Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Dossier en route to Vietnam!
Yup, I just got the email that our dossier is back from the Embassy and on its way to Vietnam! I have no idea how long it takes to get there, but I am guessing only a couple of days by DHL. Wow, can you believe that it was less than a month from the time we decided to go ahead with this adoption to having all of our paperwork completed and on its way to Vietnam. The planets are aligning for us!
It's Picture Time!
I wasn't going to, but now I have to! We received new pictures of Anh today and I am just getting giddy! One of these pictures shows Anh with the PLAN coordinator in Vietnam. I sure wish he was home already with us, but these will have to do for now. Still no word on where our dossier is - it should come back to the agency this week sometime and get sent off to Vietnam next week. But, sometimes there are delays as we well know from our experience getting ready for Vietnam. Keep your fingers crossed!
Thursday, June 22, 2006
We're off to the races...
I feel like we are really moving so quickly with this new adoption. It certainly has helped that we had a relationship with our agency, our fingerprints were clean, and we wanted a boy. We are now getting closer and closer to picking up Anh.
Yesterday I spent nearly the entire day driving around picking up documents, having them certified, and then delivering them back to our agency. It was nearly 6 hours of driving, but it saved more than a week's worth of mailing back and forth! And, it meant that sometime yesterday afternoon our documents were mailed out to the Vietnam Embassy in San Francisco to be authenticated. Once they are back from SF, they will move on to Vietnam for translation and logging in. They could be in Vietnam by the end of June, but more likely it will be in the first week in July. Darn 4th, mucking everything up ;-).
We were told by our agency that travel could happen as soon as 4 weeks after log in, but I am guessing it will likely be longer. I'm still hoping that we will go before the end of the year, maybe in October or November. Every time I sit at my desk I look at my picture of Anh and I just want to go get him NOW!
Shula
Yesterday I spent nearly the entire day driving around picking up documents, having them certified, and then delivering them back to our agency. It was nearly 6 hours of driving, but it saved more than a week's worth of mailing back and forth! And, it meant that sometime yesterday afternoon our documents were mailed out to the Vietnam Embassy in San Francisco to be authenticated. Once they are back from SF, they will move on to Vietnam for translation and logging in. They could be in Vietnam by the end of June, but more likely it will be in the first week in July. Darn 4th, mucking everything up ;-).
We were told by our agency that travel could happen as soon as 4 weeks after log in, but I am guessing it will likely be longer. I'm still hoping that we will go before the end of the year, maybe in October or November. Every time I sit at my desk I look at my picture of Anh and I just want to go get him NOW!
Shula
Monday, June 19, 2006
A Bullet Was Dodged.....
We are blessed to have such great family! Not only has everyone been completely supportive in our decision to adopt, but the whole family seems truely excited to meet our new son. Top that off with the following story of an incredible helping hand from across the country...
As soon as we decided to pursue this second adoption, we knew we needed to put our paperwork together quickly. The only document which we could not pick up in person was our certified marriage certificate. Going through our old paperwork from China, I found a second certificate that we had not used and sent that off right away for re-certification by the state of Rhode Island. I was expecting the finished document to come in the mail sometime during the week of June 12-16 and sure enough we had an envelope in our box on Friday afternoon. Imagine my surprise when I opened the envelope to find my original certificate and the uncashed check! Unfortunately, RI could not certify a marriage license issued from a town, only a state issued copy would do. By some chance, I was home during the day and was able to catch the department in charge in RI, even with the time difference before the close of business for the week. The result? There are only two ways to obtain the proper document: (1) mail a request with the proper checks, a signed letter, and a postage paid return envelope or (2) have a blood relative appear in person to pick one up. The first method would take about 4 weeks, the second could be done in one day! Unfortunately, my mother had just left for Europe and would not be back for 3 weeks. Quickly, I called my aunt Karen in Rhode Island and asked if she might have the time to help. She too was about to leave out of town on Tuesday, but might be able to go to the city on Monday! Now mind you, the city is on the other side of the state - a small state, but the other side none-the-less. I don't like to ask people for favors, but I really felt like I had to in this instance - the time until we could pick up our child depended on it! She was cautious about promising it could happen, but I had plenty of hope.
Of course, I didn't just sit back and wait to see what happened. Immediately, I put all the required documents and fees in the mail with an overnight envelope for the return. I would rather pay a little extra and have two, than not have any.
