Dossier Update

Our in country representative picked all the dossiers, including ours! The next steps:
1. Our dossier will be translated
2. We will be matched with a child

The current wait time for a referral is approximately 4 to 8 months. However, a family recently received a referral ONE month after their dossier was submitted. Yikes, I mean, woohooo!

We think we will receive a referral in early 2008. It's only a guess. We are not very good at the guessing game as evidenced in our Russian adoption. We thought, start to finish we would have our Russian child(ren) home in 9-12 months. Our Russian adoption journey took us 2 years!

The wait for a referral officially begins today.

Do You Hear What I Hear?

Do You Hear What I Hear? Said the night wind to the little lamb,"Do you see what I see? Do you see what I see?".....
If you spend anytime at our house, you will hear Christmas Carols. Why so early? In September we went to the mall. When we walked through JCP, Igor saw Christmas trees and Christmas decorations. As soon as we arrived home Igor ran to his CD collection to find his "Christmas" (music). I tried to explain, that Christmas was still months away. We still had Columbus Day, Fall Festival/Halloween, Thanksgiving and then it would be Christmas. Igor gave me a blank look then cranked up the music. Since then, Christmas music has been on Igor's daily play list.

This week Igor has been practicing a new song, "Where is Pumpkin". His nursery school teacher has been teaching him the song for their fall program. The song has been a nice diversion from the Christmas carols.

Dossiers, Mice and Elephant rides

Our Dossier is still waiting to be picked up at the FedEx location. Maybe it will be picked up tomorrow.

Tim, the exterminator, arrived yesterday to set some traps for the mice. I tried to convince Tim to stop by daily to check the traps. Tim just laughed at me. Rob has been assigned the job of checking the traps each morning before Igor and I come downstairs. Rob is so much braver than I am. So far, the stealth-like mice have eluded the traps.

Last night, we went to the circus. It was Igor’s first time. He was a little overwhelmed by it all. We arrived early so there was time for Igor to take a ride on the elephant. Of course, Rob & I wondered how safe this was.... but we threw caution to the wind and allowed him to take a ride. The boy and the elephant were fine at the end of the ride.

Dossier Update & the Invasion.......

Susan & William's dossier is in Ethiopia! Their dossier is making its way to the FedEx store for our in country rep to pick up. When he arrives, there will be 7 dossiers (including ours) waiting for him!

Other news, not adoption related... The invasion......
When we moved to the south last year we noticed that EVERYONE in our neighborhood had a pest company visit every so often. We quickly learned there are all sorts of big bugs that love the comfort of indoor living! Soon, we too had an annual pest contract. The other day I was filing paperwork and came across our pest contract. I noticed that it included rodent service. I laughed, why would we need coverage for rodents?? I hadn't asked for the service when we signed up. I didn't think too much about it and kept filing.

Today, I pulled out the phone book and to my horror, I saw mouse droppings in the drawer! YIKES! Of course, Igor wanted to check it out. I called the pest company to say we had mice. The lady on the other end of the phone said, "It is that time of year." What? Evidently, in October mice like to come indoors. Heavy sigh. I am looking forward to Tim, our pest guy, stopping by soon.

Dossier Update

Our Dossier is in Ethiopia! Four additional dossiers are awaiting pick up and another is on its way. I estimate Susan & William's dossier will arrive in Ethiopia on Tuesday! We are praying that our agency rep will pick up all the dossiers as soon as the Susan & William's documents arrive.

A small world story-
In July, Rob & I met Susan & William at our social worker's home for our class on grooming. (We thought we were meeting for the first time.) Since that meeting, our two families have shared laughs, stresses and the tears that are a part of the adoption process. Susan called me on Friday. She said they were filling out an AWAA survey which asked how they heard about the agency. That's when they remembered attending an adoption fair in March and meeting me at the AWAA booth! After talking for a few minutes, I remembered meeting them at the fair.
It's such a small world. I believe our dossiers are destined to be with one another! Maybe we'll even travel together to pick up our children??? So, as much as I want our agency rep to pick up our documents right now, we hope, we pray, they will be picked up together.

