Archive for September, 2009
Accepted!
Posted by: | CommentsWe were selected! It’s so surreal. Pending the home study being accepting and getting through court (oh and the small thing of raising $12,500 in the next three months and then $6,000 for travel), we have a son!
My favorite part? His picture/listing on the waiting child website now says, "I have a family!"
Through the phone interview!
Posted by: | CommentsI can’t believe it, but we’re finished with the phone interview and I think it went well! Jessica was lovely to speak with and made the interview very easy and was so friendly. The majority of the questions were basically going over our answers to the questionnaire along with talking about support systems, etc. I think Stephen and I answered everything as completely as we could, both chipped in on answers so that she got a balanced view and hopefully didn’t screw anything up too badly!
The next step is that Jessica will go over all of this with her supervisor, who will make the decision whether to go ahead and approve us (since we’re the only family going ahead with N.B.) or to send our file to the selection panel, which meets Thursday. So we could know whether approved Thursday evening or this evening! Eek!! Either way, we’ll know more this evening, I hope.
I’m a bundle of nerves, so think I’m going to go hit the craft store. I need to grab some supplies to make some things for the Etsy shop. Besides the Etsy shop, I’m doing our church’s fall craft show (both with my crafts and with Barefoot Books), so lots to do to get enough stock ready for that. Not that I’m expecting it to be huge or anything, but better safe than sorry. =) I’m also hoping to apply to one or two more local fairs. We’ll see.
Thank you SO much for all of y’all’s support! I can’t express how much it’s meant to us. =) Especially you Facebook friends!
Phone interview scheduled!
Posted by: | CommentsPlease be thinking good thoughts for us tomorrow at 11:30am EST! So nervous. =)
Getting there!
Posted by: | CommentsWe were contacted this evening to try to find a time for our conference call early next week! I’m hoping we can find a time, which isn’t super easy since we’re three hours ahead and Steve works from either 12-9:30pm or 2-11:30pm EST. Still, his day off is Wednesday, so I’m really hoping that’s not too late to make the Thursday selection panel.
I’m so excited that I could cry! Or jump and shout! Something! I can’t believe that we might know "for sure" (pending our home study) by FRIDAY!
I can’t wait to call and tell our family tomorrow. =)
In other news, Steve and I are currently in Northern Virginia for a church training. I’m really missing home and my little girl. She’s having a girls’ weekend with Grammie, though, so I know she’s having a great time and is in loving hands. Still, I wish I could go in and kiss her before going to bed.
Okay, training at 8am isn’t that many hours, so should probably get some sleep!
Family pictures
Posted by: | CommentsOkay, I promised to post the pictures Seairth took. Here they are the ones we sent to Holt!
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What a cutie!
Posted by: | CommentsOh my goodness, new children on Holt’s Waiting Children page! They are all so adorable. This one is SOOOO cute, though. And born on my birthday!
http://www.holtintl.org/cgi/photolisting/display.cgi?ID=B09_242&Index_re=12
I hope he finds his forever family soon.
What a day!
Posted by: | CommentsSeriously?? I just lost my entire post. Got really excited to see there was an auto-draft, but it was only of the damn blog title. Tighten up, auto-draft! Okay, here we go again, in shorter format.
Today’s been one of THOSE days. Feel like i haven’t stopped moving. Still, some juicy tidbits to report!
Steve went to our intake appointment with the international adoption clinic pediatrician. All good things! He said that we had more info on N.B. than almost any child he’s ever worked with. Says he’s a bit surprised at his height and weight (he’s taller and heavier than what we would have thought for his age), but that he’s totally proportional and that his development seems right on target for a 2.5yo. We had thought he might be a fair amount older (3.5-4, maybe), and while that’s still a distinct possibility, it’s kind of exciting to think that he may actually be 2.5. =)
We’re still waiting to schedule our phone interview, but realized today that we hadn’t sent our family pictures yet, so I don’t know if that has anything to do with it. Luckily, an amazing family friend (yay, Seairth!) was kind enough to take a bit of time after work to take a few really great shots. I can’t wait to play with them tomorrow night in Photoshop! I’ll post my two favorites when I’m done and have sent them over to Holt.
Otherwise, life’s still crazy! We’re going out of town this weekend for a church training, so there’s still a lot to do to get ready for that. Eliza’s staying with my mom (we all live in the same house on different levels), so there’s stuff related to that. Plus getting our meal plan together for next month, redoing our budget to eek out as much as we can for the adoption fund, a church meeting, stuff related to the adoption fundraiser Etsy shop, etc.
Oh! Speaking of adoption fundraising, we received our very first donation today!! I’ve made a few Etsy sales, which have been awesome, but this is an honest donation from one of my mom’s friends! I almost cried when my mom texted me to tell me. =) So yay!! People believe in what we’re doing! That just makes me feel so amazing.
Okay, off to watch Heroes, make a meal plan and grocery list for October, write descriptions for the Etsy shop (and other random shop stuff), etc. So much for "down time". =) Talk soon!
