Starting to get frustrated!!

Still not a word from our facilitator. Our agency has been in constant contact with us on this and have been great. We are not sure what the issue is, but we are starting to get worried. There is another couple that got submitted on the same day as us and their dossier had not been given a date yet either. Well, just before the holidays last week, the SDA did a search and finally found their dossier. It seems that theirs was misplaced by them and we are hoping that ours can be found in the same place. We don't know if ours is lost or not and are waiting to hear word from the facilitator.

I've taken the Ukrainian holiday week off of blogging just to try and clear my mind. I'll remotivate once I hear something, hopefully it'll be positive.

OK, I've vented for now. I hope those of you who are in the process are going along smoothly. For those of you already home, I hope the same for your family.

Cheers to you all :)

We are being shaken up!

I know things have been shaky at the SDA, but Reno, Nevada lately has been ridiculous. We are averaging about 50+ earthquakes a day. Granted, most are not felt, but we get a few good shakers each day that reminds us that Mother Earth is quite active. The Geologists I work with think it's a new fault that's doing all the shaking. Many of the epicenters are under a new and expensive subdivision. I guess their housing prices will be dropping for awhile till things settle down.

I find it quite exciting. I know I'm kinda twisted, but it's a humbling experience and reminds me just how small we really are in the big scheme of things. I spent much of my youth in Southern California and weathered many larger earthquakes, always enjoying each one.

I know this post has nothing to do with adoptions, but just had to give it a mention. If you want to see a map of earthquakes in the US, go to www.usgs.gov and click on the earthquake maps on the left.

Still No Date :(

It's been two months and we still don't have a date. We're now getting anxious and a bit worried. We are trying to find out from the facilitator what's going on with our dossier. We know of another couple that is having the same problem. Our agency has been in regular contact with us and they aren't sure what's going on with our dossiers either.

We are still not under the gun yet. Our next set of documents that expire is our HS in late August. Either we're going to need to get a date soon or we may end up having to get a short notice travel which I just as soon not get. A mid to late July date could easily see us having to update our HS before we travel. Our HS cost us $3600 and can't readily afford to pay that again. I guess we should look into what it will take to get it updated and hope they don't charge a substantial fee for it.

As adoptions go, this one is being rather expensive. We've already spent 10K+ and haven't even traveled yet nor payed anything to the facilitator. It'll be worth it in the end; I just wish we could have avoided some of the expediting fees. Had we tried this a few years back, we wouldn't have been able to afford it and could have been discouraged enough not to be here now. There is a time and place for everything and we feel this is our time and Ukraine the place; we won't be discouraged!!

We hope that those awaiting word get it soon. For those about to travel, God speed and hope all goes well. And for those back from your journey, may your dreams for your family come to fruition.

Thank You Nataliya for your offer.

Nothing New

All quiet on the Eastern front. I checked in with our agency this week and they have nothing new. There are a few couples that have had their dossiers submitted around the same time and we are all still waiting for word. What's kinda funny here is that we're not stressing over this wait. We're both quite content to wait a short while for the appointment date. Things are crazy over there right now so waiting till things settle a bit might be for the good. Who knows?

We had a wonderful visit with Virginia's brother and family. Bill and Laura drove their 5 kids down from Portland, OR. over the Easter break. Bill had to go back to work so we let them borrow our Mustang and we used their urban assault vehicle (mini van) for the week. What a difference in driving between the two. They're great kids (4 girls and 1 boy) which made for a wonderful week of play for me and more work for Virginia (she enjoyed the visit too). The 11 hour drive back to Portland was uneventful except for a stomach bug that was going around the kids. I've come to realize that I have a stomach of steel since I had to wash out parts of the van during the trip.

Small Update about timing

Well, I have a possible bit of timing on our travel date. It seems that a family adopting older/special needs children have an early June travel date. From what I understand, their dossier was submitted a couple weeks (mid February) before ours, so I'm guestimating a mid to late June as a possibility for us. Just an FYI.

Again, this is all conjecture and is subject to change on a whim. But at least someone who submitted their dossier this year has an appointment date so things are beginning to move for 2008 :). Keep the faith, chin up and march ahead!

Cheers

Nothing new, just happy Saint Patrick's day

I don't expect to hear anything soon so we are just waiting,...patiently. We've been trying to keep up with all the other blogs we read but there just doesn't seem to be enough time in the day. It takes us about 3-4 days to make the round trip though all the blogs and boards.

Have a Happy Saint Patrick's Day. We reckon we can say that since we're both at least half Irish by ancestry :).

Great News for us :)

I can now say that we've been recently submitted. Yeah!!!

Things were crazy last week, in a good way. The week ended on such a high note. Virginia's brother and his family will be down for Easter and we found out we were submitted :). We've also been nesting again, looking at kids beds, painting rooms, buying furniture for the upcoming family growth. We're just having way too much fun.

From my understanding, for what it's worth, is that the numbering system (dossier registration number) didn't start at 1 for 2008, but continued from where 2007 left off. I guess there were some assumptions made on one of the boards which didn't sound quite right. I had a hard time imagining the quota already filled up when the year had just began. Then again, this is Ukraine we are talking about (not meant in a negative tone). I'm hoping that the SDA can get in the groove and streamline their process for everybody's sanity.

Lastly but not least, I want to congratulate 'About A Child' for getting their Hague accreditation. That's all for now, just a quick update :).