Dossier & Roller Coaster Update

I wonder if our Dossier is getting frequent flier miles! So far the Dossier has spent time in Virginia, New Jersey, Paris and Dubai. Today it is in Frankfurt. Maybe it will head to Africa tonight???

Fair Update- We had a great time at the fair. A few highlights- We saw farm animals, giant vegetables and farm equipment (Igor loves big machines). We watched the pig races and milked cows. Well, Igor said he wanted to milk a cow but when it was his turn he said, "daddy do it". Rob milked his first cow while Igor sat on his lap. Igor enjoyed petting the cow and drinking the chocolate milk given to all the milkers. Of course, we enjoyed Fair Food; ham biscuits, roasted corn, caramel apples, funnel cakes, deep fat fried onions and more!

After a brief conversation on the safety of the rides, Igor and Rob rode the kiddie roller coaster! Igor said that roller coaster was too fast (see clip). He went for tamer rides after that.

Dossier Update

Our Dossier has been enjoying Dubai's sorting facility for the last 24 hours! I am ready to see it leave the Arab Emirates and head towards Africa.

This afternoon we will take a break from FedEx tracking. We are headed to the fair. Igor has proclaimed that he is going on the VERY FAST roller coaster with Daddy. Igor has never seen a roller coaster (only on the KidSongs DVD) so we'll see. Maybe I should take a change of clothes for Igor and Rob...

Our Dossier is in route!

Wonderful news, our dossier was authenticated by the Department of State and the Ethiopian Embassy. Our dossier is on its way to Ethiopia! Rob and I will be tracking the package and we will keep you posted. (It left France this evening)

So far, the process has been incredibly smooth compared to our Russian adoption journey.

We're headed to the beach

No adoption update.....

We are headed to the beach. Rob is the speaker at a church retreat this weekend. Not a vacation exactly, but the retreat is being held just steps away from the beach. We are arriving early so we can spend some time in the surf and sand.

Igor will be enjoying time with Babushka and Papa while we are away.

Repairs.....

We've had some mechanical issues over the last few days. Saturday our car battery died. This was the second time in 4 months. Rob tried to jumping it but the car would not start. Neither of us felt comfortable changing the battery so we called AAA. They confirmed our battery was dead, so they installed a new one that afternoon.

Today, the plumber came because the garbage disposal was shooting out metal parts instead of grinding food. The plumber was awesome, he showed me how to install the disposal. I don't think I will attempt this by myself but learned a new skill. Igor (age 5) decided he would take a picture. He thought mommy under the sink was very funny.

Adoption news- our Dossier (paperwork) should be Fed Ex'ed to Ethiopia early next week.

Year two post placement

Can you believe Igor has been part of our family for almost two years?? Here's Igor's 2005 VISA picture and his recent US passport picture. Our little boy is growing up quickly. He has recently lost two teeth!

Friday we met with our social worker for Igor's two year post placement review. Russia requires a social worker verify Igor is safe, being cared for properly, etc. Good news- we "passed' the post placement review! The report will go to Russia for their review.

Blessing Bead Cards

Most of you know that I am not crafty. I normally break out in hives when I walk down a craft or scrapbook aisle. But this week I bought fancy hole punches, scrap book paper and other crafty items. What am I going to do with all these things? I am going to make Blessing Way cards.

Another adoptive mom clued me in on this West African tradition that welcomes new life. Yes, I know Ethiopia is in East Africa but I think it's a cool tradition so I am going to be making Blessing Way cards for other Ethiopian adoptive parents using our same adoption agency.

The blessing card will include a poem, prayer or blessing to the child. It also will have a bead attached to it. The card and a second bead will be sent to the adoptive parents. The parents will put the card into a scrapbook for safe keeping. The beads will be collected and then strung together. The string of beads will be given to the child when he/she is older. They can be passed down from generation to generation.

I have attached my first blessing card. All I have to do is sign it and add the bead.

We have a secret.......

We are adopting again! This time we are adopting from Ethiopia. Our paperwork is currently at the US Department of State. It will go to the Ethiopian Embassy next and then on to our adoption agency's representative in Ethiopia.

We have requested a boy between 24 and 42 months. We could get a referral any time between January and July 2008!