Forward movement

Well, it's been a while since I wrote, my apologies! A lot has happened between the holidays and the last post. Dave and I had a teleconference with our coordinator at the agency. We spent a little over an hour on the phone as she detailed the next steps and what to expect. Now that the homestudy is finished and signed, we will need to be registered in a region. Right now, the agency is working in the Murmansk and Moscow regions. We prefer the Moscow region, as it is bigger and closer to the city for paperwork purposes.

We had to redo our medical preferences and send it in so the coordinator can start the registration process. The immigration paperwork is going to be sent in as well, this usually takes a few months for clearances and we'll have to get fingerprinted as well for approval.

So, we are moving forward and taking baby steps towards the first trip. Once we are registered in a region, our wait time will be 2-8 months for a referral, depending on how many families are in front of us.

We hope you had a very happy holiday season and 2010 is poised to be a great year!

Happy New Year! We hope 2010 will bring great things for you!

-Deb

Also, the mural in the nursery is done! I am also working on the opposite wall on a few smaller ones. Baby M also received quite a few books from Nana and Grandpa for Christmas and we have a pretty good collection going for the nursery!

Homestudy finished!

Well, we've officially finished our homestudy! Yay! It's been a long few months and now we start our Dossier that will include our official documents such as birth/marriage certificates, the homestudy, our immigration paperwork and the like. So our file will be transferred to the Russia coordinator S. We met S. at the MAPS picnic this summer and she was so nice! Everyone at the agency so far has been great to work with.

We are also gearing up for our Fundraiser on the 14th! There is still lots to do and Dave has been busy with the Silent Auction stuff and getting everything ready. We are anticipating a visit from Santa for the little ones and lots of craft project to keep them occupied while the adults can bid on auction items! We are serving a yummy lunch provided by the Stocked Fridge!

If you'd like to join us on the 14th, please visit http://mcculloughadoption.webs.com for more info!

-D

Finishing up the Homestudy

So, Dave and I had our one-on-ones with V. Both took about 2 hours and we delved into our childhoods, where we grew up, what our parents were like. V's next visit will be on Thursday to do a walk through of the house to make sure there's nothing that can harm a child and she basically wants to see where the child will be sleeping and everything. Then she'll have some follow up questions for us...all in all, not a bad homestudy, and nothing like I pictured it in my mind.

We also drew the winner for the Rangeley Lake week at the end of August. Tara N. won, she's a friend on mine from an internet message board. I am so happy she won, and she's totally excited to go! There are still 4 vacations to raffle off so, if you or anyone you know would like to win a vacation, you can check out http://mcculloughadoption.webs.com We are trying to raise money that way to cut downt the cost on the adoption.

We went to a 2 year old's birthday party today and I got to watch Dave with babies, it was so great, I know he's going to be a great dad...he let those kids climb all over him and they just loved it!

Well, that's all I've got for now...I'll let you know how Thursday goes!

-D

Starting the Home Study

Hey Everyone!

Long time, no post! A lot has happened since the last update. We adopted a new pup by the name of Maui, she'll be 3 at the end of August. She has been fantastic and has made herself right at home. Other news is we have finally started our homestudy!!! We had our first meeting last week and met our social worker V. We met with her for about 2 hours and it was a really easy, flowing conversation. Dave has his 1-on-1 tomorrow and I have mine next Friday. After that, she'll come back to the house to do a home inspection to make sure there's nothing potentially hazardous for the child and to see where the baby will be sleeping. We are very excited to start this, as it has been a long time coming!

We are still fundraising and raffling off several vacations, so if you've got a moment, please check out http://mcculloughadoption.webs.com here you can buy raffle tickets. If you are interested or know someone who would be interested, please pass it on! Word of mouth is pretty powerful, especially in this technological age we live in. Believe me, all of my Facebook friends are sick of the constant reminders!

Well, gotta run and pick this place up for the social worker coming tomorrow!

Thanks for reading and check out the website!

-Deb

Highs and Lows

As I'm sure most of you know by now, Dave and I lost our 3 year old Bulldog Angus a few weeks ago. We are truly heartbroken over his passing. He was our baby and we miss him everyday. With all of the sadness, comes big change. We finally sent in the bulk of our paperwork for the homestudy and we are officially underway. One of the many things Angus has taught us was that life is way too short and that we needed to get on this. Plus, it's a great distraction.

There was a little hiccup with attaining Dave's birth certificate, but it is in hand now and will be sent to the agency tomorrow. We so wanted Angus to meet our little one, I know that we will be telling many tales of Angus' antics! If anything, Angus taught us how to be great parents, with the constant worry and trips to the ER, he prepared us in so many ways...for that we are thankful.

