April Update
So its been awhile, sorry. We do have some good news. Tonight Steph and I signed our names about 20 times to complete our dossier. 20 times, thats not much, right? Well I had to sign my full name which is 21 letters one comma and one period. Steph had to sign her name, including her maiden name, which is a total of 30 letters plus two parethecies (you know these things which I can't spell). That's a lot of signing!
We were thrown a bit of a surprise last week. Steph contacted our adoption facilitator in KY last week and we were asked to attend a meeting on Saturday because some forms had changed. This initially concerned us because we thought we were done. We got up at 4:00 AM and drove to Lousiville. While sitting in the meeting we realized the changes were very minor and would not set us back any with regard to time.
We were excited to spend some time with a couple who is nearly at the same stage in the process as we are. We met Brad and Tina way back in September, at the "If You Were Mine" adoption conference when were just thinking about adopting, we actually sat at a table with them during the conference. Steph has been communicating with Tina frequently via e-mail and has found her to be one of very few people who can truly understand her feelings and her experience. As we were eating it occurred to me that we were all in Louisville together, yet in the future it would be much easier for us to meet in Greenville. Steph and Tina had no idea that Troy, Ohio is so close to Winchester, IN.
There were about 10 other couples in this meeting. Steph and I were the only ones in attendance who had received our INS approval. That was a great feeling. Kathy was asked about timelines, just like everyone asks us. She is very careful to always explain two things, the timeline is set by God not us, and sometimes God let's the Ukraine Adoption Center wait a long time to respond. She gave us homework to complete. She said' "Go home and make a sign that says 'I DON'T KNOW' and put it on your refrigerator." She said when you get frustrated and want to call to ask 'when do we get to travel to Ukraine', she can say look at your refrigerator. She did however make two guarantees with regard to time; 1. no one in the room will travel within the next 6 months and 2. we will all travel to Ukraine prior to receiving our first Social Security check. (political note: I am certainly not counting on getting the first SS check, especially since it seems unlikely due to, so called 'progressive', obstructionists that I will ever be allowed to invest a small portion of my own money into my own personal account so that I could manage my money myself)
There was a great deal of discussion about how difficult the wait time is after you complete your dossier. One lady noted that it is like Steph is pregnant, but it will not be a normal 9-month pregnancy, it is more like an 18 month pregnancy. So in other words we may end up with a hippopotomous? We recognize that it will not only be difficult for us, but for our freinds and family as well, as we are all anxious for the day to arrive when we can bring home our child.
Within the next couple of days we will have all of our documents notarized. The we will take the completed dossier to the Indiana Secretary of State to be apostilled. Then, the formal document will be sent to Ukraine for translation and submission.
The Great Wait begins.
We were thrown a bit of a surprise last week. Steph contacted our adoption facilitator in KY last week and we were asked to attend a meeting on Saturday because some forms had changed. This initially concerned us because we thought we were done. We got up at 4:00 AM and drove to Lousiville. While sitting in the meeting we realized the changes were very minor and would not set us back any with regard to time.
We were excited to spend some time with a couple who is nearly at the same stage in the process as we are. We met Brad and Tina way back in September, at the "If You Were Mine" adoption conference when were just thinking about adopting, we actually sat at a table with them during the conference. Steph has been communicating with Tina frequently via e-mail and has found her to be one of very few people who can truly understand her feelings and her experience. As we were eating it occurred to me that we were all in Louisville together, yet in the future it would be much easier for us to meet in Greenville. Steph and Tina had no idea that Troy, Ohio is so close to Winchester, IN.
There were about 10 other couples in this meeting. Steph and I were the only ones in attendance who had received our INS approval. That was a great feeling. Kathy was asked about timelines, just like everyone asks us. She is very careful to always explain two things, the timeline is set by God not us, and sometimes God let's the Ukraine Adoption Center wait a long time to respond. She gave us homework to complete. She said' "Go home and make a sign that says 'I DON'T KNOW' and put it on your refrigerator." She said when you get frustrated and want to call to ask 'when do we get to travel to Ukraine', she can say look at your refrigerator. She did however make two guarantees with regard to time; 1. no one in the room will travel within the next 6 months and 2. we will all travel to Ukraine prior to receiving our first Social Security check. (political note: I am certainly not counting on getting the first SS check, especially since it seems unlikely due to, so called 'progressive', obstructionists that I will ever be allowed to invest a small portion of my own money into my own personal account so that I could manage my money myself)
There was a great deal of discussion about how difficult the wait time is after you complete your dossier. One lady noted that it is like Steph is pregnant, but it will not be a normal 9-month pregnancy, it is more like an 18 month pregnancy. So in other words we may end up with a hippopotomous? We recognize that it will not only be difficult for us, but for our freinds and family as well, as we are all anxious for the day to arrive when we can bring home our child.
Within the next couple of days we will have all of our documents notarized. The we will take the completed dossier to the Indiana Secretary of State to be apostilled. Then, the formal document will be sent to Ukraine for translation and submission.
The Great Wait begins.
posted by Baldwin at 9:04 PM
2 comments
