Three weeks and counting until we leave for our trip and we receive a letter in the mail yesterday from the SDA saying that two of our girls are not "on the database for foriegners to adopt" - Belle and SnowWhite. Well, Snowwhite we knew about, but we wanted official confirmation. Belle we were surprised about. The SDA confirmed that Cinderella is available and ready to go, but her full blooded sister is not.
My husband is freaked out. He is interpreting the "unofficial English translation" included differently than I am. Maybe I'm just more used to reading between the lines of Ukrainian documents? I see the statement as saying that the girls are just not available to foriegners (ie they are still in their one year "waiting" period), but my husband sees it as "they are not registered at all." Either situation is possible, but since the letter specifically mentioned "available to foriengers" I am thinking that they ARE available to Ukrainians, thus in their one year wait period...
The mothers rights were terminated sometime before 2002, actively, by the father during a divorce proceeding. But, Belle was in Russia with bio mom when this was ruled on. Sometime in 2002, bio dad had Cinderella taken away from him. She was placed in a shelter in December 2002, and registered for adoption in January 2003. She was available to foriegners in January 2004.
What I think happened to Belle is this: Belle's mom's rights were terminated, but dad's weren't since she wasnt physically living with him when Cinderella was taken away. Dad still had rights. Meanwhile, in Russia, mom had kids taken away by Russian government (Belle and her new half brother). Belle was put in a Russian orphanage, and baby half brother gets adopted to America. Eventually (year unknown??) Belle was transfered back to Ukraine. Dad died in November 2005, thus leaving Belle with no parents, and she was registered at that point (probably 2-3 months after dad's death). So.....no she would not have been available in January 2007, but she should be available by now if she was registered on the national database in early 2006.
Please pray that this is the case!
We have our "friends" in Ukraine looking into this situation, trying to get updated info from the SDA (since this letter was 6 months old) and info from the orphanage director about Belle's paperwork.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Got our appointment letter copy
Finally got a scanned copy of our appointment letter! Not that we were really worried (yeah right!), but it's nice to SEE the appointment date and our registration number. Our registration number is in the late 500's and it was assigned on March 28, 2007 according to the letter. Reading the English translation of the appointment letter is funny though - it was obviousely translated by someone at the SDA who is not fully fluent in English and so parts of it are confusing.
It does say that we should call and confirm our "arrival" but I am not sure if this means they want us to call them when we actually arrive in Ukraine or if they want us to confirm that this appointment date is acceptable to us before we travel....
The part of even more debate in the Ukrainian Adoption community is the final paragraph of the letter concerning the ages of available children...here is a word for word reprint of this paragraph from OUR letter:
"At the same time we are writting to inform you that considerable part of children available for adoption are older than 5-6 years and have some problems with health. The overwhelming majority of them have siblings and their seperation from each other is not allowed. We request you take into consideration these facts when planning the visit to Ukraine."
Finally, the letter is signed by the deputy director of the SDA, who I assume was the acting director at the time - Mr. Grytsenko.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Doctors Appointments- check
So, I have the girls many doctors appointments set up for when we get back. Many of the adoption medicine doctors book up a year in advance, so I figured I'd go ahead and get all the appointments on the books before we leave. Thankfully we have the girls names and birthdates, and we know approximately when we will be back in the US with them.
So all the appointments so far are for the second week of August - that will give us some flex time in our return dates, and give the girls time to settle in and get into a new routine. School here starts August 13, but I doubt we will be able to get the girls all registered before that date - too much paperwork is required by schools nowadays!
Plus we want Cinderella to go to a different school than we are zoned for - its still in our district and not far away, but it still requires some forms to be filed and people to sign off on the "transfer." The girls will be going to a full immersion English program, provided by the school district, for the first 6-9 weeks. This program teaches them not only the English language, but the culture and customs of the American classroom.
So far we have scheduled:
dentist appointments for both girls with a TLC dentist who specializes in fearful patients
general pediatric appointments with a Russian speaking EE adoption specialist
gynecology visit for Belle - she is 14 and we assume she has started her period, and we have no clue if she has been sexually active. better to get her checked out now for STDs, and get her on birth control (to regulate her periods)
I put in a request with the Marcus Institute's International Adoption clinic, more for developmental/educational testing, but they are booked through October. Since I know the doctor though, her nurses are going to try and stick us in a cancellation appointment in August, but we won't know that date until the day of most likely.
So all the appointments so far are for the second week of August - that will give us some flex time in our return dates, and give the girls time to settle in and get into a new routine. School here starts August 13, but I doubt we will be able to get the girls all registered before that date - too much paperwork is required by schools nowadays!
Plus we want Cinderella to go to a different school than we are zoned for - its still in our district and not far away, but it still requires some forms to be filed and people to sign off on the "transfer." The girls will be going to a full immersion English program, provided by the school district, for the first 6-9 weeks. This program teaches them not only the English language, but the culture and customs of the American classroom.
So far we have scheduled:
dentist appointments for both girls with a TLC dentist who specializes in fearful patients
general pediatric appointments with a Russian speaking EE adoption specialist
gynecology visit for Belle - she is 14 and we assume she has started her period, and we have no clue if she has been sexually active. better to get her checked out now for STDs, and get her on birth control (to regulate her periods)
I put in a request with the Marcus Institute's International Adoption clinic, more for developmental/educational testing, but they are booked through October. Since I know the doctor though, her nurses are going to try and stick us in a cancellation appointment in August, but we won't know that date until the day of most likely.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Max
So we are just about done unpacking at our new place. We have a few stray boxes with misc junk in them, some pictures to be hung up and some laundry to do and we should be just about settled.
The girls room is looking nice too. Since its a rental apartment, we can't paint the walls, but I think I've been doing nicely with fabric, rugs, bed linens and such to bring some color to the room. The "surfer girl" theme seems to be coming together - I have a quilt for one of the beds, and I'm working on the second; we have beach towels hung over the end of the beds, sand buckets for trash bins, tie-dyed curtains....we also finally got the second mattress for the bunk beds.
We wanted the girls to share a room since they are used to sleeping in one big room with 8 other kids (or more) and we thought it would not only help with their adjustment, but also to rebuild their sister-bond; they've been seperated for 5 years now and only seen each other once or twice since then.
Getting that mattress home was hilarious. We've had NO rain for weeks now. We have a 9 inch deficit in Georgia. There are wildfires in the south part of the state. We go to get a mattress and plan on carrying it home on the roof of our little car.....it monsoons. Thankfully the guy at the shop had double bagged the mattress and tied it down tight. We drove slow with the hazard lights on and got home fine, but we can only imagine what we must have looked like to the other drivers.
After the mattress fiasco, we were going to go do some work at MedShare. We were stopped at a redlight just blocks from MedShare (not exactly in a good part of town mind you) and Andrew looks over and sees this 6 week old kitten (tiny tiny) splayed out on the sidewalk, panting for dear life, drool and goo oozing from its little mouth. Its not really moving around, but appears awake and alert. Being the chivalrous knight he is, Andrew leaps from the car (thankfully the light had only just turned green, so no cars were moving yet) and runs to the kitten. I put on the hazard lights (boy they are getting a work out!) and pull off onto the curb (there was no where to pull in at, so I just jumped the curb onto the sidewalk a few meters down from the kitten). Andrew brings this poor pathetic looking kitten into the car, its spitting and hissing, but also nuzzling into Andrew's arm. We drive as fast as we can to our vet's office, calling ahead first, stopping only to get some water for the kitten. Andrew tries to get the kitten to drink some water that he poured from the bottle into an empty Altoids can (he rinsed it first), but the kitten just is too dehydrated to even drink.
We get to the vet office and they say we will have to wait for 1 1/2 hours to see a doctor since we are a walk in. The kitten is looking better, and the vet techs give us some fresh water and a feeding syringe and we get the little bugger to drink about 20 ccs of water. On the drive over we decided to name him "Max" (or Maximus as Andrew calls him) as in Mad Max Road Warrior - he was found on the side of the road and he was hissing and spitting.....seems fitting. We finally see the doctor and she takes his temp and check his hydration level, while I tell her the story and then point out that Max isn't really using his back legs. Big Red Flag! to the doctor. Max was probably THROWN out a car window onto the sidewalk and maybe broke his spine or his pelvis! Sometimes I really hate the human species. We obviousely can't afford to pay the medical bills of a stray kitty, so she offers to pay for his treatments out of a "foundation" they have at the clinic. She goes off to call and get the ok to do that, and then comes back and outlines what she is going to do - first feline leukemia test (no sense in treating him is he has this - they would just put him to sleep if he was positive), then xrays and then other regular treatments and tests.