We have also been planning a fundraiser and will be selling raffle tickets for different lodging opportunities, the biggest being a week stay at the Key West resort at Disney! So, all you Disney freaks, we have a limited amount of tickets for this one! We will also be raffling off a week's stay up at Rangley Lake in Maine, a weekend stay in Vegas, Baby...and a long weekend stay in NYC. So, we would love your support and if you have anything to raffle that you would like to donate, please let us know! We are also looking for help selling raffle tickets, so spread the word! Tickets will be available within the next few weeks!

Also exciting news, I have started painting the nursery! It's been far too long since my last artistic endeavor and I needed some motivation (plus it helps to get my mind off of things).

I will post pictures shortly, if I can find my cable to the camera...

Thank you for following and I'll keep you posted on the raffle front!

Update!

Well, it looks like things are starting up. We are poised to send out our homestudy application this weekend and we are officially an LLC! So, if people donate money, we can give them a receipt for a tax write off. So, it's mutually beneficial. The IL's are donating several 3-day weekend vacations as well as 2 week long vacations to raffle off! Hopefully this will bring in some $. My folks are donating a week in October at their timeshare in Maine, so I'm hoping with a few fundraisers we can get the ball rolling. We chatted last night with the family friend who adopted a few years ago from Russia. She was so helpful and mentioned a few things that we didn't even think of! She's been great and has explained a ton to my MIL...So, we are going forward and I can't wait to get this show on the road!

Letters of Recommendation part 2

So we've asked two of Dave's friends to write letters, since they have known him for 15+ years. They both have completed and mailed out the letters within a week of receiving the forms I sent! So, it looks like we have to get on the ball and get things in gear! The letters need to go straight to the agency and so they should have 3 of the 5 letters already. We are still trying to figure out how we are going to pay for all of this...the economy is less than stellar as I assume you all know first hand. We are both pretty lucky to be employed at this point (hopefully it stays that way). I hope this economy will bounce back quickly, we are looking into adoption grants and other ways of raising money. I heard a nasty rumor that the tax credit for adoption may be going away in 2010, so we'd better get going on this!

I guess the addage is true "where there's a will, there's a way"

We will get this done, no matter what.

Letters of Reference

Part of the home study application is 5 letters of reference from people that know you well enough to give an opinion on your potential as a parent. All of these people must not be relatives, so it narrows it down to friends. Luckily we have several good friends who have agreed to write letters on our behalf. It's kind of an awkward thing to ask someone you are friends with to write a letter outlining and giving examples of how well you will be as a parent. I have asked longtime college friends as well as newer friends that have different levels of interaction with us as a couple. My college friends have known me for 14 years and have known Dave for the past 5, and in limited interactions. I always worry that it would be hard to gage from such little interaction, but as one friend proved in her letter, the worry was for nought.

Dave will be asking a few friends of his to write the other two letters, they know Dave on a different level so we will have all of our bases covered. I always wonder how other people view me and what they truly think. For the most part I have a pretty tough skin, but I am always touched and amazed by my friends and am so thankful they are a part of our lives.

Fundraising

So, we are faced with a huge bill for this adoption upwards of 40 grand...um, yeah...that number is a little scary for a lot of people. It's a really nice new car, or down payment on a house, even a year's tuition to college. There are so many fees and checks to write in order for this to go through, not to mention the regular expenses that come with raising a child! So, we are looking into ways of fundraising and making this work. Dave's parents are going to help us out as much as they can and we need to raise a chunk of money on our own to supplement the rest. Thankfully Dave's job offers adoption assistance in the form of reimbursement which will help out tremendously, but it's just coming up with the initial money. So, we are looking into doing a silent auction type thing in the next few months. We will need to hit up everyone we know to help out and donate. As much as I hate asking my friends to help and donate, it's a necessary evil. So, if you have anything you'd like to donate, time, a service, something material, let me know!

I know we are not alone in this quest, and in these difficult economic times, it makes this plan a little crazy, but we have to try. I want to try to make this big event as fun as possible, lots of food, friends and family, maybe some music...basically a big party that people will bid on things. It's a strange idea, but aside from hawking candy bars at the local grocery store (believe me, I've thought about it) at least it would be fun and people would hopefully have a good time while donating their money to this cause. If you dear reader can think of any other ways to raise money, I would love to field ideas! Let me have 'em! Oh, just so you all know, each one of you will be invited to this shindig! It's a good thing I love planning parties like this and I think it'll be a lot of fun!

As if the home study, paperwork and waiting weren't bad enough, we need to throw in the added stress of financing this whole process...I know we will get through this, it's just a small hurdle in this long race.

