Step 1 is Complete!

Our Home Study is finished! I was going to wait until I had a copy of it in my hand to make the announcement, but I felt it was time for a new post. Now we are onto the next step. I have prepared our registration documents that will be sent to Russia. Our adoption consultant has been looking them over and making sure that they are perfect. Once we get the "okay" I will print them out so we can get them notarized and apostilled.

Next, we wait for our I-171H approval from immigration. This is the last document we will need before the registration documents can be sent. I think it is safe to say that the approval is at the top of our Christmas list.

Step 3 will be the worst stage - WAITING! We will wait to be assigned a region in Russia. Then we will wait for a referral from that region. We have no idea how long this wait will be. During the wait we will start to get the nursery in order. And, we will probably buy a few more items here and there from Babies R Us. I love researching, so I have already started looking at what we will put on our registry. I even look at the customer ratings on each item. It is so much fun! I won't be officially registering until we are closer in the waiting process though.

Also, we have a name picked out for our son! Some of you already know it. For those of you who do not, I will be posting it in a future blog. I will explain why we chose the name we did. I figure it will give me something to blog about in the future. But, do not worry, I will not make you wait too long.


Kristin

A Reason to be Thankful

On Monday we finally got our Child Abuse and Neglect Registry Results from the State Of Ohio. Yesterday I faxed copies to our agency and immediately put them in the mail. Our agency was going to try and complete our Home Study by today, but unfortunately, our social worker left for the holiday and it will not be completed until early next week. That's okay, I guess. I am starting to believe that any delay that happens in this process is happening for a reason. Although, it still is frustrating.

I am sure the next couple of weeks will involve us getting our registry documents notarized and apostilled. Thankfully, Evan is in the Columbus area almost every day and that is where we have to go to get the documents apostilled (better known as verifying that our notary is really a notary in the state of Ohio). I am excited that we are getting to this stage. However, once all the paperwork is complete, how long do we wait? The wait times have been changing and not for the better. We know that this can change at any time, so I am not going to get too worried right now.

That is all the news for now. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Kristin

Getting Closer . . .

So, yesterday we got our fingerprints taken. We got in and out fairly quickly, which was surprising. Usually you have to sit forever in the waiting room for these kind of things. Our fingerprints were taken a little different than they were for the home study. They still used a computer, but they had to roll each individual finger, so they could get the sides of the fingers as well. The guy who did mine must have been having a bad day. He never smiled and I think he rolled my fingers a little harder than I would have liked. But, it's done.

Evan and I both took the day off from work, so we decided that after our appointment we would go to Target and Babies R Us to look at items we will eventually put on our registry. That was a lot of fun! We also picked out the bedding and bought the crib sheet to solidfy that decision. :) We bought a few other things here and there. Nothing crazy.

We also met our new new nephew, Carter. He's just a little guy, but very cute!!! Sorry, there are no close-ups just yet.

We do have some good news. Yesterday when we got home from our day out, we found a voicemail waiting from our agency. It turns out that they called the State of Ohio about our Child Abuse and Neglect Registry Results and now they will be in our mailbox by Friday! I don't know what they said, but I can't wait until they are finally here. Then we will be focusing on getting our registration documents ready to send to Russia.

I will keep you posted.

Kristin

Two Posts in One Day!

I know it is amazing for me to post this much. However, I forgot to mention something very important. November is National Adoption Month!!! If you have any free time, please listen to this program: http://www.mbn.org/GenMoody/default.asp?SectionID=CBD5EDA2339845878FBDDDB995E526E7

It is a radio program from Moody Bible Network that is talking about adoption. It will be a great resource for those interested in adoption or helping others that want to adopt! Just scroll down to the 11/05/07 program. Click on "audio". Enjoy!

Kristin

Attachment and Bonding

Yesterday we had our two and a half hour seminar on attachment and bonding. When I first saw that it was going to be that long, I wondered how I was going to sit through it. How much can one person talk about on one topic? Well, it turns out that it was very informative and not very boring. There were probably 20-25 people there. There were families that were adopting from China, Vietnam, Ethiopa, Columbia, Kazakhstan, and one other person from Russia. It was great to meet people going through the adoption process like us. We voiced our frustrations with the process, but also what we were looking forward to as well. One of the highlights of the morning was when a woman brought her recently adopted son in, so we could meet him and ask her questions. He was 2 1/2 years old and from Vietnam. He was absolutely adorable!

I guess I will give a couple of examples of ways to bond and attach with our child for those that are interested.

1. Don't let your child be passed around or go to others until they are attached. The length of time varies from child to child. (He needs to know that we are his parents. I know this will be hard for family at first.)