Andrew and I were so sad to leave him there, but we knew that even if they had to euthanize Max, it would be a more humane death than dying of thirst or getting hit by a car. But, I called the vet today and Max is doing fine. Just a broken leg and some dehydration. His little leg is in a splint now and we are going to visit him this afternoon.
Friday, May 4, 2007
A little about us
I realized the other day how many friends I have made through our adoption journey, but that none of us really know much about each other beyond adoption-related news. So, I thought I’d write up a little bio about Andrew and me to pass the time.
Melissa: I was born in Detroit Michigan in 1978. My family moved to Orlando Florida when I was 4 because my dad got a job working for Disney- he still works there, 25 years later (he will be a hit with the girls – free Disney tickets! LOL). My parents
are “bikers” – ie they have a really nice motorcycle that they ride on the weekends, they go to Bike Week in Daytona every year, and have been riding motorcycles since before I was born. My dad even drove us to school on the motorcycle as a “treat.” My parents listen to “rock” music – mostly Aerosmith, Metallica, Pink Floyd, Van Halen etc. and they listened to this VERY LOUDLY while I was growing up. Everyone in my family has tattoos. My sister is “winning” right now with the largest % of body coverage. Don’t go making assumptions based on stereotypes now – my parents were awesome, responsible parents. They were tough on us, very involved in our lives and school, very open about discussing sex, drugs, alcohol, and they knew every single one of our friends. As a kid my favorite things were unicorns, music, and art. I actually attended an art school for awhile and won many local art contests and had my artwork displayed at two major area art museums. When I got into middle and high school I was what people considered a “punk” or a “goth.” I dyed my hair a dozen different colors (mostly purples, but sometimes platinum white, sometimes blue), 
wore mostly black, wore black lipstick and nail polish and even got my belly button pierced at age 15 (Mom took me) and then my nose pierced when I was 18. I was on the math team, honor roll, in all AP classes, editor in chief of the yearbook, and I was in the Colorguard (flag team) in our marching band. I graduated high school in the top 10 of my class with a 4.7 GPA (AP classes). I finished my BS in Microbiology and Cell Science at UF in Gainesville in 3 years, and minored in Sociology and Chemistry. In 1999 I moved to Atlanta to go to grad school at Emory. In 2002 I got my Masters in Epidemiology (think disease epidemics, not dermatology/skin). I’ve been working at the CDC ever since and I am currently a government contractor for CDC in the Global AIDS Program.
Andrew: Born in Savannah Georgia in 1973 and raised mostly by his single mom. His mom was/is a “free spirit” or “hippie” so she moved around a lot and he grew up mostly in Florida where his mom worked for the Florida Bible College. When he was 13 his mom married his step-dad. His step dad adopted him soon after that. Andrew also got a step/adoptive brother and sister from this marriage. His sister is mentally retarded due to brain damage resulting from long-time epilepsy. His brother died in a boating accident when Andrew was 17. Andrew was also a “punk” in high school – he had a Mohawk haircut,
listened to Billy Idol, Dead Milkmen, Jane’s Addiction, and They Might Be Giants and wore leather jackets and combat boots. He went to college for a year, and then joined the Navy. He was briefly married at this time (less than one year), and after the birth of his first son Matt, his ex-wife disappeared. He was remarried shortly after that, and he and his second wife raised Matt and his second son, Sebastian for 10 years before they finally divorced. His sons are currently 15 and 14 yrs old. After 12 years in the Navy, he left his military life for a job in the private sector. While in the military he served as a Navy Corpsman, mostly in Navy Hospitals, as a Neurophysiologist. He was also advisor to the Surgeon General of the
Navy for Neurophys, was an instructor at the Navy Neurophys school and was captain of the Navy Honor Guard. He also played on the Navy rugby team and continues to play and coach rugby today. Andrew was also active in a local Roman history re-enactment group in the DC area – they dressed up in Roman armor and re-enacted Roman battles. He still has his Roman armor (he pounded out the steel himself and made the armor) on display in our home, next to his collection of medieval melee weapons (swords, maces, axes – think Lord of the Rings LOL) – he plans on using these weapons to “intimidate” any boys who come to try and date our girls haha. Andrew is currently the Director of Clinical Neurophysiology for Emory University Healthcare, working primarily with epilepsy patients like his sister.
Andrew and I met 5 years ago through a mutual friend, and were married 2.5 years ago in a small, last minute, unplanned wedding at his aunt and uncle’s home in Barnesville Georgia. We decided that our money would be better spent on other things than a big wedding. We still listen to the same music as we did in high school, and still dress casual “punk” outside of work. We consider ourselves to be religious/spiritual scholars – we don’t claim any single religion as our own, but we respect and study all religions. We plan on bringing the girls to a Unitarian Universalist church here in Atlanta so as to respect and honor whatever religious beliefs they already have. We also acknowledge the other “community” benefits of belonging to some sort of church and UUCA has many adopted kids from all over the world so the girls should feel comfortable there.
We enjoy camping and hiking, shopping at IKEA, and reading. Our favorite TV shows
are LOST, Jericho, Law and Order, CSI and Star Trek. Favorite movies are Boonedock Saints, Moulin Rouge, and Star Wars. We do a lot of volunteer work, mostly helping Ukrainian orphanages, but also with a group called MedShare here in Atlanta that collects unused medical supplies from around the US, sorts and boxes them up and sends them FREE OF CHARGE to countries in need. We help them mostly with their Neurology stuff.
Melissa: I was born in Detroit Michigan in 1978. My family moved to Orlando Florida when I was 4 because my dad got a job working for Disney- he still works there, 25 years later (he will be a hit with the girls – free Disney tickets! LOL). My parents
are “bikers” – ie they have a really nice motorcycle that they ride on the weekends, they go to Bike Week in Daytona every year, and have been riding motorcycles since before I was born. My dad even drove us to school on the motorcycle as a “treat.” My parents listen to “rock” music – mostly Aerosmith, Metallica, Pink Floyd, Van Halen etc. and they listened to this VERY LOUDLY while I was growing up. Everyone in my family has tattoos. My sister is “winning” right now with the largest % of body coverage. Don’t go making assumptions based on stereotypes now – my parents were awesome, responsible parents. They were tough on us, very involved in our lives and school, very open about discussing sex, drugs, alcohol, and they knew every single one of our friends. As a kid my favorite things were unicorns, music, and art. I actually attended an art school for awhile and won many local art contests and had my artwork displayed at two major area art museums. When I got into middle and high school I was what people considered a “punk” or a “goth.” I dyed my hair a dozen different colors (mostly purples, but sometimes platinum white, sometimes blue), 
wore mostly black, wore black lipstick and nail polish and even got my belly button pierced at age 15 (Mom took me) and then my nose pierced when I was 18. I was on the math team, honor roll, in all AP classes, editor in chief of the yearbook, and I was in the Colorguard (flag team) in our marching band. I graduated high school in the top 10 of my class with a 4.7 GPA (AP classes). I finished my BS in Microbiology and Cell Science at UF in Gainesville in 3 years, and minored in Sociology and Chemistry. In 1999 I moved to Atlanta to go to grad school at Emory. In 2002 I got my Masters in Epidemiology (think disease epidemics, not dermatology/skin). I’ve been working at the CDC ever since and I am currently a government contractor for CDC in the Global AIDS Program.Andrew: Born in Savannah Georgia in 1973 and raised mostly by his single mom. His mom was/is a “free spirit” or “hippie” so she moved around a lot and he grew up mostly in Florida where his mom worked for the Florida Bible College. When he was 13 his mom married his step-dad. His step dad adopted him soon after that. Andrew also got a step/adoptive brother and sister from this marriage. His sister is mentally retarded due to brain damage resulting from long-time epilepsy. His brother died in a boating accident when Andrew was 17. Andrew was also a “punk” in high school – he had a Mohawk haircut,
listened to Billy Idol, Dead Milkmen, Jane’s Addiction, and They Might Be Giants and wore leather jackets and combat boots. He went to college for a year, and then joined the Navy. He was briefly married at this time (less than one year), and after the birth of his first son Matt, his ex-wife disappeared. He was remarried shortly after that, and he and his second wife raised Matt and his second son, Sebastian for 10 years before they finally divorced. His sons are currently 15 and 14 yrs old. After 12 years in the Navy, he left his military life for a job in the private sector. While in the military he served as a Navy Corpsman, mostly in Navy Hospitals, as a Neurophysiologist. He was also advisor to the Surgeon General of the
Navy for Neurophys, was an instructor at the Navy Neurophys school and was captain of the Navy Honor Guard. He also played on the Navy rugby team and continues to play and coach rugby today. Andrew was also active in a local Roman history re-enactment group in the DC area – they dressed up in Roman armor and re-enacted Roman battles. He still has his Roman armor (he pounded out the steel himself and made the armor) on display in our home, next to his collection of medieval melee weapons (swords, maces, axes – think Lord of the Rings LOL) – he plans on using these weapons to “intimidate” any boys who come to try and date our girls haha. Andrew is currently the Director of Clinical Neurophysiology for Emory University Healthcare, working primarily with epilepsy patients like his sister.