I just wish it was a little easier on the wallet.

Thanks for reading, keep an eye out for dates and times!

-D

Guardianship

Part of this whole process is choosing a guardian(s) for the adopted child if, god forbid, something were to happen to us. Dave and I had a discussion about this the other night and felt that my sister and her husband were the best candidates. They are not likely to have their own children, so this seemed like the obvious choice. I spoke with my sister last night and asked her if she would consider it and to talk to Brian about it. She seemed very excited about it and assured me that she would talk to him and they would let us know. According to my mom, when she spoke to Brenda last night, she was giddy that we had asked. So, I don't think it will be a problem, plus this will keep our child in the family and my sister gets along with Dave's parents so they would be willing to keep that connection, which is important to us.

Paperwork, paperwork and more paperwork...

My task for today was to go through all of the Home study application paperwork...um, holy hell is it a lot! There is a ton to be notarized and initialed. We also have to ask 5 people to write letters of recommendation for us and have those notarized as well. So far we have 3 out of the 5 all set, I sent out two of them yesterday and my good friend J I can give her the form in person. So, I went through and initialed where I needed, crossed the T's and dotted the I's. I really want to get all of this done within the next few weeks to get the ball rolling with the home study and get a SW all set for February and March. Now, I just have to kick Dave in the butt to get him going on his Autobiography and sign on the dotted line. In his defense, he's been working crazy hours and I think I may be more tweaked over this stuff than he is. I have our I-600A form filled out (for immigration) and we will have to get fingerprinted at some point by the FBI. There are several background checks by the state police and DSS to make sure that we are not criminals...(this makes me laugh). It's a necessary evil, and I don't mind filling it all out, I know the Dossier paperwork will only be double what we are doing right now so it's good practice!

Hope you all have a wonderful long weekend!

Adoption Education class

We need 10 hours of adoption education and there happened to be a class offered in Portsmouth on the 10th. So I jumped at the chance to go and fulfill the majority of the time needed. Dave and I went in with open minds and ready to learn! We were running a little late, and me doing 80 along 101 (knock on wood I didn't get pulled over), finally got to the library and found our way to the room. The SW Kate, was so nice and there were 4 other families there in different stages of adoption. There was talk about expectations of the child and when they got home, attachement issues that may arise from institutionalized children, and lots of other factors to consider. We met a couple that adopted from Khazaktan and were looking to adopt again. They brought a book, kind of a scrapbook, of their child's journey home which was facinating. We also met a mom who adopted from India, she brought her daughter in so that we may ask questions about her experience (she also used MAPS) and her daughter was adorable and very shy.

It was a long day and with our certificate in hand, we are feeling a little bit more prepared than when we first stepped into this process. I only wish Kate was our SW, she was great and also adopted from MAPS a few years ago. We can do the other 2 hours on our own and shouldn't be a problem. All in all, it was a very whirlwind day with tons of information to process. We are slowly reading the binder of articles and feel slighly more prepared.

only slightly...

Autobiography

So, Dave and I have to each write an Autobiography for the homestudy. I spent all of last Sunday writing this darn thing and you know it's going to be long when the questions themselves are 3 pages long! I managed to finish about 95% of it and it will need another look over before I submit it. I wrote almost 5 pages about myself, and as most of you know, I'm a pretty private person and talking about myself in the narrative form is a little awkward...

They want to know where you came from, your parent's parenting style and if you want to follow that. They get really indepth and want to know almost everything (except sock color). In a way it's great that they are being this thorough, and I am finding out in this process that you need to open your life for prying eyes (the agency and the Russian government) and be comfortable with that...so as much as it's an inconvience, it's a necessity in order to be sucessful.

I think at this point the biggest chunk of homestudy application is the autobiography and the rest is just gathering paperwork. So I feel pretty good about that accomplishment...now onto ordering birth certificates!

Target baby clearance

I couldn't resist going to see what they had available on clearance...I didn't find a whole lot, but what I did get was babyproofing stuff for the homestudy. I also got a sling, but it didn't fit, so that's going back one of these days. There wasn't too much that we needed right away, but the babyproofing will begin soon.

Welcome!

Hey there and welcome to our blog! We are very excited to start our adoption journey. We are currently working on our paper work for our home study. We are working with Maine Adoption Placement Services, or MAPS out of Portland Maine. So far we are really impressed with their Russia program since they were the 1st Russian recognized US agency for adoptions. We are going to try to chronical our journey, all of the ups and downs and pitfalls that is adoption. So, hold on folks, it's gonna be a bumpy ride!