More FBI fingerprints

We went in today for our 2nd set of FBI fingerprints. These are for our dossier.
We were told there is a hold up with FBI on fingerprints so we may not receive back for 8-9 weeks. We will see!

Jenny

Home study done next step is USCIS

We got our home study final papers today! Yeah!!!
We are turning in all of our docs tomorrow to the USCIS for immigration approval.
So on to the next step!
Supposedly it takes 90 days. It is nice to finally move on from the home study and start a new phase.
We will be ready to submit our dossier as soon as we get approvals. We are pretty much done with all dossier docs.

Jenny

Homestudy almost finalized but more delays on horizon!

Well it has taken a few weeks for the manager at our Homestudy agency to approve and finalize our homestudy. It was finally sent to our Adoption agency today. Our agency reviewed and sent back the revisions right away. Our social worker is wonderful there. So we are hoping by next week it's finally all complete and we can move on to the USCIS stage.

We were told today however to expect more delays. I guess the FBI clearances are taking a long time, they are backed up. And the Kaz embassy is also very backed up, they have been flooded with new dossier submissions and will be backlogged now.

So at this point it is hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel here.
It sounds like many couples are in the same boat we are, must be a lot of people out there adoptiong and facing the same struggles we have.

It's hard to understand sometimes why it's so difficult for people like me to just have a family. It's so very easy for some, it doesn't make sense sometimes....
I do know however that others are worse off and have gone through much more difficult things.
I guess I just have to be patient and know that one day I will understand. It's funny how life is like that. The most difficult things I have faced in my life didn't make sense at the time. But in time I could see why I had to face that issue and somehow it made sense.

So here's to hoping when I look back and read this one day I will 'get it' and it will all make sense!

Jenny

Homestudy completed!!!

We got an email today from our social worker that our homestudy has finally
been completed!!
YEAH!
It now has to go to review to the manager at our homestudy agency and then it will go to our
agency for signoff.
So we probably won't have the final paperwork for a few more weeks but at least the main part is done...

Jenny

Trying to be patient

We are still waiting for our homestudy to be completed.
We thought it would be done by now, but it's still being worked on.

I am getting pretty impatient! I was hoping we would have everything done and signed by end of October so we can submit everything to the USCIS (Immigration). They are supposed to take 90 days to complete their forms, which means more waiting!

It's looking like our homestudy won't be complete now until the end of the month.
We are kind of disappointed but we don't have much control over this so have to be patient and wait. Seems to be the theme of this whole process... Patience! Something I am not that great at either! :)

That is it for now!

Jenny

Home study done!

We turned in our last two pieces of information on Friday. Now we wait for them to approve the home study and send it off to our agency in Illinois. One chunk of paperwork down, one to go!

Rich

Homestudy visit complete

After two days of what Jenny called "deep cleaning", we've finished the homestudy. The girls started the homestudy with a tour of the house. They did a great job, answered some questions, then were off with Debbie and the boys for some fun. We answered questions for about two and a half hours, mainly about our families, how we were raised, our marriage, and what we think about raising kids. It was all pretty easy.

So now we are back to waiting. Waiting for our FBI fingerprints to come back. Waiting for the USCIS clearance (which could take up to 90 days from the end of the homestudy). And finally waiting on Wells Fargo to write a simple letter. It's amazing how First National can do exactly what we need in about 10 minutes on a Monday at 5:30, but Wells Fargo needs at least 30 days. Oh well...all part of the process I guess.

Rich

Psychologist visit done!

We had our last appointment with our Psychologist today.

We did an ink blot test, it was really kind of interesting. I saw a lot of bats and butterflies!

I really liked our Psychologist, I kind of felt bad for him though. He has some kind of issue, he's in a walker and stuff and got really winded walking back to his office.
He reminded me some of Dad. He's mind is totally there, his body is just failing him some.
I really liked him, a super nice gentleman.

I am glad we have another piece done.
Slowly but surely we are moving along....

Jenny

Yet another appointment...

Had my physical today for the home study. Not a real big deal, turns out I'm somewhat healthy. Blood pressure a bit high, some heartburn issues, but that's about it. I have to go back for the form on Friday and that part is done. Tomorrow we have another appointment with the psychologist.

Rich

Kazakhstan Babyhouse/Orphanage Video

We've seen a few videos so far, and all the orpahanages look the same. Here sterile, clinical, almost 1970s looking. White tile, very plain. Here's one of the videos we've found...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0QSQjyheoo

Rich

Adoption Class Part 2 and a Visit to the Psychologist

Busy Saturday, much like yesterday. We started the day at the agency that we are using for our home study, finishing the adoption class. Watched a video about three adopted kids that are in their 20s now and how they feel about what they've experienced. Beginning to end, this class was totally worth it. We weren't sure what to expect, and were both pleasently surprised with what we came away with in the end.

After that we had our first visit to the psychologist. After a brief discussion about where we came from and what our families were like, we were assigned a test. We knew there'd be something like this, but not 563 True/False questions! Apparently this MMPI 2 personality test is pretty widely used. I looked it up today and here's what I found...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Multiphasic_Personality_Inventory

So later this week we'll know if we are both crazy or not. Our psychologist was very nice, and apparently when I left the room he told Jenny that we're very down to earth people, and that he can tell we are good and loving, and will make a good family for an adopted child. That was nice to hear. We go back next week for a Rorschach Inkblot Test. That's going to be very interesting!

Rich

First day of adoption training class down...

...four more hours to go.