Andrew and I met 5 years ago through a mutual friend, and were married 2.5 years ago in a small, last minute, unplanned wedding at his aunt and uncle’s home in Barnesville Georgia. We decided that our money would be better spent on other things than a big wedding. We still listen to the same music as we did in high school, and still dress casual “punk” outside of work. We consider ourselves to be religious/spiritual scholars – we don’t claim any single religion as our own, but we respect and study all religions. We plan on bringing the girls to a Unitarian Universalist church here in Atlanta so as to respect and honor whatever religious beliefs they already have. We also acknowledge the other “community” benefits of belonging to some sort of church and UUCA has many adopted kids from all over the world so the girls should feel comfortable there.
We enjoy camping and hiking, shopping at IKEA, and reading. Our favorite TV shows
are LOST, Jericho, Law and Order, CSI and Star Trek. Favorite movies are Boonedock Saints, Moulin Rouge, and Star Wars. We do a lot of volunteer work, mostly helping Ukrainian orphanages, but also with a group called MedShare here in Atlanta that collects unused medical supplies from around the US, sorts and boxes them up and sends them FREE OF CHARGE to countries in need. We help them mostly with their Neurology stuff. 
Monday, April 30, 2007
Plane tickets: check!
So we purchased our airplane tickets last Thursday. $650 USD each for one way to Frankfurt from Atlanta, through Detroit. Not bad! :)
We arrive in Frankfurt at 6 am, and since our wonderful hosts, Diter and Carola, live a few hours away from Frankfurt airport, we will busy ourselves with coffee, food, baggage and shopping until they can comfortably come to the airport to pick us up.
They have also offered to put us up in the best hotel in Loxstedt! Hotel Boerger! Their home :) It will be so wonderful to get to know them, as Cinderella considers them family, and to leanr more about Cinderella herself. See where she spent so many summers, where she played and had happy memories.
Then of course it will be fun to drive with them through Germany, through Poland, and into Ukraine. Maybe we can stop for lunch in Berlin as it is near our path, and get a photo of what remains of the Berlin wall! Or maybe, more importantly, get a glimpse of baby polar bear Knut! I hear he is a big celebrity in Germany.
It sounds morbid, but I am also interested in seeing one of the remaining concenrtration camps from the Holocaust. My family fled Germany and Poland, just before Hitler took power, so this was something pivotal in their lifes and I think I should have photos and the experience to document that for my children to explain why we left Europe for America. We are not Jewish, but I have Jewish friends who are Holocaust survivors - they recently went back to Poland and visited the camp where they were held and their old village where they lived. I have always been interested in Hitler since most of his most crazy ideas and plans were the effect of end stage untreated syphillis. As an infectious disease guru, this has always fascinated me how diseases have shaped history.
Dieter also checked with Cinderella's orphanage to ensure that she would NOT be sent for summer hosting (to Germany, to their home as usual) so that she would be in Ukraine when we came to adopt her. It appears, based on his discussion with the director of that orphanage, that the SDA notified her about our approved dossier and appointment, so she had already removed Cinderella's name from the list - I wonder if this means that Cinderella has been told about our appointment date? I wonder if they contacted Belle's orphanage?
This also bodes well in the fact that obviousely the SDA has approved our dossier for the specific kids we requested. We were worried about that - that Belle was not registered, even though her sister is (LOOOOONG story why they are in seperate orphanages and not registered together)
In SnowWhite news, I wrote the little princess a letter letting her know what is going on with the summer hosting, and that Mama and Papa are working on fixing it, but that we may not be able to. She is a smart cookie - way smarter than most institutionalized kids her age. Very mature, very well spoken, very witty. Usually I "baby talk" a bit to her and simplify things in my letters - I didn't this time. I explained about how, as Americans, Papa and I have little to no power or rights in Ukraine, and that it is her director who makes this decision about summer hosting. Its sad that the director would betray our verbal contract like this - in Ukraine, verbal agreements are as binding as written ones here in the US. Everything in Ukraine is done with verbal contracts- which is probably why they are so disorganized when it comes to paperwork and nothing is documented! LOL
At this point the director is arguing that the Italien hosting group "put in their paperwork first" so it is first come first served....but I am saying that we had a verbal agreement from September 2006 that pre-dates any Italien paperwork. That and I have mentioned the hosting and been working on the hosting paperwork since December in letters to the director and SnowWhite.
We arrive in Frankfurt at 6 am, and since our wonderful hosts, Diter and Carola, live a few hours away from Frankfurt airport, we will busy ourselves with coffee, food, baggage and shopping until they can comfortably come to the airport to pick us up.
They have also offered to put us up in the best hotel in Loxstedt! Hotel Boerger! Their home :) It will be so wonderful to get to know them, as Cinderella considers them family, and to leanr more about Cinderella herself. See where she spent so many summers, where she played and had happy memories.
Then of course it will be fun to drive with them through Germany, through Poland, and into Ukraine. Maybe we can stop for lunch in Berlin as it is near our path, and get a photo of what remains of the Berlin wall! Or maybe, more importantly, get a glimpse of baby polar bear Knut! I hear he is a big celebrity in Germany.
It sounds morbid, but I am also interested in seeing one of the remaining concenrtration camps from the Holocaust. My family fled Germany and Poland, just before Hitler took power, so this was something pivotal in their lifes and I think I should have photos and the experience to document that for my children to explain why we left Europe for America. We are not Jewish, but I have Jewish friends who are Holocaust survivors - they recently went back to Poland and visited the camp where they were held and their old village where they lived. I have always been interested in Hitler since most of his most crazy ideas and plans were the effect of end stage untreated syphillis. As an infectious disease guru, this has always fascinated me how diseases have shaped history.
Dieter also checked with Cinderella's orphanage to ensure that she would NOT be sent for summer hosting (to Germany, to their home as usual) so that she would be in Ukraine when we came to adopt her. It appears, based on his discussion with the director of that orphanage, that the SDA notified her about our approved dossier and appointment, so she had already removed Cinderella's name from the list - I wonder if this means that Cinderella has been told about our appointment date? I wonder if they contacted Belle's orphanage?
This also bodes well in the fact that obviousely the SDA has approved our dossier for the specific kids we requested. We were worried about that - that Belle was not registered, even though her sister is (LOOOOONG story why they are in seperate orphanages and not registered together)
In SnowWhite news, I wrote the little princess a letter letting her know what is going on with the summer hosting, and that Mama and Papa are working on fixing it, but that we may not be able to. She is a smart cookie - way smarter than most institutionalized kids her age. Very mature, very well spoken, very witty. Usually I "baby talk" a bit to her and simplify things in my letters - I didn't this time. I explained about how, as Americans, Papa and I have little to no power or rights in Ukraine, and that it is her director who makes this decision about summer hosting. Its sad that the director would betray our verbal contract like this - in Ukraine, verbal agreements are as binding as written ones here in the US. Everything in Ukraine is done with verbal contracts- which is probably why they are so disorganized when it comes to paperwork and nothing is documented! LOL
At this point the director is arguing that the Italien hosting group "put in their paperwork first" so it is first come first served....but I am saying that we had a verbal agreement from September 2006 that pre-dates any Italien paperwork. That and I have mentioned the hosting and been working on the hosting paperwork since December in letters to the director and SnowWhite.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Need prayers!
Though we are overjoyed and grateful for our dossier being approved and our appointment date, we have just gotten some very bad news.