On Monday morning I got the call. Aunt Karen was able to get the necessary documents and seals and had sent it on its way to our agency. We also found out that my cousin would have helped us out, had Karen been unsuccessful. We have a wonderful family and I am so proud to say that I am a part of it. I can't wait for our son to meet these wonderful people who helped to bring him home.
THANK YOU SO MUCH AUNT KAREN!!
As soon as we decided to pursue this second adoption, we knew we needed to put our paperwork together quickly. The only document which we could not pick up in person was our certified marriage certificate. Going through our old paperwork from China, I found a second certificate that we had not used and sent that off right away for re-certification by the state of Rhode Island. I was expecting the finished document to come in the mail sometime during the week of June 12-16 and sure enough we had an envelope in our box on Friday afternoon. Imagine my surprise when I opened the envelope to find my original certificate and the uncashed check! Unfortunately, RI could not certify a marriage license issued from a town, only a state issued copy would do. By some chance, I was home during the day and was able to catch the department in charge in RI, even with the time difference before the close of business for the week. The result? There are only two ways to obtain the proper document: (1) mail a request with the proper checks, a signed letter, and a postage paid return envelope or (2) have a blood relative appear in person to pick one up. The first method would take about 4 weeks, the second could be done in one day! Unfortunately, my mother had just left for Europe and would not be back for 3 weeks. Quickly, I called my aunt Karen in Rhode Island and asked if she might have the time to help. She too was about to leave out of town on Tuesday, but might be able to go to the city on Monday! Now mind you, the city is on the other side of the state - a small state, but the other side none-the-less. I don't like to ask people for favors, but I really felt like I had to in this instance - the time until we could pick up our child depended on it! She was cautious about promising it could happen, but I had plenty of hope.
Of course, I didn't just sit back and wait to see what happened. Immediately, I put all the required documents and fees in the mail with an overnight envelope for the return. I would rather pay a little extra and have two, than not have any.
On Monday morning I got the call. Aunt Karen was able to get the necessary documents and seals and had sent it on its way to our agency. We also found out that my cousin would have helped us out, had Karen been unsuccessful. We have a wonderful family and I am so proud to say that I am a part of it. I can't wait for our son to meet these wonderful people who helped to bring him home.
THANK YOU SO MUCH AUNT KAREN!!
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Medical on its way
In complete contrast with the adoption process in China, not only do we already have a tentative referral from Vietnam, but all of the paperwork on this little boy is on its way to us. We will need to have the medical information looked at by a pediatrician familiar with these things and then if everything looks good..... well, we will have a little boy!
Our HS will be completed by early next week, and then I will drive up to Portland and Salem to have all of the paperwork certified. Wow, I just can't believe how quickly everything is moving!
Our HS will be completed by early next week, and then I will drive up to Portland and Salem to have all of the paperwork certified. Wow, I just can't believe how quickly everything is moving!
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Picking berries
One of the most relaxing things that I do these days is to pick rasberries off of the bush outside our house when I get home from work. Even though I always come away with scratches all over my arms, it is very meditative. Today, I was picking berries and thinking about how much fun it will be when I can do this with my children. Yes, I said children, as in the plural of child.
Now you may think that I am thinking about sometime in the future after we come back from China etc etc, but actually I mean much much sooner. No, I am not pregnant!
As you may or may not know, the wait time for adoption from China has quite quickly increased from the 7 months it was when we started our process to close to 12 months now. Most agencies are telling their clients that the wait is between 12 and 18 months from log in date (LID). You can see from our time-line at the top of the page, we still have quite a long time to wait. However, the program for adoptions from Vietnam has recently re-opened and the wait times are quite low so far. In an unusual move, our adoption agency has allowed us to begin another adoption so that we will have two concurrent processes!
So, what does this all mean? Last Monday we gave the idea some thought and by Tuesday our paperchase had begun! In this short week we have completed all of our paperwork except for the homestudy and our social worker says that she can complete the 4-page study quickly! Keep your fingers crossed that these things go as quickly as we hope. In fact, our agency has already assigned us a boy and we have a picture, although we are not going to look at it until we are sure that the paperwork is in good order. Once our HS is ready, it will take a week to be authenticated by the Vietnam Embassy in SF and then off to Vietnam it will go to be translated and logged in. This process is taking about 3 weeks, and then there seems to be about a 3 month wait to travel. It is very possible that we could be coming home by the end of 2006 with a son!
All that said, the adoption process is an ever changing landscape, so who knows how quickly, or slowly, this could go. There is also the possibility that this will take a bit longer and the China adoption a bit less time and we could be coming home with two children back to back. A little scary, but OK, I think.
All in all, it has been an exciting week!
