moment I would prefer to go to bed, hide under the covers and be comforted by the purring of my cats nuzzled up against me. I’m turning a new leaf though – or at least trying – and I am REFUSING to withhold chocolate from myself! Otherwise, that which is trying to bring me down and discourage me will win. So I say bring on the chocolate AND the good mood!
I made progress on some other fronts today but I’ll share that sometime this weekend. I’ve got chocolate beckoning me now!
I want to start by congratulating the families from my agency who are traveling tomorrow. Norm & I are absolutely thrilled for each of you. We are encouraged by your faith, your strength, your positive attitude, and your journey thus far. We will lift you up in prayer each day this week and ask our family and friends to do the same. Safe travels and many hugs are sent to you, as well as wishes for much happiness and joy when you meet your children on Monday!
Beth – we can’t thank you enough for finding room in your carry on for our dossier! We are comforted knowing it is in safe hands and will be in Russia, delivered to S in a few short days. Thank you!
Now, on to my pity party. I am bummed. Why? First, I allowed myself to get hooked on possible timelines. I allowed my expectations to rise, even though the rule of thumb for international adoption is to keep your expectations low so that you aren’t disappointed. Good advice but difficult to follow.
I called our USCIS office yesterday and they called me back today. I decided to explain how quickly we can travel once we have our immigration approval and to try & get a sense of their processing timeline. I’ve heard that if you explain that their approval is the only thing holding you from traveling, they can often expedite the process. Not so with our office. She wasn’t nasty at all when she said this and in fact was apologetic and extremely nice. But they do process the 600A’s on a first come, first served basis and they do not sway from that. So that was bummer #1.
Bummer #2 happened when she told me that their 9 week timeline begins once they have your fingerprints, which we have yet to receive our invitation to do. We thought the 9 weeks began the same day we submitted the I600A but apparently that is not the case. You may remember that Norm hand delivered our 600A on Monday, January 14, and we were a little nervous about the cashier getting it to the right person. Well, the nice lady I spoke to today didn’t comfort me a whole lot about whether the forms DID make it to the right person. She expressed concern that we hadn’t received a confirmation letter or fingerprint appointment yet. She was actually calling me from her cell phone (impressive, despite her other news) so she couldn’t check her records but assured me that is the first thing she is going to do when she gets to the office Monday. Please, please pray that Ms. Cashier Lady didn’t lose or misroute our paperwork as this obviously would not be a good thing!
She did have some news that was a little encouraging but I’m going to remain skeptical. She said that 9 weeks is (supposedly) the worst case scenario, and that often the time between fingerprints & approval is “significantly less” than 9 weeks. As lovely as that would be, I don’t think it’s healthy for me to focus on this possibility much.
Such is the life of an international adopter! Ups and downs, and one day complete and ultimate joy when your little one is home for good!
At the beginning of January I wrote a post of things I had to look forward to this month, one of which was the chocolate boutique at my friend Nancy’s house. It was originally scheduled for tomorrow evening but we rescheduled it to tonight. Perhaps this is another God wink…an event that God knew I would especially need today, and yet when we rescheduled the date I didn’t think twice about the significance of doing so. On any other day, given the mood I am in at the moment I would prefer to go to bed, hide under the covers and be comforted by the purring of my cats nuzzled up against me. I’m turning a new leaf though – or at least trying – and I am REFUSING to withhold chocolate from myself! Otherwise, that which is trying to bring me down and discourage me will win. So I say bring on the chocolate AND the good mood!
I made progress on some other fronts today but I’ll share that sometime this weekend. I’ve got chocolate beckoning me now!
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Mission Accomplished!
After much hoopla about the snowstorm headed towards Asheville, it actually didn’t even amount to a dusting. Itty bitty, tiny little flakes started fluttering to the ground around 12:30 today and the winds started picking up. It did look a little daunting around 1-ish and I would have been pretty nervous had we been driving on these switchback roads. However, now that it’s all said and done there’s not a whole lot of anything to talk about. I have no idea what the conditions were like to the east of us, towards the Durham area, so we could be in for a nasty little surprise on the way home but we’ll worry about that tomorrow if we have to. Prayers for safe travels please.
When we woke up this morning, we still weren’t sure what the day would have in store for us. We didn’t know if we’d be meeting C and handing in our dossier, or if we’d be stuck inside the hotel room all day. I was thrilled when C called my cell phone at 9am and asked if we’d be up to meeting her at 10am instead of 3pm. Absolutely!
Her office is about 2 blocks from our hotel and is in a beautiful Victorian house. We were able to meet her husband as well, who is just as nice as C. We talked to C for nearly 3 hours and are confident in our choice of being assigned to the Moscow region! C was able to put our worries about traveling “blind” and the 8 dr. medical thing behind us. It looks like C is going to ask one of the families traveling NEXT WEEKEND (Jan. 26) to take our dossier with them and turn it in to S in the Moscow office! Beth, I’m not sure if she meant you & Nick or another family but how fantastic would it be if she asks you? For those who don’t know, Beth & I signed up with our agency nearly the same day and have been on this journey together basically since day 1!
