Dossier Nearly Done!

We are about to cross the finish line of the paper chase! We have some final documents to notarize and apostille and off it will go for translation! One step closer...each step brings more hope and excitment. Joe looks at this waiting time as the equivalent of a pregnancy. I agree, but the hard part is if we were pregnant we would be in control (somewhat) in that we would know exactly where our baby was and be in control of caring for him/her in utero. Having your baby in an orphanage brings an entirely different level of anxiety and worry over his level of care. I find tremendous inspiration in the stories of other families that have shared their journey on Yahoo groups and their own personal blogs. It is amazing how their little ones flourish once they are home!

Comments About the Room

I was so happy when the furniture came today! It was a lot of work, but certainly a labor of love. The two most time consuming parts of the room were the floor and the painting (including the stenciling). The chalkboard door with the cork trim is still a work in progress.

I am a bit annoyed with the quality of the pictures...taken on a brand new digital camera. I use Picasa and adjusted the quality, color, light, etc...but for some reason the saved photos in "My Pictures" do not reflect the changes. The room looks a little peach, which it is not. The color is called Buttered Toffee - it's basically a very soft khaki color. Overall, we are both thrilled with the room and are anxiously awaiting the day we can put him to sleep in his new bed! Enjoy the pics!

Alexander's Room

Happy 4th of July!

First, I can't believe how fast the time goes...and yet it never feels fast enough when you are on the adoption journey. Every day is another day missed with your child. Most days I am pretty optimistic and daily life keeps your mind off the fact that you don't have your child home yet, but sometimes, well...imagine being pregnant and not knowing a due date - not even a month! Our son's room is near complete. It really is cute. Joe surprised me the other day with two new additions for his room: a lamp with giraffes and elephants and the matching bookends. They really are adorable. The "jungle" theme worked out well...it is not too overwhelming, but each thing in his room coordinates somehow. Again, I'll post pictures as soon as I stop being lazy and download them from my desktop. Promises, promises...lol.

The rest of the house has been made over too! Well, I think the house is always a work in progress, but knowing we will have a toddler to look after soon sort of puts a match under you to tie up loose ends. The outside looks beautiful. We had pavers put down on the driveway and a patio created in pavers. We were daydreaming today about the next fourth of July spent with our son on the patio watching the fireworks...sigh. The inside of the house is really looking great. Our last major project will be the bathroom. Also, Joe and I are going to attempt to make the basement as livable as possible just for some extra space for play, etc..

Once our home study was complete it was a waiting game for the report and favorable recommendation. We just got the final report in the mail on Monday and I was pretty annoyed when reading it and discovered that our social security numbers were wrong and several pages called me Susan and some referred to Joe as Bill. Needless to say, I called the supervisor and she assured me that the corrections would be made asap. It amazes me that these things could get past not just the person writing the report, but her supervisor as well! A few mistakes would be understandable, but certainly not names and social security numbers! Furthermore, this is such a time sensitve process with a child's life on the other end of all the "crap" that needs to be in order to get him home. You want things like this to be at a minimum. I can't complain too much though - our home study agency has been quicker than I have heard others report in time to turn it around.

So, that's all for now! Back to work tomorrow, fun, fun, fun - lol.

The Paper Chase Continues...

Well, our homestudy is complete! We have to wait for the report and favorable recommendation now. All we are waiting for now is the approval of our i-600a application. New Jersey is not known for a fast processing time, unfortuntely. I had high hopes that we could travel in August, but it is most likely not going to happen. August is apparently a "holiday" month in Kaz. Our adoption agency said certain regions/judges do work during August, but for the most part, things slow down a great deal.

Decorating the baby's room has kept us busy. Never busy enough to make the wait easy! The furniture is ordered and should be here around August. My best friend is planning a shower for August ~ so it will be a busy month :-) I told my principal that we are adopting. I was pretty nervous. I don't have tenure yet, and it is difficult to tell your boss your will have to take your family leave "some time" in the fall. Oh and by the way ~ when I do know the date I will most likely be on a plane two weeks later. He was great about though.

I'll have to take some pics of the nursery and post them. It is coming along nicely. I have been home sick that past two days so I did manage to get the curtains up. We are going to put down laminate flooring...so much easier to keep clean. You son't have to worry about spills, etc... I have also been picking up some outfits here and there. I am so uncertain when it comes to sizes. He is smaller than American standards. I have asked many colleagues that are new moms and the advice I get most often is to buy sizes 18-24 months.

I'll try to download a picture of the furniture later today!