Our youngest - SnowWhite - was supposed to be coming to the US for hosting this summer. This was arranged back in September during our visit to Ukraine, with the director and deputy director themselves. There were witnesses to this conversation. I have mentioned it in letters to them since that time.
Now suddenly SnowWhite is on a list to go to Italy for summer hosting! WT?????
Please pray that we can convince the regional inspector and the orphanage that SnowWhite needs to come to the US for summer and not Italy. She will be devastated if she doesn't get to come here. She has done nothing but write about how much she is looking forward to seeing us again and staying at our home. She will think we let her down - we made the promise to bring her here, and we have been doing everything we thought we needed to to make that possible.
Again, all prayer warriors out there, please pray for this to be fixed!
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
We have our Appointment date!!!
I announced this on FRUA and I sent out an email to my friends and family the day we got this info, but with all the chaos of moving and shock of actually getting THE date, I havent been able to post it here.
So, our dossier was apparently approved and we were given a June 27th appointment date to be (hopefully) given a referral to our two oldest girls, Cinderella and Belle.
Right now our plan is to fly out on June 21, arrive in Germany June 22 and meet up with Carola and Dieter, hang out with them in Loxstedt Germany for a day or two, and then drive with them through Germany, Poland, and finally Ukraine. It is a two day drive, so I hope we will arrive in Kyiv June 26 so we have time to settle in to our apartment there. June 27th sometime (we don't know the exact time of the appointment, only the date) we will go to the SDA (Ukraine's State Department of Adoptions) near St. Andrew's cathedral and hopefully have a quick meeting with their english-speaking psychologist.
I re-sent our requests for info on all three girls (two seperate requests, one for the sisters, one for SnowWhite), and hopefully now that we are officially registered we will get a response. I really hope there is no problem with Belle's paperwork. The sisters are in two different orphanages, and Cinderella's "file" says she has no siblings when in fact she has two, so I hope that Belle is registered and "off" the database for us to adopt.
We are praying and hoping for a quick trip - Kirovograd is known for its speed, and since we are going for "known older kids", I hope it balances out the fact that they are in two orphanages. Our facilitator seems confident that we can get a single court hearing instead of two seperate ones (the two orphanages are technically in different "districts" within the region). So best case scenario, we are there for 3 weeks and we get back to US soil by mid July. Otherwise, the average stay is between 4-5 weeks, depending on holidays and weekends, for Ukraine adoptions as a whole. Kirovograd has an average of 3 weeks processing time. I looked at the list of official Ukrainian and American holidays for June and July, and there does not appear to be anything major to interfere with our timeline - we hope to be in court on July 4th, but since that is an American holiday it won't impact the Ukrainian judge's schedule. :)
Please pray for our safe journeys, the journeys of our fellow adoptive parents (and their kids-to-be) who will be there near the same time as us, and for my friend "G" who is trying to adopt one of Cinderella's best friends.
So, our dossier was apparently approved and we were given a June 27th appointment date to be (hopefully) given a referral to our two oldest girls, Cinderella and Belle.
Right now our plan is to fly out on June 21, arrive in Germany June 22 and meet up with Carola and Dieter, hang out with them in Loxstedt Germany for a day or two, and then drive with them through Germany, Poland, and finally Ukraine. It is a two day drive, so I hope we will arrive in Kyiv June 26 so we have time to settle in to our apartment there. June 27th sometime (we don't know the exact time of the appointment, only the date) we will go to the SDA (Ukraine's State Department of Adoptions) near St. Andrew's cathedral and hopefully have a quick meeting with their english-speaking psychologist.
I re-sent our requests for info on all three girls (two seperate requests, one for the sisters, one for SnowWhite), and hopefully now that we are officially registered we will get a response. I really hope there is no problem with Belle's paperwork. The sisters are in two different orphanages, and Cinderella's "file" says she has no siblings when in fact she has two, so I hope that Belle is registered and "off" the database for us to adopt.
We are praying and hoping for a quick trip - Kirovograd is known for its speed, and since we are going for "known older kids", I hope it balances out the fact that they are in two orphanages. Our facilitator seems confident that we can get a single court hearing instead of two seperate ones (the two orphanages are technically in different "districts" within the region). So best case scenario, we are there for 3 weeks and we get back to US soil by mid July. Otherwise, the average stay is between 4-5 weeks, depending on holidays and weekends, for Ukraine adoptions as a whole. Kirovograd has an average of 3 weeks processing time. I looked at the list of official Ukrainian and American holidays for June and July, and there does not appear to be anything major to interfere with our timeline - we hope to be in court on July 4th, but since that is an American holiday it won't impact the Ukrainian judge's schedule. :)
Please pray for our safe journeys, the journeys of our fellow adoptive parents (and their kids-to-be) who will be there near the same time as us, and for my friend "G" who is trying to adopt one of Cinderella's best friends.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Hopefully this week....
Hopefully we will hear something this week about our adoption appointment - I just heard that a family who submitted their dossier one week before ours (in reality it was one American day before ours since they were only accepting American dossiers once a week) got an appointment for the last week in June. Hopefully ours will be near around there too. This family traveled to Ukraine to pick up their appointment letter IN PERSON! Wow, that's quite a trip for a piece of paper! But they got information, which is gold to the adoption community. They said that all the dossiers already submitted have been reviewed and registered and appointment dates set - they just needed the new director to sign them all, which he/she was doing as fast as possible. So it sounds like ours has been processed and a date assigned, but they just can't tell us yet. Maybe today -Tuesdays are the official days that facilitators can come and receive the appointment letters for their clients.
We still need to raise a bit of money - airfares for that time of year are alot higher than in spring, fall, or winter. Hopefully between my work adoption shower, savings, and the refunded deposit from the apartment we are moving out of, we can do it.
We are still packing for the move - thankfully a friend volunteered to help us this weekend, so that Andrew has some help lifting things (I can do it, but not as well as a guy could). We have a truck lined up for Sunday, and I'm going to transfer the utilities today. We will try to get 90% of everything moved this weekend - we don't have to be "out" of the current apartment until the end of the month, so we have sometime to move the little things and clean the place, so we aren't stressing too bad. I'm trying to sell some of our excess furniture on craigslist, but so far there is lots of interest, but no one commiting to buy.
Here are photos of our new place:
We still need to raise a bit of money - airfares for that time of year are alot higher than in spring, fall, or winter. Hopefully between my work adoption shower, savings, and the refunded deposit from the apartment we are moving out of, we can do it.
We are still packing for the move - thankfully a friend volunteered to help us this weekend, so that Andrew has some help lifting things (I can do it, but not as well as a guy could). We have a truck lined up for Sunday, and I'm going to transfer the utilities today. We will try to get 90% of everything moved this weekend - we don't have to be "out" of the current apartment until the end of the month, so we have sometime to move the little things and clean the place, so we aren't stressing too bad. I'm trying to sell some of our excess furniture on craigslist, but so far there is lots of interest, but no one commiting to buy.
Here are photos of our new place:
Friday, April 13, 2007
No go on the townhouse, and no news about appointment
So, day 20 has come and gone, and no news about our dossier. A friend who submitted their dossier around the same time got unofficial news that they will have a June 18th appointment, so that is promising. Our dossier is probably processed and an appointment scheduled, the SDA just can't make any official statements until a new director is appointed and can sign off on the approvals and appointments. The new director is supposed to be appointed on Monday, April 16th, so we hope to hear something shortly after that.
So it looks like we will be in Ukraine from late June through July. Airfares are extremely high that time of year, so that will impact our budget.
The townhouses both fell through, so we are going with plan B and moving into Post Braircliff apartments. We reserved a nice 2 bedroom 2 bathroom apartment there, all hard wood floors, on the first floor (so no stairs to lift furniture up!) and it is right next to the walking gate to Whole Foods grocery market. Its a nice gated community, nicely landscaped, and has two pools that the girls will enjoy. We will take photos of the empty apartment and community this weekend and post them here. We are scheduled to move in next weekend, so we are stressed! I hate packing and moving, but we have become experts at it! I don't think we've stayed in one home for more than 2 years at a time! The Post apartment is also temporary until the Emory Faculty housing is completed in early 2009. Then we will stay put for a long time hopefully :)
This weekend we are going to MedShare to help finish up the Neurology sorting and boxing, and to pick up some boxes of supplies for Dr. Andrey and Life2Orphans. Then Sunday we have the Ukrainian adoptive family picnic at Stone Mountain park. It will be nice to see the Nolte kids again (and their parents too!) and meet the family who recently got home with adorable toddler twins. So, I will have tons of photos to post of that too.