Oh, and to the other families from our agency: Is anyone else familiar with their other office mate Julia? Norm & I “met” her today also. If you don’t know who she is let me know and I’ll send you an email or comment.
We’re not exactly sure of travel dates yet since we’re waiting on our 171 from USCIS. However, C feels certain that we can wrap things up by the beginning of May. When she first said this, we thought she meant the first trip. That’s not the case – she actually meant that our entire adoption journey could be finalized before May! Oh my gosh – I’m still trying to process the possibility of having Baby C as 100% ours in April/May. Wow…
The only other thing that would have made today perfect is if the weather had cooperated early enough for Ana & Russ to make the drive. We missed not being able to meet them but honestly, I would have done the same thing if I were them. In their honor, we did eat lunch at the restaurant where we were going to meet them. Ana, when you forwarded me the menu and said “yummy!” you were right on! The food was fabulous, the ambiance was so cool, and our waiter was awesome. We really wish we needed a table for 4 but it gives us something to look forward to in the future.
So we head home tomorrow with our mission accomplished. How cool is that, when not that long ago I was stressing over fingerprint issues and thinking we would never move past the paper chase stage??
When we woke up this morning, we still weren’t sure what the day would have in store for us. We didn’t know if we’d be meeting C and handing in our dossier, or if we’d be stuck inside the hotel room all day. I was thrilled when C called my cell phone at 9am and asked if we’d be up to meeting her at 10am instead of 3pm. Absolutely!
Her office is about 2 blocks from our hotel and is in a beautiful Victorian house. We were able to meet her husband as well, who is just as nice as C. We talked to C for nearly 3 hours and are confident in our choice of being assigned to the Moscow region! C was able to put our worries about traveling “blind” and the 8 dr. medical thing behind us. It looks like C is going to ask one of the families traveling NEXT WEEKEND (Jan. 26) to take our dossier with them and turn it in to S in the Moscow office! Beth, I’m not sure if she meant you & Nick or another family but how fantastic would it be if she asks you? For those who don’t know, Beth & I signed up with our agency nearly the same day and have been on this journey together basically since day 1!
Oh, and to the other families from our agency: Is anyone else familiar with their other office mate Julia? Norm & I “met” her today also. If you don’t know who she is let me know and I’ll send you an email or comment.
We’re not exactly sure of travel dates yet since we’re waiting on our 171 from USCIS. However, C feels certain that we can wrap things up by the beginning of May. When she first said this, we thought she meant the first trip. That’s not the case – she actually meant that our entire adoption journey could be finalized before May! Oh my gosh – I’m still trying to process the possibility of having Baby C as 100% ours in April/May. Wow…
The only other thing that would have made today perfect is if the weather had cooperated early enough for Ana & Russ to make the drive. We missed not being able to meet them but honestly, I would have done the same thing if I were them. In their honor, we did eat lunch at the restaurant where we were going to meet them. Ana, when you forwarded me the menu and said “yummy!” you were right on! The food was fabulous, the ambiance was so cool, and our waiter was awesome. We really wish we needed a table for 4 but it gives us something to look forward to in the future.
So we head home tomorrow with our mission accomplished. How cool is that, when not that long ago I was stressing over fingerprint issues and thinking we would never move past the paper chase stage??
Friday, January 18, 2008
I don't like weather men/women
I'm sitting in a very nice Asheville hotel room, bummed and perturbed with the weather people who promised me this morning that it was going to be a beautiful weekend here. I know I heard them say, and read their reports of light snow flurries tomorrow morning but otherwise beautiful. Great! Or so we thought...
After driving 7 hours to get here, we find out that the weather may be so bad that C from our agency may not even be able to make it to the office to meet with us. Poor Ana & Russ had to cancel their plans to drive up as well. Yeah, it really stinks that we won't be able to meet them but they had also planned on dropping off some forms to C and now they will have to wait to do that as well. NO FAIR!!
So, Norm & I are deciding what to do. Do we check out of the hotel super early tomorrow to try & beat the storm? Or do we tough it out & hope that the storm somehow misses us? If we check out, is the hotel going to charge us for the 2nd night or will they give us some slack because of the weather?? And when do we get to meet Ana & Russ and thank them for their words of support and the friendship that we've developed on this journey?? Grrr....
All is not bad, though. I was able to watch my all time favorite show tonight, Dogtown on the National Geographic channel. I didn't know if the hotel would have this channel or not. Dogtown is a new program that features my all time favorite place to visit and volunteer - Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Utah. If you want to learn more about the show or about how to make a real difference in the lives of others (both people & animals), check out their website at www.bestfriends.org. My trip there last March changed my life!!