2. Hold your child as much as you can. Use a stroller on a limited basis.

3. Only mother and father should hold, feed and nurture, not extended family and friends until child is attached. Parents should provide basic needs, physical and emotional. Meet the child's needs to establish that you are reliable providers and they don't have to rely upon themselves.

4. Provide high nurture and high structure.

5. Encourage loving eye contact in every way you can.

6. Reparent your child as if younger. (This also helps the baby rely more on us. In the orphanage he will be more independent because the orphanage workers can only give limited time to each child).

7. Bottle feed (or use sippy cup) with eye contact even if a child has been weaned from a bottle. Parents should hold the bottle and place the food in the child's mouth as soon as they can progress to it. You want to increase dependence on you, not have the child rely upon orphanage training and self-reliance.

8. Sleeping arrangements: Don't let your child "cry it out" at night - go to them or sleep near them if they cry.

These are just some of the many suggestions we received. Some children will come home and bond/attach fairly quickly. Others take longer. We know that it is going to take a lot of patience on everyone's part. Even though our son will come home at 12-18 months, we probably will have to treat him like he is younger for awhile.

I do want to mention that our agency will be holding a Family Day in February They invite family and close friends of those adopting to come and hear more about the process. They will also touch on these issues.

I do have a non-adoption related announcement. It seems I was not far off in my last post. We do have a new addition to the Morgan family. Friday night my sister-in-law had her son, Carter. We are very happy for her and Jason!

As I type this entry, my parents are scheduled to touch down in Minneapolis in less than an hour! Hopefully, they will catch their flight to Cleveland. Last year Customs held them up and they missed their plane. Evan and I will be picking them up at Hopkins airport early this evening.

With my parents going to Latvia these past two years and stumbling upon that Guatemala adoption blog last year at this time, I really see how God has led us to adopting our son. I really do feel like adoption is a great option, whether infertility is a factor or not. There are so many orphans out there and so many people that could provide them with loving homes. I do not know if God will call us to adopt more children, but I know that if He wants us to, then I am definitely open to it.

Well, the next post will probably be about our fingerprinting adventure. Stay tuned.

Kristin

So close, but yet so far away . . .

I am getting excited about all that is happening in the next week for our adoption. Saturday morning we have our training/last home study visit. Tuesday is our Immigration fingerprints. Everything is moving along as it should be. However, we still have that small problem with the State of Ohio. I called them Tuesday to inquire about our Child Abuse and Neglect Registry results. It turns out that our files were on one woman's desk and since I called they would be moved to the proper woman's desk. I asked her if that meant we would receive them soon? She said it should help. Not a very definitive answer, but I am hoping my phone call means it will be here by Friday's mail. This one little document is all we need for a complete home study. And, a complete home study is all we need to send to immigration so we can receive our I-171H approval, so we can register our documents in Russia. I know it will all work out, but it is still frustrating.

On another note, my parents will be flying home from Latvia on Sunday. We have received a few updates from them and it sounds like their trip is going very well. I look forward to hearing more and seeing pictures from their trip.

Also, we are anxiously awaiting the birth of our son's cousin. Evan's sister, Amanda is due any day with her son. The cool thing is that our son with only be months apart from Amanda's. It will be nice that the cousins can grow up together.

So, that is the news for now. Hopefully, I will have good news for our next post.

Kristin

We Got The Appointment!!!

I haven't had the chance to update this blog, since I got my mail a couple of days ago. Inside was two important looking envelopes from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. We received our fingerprinting appointment for immigration! On Tuesday, November 13th, Evan and I will be going downtown to complete a very important step in the process. Once we receive Immigration's approval (which may take 4-6 weeks or more after fingerprinting), then we can send our documents to Russia. It's very exciting!

However, we still need our Child Abuse and Neglect Registry results from the State of Ohio. I tried calling yesterday to get some kind of status update, but was transferred all over kingdom come. I have our agency looking into it. We really need that document, so our home study can be complete. Immigration needs are home study for our approval as well, so it would be nice if they had it by the time we are fingerprinted. So, please continue to pray that we receive this document this week.

Onto other news . . . my parents leave this morning for Latvia. Many of you may wonder, "Where is Latvia?" Well, it's next to RUSSIA! My parents are going there on a missions trip with Buckner Orphan Care International (http://www.helporphans.org/). They will be bringing shoes for the babies and children in the orphanages. They will also be conducting VBS for the children. They went last year as well. Hearing my parents talk about how easy it was to love these children may have also sparked my interest in adoption. They will be gone from November 1-11. Please keep them in your prayers as well.

Well, I hope to have more exciting news in the next couple of weeks. I can't wait until all the paperwork is complete and sent to the appropriate places. Then, we can really focus on getting everything ready for the baby!

Kristin