Happy News! Happy News!
We should have our last document in our hands this week! I left a message for the drs office today and hopefully they'll call me tomorrow to tell me we're good to go. I'm so excited to be over this little bump in the road and ready to hand all of our papers over to our agency. My goal is to have everything Fedex-ed by FRIDAY! Even if it's next week, I'll be happy.
Still left to do:
Print pictures of the house for our dossier
Get passport photos taken for the 3 of us
Get 4 documents apostilled (2 notarized, then apostilled)
Double check everything and then BYE BYE dossier! :-)
Watch the last 2 lessons on the DVD series and take tests (before next week)
On the home front, Alex is starting to ask more questions. I guess his mom's side of the family asked him about the adoption this weekend. He said "Are we still requesting a 2 - 3 year old?". I told him yes. And then he asked "Well, will he have a name or do we get to name him?". I told him that the peanut will have a name, but we can change it if we want too. It's still up for debate and so we started talking about naming children (and about the little boy someone wanted to name 4Real but the judge denied it). I can tell that he feels very awkward discussing the adoption and I feel just as awkward. I can't figure out if he's just 15 and doesn't want his world disrupted anymore or if he doesn't know what to think or if he's just being a teenager. :-) I'm sure, if I was 15, I wouldn't be thrilled about having a young one joining the family - at least at first. Has anyone ever dealt with this before? I'd love any feedback or advice you have!
I think part of the problem was that we told him about the adoption and based on his reaction we went mum about it. We didn't talk about things in front of him and didn't "involve him" in anything. Granted, it's all paperwork, but still... So, after last nights awkward conversation we've decided to bring him into it more. I filled out his Visa application tonight, with him, had him sign it and we joked about some of the questions on there. He seemed genuinely excited about going to Russia. Of course, he is the jet setter - been many more places than I'll ever go!
I love Alex more than anything. I, of course, want the perfect little world where everyone is 100% on board and this is the most exciting thing ever. And then reality hits! :-) This is a learning experience and I'd guess, even with young ones, adding someone to your family is always an adjustment and not quite so easy and rosy.
Well, I hope to post on Friday to let you know our dossier is on it's way to St. Louis! One piece of advice to anyone starting out (someone else posted this too) - when you start your dossier/home study, get all of the documents that require you to wait on someone else done first. You will wait the longest for things like medical, decrees, birth certificates, etc... so start there first!
To answer Carey's question from earlier, I'm not quite done with my dossier so I'm not sure what happens next. I've heard that some people get assigned regions and others pick their regions based on having adopted there in the past or being drawn to a particular region. I'm really excited to take that next step and see what happens! I promise to blog about it though... it's the only way I'll remember what has happened 6 mths from now. :-)
If anyone can think of anything I might be forgeting to include with the dossier, please let me know! I know everyone has some "gotcha" things!
Night!
Becky
4 comments:
Yay! Thats great news. I am so happy for you and Keith. Its a relief to know you have done your part. My news is mixed. On the good news front our dossier is translated. On the bad news side, our agency can't submit it right now as there is some thing that they have to file and can't seem to get right after 3 tries and gov't won't accept any more dossiers until its right. Oh...and the timeline might be substantially longer than we thought. :( So I am happy for you...and pretty bummed for us. I guess its just a rollercoaster ride...and we have to just hang on.
Congratulations on having your Dossier ready for submittal on Friday. That is exciting news!! I cannot wait to be at that point. We'll hopefully be about two months behind you.
As for advice with your son, I have none. We told our son that we were taking him to the zoo on vacation a few weeks ago and he has no understanding of timelines and insists that we need to go to the zoo on vacation today. For this reason, we've chosen to wait until our first trip to Russia to explain the adoption. He'll be a little older and hopefully be able to understand a little better. Good luck and we'll keep you in our prayers.
I look forward to reading your blog later this week or next on your Dossier submittal!!
Carey and Norman
Just wanted to add my 2 cents about getting documents right away for your dossier. Depending on the country, some documents expire quicker than others, so you'll want to check with your agency. Also, some agencies depending on the country (such as Vietnam) have you put together your dossier later in the process when you are closer to referral.
I'm sure it's partly a teenage thing with Alex and then just knowing things will change drastically once there is a little brother around. Also, since he is so much older, he probably figures that he'll be expected to babysit the little peanut once in a while to give mom and dad a break and time out together.
That's so exciting that your dossier will be getting ready to go to Russia soon. Has CHI received their accredidation yet? Can you get the documents apostilled by Friday? That's so quick; where do you have to send them?
Also in response to your comment on my blog, don't worry about the DVD, send it whenever.
Woo Hoo!! Almost done. Isn't it the greatest feeling?!?! I am so happy for the good news from you.
As to Alex - he may feel like he will be ignored once the child comes home, just assure him he won't and keep including him in everything!! I have a little sis who is 13 years younger than me. You can imagine my surprise at 13 hearing my parents say they were pregnant -YUCK!. Anyhow, she's the best, but it was an adjustment and I think I was afraid I would have to take care of her and give up my wild life (Well, if you call going to mall every Friday night wild!) My parents made sure to include us in on the name and we had a family vote. I also have an older sister who is 17 years older than our youngest and the vote was amusing!! We all got over the shock and when she came home we were so thrilled.
Things will work out fine. Can't wait to hear about a region!!
Post a Comment