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.