The hosting plans for SnowWhite are coming along, as is her registration for adoption. She and her friends will be in the US from June 25 through August 25. Since we will be in Ukraine for half that time, she will stay with her friends' host families in New York until we get back. I know Susan, Peggy, and Joanne will take good care of my baby and they will reinforce that we are her Mama and Papa and we love her. At least she will be out of that filthy orphanage for the summer. When we get back, we will arrange to pick her up for the remainder of the summer. Good grief, I will have 3 Ukie girls running around for a month! LOL
So it looks like we will be in Ukraine from late June through July. Airfares are extremely high that time of year, so that will impact our budget.
The townhouses both fell through, so we are going with plan B and moving into Post Braircliff apartments. We reserved a nice 2 bedroom 2 bathroom apartment there, all hard wood floors, on the first floor (so no stairs to lift furniture up!) and it is right next to the walking gate to Whole Foods grocery market. Its a nice gated community, nicely landscaped, and has two pools that the girls will enjoy. We will take photos of the empty apartment and community this weekend and post them here. We are scheduled to move in next weekend, so we are stressed! I hate packing and moving, but we have become experts at it! I don't think we've stayed in one home for more than 2 years at a time! The Post apartment is also temporary until the Emory Faculty housing is completed in early 2009. Then we will stay put for a long time hopefully :)
This weekend we are going to MedShare to help finish up the Neurology sorting and boxing, and to pick up some boxes of supplies for Dr. Andrey and Life2Orphans. Then Sunday we have the Ukrainian adoptive family picnic at Stone Mountain park. It will be nice to see the Nolte kids again (and their parents too!) and meet the family who recently got home with adorable toddler twins. So, I will have tons of photos to post of that too.
The hosting plans for SnowWhite are coming along, as is her registration for adoption. She and her friends will be in the US from June 25 through August 25. Since we will be in Ukraine for half that time, she will stay with her friends' host families in New York until we get back. I know Susan, Peggy, and Joanne will take good care of my baby and they will reinforce that we are her Mama and Papa and we love her. At least she will be out of that filthy orphanage for the summer. When we get back, we will arrange to pick her up for the remainder of the summer. Good grief, I will have 3 Ukie girls running around for a month! LOL
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Ukraine in political turmoil....again
So, Ukraine's president dissolved their parliment last night. This is something many people have been waiting for him to do for many months now, and he finally did it. Of course the Russian-allied parliment refuses to follow this new order and have barricaded themselves in the parliment building. Here is the story on my favorite Kyiv news blog(written by an American expat living in Kyiv):
http://blog.kievukraine.info/
So, no one knows how or even if this will affect adoptions in any way. During the Orange Revolution back in 2004, adoptions were only disrupted for a month. Most people think there will no affect on adoptions this time though - the only thing slowing dossiers and appointments down right now is the new director of the SDA. Since the most recent one was removed from office, along with her deputies, no new director has officially been appointed (or they have, but havent taken office maybe?). The interim director is a man - a first time for the department of adoptions! Maybe that is good - men tend to be less emotional than women, so maybe things will be more predictable and less variable from day to day? Men also tend to delegate more - also something that may be good since the director's time is limited and under the women-directors, all adoptive parents met with the director, thus creating a bottleneck.
This political turmoil also means that the proposed bill to ban singles from adopting from Ukraine is also on hold since it never made it to its second reading and vote. When the new parliment is seated sometime in June(?), they may well have a completely different view of singles adopting. Lets all pray that they do! I have many single friends who want to adopt kids from Ukraine, and all of them would make great parents.
http://blog.kievukraine.info/
So, no one knows how or even if this will affect adoptions in any way. During the Orange Revolution back in 2004, adoptions were only disrupted for a month. Most people think there will no affect on adoptions this time though - the only thing slowing dossiers and appointments down right now is the new director of the SDA. Since the most recent one was removed from office, along with her deputies, no new director has officially been appointed (or they have, but havent taken office maybe?). The interim director is a man - a first time for the department of adoptions! Maybe that is good - men tend to be less emotional than women, so maybe things will be more predictable and less variable from day to day? Men also tend to delegate more - also something that may be good since the director's time is limited and under the women-directors, all adoptive parents met with the director, thus creating a bottleneck.
This political turmoil also means that the proposed bill to ban singles from adopting from Ukraine is also on hold since it never made it to its second reading and vote. When the new parliment is seated sometime in June(?), they may well have a completely different view of singles adopting. Lets all pray that they do! I have many single friends who want to adopt kids from Ukraine, and all of them would make great parents.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Research and information
Just to pass the time while we wait for official word on our dossier, I thought I'd post here my favorite links to Ukrainian news, Ukrainian adoption articles, and video and photos of orphanage conditions in Ukraine:
Ukraine News in English:
http://blog.kievukraine.info/
http://en.for-ua.com/
Ukraine is going through an huge power struggle right now, their government is a complete mess, and it is likely that there will soon be another "revolution" of sorts to oust the exact same corrupt politicians that were the root of the problems that started the "Orange Revolution" in 2004. Basically its the Ukrainian nationalists against the Russian loyalists. Business men are being assassinated, journalists kidnapped and murdered, top officials being guilty of crimes yet not going to jail....
Ukrainian adoption information:
Angela does an awsome job writing up articles about Ukranian adoption and finding links to photos, videos, and people's adoption blogs (like this one - which she listed in one of her articles on blogs). Reading her articles will give a person good, trustworthy information on the various aspects of Ukrainian adoption - what laws are being voted on that affect adoptions, what is going on at the Ukrainian Adoption Center, dossier news, links to photos for filling in gaps in your child's LifeBook...She even tags all the articles so you can browse her posts based on topic categories.
http://ukraine.adoptionblogs.com/
Orphanage links:
In my searches on the internet for information on my 3 girls, I actually found some interesting websites - usually of charity groups doing mission work in Ukraine - that had video and photos of these kids lives.
http://www.crossrdsfoundation.org/
Cross Roads has some photos and videos of street kids in Kyiv. These are kids who are homeless and parentless, yet have not yet ended up in the orphanage system - or they have run away from the orphanages.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFF_IJvmYvk
This is a PeaceCorps video of my youngest daughter's baby house - she lived in this place before being moved to the nearby Preschool home, and now she is in the Boarding School type of orphanage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reTJ_28J6K0
This is a video about Ukrainian orphanage statistics and general images.
Life 2 Orphans has tons of photos of various orphanages across Ukraine and here is a blog some of their volunteers wrote up about daily life of kids in a boarding school in Western Ukraine.
Go to this link, then to "Photo Feedback" to look at the photos
http://www.life2orphans.com/
Here is the 6 part trip report about life at Mykolaivka internat
http://www.life2orphans.blog-city.com/mykolaivka_internat_ukraine_orphanage_trip_report_sept_2006__4.htm
Boarding Schools/Internats in Chernihiv region where my youngest is living:
http://www.britishhumanitarianaid.co.uk/page15.html
The Colker Family does alot of missionary work in Ukrainian orphanages and they have tons of great photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/colkerfamily/
This guy has some great B/W photos of Ukrainian orphans and street kids
http://www.flickr.com/photos/26629476@N00/
Ukraine News in English:
http://blog.kievukraine.info/
http://en.for-ua.com/
Ukraine is going through an huge power struggle right now, their government is a complete mess, and it is likely that there will soon be another "revolution" of sorts to oust the exact same corrupt politicians that were the root of the problems that started the "Orange Revolution" in 2004. Basically its the Ukrainian nationalists against the Russian loyalists. Business men are being assassinated, journalists kidnapped and murdered, top officials being guilty of crimes yet not going to jail....
Ukrainian adoption information:
Angela does an awsome job writing up articles about Ukranian adoption and finding links to photos, videos, and people's adoption blogs (like this one - which she listed in one of her articles on blogs). Reading her articles will give a person good, trustworthy information on the various aspects of Ukrainian adoption - what laws are being voted on that affect adoptions, what is going on at the Ukrainian Adoption Center, dossier news, links to photos for filling in gaps in your child's LifeBook...She even tags all the articles so you can browse her posts based on topic categories.
http://ukraine.adoptionblogs.com/
Orphanage links:
In my searches on the internet for information on my 3 girls, I actually found some interesting websites - usually of charity groups doing mission work in Ukraine - that had video and photos of these kids lives.
http://www.crossrdsfoundation.org/
Cross Roads has some photos and videos of street kids in Kyiv. These are kids who are homeless and parentless, yet have not yet ended up in the orphanage system - or they have run away from the orphanages.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFF_IJvmYvk
This is a PeaceCorps video of my youngest daughter's baby house - she lived in this place before being moved to the nearby Preschool home, and now she is in the Boarding School type of orphanage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reTJ_28J6K0
This is a video about Ukrainian orphanage statistics and general images.
