INS Approval!

So, we got our INS approval - YAYYY!!! This means our American-side of the prep/approval process is complete. All we have now is to finish up our dossier, have it sent to the Ukrainian government, have it translated into Ukrainian, have the translated version sent to the UA govt, and then wait.....Right now the UA government is switching control of the adoption center from one ministry to another. Rumors say that this new center and staff will be a BIG improvement - hopefully less corrupt, more accomodating, and the new minister has pledged to double the number of adoptions processed. Our big concern is the money. We need to pay for: our plane tickets there and back, our hotel while there for 3-4 weeks, food/spending money, 3K for the translator's services, $1800-2K for the required lawyer in K-grad, orphanage donation of approx $500 which is pretty much required, US Embassy visa fee of $400 per child....plus, we will not be working those 3-4 weeks, thus no paychecks except for what vacation and sick leave we can use up. Both of us are also looking into working out some sort of teleworking agreement with our work so we can get paid for some of our time while we are there. We won't be "busy" everyday - alot of the time spent there is waiting....waiting for signatures, waiting for paperwork, waiting for a court date etc. AND while we are out of the country, our bills still need to be paid. We are going to try and work out something with our apartment complex so we don't have to pay rent the month we are gone. One of the things we were counting on as far as money fell through - our tax return. Normally we have gotten $1500 back - but due to a series of circumstances, this year we OWE $150. So, now I am considering taking on a second job ugh. I've learned in my life that you can't count on other people to help you out - you can only depend on yourself. We have a few people - family and friends - who have said they will help and loan us money. We CAN save alot of it ourselves, but it would take time and time is not something you always have control over in an international adoption - they invite you when they have an opening! not when you have enough money necessarily LOL. Plus, every month our little girl sits in that orphanage is a month she could have been in a loving home with us.

Passport in hand, INS application complete

So, alot has happened since my last post. Andrew's passport arrived in the mail the weekend we were moving from one apartment in our complex to another. We celebrated by treating ourselves to a steak dinner at Longhorn. We sent in our INS I-600A application. Dani sent along our completed homestudy, and we went for our fingerprints this past Friday. The fingerprinting center is seperate from the INS office I went to previousely. This was a little DMV-like office - sets of chairs in groups, but what the different groups are for you have no clue because there are no signs. The officer who checks you paperwork just tells you where to stand - you still have no clue how he's deciding where people go. Our appointment was for 9am, but we got there at 8 and got printed at 830am. They have one little form for you to fill out, then you check in with the fingerprinting clerk, and one of the fingerprinting people comes and gets you. They do the prints, a supervisor(?) comes and verifies their work and asks you some questions, and off you go. I'm going to call Officer Sandino sometime this week to "make sure" she got everything....hehe. Hopefully she will expedite our application since Marina is considered "sick." Once we get our approval letter, we can get our dossier finished up. I can't get ahold of Dani to find out where she is in that process. We sent her the remaining documents, but I never got confirmation from her that she got them ok. She then needs to get all the documents notarized and apostilled. After that....we have no clue who is going to be our translator/facilitator in country, so we don't know who will translate our dossier into Ukrainian. We can't get registered as adoptive parents until the dossier is translated and submitted to the NAC in Kyiv. We are probably going to submit it to the NAC afer the changeover in their leadership on May 1. So, our two big problems right now - money and facilitation team - but these are tied together....the amount of money we are going to need is directly related to who we chose to use for translation...the prices vary SO much. I just can't decide....you can't decide based purely on price - what if that person has no connections with NAC and can't get your documents submitted? You are out of luck at that point. I think it boils down to trust - if you trust someone, you probably trust them not to rip you off, and you trust them to make sure you get your kid.