Now you may think that I am thinking about sometime in the future after we come back from China etc etc, but actually I mean much much sooner. No, I am not pregnant!
As you may or may not know, the wait time for adoption from China has quite quickly increased from the 7 months it was when we started our process to close to 12 months now. Most agencies are telling their clients that the wait is between 12 and 18 months from log in date (LID). You can see from our time-line at the top of the page, we still have quite a long time to wait. However, the program for adoptions from Vietnam has recently re-opened and the wait times are quite low so far. In an unusual move, our adoption agency has allowed us to begin another adoption so that we will have two concurrent processes!
So, what does this all mean? Last Monday we gave the idea some thought and by Tuesday our paperchase had begun! In this short week we have completed all of our paperwork except for the homestudy and our social worker says that she can complete the 4-page study quickly! Keep your fingers crossed that these things go as quickly as we hope. In fact, our agency has already assigned us a boy and we have a picture, although we are not going to look at it until we are sure that the paperwork is in good order. Once our HS is ready, it will take a week to be authenticated by the Vietnam Embassy in SF and then off to Vietnam it will go to be translated and logged in. This process is taking about 3 weeks, and then there seems to be about a 3 month wait to travel. It is very possible that we could be coming home by the end of 2006 with a son!
All that said, the adoption process is an ever changing landscape, so who knows how quickly, or slowly, this could go. There is also the possibility that this will take a bit longer and the China adoption a bit less time and we could be coming home with two children back to back. A little scary, but OK, I think.
All in all, it has been an exciting week!
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Unplanned Adoption
I'm sure this is on every adoption blog by now, but I just had to add it to mine. I thought it was funny and it has some special meaning to us now - to be explained at some later date!
Unplanned Adoption
Have you ever noticed that you hear all the time about "accidental" pregnancies, but never about couples who experience "accidental" adoptions? Can you imagine:
Honey, sit down. I have some news for you.
What is it?
Well, I don't know how to say this, so I'll just come out with it. I went out to the mailbox today and ... well, we got an I-171H.
A what?!? An I-171H? As in, we're going to have a(nother) baby?!?
It looks that way.
But how? We've been so careful! I put away all the blank I-600A forms. Didn't you hide our homestudy update?
Of course I did. But don't forget, there was that one night...
What night? (pauses) Ohhh, that night. But it was only once. We were just messing around. I didn't print clearly. I didn't even use ink! (pauses again) But it was kind of fun.
(giggles)
It was, wasn't it? I'll never forget how cute you looked getting your fingerprints.
So now we've got our I-171H, eh? But that doesn't always mean you'll adopt, does it? I mean, shouldn't you see the agency or something, make sure everything's okay?
I already did.
And?
I'm five documents along.
Five documents! And they're all notarized, certified and authenticated okay?
Just great. There was one small scare when the agency couldn't see the Notary's middle initial, but it showed up just fine under the magnifying glass.
Thank God. And you, honey? Are you feeling okay?
I'm feeling fine. As long as I know you're happy about this.
Happy? I'm thrilled! It's always a shock at first when something like this happens, but of course I'm happy.
--Anonymous
Unplanned Adoption
Have you ever noticed that you hear all the time about "accidental" pregnancies, but never about couples who experience "accidental" adoptions? Can you imagine:
Honey, sit down. I have some news for you.
What is it?
Well, I don't know how to say this, so I'll just come out with it. I went out to the mailbox today and ... well, we got an I-171H.
A what?!? An I-171H? As in, we're going to have a(nother) baby?!?
It looks that way.
But how? We've been so careful! I put away all the blank I-600A forms. Didn't you hide our homestudy update?
Of course I did. But don't forget, there was that one night...
What night? (pauses) Ohhh, that night. But it was only once. We were just messing around. I didn't print clearly. I didn't even use ink! (pauses again) But it was kind of fun.
(giggles)
It was, wasn't it? I'll never forget how cute you looked getting your fingerprints.
So now we've got our I-171H, eh? But that doesn't always mean you'll adopt, does it? I mean, shouldn't you see the agency or something, make sure everything's okay?
I already did.
And?
I'm five documents along.
Five documents! And they're all notarized, certified and authenticated okay?
Just great. There was one small scare when the agency couldn't see the Notary's middle initial, but it showed up just fine under the magnifying glass.
Thank God. And you, honey? Are you feeling okay?
I'm feeling fine. As long as I know you're happy about this.
Happy? I'm thrilled! It's always a shock at first when something like this happens, but of course I'm happy.
--Anonymous
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