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NEW :.
Names!!! - September 14th, 2007
So Jeramy and I are having a hard time picking a names. We
want something different and unique but not flashy. So here's what were
thinking...Tell me what you think.
Boy
Girl
Jacob Kenneth
Zoë Renee
Benjamin William
Sierra Rose
Jack
Melissa
Wyatt
Gillian
Luke
Kirsten
Mitchell
Alyssa
David
Maya
What's your opinion? I'd love to hear your
opinions.
NEW :. San
Francisco - September 14th, 2007
Ok, we now our
paperwork is in S.F. to be authenticated. The last part of paperwork to be
completed before it goes to Vietnam! It was sent off by our agency last
Tuesday it should be back next Tuesday to be overnight to Dr. Hong in
Vietnam! Were she can find us a baby! We officially start our waiting
process once our paperwork is in Vietnam.
Last month our
agency gave out 30 referrals! That's amazing! And so far at least 10 so far
this month! One referral came only a month and half after they were DTV! Now
don't get your hopes up, the wait time is still 4-7 months but I have a
feeling that that's going to change real soon if things keep going the way
they are now. Let's just keep our fingers crossed.
NEW :.
I-171H - September 5th, 2007
Our paper chase is
almost over! We finally received our Immigration approval yesterday! And
we've been approved for TWO children! That doesn't mean we will be referred
two but if it came along were allowed to accept it if we chose to.
Today we went to the
county clerks office to have all our paperwork county certified and tomorrow
were going to Albany to have our paperwork state certified. Once we finish
that we send our paperwork to PLAN and they will take it to the Vietnam
Consulate to have it authenticated which will take about 2-3 weeks. After
that were done with Paperwork! Thank God! It's been a long road and we've
been doing paperwork since January so it will be a nice break from all the
paperwork.
We should be
officially waiting for a referral but the middle of September early October.
So Now we play the
waiting game...Will it be a boy, Girl or maybe both?
:. 100
Good Wishes Quilt! - June 13,2007
During our wait for our
I-171H from the INS department I've joined a Yahoo! group to swap quilt
squares and wishes.
I
recently ran across the tradition of the “Bai Jia Bei” or “100 Good Wishes
Quilt.” To welcome and celebrate a new life, there is a tradition in some
parts of Northern China/Vietnam, to make a Bai Jia Bei. When a baby was
born, family and friends would donate to the child's mother fabric scraps
from old clothing with a wish for the baby. She would make a quilt for the
child from the scraps. It is said that the luck, energy and good wishes
from all of the families and friends who contributed the fabric surrounds
the child when she is wrapped in the quilt. The quilt is then passed down
from generation to generation.
Please join me in
swapping square so I can built a quilt for our baby. Please email me with
any questions that you might have or comments.
Just an update on
where we are in the process. Today we submitted our Home Study to the INS
department and this is where we wait for their approval. Hopefully it won't
take very long. I'm hoping around 2 weeks.
We also submitted
our Home Study to our New Agency along with a Commitment fee to help us along
with the process of adoption from Vietnam. Once we receive our approval we
have to have all our documents State certified which should only take a day
and then it's off to the Vietnam consulate in Sam Francisco! So are almost
done with the paperwork! Woo Hoo!
:. New
Placement Agency! - May 2, 2007
Last week Jeramy and I received an
email from our Coordinator Emily at CHI letting us know that the waiting
list for a girl is now 2+ years!!!
After much consideration Jeramy and
I decided to find another agency with a shorter referral time. After a lot
of research we found an Agency in OR named PLAN. Their waiting period is 2-4
months after we submit our Dossier!
We've been accepted and today we
received our Dossier binders!
We will continue to use CHI as our
home study agency. We should be getting our home study report sometime this
week early next week. Once we get that we just have to wait on our passports
which I hope should be here soon also.
Once we have the home study report
and our passports we can put our dossier together! which shouldn't take very
long once we get these.
We hope to get all the paperwork
done by the end of May and we hope to have a referral 2-4 months after that!
:.
Paperwork done.....For now - April 17th, 2007
We've been so busy
lately that I have haven't had time to update the site. I'm so sorry if
you've been patiently waiting an update. Last Saturday we finished our home
study with Jodi. We meet with her once right before Easter for our One on
One's and finished last weekend. She was great, very informative and eager
to help us get our baby! We past with flying colors. She said we "Have a
wonderful life to offer a child". Jeramy and I are so excited. We just have
to wait for our home study paperwork to be approved by CHI and us (just in
case something was wrong) and then it's off to Buffalo to get our CIS
approval. Once we get out CIS approval were on the waiting list! We hope to
be on the waiting list by the end of the month early May.
We also had our
fingerprints done about 3 weeks ago now also. We have to have our
fingerprints done for the CIS to make sure we don't have a criminal record.
Once we get on the
waiting list we will have nothing to do but wait for a little while before
we start our dossier.