Life 2 Orphans has tons of photos of various orphanages across Ukraine and here is a blog some of their volunteers wrote up about daily life of kids in a boarding school in Western Ukraine.
Go to this link, then to "Photo Feedback" to look at the photos
http://www.life2orphans.com/
Here is the 6 part trip report about life at Mykolaivka internat
http://www.life2orphans.blog-city.com/mykolaivka_internat_ukraine_orphanage_trip_report_sept_2006__4.htm
Boarding Schools/Internats in Chernihiv region where my youngest is living:
http://www.britishhumanitarianaid.co.uk/page15.html
The Colker Family does alot of missionary work in Ukrainian orphanages and they have tons of great photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/colkerfamily/
This guy has some great B/W photos of Ukrainian orphans and street kids
http://www.flickr.com/photos/26629476@N00/
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Distractions
While we wait for definite news about our appointment date, Andrew and I are keeping busy making "lists" of things - things to pack, things to get done before the trip, things to do after we get home, etc.
Since we are moving soon - mid April - we decided to pack all of our Ukraine trip stuff into its own seperate box so we won't have to search through a dozen boxes to find everything when we are getting ready to leave. I know we will not be completely unpacked and organized before we travel, so this will help lower stress I think.
Here is our best case scenario timeline that we are hoping and praying for:
Week one:
Fly to Germany first week of June to meet up with Dieter and Carola
Drive to Ukraine - 2 days drive
Arrive in Kyiv and stay in Kyiv for 2-3 days- do some shopping for girls
Have appointment with SDA second week in June
Week two:
Drive to Kirovograd with D&C
Meet with inspector, director, etc
Visit with the girls
Week 3:
Get court date within one week of SDA appointment
Start 10 day wait
Visit with bio aunt and uncle and both girls
Possibly have older girl stay with us during 10 day wait
Week 4:
Get paperwork done
Train back to Kyiv
More paperwork and embassy visits
Hopefully this is how it works out and we get back to Atlanta by early July. Since we have our third girl coming for hosting in late June, we don't want to have her staying with the other host family for too long, but we'll be happy for any time we can spend with her.
It will be sooooo crazy with all three girls in the house for the summer. I am praying that my job will allow me to work from home during these first few months after we return. Most of my work is on the computer, so I can do it at home using the internet and telephone.
If we get back in early July, we will likely be going to Orlando July 18 or 19. My parents live there (my dad works for Disney) and Andrew has a Neurology conference in Orlando that weekend. I know it will be a bit of an overload for them, but I think Disney and the beach would be a nice treat for them before they have to buckle down for school.
Since we are moving soon - mid April - we decided to pack all of our Ukraine trip stuff into its own seperate box so we won't have to search through a dozen boxes to find everything when we are getting ready to leave. I know we will not be completely unpacked and organized before we travel, so this will help lower stress I think.
Here is our best case scenario timeline that we are hoping and praying for:
Week one:
Fly to Germany first week of June to meet up with Dieter and Carola
Drive to Ukraine - 2 days drive
Arrive in Kyiv and stay in Kyiv for 2-3 days- do some shopping for girls
Have appointment with SDA second week in June
Week two:
Drive to Kirovograd with D&C
Meet with inspector, director, etc
Visit with the girls
Week 3:
Get court date within one week of SDA appointment
Start 10 day wait
Visit with bio aunt and uncle and both girls
Possibly have older girl stay with us during 10 day wait
Week 4:
Get paperwork done
Train back to Kyiv
More paperwork and embassy visits
Hopefully this is how it works out and we get back to Atlanta by early July. Since we have our third girl coming for hosting in late June, we don't want to have her staying with the other host family for too long, but we'll be happy for any time we can spend with her.
It will be sooooo crazy with all three girls in the house for the summer. I am praying that my job will allow me to work from home during these first few months after we return. Most of my work is on the computer, so I can do it at home using the internet and telephone.
If we get back in early July, we will likely be going to Orlando July 18 or 19. My parents live there (my dad works for Disney) and Andrew has a Neurology conference in Orlando that weekend. I know it will be a bit of an overload for them, but I think Disney and the beach would be a nice treat for them before they have to buckle down for school.
Monday, March 26, 2007
Pollen, housing and travel
Pollen counts are in the 2600's today - "high" is considered in the 120's. We are 200 times that right now, and this is expected to go on for at least another month of so.
Here are photos of our car and my work parking lot- notice the yellow "dust" on everything. That is what is currently going into my lungs and causing my nose and throat to swell shut :(
In travel news, it looks like we will have an appointment the second week in June according to current estimates and timetables - but as with anything in Ukraine, this can change at any second. We are considering flying in to Germany to meet up with Cinderella's host family and drive all together to Ukraine. Its a 2 day drive, but it would be neat to see all the countries along the way and get to know Carola and Dieter better - they are after all going to be Cinderella and Belle's Aunt and Uncle now! It is also much cheaper to fly to Germany than to Ukraine, so that will hopefully save us a few hundred dollars.
The CD of photos that Dieter made for us arrived today in the mail and Andrew and I had so much fun looking through all the photos! Cinderella is so small in some of the photos, and we also found some of her friends in the background of many of the photos. We learned alot about her too - what she likes to do, what she likes to eat (mainly swimming and eating icecream based on the photos!)etc.
Housing news, we are making a dent in our packing and are still not 100% sure where we are even moving to. The woman who owns the one townhouse pictured in the previous post is kinda hard to "read". She is continuing to show the townhouse to other families even though we have our paperwork turned in to her and we have agreed on the deposit and rent...so we called the man who owns the townhouse two doors down who posted a "for rent" sign up. Its the exact same layout and features, but slightly cheaper rent price and he seems more willing to negotiate and be flexible with us about deposits. If all else fails, we have the Post apartments to move in to.
Here are photos of our car and my work parking lot- notice the yellow "dust" on everything. That is what is currently going into my lungs and causing my nose and throat to swell shut :(
In travel news, it looks like we will have an appointment the second week in June according to current estimates and timetables - but as with anything in Ukraine, this can change at any second. We are considering flying in to Germany to meet up with Cinderella's host family and drive all together to Ukraine. Its a 2 day drive, but it would be neat to see all the countries along the way and get to know Carola and Dieter better - they are after all going to be Cinderella and Belle's Aunt and Uncle now! It is also much cheaper to fly to Germany than to Ukraine, so that will hopefully save us a few hundred dollars.
The CD of photos that Dieter made for us arrived today in the mail and Andrew and I had so much fun looking through all the photos! Cinderella is so small in some of the photos, and we also found some of her friends in the background of many of the photos. We learned alot about her too - what she likes to do, what she likes to eat (mainly swimming and eating icecream based on the photos!)etc.
Housing news, we are making a dent in our packing and are still not 100% sure where we are even moving to. The woman who owns the one townhouse pictured in the previous post is kinda hard to "read". She is continuing to show the townhouse to other families even though we have our paperwork turned in to her and we have agreed on the deposit and rent...so we called the man who owns the townhouse two doors down who posted a "for rent" sign up. Its the exact same layout and features, but slightly cheaper rent price and he seems more willing to negotiate and be flexible with us about deposits. If all else fails, we have the Post apartments to move in to.
Friday, March 23, 2007
Lots of News
Where to start....we heard back from the lady who owns that wonderful townhouse and she is totally awsome and agreed to our offer for renting the townhouse. She initially wanted a huge deposit, but she lowered it for us and allowed us to split it into payments even. The monthly rent is the same as what we pay now at our loft, but most "big" apartment complexes have move-in "deals" with small deposits and move in costs, so this big deposit for the townhome almost made us give up on it.