Anyway, I'm to the point where I'm rambling & none of you should have to endure that. So I'll sign off for now. If by any chance someone is still up reading blogs tonight, please pray that the weather cooperates and we are able to meet C tomorrow as we planned!
Ana & Russ - we need to try this again sometime!
TTFN,
Kar
After driving 7 hours to get here, we find out that the weather may be so bad that C from our agency may not even be able to make it to the office to meet with us. Poor Ana & Russ had to cancel their plans to drive up as well. Yeah, it really stinks that we won't be able to meet them but they had also planned on dropping off some forms to C and now they will have to wait to do that as well. NO FAIR!!
So, Norm & I are deciding what to do. Do we check out of the hotel super early tomorrow to try & beat the storm? Or do we tough it out & hope that the storm somehow misses us? If we check out, is the hotel going to charge us for the 2nd night or will they give us some slack because of the weather?? And when do we get to meet Ana & Russ and thank them for their words of support and the friendship that we've developed on this journey?? Grrr....
All is not bad, though. I was able to watch my all time favorite show tonight, Dogtown on the National Geographic channel. I didn't know if the hotel would have this channel or not. Dogtown is a new program that features my all time favorite place to visit and volunteer - Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Utah. If you want to learn more about the show or about how to make a real difference in the lives of others (both people & animals), check out their website at www.bestfriends.org. My trip there last March changed my life!!
Anyway, I'm to the point where I'm rambling & none of you should have to endure that. So I'll sign off for now. If by any chance someone is still up reading blogs tonight, please pray that the weather cooperates and we are able to meet C tomorrow as we planned!
Ana & Russ - we need to try this again sometime!
TTFN,
Kar
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Confessions of an Obsessed Paper Chaser
I’ve been obsessed, consumed, confused and overwhelmed with this wonderful (not!) stage of adoption known as the paper chase. Since October, I honestly don’t think I’ve left my house without carrying at least one – and sometimes 20+ - paper chase documents somewhere on my person.
The paper chase started with everything we needed to accumulate for our homestudy:
Continued on to what we collected for our dossier:
**Keep in mind that 99% of all of these folders contain 2 or more copies of the documents inside them!
The paper chase started with everything we needed to accumulate for our homestudy:
Continued on to what we collected for our dossier:
And ended today – YES ENDED! – with the apostilling of our dossier. Make sure you “ooohhh” and “ahhhhh” over all the pretty gold seals!
**Keep in mind that 99% of all of these folders contain 2 or more copies of the documents inside them!
This, folks, is what we will be able to hand deliver to C. on Saturday! After that, how will I ever find a way to spend my time?
(Note to self: When the adoption journey becomes bumpy again, which you know it will, remember how hard you laughed tonight as you tried to write this post. Remember Norm’s “dude….” moment. Remember that you were laughing so hard no sound was coming out but tears definitely were! Remember getting your hand stuck in the couch trying to dig out the projectile Reese’s. Oh, and also remember that Norm is CUT OFF from soda & sugar after 8pm!)
Richmond Bound
Quick update...
For the most part, Norm had no problem dropping off the I600A yesterday. We're just hoping the cashier will now deliver all of our documents to the right person. We were also able to get the dossier notarized yesterday. Yay!!
This morning, though, I'm anxious about the dossier. Norm's driving down to Richmond with me to have everything apostilled and I'm just praying and hoping we did everything right. I'd rather be the driver to Richmond so I could focus on that instead of our dossier. As the passenger, well, I'm not going to have anything to focus on BUT the dossier! Ugh...
I spoke with Linda at the Secretary of the Commonwealth's Office again yesterday (the folks doing the apostilling). Linda is so, so helpful. I hope the rest of the employees there are as helpful and kind!! She gave me a tip on a "secret" parking lot that should help with finding a place to park since metered spaces are so hard to find. I told her I'd find her today & thank her personally!
I'll update tonight on how the apostilling goes. For now, I'm outta here to begin our road trip. Have a great day all!
For the most part, Norm had no problem dropping off the I600A yesterday. We're just hoping the cashier will now deliver all of our documents to the right person. We were also able to get the dossier notarized yesterday. Yay!!
This morning, though, I'm anxious about the dossier. Norm's driving down to Richmond with me to have everything apostilled and I'm just praying and hoping we did everything right. I'd rather be the driver to Richmond so I could focus on that instead of our dossier. As the passenger, well, I'm not going to have anything to focus on BUT the dossier! Ugh...
I spoke with Linda at the Secretary of the Commonwealth's Office again yesterday (the folks doing the apostilling). Linda is so, so helpful. I hope the rest of the employees there are as helpful and kind!! She gave me a tip on a "secret" parking lot that should help with finding a place to park since metered spaces are so hard to find. I told her I'd find her today & thank her personally!
I'll update tonight on how the apostilling goes. For now, I'm outta here to begin our road trip. Have a great day all!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
