Archive for October, 2009
Checklist updated
Posted by: | CommentsNow that we’ve received all of the info from Holt, I’ve updated the checklist to include the official dossier documents. You can check it out here:
We sat down tonight and went through all of the documents and I’m feeling pretty good about my potential ability to stay up on everything. We knocked out a few things which are either ready to go or are ready to be notarized, so that good! We still don’t have the majority of the forms for our home study application, but now that we have the info from Holt, we will be scheduling another meeting with our social worker to go over everything. That when we’ll receive the rest of the application forms. I’m chomping at the bit to get started, which is a little silly since we have so much fundraising left to do. Oh well, gotta take control of the things we CAN control, right?!
One sobering thing about being officially a Holt Ethiopia family is that the clock is now seriously ticking. Holt sent a letter to our social worker saying that they really want the home study done within three months. So that means we really only have about three months to raise $12,690+. The $3000 dossier fee is due when they approve our home study and then the $9690 program fee is due when we accept our referral (N.B.). Usually, there are months and months between the dossier fee and the program fee, but since N.B. was on the Waiting Child list, we’re already matched, so we skip that wait. So the program fee will be due pretty much immediately after the dossier fee.
It a little scary and a lot overwhelming. But I totaled it up and we’ve raised $500 in donations and selling my fundraiser products (bibs, jewelry, etc) over the past few weeks, so that good! We’re planning a silent auction/spaghetti dinner in early December that we’re hoping will be a success. We’re also going to start looking into bank loans, etc. Unfortunately, we bought our house at the HEIGHT of the boom, so we’re upside down on our mortgage, which makes it harder. But I’m sure we’ll find something.
As I told one of our ministers, I think we might be bringing N.B. home in $20 increments. =) Hey, whatever gets him home is good in my book!
It’s official!
Posted by: | CommentsWe’re officially in the Ethiopia program! Just received all of our info! I can’t wait to get home from picking up Eliza from school so that I can start reading it!
Craft show success!
Posted by: | CommentsThis weekend, we had a craft show at our church, so I brought out my jewelry, sewn goods, new t-shirts and Barefoot Books. It was very slow, but I’m so happy to say that between sales and a couple very generous donations, we were able to raise almost $400! Yay! I haven’t updated the fundraiser ticker/thermometer in a week or two, but that’s on my to-do list. I think I’ll update it once a week so that I can keep a running list throughout the week and not go insane trying to change it every time I have an Etsy sale! =)
Anyway, thanks so much to everyone who came out, bought and/or donated! I had a great time!
Agreement – CHECK!
Posted by: | CommentsWe got our adoption agreement signed, notarized and sent off to Oregon! Yay! Everything went very smoothly. We had the assistant manager of our bank notarize it so that we could use only him for all of the forms. I’ve read that doing that can make it easier/less expensive to have everything authenticated later on. We made sure his signature matched his seal and that his commission wouldn’t expire anytime soon. He’s good until 2012, so hopefully we’ll have been home for at least a year or two by then!!
I was catching up on the adoption blogs to which I subscribe, which made me think of a question that Stephen and I thought of the other night. So, those who have gone through the home visit portion of their home study, did you have to have your child’s room set up already? N.B.’s room is currently still our guest room and we weren’t sure if we were expected to already have it set up as a little boy’s room yet. I think that it’s probably not a big deal; that the social worker probably just wants to make sure our house is safe and that showing her the room that will be his room is probably okay. Do y’all have any thoughts on it? Should we try to get working on getting the room together?
We’re off to see the wizard! I mean, notary!
Posted by: | CommentsSteve and I are off to have the adoption agreement notarized today! We had hoped to do it on Tuesday (and then Wednesday), but illness and late nights and work schedules necessitated putting it off. But it’s Steve’s day off, so we can finally get it done! Then it’s off to pick up Eliza from school and head to the post office to send off the agreement as well as a bunch of Etsy orders from my adoption fundraiser shops. I have two custom necklaces and five bibs going out today. Yay!
In case y’all haven’t seen them, please check out my two Etsy shops:
Next To My Heart (http://NextToMyHeart.etsy.com) :: Custom hand-stamped sterling silver necklaces and earrings
Pint Size Rock Stars (http://PSRockStars.etsy.com) :: Fun goods for the little ones in your life (and a few things for you!)
The PSRS shop is pretty bare right now because I have a craft show at church this weekend. Next week, though, I should have a bunch of new bibs in beautiful new fabrics, a few dolls, t-shirts, baby blankets and hopefully a few skirts!
Upcoming puzzle fundraiser
Posted by: | CommentsAs one of our (many) fundraising activities, we’re going to be doing a really fun one….a puzzle fundraiser! Here’s how it works:
We’ve bought a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle (that just HAPPENS to coordinate with how I intend to decorate N.B.’s room!) and we’ll be asking pretty much everyone we know to sponsor puzzle pieces for a small donation (suggested $5-10 per piece, but we’re not picky). When a piece is sponsored, we’ll write the sponsor’s name on the back and will add it to the completed puzzle. So if we have 50 sponsored pieces, we’ll put together 50 pieces of the puzzle. The puzzle can’t be completed until every piece is sponsored!
Once the puzzle is completed (yay!), we’ll preserve it using puzzle glue and will hang it in N.B.’s room. That way it serves as a constant reminder of everyone who helped us bring N.B. home! As he gets older, we can go over it with him and look at all of the names of people who loved him before he was even here.
I’m so excited about this fundraiser as it’s something that I think will last as a lifetime reminder of how amazing the people in our little pieces of the world are.