We had a good time in our adoption training class today. I didn't realize exactly what "attachment" is and how it could be missing from a child in an orphanage. There was a ton of good information. There were two other couples in our class today as well. One of the couples was adopting a 16 year old from the Ukraine. They had 11 other kids ranging from 4 years old to 27 years old. The second couple is adopting from Russia, an 11 year old boy and a 7 or 8 year old girl. It was an interesting dynamic, but I think we all learned a lot. This agency here in Omaha that we are using for our homestudy has been very helpful so far and have answered all the questions we've had.

We saw another video on the orphanages there. It looked pretty much like the other videos we've seen, which is comforting. Probably the funniest part was all the kids on their potty chairs. (some were just pans). They all go at the same time after eating. Their lives are very structured, I guess that includes bathroom breaks? Jenny liked all 12 of the kids we saw and wanted to go over there and take all of them home.

Rich

First Home Study Meeting

We had our first home study meeting today. About an hour and fifteen minutes at their office. It went rather well, pretty simple questions actually. I have a feeling the questions will get more in depth when she comes next weekend to continue the process. The girls will be here for part of that one. She'll talk to them, have them show her around the house, etc. Then they are off the hook and we have a few hours of questions. I really don't think it'll be anything surprising. We'll see I guess, I could be wrong.

Jenny changed her status on Facebook telling eveyone our plan to adopt. Within a few hours she had over 15 replies, all wishing us luck and encouraging us. It was pretty awesome to see...

Rich

Next week is a busy week!

Next week we have a lot going on!
We are glad that we seem to be making some progress.

On Monday we have our first homestudy appointment. We go in to our agencies office for a few hours and then we will just have 2 more appointments after that. The next will be the home visit which we hope to schedule soon!
Then we decided to take our International 10 hours of training at our homestudy agency. We thought it would be more interesting than taking the courses online and it costs about the same. We have training all day next Friday and then Sat morning. After our training on Sat. am we have our appointment with our Pscychologist.

Busy week!!! But we will knock some things out!!!

Jenny

Is it certified?

Jenny asked me three times tonight if we needed something certified. Each time she asked me in a different way, like somehow the answer would change? I'm laughing about it, and she's saying "it's not true". Trust me, it's funny.

Rich

Some advice...

From a guy's point of view...save everything. You are going to fill out the same information over and over again. Where you lived 20 years ago, where you worked 10 years ago and for how long, etc. If you have to look it up once, write it down and save it. Trust me on this one, we just started and I'm already wishing I had saved some of this info.

Rich

Another Dr.'s appointment...

For our homestudy we have to get medical exams done. I went in today and of course more needles. I am tired of needles and being poked! I had to have blood taken for HIV testing, Hepatitis and then be poked for a TB test. The nurse of course couldn't find my vein so I had to be poked a few times before they got it. Now it's Rich's turn!!! Of course he hasn't called yet...

We filled out paperwork for adult and child abuse services. They ask for your last 20 yrs of addresses. That was hard to remember. Rich doesn't remember a few so hope that they don't send the form back.

We are still waiting for our homestudy appointment, very anxious to get our first appointment out of the way.

We were in Target and stopped by the baby department. We already found highchair, play pen that we like. We will probably wait though and do a lot of our shopping once our dossier is turned in. Shopping will be so fun, I am looking forward to that!

That is it for now...
Jenny

Mountains of Paperwork!!

This week we received our Dossier and Home Study paperwork. It is pretty overwhelming, just the sheer volume of paperwork and repetition.
We try to do something each night, so take it a little at a time.

On Friday we went in to the NE Highway Patrol and had our first set of fingerprints taken. We will have to do that 2 more times that we know of! Rich actually thought it was fun! :)
It was pretty interesting seeing how the livescan fingerprints work.

We have an appointment with our Psychologist on Saturday the 26th. That should be an interesting experience! We also should be doing our first homestudy within the next few weeks. We submitted our first payment on Friday and awaiting the date.

Holt contacted us regarding adoptions from Thailand. We are sticking with Kaz, but will definitely keep that country in mind for our 2nd! You can start paperwork 6 months after your child is home. We will at least be used to the paperwork and process once we do apply for our 2nd.

We are excited that we are making some progress!

Oh and good news Rich got his passport yesterday!!!!!

Update

We got the first email from our social worker today, along with the timeline of what happens when and how. It's nice to see it all listed out front to back, makes the process easier to understand. We have narrowed our homestudy agencies down to two and should decide tomorrow on which one we'll use. More to come!

Mailed our Application today

We mailed our application and first check to our agency today. The application was 34 pages long, but surprisingly enough it was easy to understand.

Jenny has talked about staying behind after the three to four weeks is up and the adoption is final. There is a lot of paperwork that needs to be done in-country, and the child can't leave with you even though the adoption is final. From what we understand, that process could take up to a month. I'm not sure if I'm comfortable with her staying behind by herself. I may stay too, depending on how long the wait turns out being. If we stay behind, he's actually with us in our hotel/apartment. If we left, he'd go back to the orphanage and wait for the escort home to the states. Jenny doesn't really want to leave, but that will be a decision we make once we get there and understand the process better.

We told Rylee and Scarlett today. They were VERY excited, even going as far as asking when we were going to paint the room and what color it will be. I didn't doubt that it'd go well, but they really took to the idea of having a little brother.

Our next step should be the home study, but will wait for the agency or social worker to contact us.

August 18, 2009

August 18, the day we filled out the application with our agency. Jenny had pretty much decided this was the route for us. I was still hesistant. It all seemed so overwhelming. The travel, the money, the paperwork. The next day, I decided it was the right move, and told her over a very non-romantic dinner at Applebees. So now here we sit two days later, filling out our agency contract and looking at others blogs about their journey to Kazakhstan.

I can only hope that other couples read this and get some help. I know that the blogs we've read over the past fews days really helped us.