Also in moveing news, our loft property manager was being a complete tool and was not going to let us move out at the end of April because he said it wasn't 60 days notice. We told him that, yes we gave 60 days notice back in January, but that we didn't know the exact date of the move due to the adoption travel being unknown. This guy has been a thorn in our side ever since he took over the complex. Complete jerk, no management skills, or even common sense. So, as usual we had to go above his head and go to the property owners. Thankfully their corporate office is in our loft complex. So we stopped by last night, the secretary was nice and told us who we needed to speak to, and when she would be in. So, at 8am this morning we stopped back by and talked to the regional manager lady. She was awsome. At first shesaid she was busy, but as soon as we said the "a" word (adoption) she became very compassionate and pulled us into the conference room. She said no problem, we can move out whenever we need to, with no penalties, and then she wanted to see photos of our "babies" and was acting like a proud grandmother flipping through my photo albums of our girls. We concluded by thanking her immensely, she said she would "take care of this with XXX at the loft office" and for us to "relax and enjoy our day". Perfect! Two more miracles down!
SnowWhite news - she was "absent" from her boarding school on the last Big Family visit and they told BF that she was at a "resort" for "awhile." Of course this panicked me - where is she?, why was she sent?, is she ok?, when will she be back???? Turns out this is a "normal" thing for Ukrainian orphans to go to "health" resorts - aka sanitoriums - not quite what we think of as spas, but they give the kids healthy vitamin packed food, medical care (preventative), massage, exercise,relaxation and fresh air. OOOOOKKKK. I had brought up concerns about her health with the director last I wrote to him - more I was offering to pay for her dental care and vaccinations - and I guess he sent her to this "resort" to show that she was being cared for and he would make sure she was healthy as possible. I'm sad that I didn't get photos of her from the BF trip, but I'm more happy that she is out of that filthy place for a few weeks. She is too much of a hollywood barbie girl to be at in a boarding school on a farm (seriousely, they raise pigs and bees there).
Adoption news in general - people who had their dossiers submitted around the same time as ours are getting their appointment dates! Most are the last week of May and the first week of June. So - we will likely be in there somewhere too, which means I will be in Ukraine for my birthday (June 18) and we will likely be coming home around the time of Belle's 14th birthday (June 21) -what a great birthday present for us both!!!!
Also in moveing news, our loft property manager was being a complete tool and was not going to let us move out at the end of April because he said it wasn't 60 days notice. We told him that, yes we gave 60 days notice back in January, but that we didn't know the exact date of the move due to the adoption travel being unknown. This guy has been a thorn in our side ever since he took over the complex. Complete jerk, no management skills, or even common sense. So, as usual we had to go above his head and go to the property owners. Thankfully their corporate office is in our loft complex. So we stopped by last night, the secretary was nice and told us who we needed to speak to, and when she would be in. So, at 8am this morning we stopped back by and talked to the regional manager lady. She was awsome. At first shesaid she was busy, but as soon as we said the "a" word (adoption) she became very compassionate and pulled us into the conference room. She said no problem, we can move out whenever we need to, with no penalties, and then she wanted to see photos of our "babies" and was acting like a proud grandmother flipping through my photo albums of our girls. We concluded by thanking her immensely, she said she would "take care of this with XXX at the loft office" and for us to "relax and enjoy our day". Perfect! Two more miracles down!
SnowWhite news - she was "absent" from her boarding school on the last Big Family visit and they told BF that she was at a "resort" for "awhile." Of course this panicked me - where is she?, why was she sent?, is she ok?, when will she be back???? Turns out this is a "normal" thing for Ukrainian orphans to go to "health" resorts - aka sanitoriums - not quite what we think of as spas, but they give the kids healthy vitamin packed food, medical care (preventative), massage, exercise,relaxation and fresh air. OOOOOKKKK. I had brought up concerns about her health with the director last I wrote to him - more I was offering to pay for her dental care and vaccinations - and I guess he sent her to this "resort" to show that she was being cared for and he would make sure she was healthy as possible. I'm sad that I didn't get photos of her from the BF trip, but I'm more happy that she is out of that filthy place for a few weeks. She is too much of a hollywood barbie girl to be at in a boarding school on a farm (seriousely, they raise pigs and bees there).
Adoption news in general - people who had their dossiers submitted around the same time as ours are getting their appointment dates! Most are the last week of May and the first week of June. So - we will likely be in there somewhere too, which means I will be in Ukraine for my birthday (June 18) and we will likely be coming home around the time of Belle's 14th birthday (June 21) -what a great birthday present for us both!!!!
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Day 7 of 20
14 more business days until we will know if our dossier was approved or not - could be earlier or later by a few days though. Day 20 is a holiday too - Easter.
It also looks like the late May travel appointments are being eaten up....there are many Ukrainian holidays in May, but we are hopeful that we will still get in for a mid to late May appointment. Maybe this new director (the most recent one resigned again)will take into account known older kids when scheduling appointments. The one who just resigned did not take this fact into account, which is silly IMO since there aren't many babies off the registry right now due to the lack of registrations that were being processed last year. Let those of us adopting kids over age 10 go now!
Also there is that new rumored law that is being voted on in the Ukrainian parliment soon that will remove the requirement for children to stay on the national registry for 12 months before being available to foriegn parents. This would be HUGE for us since SnowWhite is still not registered, and we were very depressed that we'd all have to wait an additional 12 months once she was finally registered. Its not like any Ukrainian families want to adopt an "adult" kid as they call them there so the 12 month "hold" would be pointless.
My parents are coming to town this weekend so I'm trying to clean up the house and pack for the move and worry about our adoption and hosting plans! Of course my immune system is weak and now with pollen counts going through the roof I'm pretty sick. I sound like a frog and I can't breathe or swallow very well :( But I go through this every year and have figured out the best combination of drugs to combat these pollen seasons. Claritin, ibuprofin, nose spray, hot tea, vicks vapo rub, eucalyptus bath salts, cough drops and any other REAL decongestant I can find LOL Not that crap they have on the shelves now - the stuff they have to hide behind the counter because of the meth heads. Pseuophedrine Chloride - that's the good stuff. Anyways...as you can tell I'm loopy from the above combo of allergy meds. :)
Hopefully we will be able to work something out for that townhouse today - that place is a true blessing. We were just about to give up on looking for a "house" and just move into another apartment, but then I see this place posted on craig's list. One miracle down....
It also looks like the late May travel appointments are being eaten up....there are many Ukrainian holidays in May, but we are hopeful that we will still get in for a mid to late May appointment. Maybe this new director (the most recent one resigned again)will take into account known older kids when scheduling appointments. The one who just resigned did not take this fact into account, which is silly IMO since there aren't many babies off the registry right now due to the lack of registrations that were being processed last year. Let those of us adopting kids over age 10 go now!
Also there is that new rumored law that is being voted on in the Ukrainian parliment soon that will remove the requirement for children to stay on the national registry for 12 months before being available to foriegn parents. This would be HUGE for us since SnowWhite is still not registered, and we were very depressed that we'd all have to wait an additional 12 months once she was finally registered. Its not like any Ukrainian families want to adopt an "adult" kid as they call them there so the 12 month "hold" would be pointless.
My parents are coming to town this weekend so I'm trying to clean up the house and pack for the move and worry about our adoption and hosting plans! Of course my immune system is weak and now with pollen counts going through the roof I'm pretty sick. I sound like a frog and I can't breathe or swallow very well :( But I go through this every year and have figured out the best combination of drugs to combat these pollen seasons. Claritin, ibuprofin, nose spray, hot tea, vicks vapo rub, eucalyptus bath salts, cough drops and any other REAL decongestant I can find LOL Not that crap they have on the shelves now - the stuff they have to hide behind the counter because of the meth heads. Pseuophedrine Chloride - that's the good stuff. Anyways...as you can tell I'm loopy from the above combo of allergy meds. :)
Hopefully we will be able to work something out for that townhouse today - that place is a true blessing. We were just about to give up on looking for a "house" and just move into another apartment, but then I see this place posted on craig's list. One miracle down....
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
I think we found our new home!