So the puzzle is ordered and should be here any day! Steve has worked up the wording for a little piece of paper we can give friends to introduce them to the fundraiser, so if we know you "in real life", you’ll probably be getting one soon. =)
In other news, we received Holt’s legalese adoption agreement and will be taking it to the bank to sign and have it notarized tomorrow (grrrr for bank holidays today!), so that (and the $300 application fee) will be in the mail and on its way to Oregon tomorrow! Yay!
Also, yesterday I found the fabric and some artwork that I want to use for N.B.’s bedding and general decorating:
http://www.quiltingtreasures.com/content2226.html
It’s an older collection (Fall 2007) and some prints are REALLY hard to find, so I’ve ordered a bit of one print already (25605, the block print), but am waiting to buy the rest until we’re closer to our next big fundraising goal ($14,500). The artist, Julia Cairns, also has a few prints commercially available, so I think we’ll be picking up one or two of those to hang. The puzzle we’re using for the fundraiser is of one of her pieces, so everything should coordinate really nicely. I’m so excited about it as I think it’s perfect for N.B.’s room. Love the bright colors and lovelovelove Cairn’s artwork. It’s boyish (whatever that means), but isn’t boring, and hopefully provides a bit of connection to his heritage. Plus it’s not too babyish, which is important since N.B. isn’t a baby! Hopefully it will last at least a few years. I’m planning to make a real quilt for his bed, so hopefully he should be able to have that for his entire lifetime, even if his decorating tastes change. =)
The master checklist!
Posted by: | CommentsHey there! I wanted to post our master checklist of paperwork/etc that we have to wade through. Right now I only have the list for our home study agency, but will add the checklist for Holt (our placement agency) as soon as I have it in-hand.
Home Study Agency
- Application form 11/18
- 1/2 of the home study fee (925) 11/23
- Reference #1 (EM) 11/23
- Reference #2 (MB) 11/23
- Reference #3 (LJ) 11/23
- Reference #4 (DW) 11/23
- Prospective Adoptive Parent Questionnaires (Steve)
- Prospective Adoptive Parent Questionnaires (Leila)
- Daily Schedule (Steve) 11/20
- Daily Schedule (Leila) 11/20
- Financial Statement 11/23
- Verification of Employment and income (Steve)
- Medical form (Steve)
- Medical form (Leila)
- Medical form (Rawles….Leila’s mom)
- Copy of marriage certificate 10/23
- Copy of birth certificate (Steve) 11/4
- Copy of birth certificate (Leila) 10/23
- Release of Information Form 11/18
- Corporal Punishment Statement (signed by Steve, Leila and Rawles)
- CPS service check (Steve) [N]
- CPS service check (Leila) [N]
- CPS service check (Rawles) [N]
- State Police check (Steve) [N]
- State Police check (Leila) [N]
- State Police check (Rawles) [N]
- DMV check (Steve) 11/18
- DMV check (Leila) 11/10
- DMV check (Rawles) 11/18
- Sworn disclosure statement forms (Steve) 11/18
- Sworn disclosure statement forms (Leila) 11/18
- Sworn disclosure statement forms (Rawles)
- FBI fingerprinting (Steve)
- FBI fingerprinting (Leila)
- 2008 tax return 11/4
- Photo of family
- Dossier Family Profile Summary form 10/23
- Written statement to Ministry of Women’s Affairs [N] 11/6
- 2 passport size photos of Steve
- 2 passport size photos of Leila 11/5
- Completed home study [N, C]
- Home study agency license [N]
- Power of Attorney [N, C]
- Certified birth certificate for Steve 11/4
- Certified birth certificate for Leila 10/23
- Certified marriage certificate 10/23
- Letter of recommendation #1 (MB) [N] 1/8
- Letter of recommendation #2 (EM) [N] 1/8
- Police clearance for Steve [N] 1/13
- Police clearance for Leila [N]
- Medical certificate for Steve [N]
- Medical certificate for Leila [N] 1/8
- Employer letter for Steve [N]
- Self-employment letter for Leila (written by Leila!) [N] 1/8
- 2008 tax return (first two pages) [N] 11/6
- Attestation and Declaration of Personal Condition [N] 1/8
- Bank letter [N]
- Certificate for Post Placement Agreement Reports [N] 1/8
- One complete photocopied set of dossier documents
- I-171H document from USCIS
[N] = Notarized
[C] = State certified
Green = waiting to receive form/appointment
Blue = Leila’s job to get
Red – Steve’s job to get
(the color coding is mostly for us, so that we can keep track of everything we’re supposed to be doing!)
Home study orientation – check!
Posted by: | CommentsWe just got home from our home study orientation, which was good! We’re using United Methodist Family Services and we both had really good feelings about our social worker. Now we have a stack of things to do and paperwork to fill out in order to complete our home study application. Everything’s such a process! I’m glad it is, though. Definitely want to be sure that kids are going to good homes, not just A home.
Judging from the paperwork and the process our social worker laid out for us, it seems like if we really booked it, we could probably have this done in two months. I don’t think we’ll be on the fast track, though, as there’s just so much and such a limited amount of time on which to work on it all. I’ve definitely been burning the candle at both ends with working my business during the day and all sorts of adoption fundraising at night (sewing, making jewelry, graphic design for Etsy shops, coming up with new product ideas, etc). Not to mention trying to spend a little time with Stephen after he gets home at 11pm or later. I wouldn’t say I’m burning out or anything, but I’m definitely tired most of the time!
Speaking of fundraising, I’m creating a new Etsy shop to stock with my new hand stamped jewelry. I was up until 3am last night working on the graphics for it, but think I have something I’m really happy with. I’ll post when I’ve got that up and running with the necklaces, etc.