Another step completed
Posted by: | CommentsLast night, I was able to email over our answers to the three questionnaires for the Waiting Child program. Typed out, it was seven full pages! Got word back today that they received them and they’ll be contacting us shortly to schedule our phone interview. Fingers crossed it happens in the next two days so that we’ll catch the selection panel meeting on Thursday! I’m not holding my breath, but am hopeful.
Oh the many fees.
Posted by: | CommentsI’ve been asked when the different parts of the total charge are due. Since I hope this blog will be educational as well as a way to keep up to date with friends and family, I thought I’d break them down the best that I can. I’m inputting very rough estimates as to when I think we’ll have to pay them. Who knows if the estimates will be on point or not!
Application :: $300 :: likely the end of Sept :: Since we’re doing the Waiting Child program, we’re kind of going through the back door, so we’ve only submitted the WC application.
Homestudy (first half) :: $925 :: October 2nd :: The first half is due upon starting.
Homestudy (second half) :: $925 :: Early December :: The second half is due upon completion, which I estimate at 2-3 months.
Document fees :: $1000 :: on-going :: These are the fees we’ll have to pay for getting certified documents, complete with notorizations, etc. I’m hoping it won’t be quite this much.
Dossier :: $3000 :: Due when homestudy is approved by Holt (early January) :: This covers the various services that Holt provides in getting our dossier ready to send to Ethiopia.
Program :: $9690 :: Due when we accept our child referral (pretty much immediately after the home study is approved since we’ll already have been approved to adopt N.B.)
The program fee covers so much that I thought I should list it out separately. I should note that these services are preformed in Ethiopia and I believe this money goes to Ethiopia:
• background investigation and identification of child
• social services
• legal fees
• accepting legal responsibility for the child
• working with government and agency authorities
• translation
• child care, medical expenses (portions not covered by sponsorship)
• passport and U.S. visa fees in the child’s country
• in country travel arrangements and assistance A small portion of the fee will help develop Holt Ethiopian childcare projects.
So there it is! Those are the fees that are currently listed in our little fundraising vine graphic. These don’t include the travel costs ($5000-8000), the post placement social worker visits ($860) or the cost to readopt in the US (I have no idea how much this is). After accepting the referral of N.B., I’m thinking we’ll have a good 3-6+ months to raise that money. The fundraising fun just doesn’t stop around here! =)
The hardest part is done.
Posted by: | CommentsWe finished answering all of the questions, which is definitely the hard part. Though I still have to type it all out and flesh out some of the shorthand that I scribbled down during commercials. Fun! I hope to get that done tomorrow.
Also up for tomorrow is SEWING! I’m going to sew up more bibs. I have a stack of fabric and a stack of organic batting and I think they’re just dying to get sewn together. I’m not really looking forward to putting in the snaps, though. It’s just so loud with the hammering and whatnot. And so tedious. Wish I had access to a snap press. Seems like that would be easier! I AM excited about sewing, though. I sewed up two test bibs the other night to check the pattern. It had been the first time that I’ve sewn in quite a while. I sometimes forget how much I like it. Though I’m sure I’ll be changing my tune after the 200th bib!
That reminds me, I need to get to the fabric store this weekend to buy fabric for Eliza’s Halloween costume. She wants to go as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. Seems easy enough. Jumper dress in blue gingham, right? Not too bad. Also need to pick up some pretty corduroy so I can make my friend Mary’s daughter a few pair of elastic waist pants for school. Might as well whip up a few pair for Eliza while I’m at it.
Today I ordered supplies to make stamped metal jewelry as a fundraiser. I think stamped necklaces would go over well at our church. Since I don’t have to worry about pricing to accommodate selling wholesale, I think I can sell them at a price that’s affordable, but still have enough “profit” to make it a worthwhile fundraising activity.
Speaking of fundraising, if anyone’s interested in doing a Barefoot Books home party, I’m your gal! I can also set up an online event to compliment or replace a home party. Fellow adoptive parents, I do offer fundraisers as well. Both locally and online. Get in touch if you have any questions!
Okay, off to bed. So much to do tomorrow!
Hurry up and get home!
Posted by: | CommentsI wish my husband was already off work because I can’t wait to finish putting together our answers for the questionnaires that we have to fill out before we can schedule our phone interview.
How the process will work is that we turn in the three questionnaires (Child Specific questions, Adopting Children of Color and Child Behaviors worksheet). We’re already done with the last two and only have about 10 more questions on the first left. After we turn that in, we’ll schedule our phone interview with either Holt’s Waiting Child program director or the Social Work Coordinator.
After the interview, our file will be sent to a selection panel of 3-5 social workers. They’ll check out all of our info and will decide if we would be a good family for N.B. If there were any other families, their files would be reviewed then as well. Luckily, it’s my understanding that we’re the only family currently proceeding with N.B.
With some luck, that selection panel will meet on Thursday (if our phone interview can be scheduled earlier in the week) and we should know one way or the other by Friday!
New blog!
Posted by: | CommentsHey there! Welcome to our new blog! I’m very excited to present it as I’ve been working on it all night at this point! This is where we’ll be updating and informing about our Ethiopian adoption. We’ve applied for a particular waiting child at Holt International and are very excited to get this process going.
Thanks for stopping by and please check back regularly to see how everything’s going!