Hello all, Andrew and I found the perfect new home for us to hopefully move into while we wait for the Emory housing to be built. We really wanted the girls to be in the Fernbank Elementary district since it is known for its international community (they have kids from over 20 countries in this school) and therefore a great ESL program that takes into account adopted kids lack of a bilingual home. It is a townhouse two block from Fernbank, and it is in our price range. It met my criteria (nice bath tubs for my bubble baths, and a big kitchen) and then some. It looks like a regular house from the street, and it only contains two townhomes - so we'd have only one neighbor who happens to be a childrens art teacher! The woman who is renting the home out is also an adoptive parent - of 4 kids! 3 are international so she totally understand what we are going through and has agreed not to charge us a deposit to move in all at once (she will split it up into payments for us). The price is the same as what we would pay at the Post Briarcliff apartments for a two bedroom with a storage unit. This is 3 bed 2.5 bath, with stand-up attic and two car garage. It also has this cool driveway courtyard in the back for the kids to rollerblade around in or draw on with chalk and a big deck off the kitchen for BBQ and summer lunches. Here are photos:
Friday, March 16, 2007
Counting Down
We are currently on day 4 of the 20 day wait for our dossier to be approved or rejected. I trust our facilitator that she went through our dossier very well and fixed any errors that could possibly get it rejected, but the SDA sometimes is just in a "bad mood" and will reject dossiers for arbitrary and petty reasons. So, we continue to hope and pray.
I don't know if Saturday's are considered "working days" since many government offices there are open on Saturdays....if not day 20 falls on Monday April 9. So it looks like we will be in Ukraine for my birthday, father's day, and possibly Belle's birthday - depending on how long things take. Our region is known to be "fast" with the court stuff because you are highly encouraged (aka forced) to use a specific lady lawyer to file the papers with the judge. She has a pretty big fee for her services, but I hear she is extraordinary in her speed and service. She even handles the birth certificates and passports for the kids. Also we hope it is fast because we don't have to "find" our kids - we already know where they are and have no intention of turning them down. My only worry is that there will be a problem with their registration paperwork - specifically the older Belle. I am confident that Cinderella's papers are all in order, and there is no reason to think that Belle's are not in order, but you never know. Cinderella's paperwork says she has no siblings even though Belle is her full sib.....
Anyways - We are also continueing to pray for our web-friends for their dossiers and their children. We also are praying that the SDA changes this quota system they are trying to enforce. Some people think that this is all a prelude to ending IA all together in Ukraine, but I disagree. IMO, the foster type homes should only be used for the kids who will never be registered for adoption - ie those kids who still have active parents in their lives, but those parents are unable to care for the kids (usually do to financial reasons). I also think that just because the kids are put into foster homes, they should NOT be removed from the adoption registry! In Guatemala, all the kids are cared for in foster homes and yet they are all available for adoption. Same here in the USA. Foster homes are not meant to be permenant - just more family-oriented and more stable UNTIL a forever family is found. I think Ukraine is just trying to figure out how to do all this - trying different ideas out. Its a hard thing to change people's perceptions and habits - the orphanage system is so ingrained into EE culture as are their ideas and methods to care for the kids. I have a friend who is a pediatrician for a baby house in Kharkiv who is constantly frustrated at the attitudes of his collegues and their resistance to change their medical methods.
Hopefully will get the CD with 120 photos of Cinderella on it in a few days! The German couple mailed it DHL yesterday. I really hope to maintain contact with them as they have been the only "family" Cinderella has ever known - even if it was only for the summer months each year. I hope they will agree to be Aunt and Uncle to the girls once we adopt them.
I don't know if Saturday's are considered "working days" since many government offices there are open on Saturdays....if not day 20 falls on Monday April 9. So it looks like we will be in Ukraine for my birthday, father's day, and possibly Belle's birthday - depending on how long things take. Our region is known to be "fast" with the court stuff because you are highly encouraged (aka forced) to use a specific lady lawyer to file the papers with the judge. She has a pretty big fee for her services, but I hear she is extraordinary in her speed and service. She even handles the birth certificates and passports for the kids. Also we hope it is fast because we don't have to "find" our kids - we already know where they are and have no intention of turning them down. My only worry is that there will be a problem with their registration paperwork - specifically the older Belle. I am confident that Cinderella's papers are all in order, and there is no reason to think that Belle's are not in order, but you never know. Cinderella's paperwork says she has no siblings even though Belle is her full sib.....
Anyways - We are also continueing to pray for our web-friends for their dossiers and their children. We also are praying that the SDA changes this quota system they are trying to enforce. Some people think that this is all a prelude to ending IA all together in Ukraine, but I disagree. IMO, the foster type homes should only be used for the kids who will never be registered for adoption - ie those kids who still have active parents in their lives, but those parents are unable to care for the kids (usually do to financial reasons). I also think that just because the kids are put into foster homes, they should NOT be removed from the adoption registry! In Guatemala, all the kids are cared for in foster homes and yet they are all available for adoption. Same here in the USA. Foster homes are not meant to be permenant - just more family-oriented and more stable UNTIL a forever family is found. I think Ukraine is just trying to figure out how to do all this - trying different ideas out. Its a hard thing to change people's perceptions and habits - the orphanage system is so ingrained into EE culture as are their ideas and methods to care for the kids. I have a friend who is a pediatrician for a baby house in Kharkiv who is constantly frustrated at the attitudes of his collegues and their resistance to change their medical methods.
Hopefully will get the CD with 120 photos of Cinderella on it in a few days! The German couple mailed it DHL yesterday. I really hope to maintain contact with them as they have been the only "family" Cinderella has ever known - even if it was only for the summer months each year. I hope they will agree to be Aunt and Uncle to the girls once we adopt them.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Good NEWS!
Our dossier was successfully submitted yesterday, March 12. Only 7 were accepted by the SDA yesterday as Americans are already above the new "quota" for the quarter. In the new law it mentioned these quotas, but no one knew what the quotas would be or how they would work. So, it seems that Americans can submit only 140 per quarter - 560 per year. So far this year, 183 have already been accepted - so they are 43 over quota and therefore shutting the doors until April.
The SDA now has 20 days to review our dossier in detail and decide if it meets their standards. They already looked it over for 40 minutes yesterday (usually they only look at it for 15 minutes!) so hopefully that means they are ahead of the game in checking ours over! Once its approved (please continue to pray for this), they will assign us an appointment/travel date. We think it will be late May for this, based on other people's appointments who have submitted in late February. That means we will be home with Cinderella and Belle hopefully in mid-June.
We are also still working on bringing SnowWhite here for hosting - Heart 2 Heart with Ukraine has agreed to bring SnowWhite and 4 other girls from her orphanage for only $1700 each and the program will last from June 25 through August 25. Much cheaper and longer than the Frontier Horizons program! If we are not back from Ukraine by June 25, my friends in New York who are hosting the other girls will host SnowWhite until we get back.
This is the first time I'm using email to update my blog, so I hope it works. I can't access the blogger website due to wacky problems with our new server at work.
The SDA now has 20 days to review our dossier in detail and decide if it meets their standards. They already looked it over for 40 minutes yesterday (usually they only look at it for 15 minutes!) so hopefully that means they are ahead of the game in checking ours over! Once its approved (please continue to pray for this), they will assign us an appointment/travel date. We think it will be late May for this, based on other people's appointments who have submitted in late February. That means we will be home with Cinderella and Belle hopefully in mid-June.
We are also still working on bringing SnowWhite here for hosting - Heart 2 Heart with Ukraine has agreed to bring SnowWhite and 4 other girls from her orphanage for only $1700 each and the program will last from June 25 through August 25. Much cheaper and longer than the Frontier Horizons program! If we are not back from Ukraine by June 25, my friends in New York who are hosting the other girls will host SnowWhite until we get back.
This is the first time I'm using email to update my blog, so I hope it works. I can't access the blogger website due to wacky problems with our new server at work.
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Bad News
Our dossier did NOT get in on Monday. The line was just too long, and I guess our facilitator and her friend were not close enough to the front of the line. She is going to try again next week, and she said she will keep on trying until it gets in, but our documents will start to be disqualified (according to the 6 month rule) in a few months. I think the first document to expire is our INS approval. Three months before it expires, we will have to file a whole new application with a whole new application fee of $500. The INS doesn't do updates or extensions.
Its very touch and go - we have no clue when our dossier will get submitted, when and if it will be approved, and when we would be traveling. We have estimates and guesses, but no facts. Normally we would be used to that given that we have been at this for almost 2 years now, but now we are juggling having to move ahead of when we had scheduled, and with the timing of SnowWhite coming for hosting this summer.
Its very touch and go - we have no clue when our dossier will get submitted, when and if it will be approved, and when we would be traveling. We have estimates and guesses, but no facts. Normally we would be used to that given that we have been at this for almost 2 years now, but now we are juggling having to move ahead of when we had scheduled, and with the timing of SnowWhite coming for hosting this summer.
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