But there's always
fundraising to do!! Hint, Hint! :)
:.
Busy, Busy week! - March 22, 2007
We've had a really
busy week this week. We finished our "Because they waited" seminar. We got
to speak to our Social worker and setup our Home study date and we got out
CIS form in the mail! YEAH! After not hearing anything for awhile we get all
kinds of good info in just few short days. I guess good things really do
come to those who wait.
We have our first
Home Study meeting this Saturday. Were very nervous so we've been practicing
and cleaning the house top to bottom. Plus we gave Parker and Pixel a Bath!
That was fun! :)
I'll have a new post
up as soon as we finish our meeting on Saturday to let everyone know how it
went. I'm so excited! We on our way.... to waiting but it's a step closer.
:. New
Coordinator - March 16, 2007
We got a call from
our new Coordinator today. Deepti has left CHI so we spoke to Emily today.
She will be taking care of us through out our adoption process. Although we
had a switch in our coordinator we are still on track. We are still waiting
to hear from our social worker. We hope to hear from her soon.
:.
Because They Waited - March 3, 2007
We received a
few things in today's mail from CHI. Our first letter came on Friday. It
just basically says Thanks for choosing CHI and they got our check and our
home study should be soon. The second came on Saturday. This package is
interesting because it's our homework we have to do. All applicants have to
do 8 hours ea of adoption seminars and take a test at the end. We get to do
this in the privacy of our own home and take the tests online. Jeramy's and
I have already started one seminar online called Adoption learning partners
which we're almost done with. And we should be starting "Because They
Waited" software this week. We've set aside Wednesday & Friday nights to
watch the DVD. I'm sure we'll watch it a few times so we will do excellent
on the test. The test scores do get sent to CHI so it's my goal to ace
these.
:.
Waiting for a Social Worker - February 28, 2007
Deepti called to
confirm that she received Part I of our paper work and everything looked to
be in order. We've also been cleared with all our background checks and
police clearances. We should have a Social Worker assigned to us sometime
this week.
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What now??? - February 25,
2007
We still haven't heard from
Deepti. I know they have been busy, there's been a lot of Vietnam placements
in the past month. But what
do we do in the mean time? Besides waiting, we started fund raising,
researching our daughter's culture and preparing for our interview.
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Part 2 - Home Study / INS paperwork -
February 22, 2007
We
have all the paperwork ready for the actual home study; we're just waiting on
the references. And we sent off our paperwork for our INS approval. We have
to wait for our home study approval so we can get a copy and send it to the
INS to get their approval. (Seem kind of repetitive here?)
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Part 1 - Home Study - February 21, 2007
So now that
Part 1 is assembled and mailed. We wait for Deepti to assign us a Social
Worker. When we last spoke she mentioned that our home study would be the
end of March. But that was before we started our paperwork. Let's hope that
were still in that time range. If we get the home study done by the end of
March we should be on the waiting list for Baby Zoë by April.
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Home Study paperwork! - February 12 - 21, 2007
Ok, now we have to gather all our
paperwork to prepare for our home study. What, you might ask, is included in the
home study paperwork? Well a few things that we have to do.
1) Jeramy and I both have
to write autobiographies about our life and our ambitions. 2) We have to
get police clearance, proving we have no criminal record. 3) Get references
from 3-non family members recommending us to adopt.
A special thanks to Jen, Tammy
& Steve, Kim and our Neighbors Bob & Trudy for writing our Adoption references!!!
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We're Approved!
- January 31, 2007
Woo Hoo! We received our phone
call today from Deepti! Our Application for Vietnam has been approved! Now
we start the long process of gathering the paperwork for our Home study.
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Doctor's releases are sent!
- January 23, 2007
I
sent along mine and Jeramy's doctor's releases today.
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Our first Phone call from CHI
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January 18, 2007
Not the call we were
hoping for but we got to meet our coordinator. Her name is Deepti
Gurnani and she's going to help us through the process of our adoption.
Today's phone call was to knowledge that she got our paperwork and that
we are excellent candidates for adoption and for the Vietnam
program. However, to make sure there would be no hiccups in our paperwork
with the head office in MN. So she requested that Jeramy and I get
doctor's releases from our physicians about my Crohn's and Jeramy's
medications.
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Vietnam -
Why We Choose Vietnam -
January 16, 2007
Why
did we choose Vietnam? Well a few reasons. 1) We met all the guidelines for
the Vietnam adoption program. 2) Although the Vietnam program closed it's
doors from 2003-2006 to revamp their guidelines, they re-opened in 2006
and finalized 163 adoptions 63 of those were through CHI. 3) We've always
been interested in the Asian culture. 4) The wait time is a little longer
(18-24 months) but it gives us a little more time to save and raise money to
bring Zoë home.
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: :.
Children's Hope International - January 16, 2007 -
Jeramy
and I chose Children's Hope International also known as CHI because they
were very informative and had and excellent track record with finalizing
adoptions.
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