A New Beginning

We're Back!!
For those who've been following this blog, sorry for being gone so long. After our vacation, I was called out of town a few times on extended business trips. Then to top is all off, my system crashed and I lost me passwords for this site as well as others. That meant I couldn't even even leave messages on others blogs. Now to the updates.

We did get a new facilitator. We got busy and did get a new dossier submitted, nearly on time. We forgot to send one document and didn't have time to get there by July 23rd. Our facilitator worked with the director of the SDA and was OK'ed to submit it as long as all the dates were before the 23rd. He got our dossier submitted on the 25th, I think.

So, as it stood, we were told that our dossier was submitted, again, and we waited. At about 20 work days, I started following up to see what the status was.

Yesterday, we got word that our appointment date is October 20th :). Hoorah!! Our facilitator offered to fax us the appointment letter and we just got him a fax number. We are looking forward to seeing it first hand. We have confidence that we have this date.

Reality is setting in and it's now time to get everything in order. We need to find someone to look after our house for up to 2 months. I need to find a skilled computer geek to look after my clients while I'm gone. We need to set up our travel amunst so many other things that we are thinking of. Though the pressure is now on, it's all small stuff compared to getting where we are now. It's taken us 1 1/2 years to get where we are now. We're so excited and looking forward to actually getting there, it's hard to deal with.

So we are entering the last phase here at home. So much to do and so little time to get it done.

Thanks for your patience while following this blog.

Thanks for all the support

Thank you all for your encouragement and positive comments. We haven't dropped off the face of the planet, we've just been incredibly busy.

We are pushing forward on the Ukrainian adoption front. We've been running around getting everything updated. Our HS updated interview has been completed and we are now waiting to get the referrals and background checks back (yes, we had to redo all these). Our state background checks should be back within a couple of weeks. Our medicals have been redone for the third time. And on top of all this, I've been incredibly busy with work so time has been in very short supply. Unfortunately, I'm now out of town for this week on business and will have Virginia try and get some of the other stuff done, if she can get the time off work. I think all the time consuming items are taken care of and just have the local quick stuff to do (ie. marriage license, house deed, my statement of earnings, etc.).

I'm hoping to catch up on some blogging this week in the evenings. I'm actually at a remote mine site that connects only by satellite so I'll see how much I can actually catch up on. Then we are on vacation for the next two weeks so there won't be much I can do, adoption wise for the next three weeks. I guess there is no real good timing for anything, but I'll get it when it can.

We didn't realize how much we need this vacation. We haven't vacationed for the last two years expecting to travel when we adopt. Now that vacation is imminent, we are so ready. It will feel good to just get away. Though there are things that will still need to be done, we can't do them while away so we are just going to hold tight and (try) not to worry about them while sunning (burning) on the beach.

So for now, not much new news; just pushing forward with Ukraine. I hope to have some (good) news to report on my next post.

The other couple who went through the same ordeal we did has been notified that they were submitted on June 4th. Our prayers are with them that it all goes well this time around.

Cheers all and thanks again,
Chris and Virginia

A New Day

Usually, it's darkest just before it goes pitch black. The heavens have opened up and given us light to see by. As you know, there was another couple in the exact same position with the same facilitator. There has been lots of confusion, lack of communication and plain old lying by the facilitator. Through this confusion, it looked as though our Ukrainian journey was taking a bad twist and we even considered that, though our hearts were there, that this country wasn't meant to be for us. Through perseverance, prayer and dumb luck, we are still in with Ukraine.

We actually have a date of July 23rd to submit our dossier. This is wholly workable for us and we can even enjoy our vacation :). We already have some appointments and will be making more in the very near future. I now don't see any roadblocks for us regarding or dossier submission. We have to have some faith that this is actually our date and when the submission sheet comes out, we'll ask a favor of someone to actually check it. We'll deal with that when the time comes; one step at a time. I need to preserve what sanity I have left.

We've been looking into Hungary and like the process there as well. It can take a long time but we would hope that with our broad requirements that it would not take quite as long. We are still going to pursue this avenue as a secondary route. It's a long stay in country, but you spend the time with the child/ren getting to know them. Essentially, you foster them for a month over there before the adoption becomes final. That's a rather nice thought; getting to take them places over there. I view it as a kind of vacation with potential children.

I don't know if many of you have found our requirements, but we are looking for a sibling group of 2 between the ages of 2 - 12 yrs old and at least one a girl. Healthy is preferable, but moderate issues are workable depending on what they are. As you can see, we are open to a rather large range. We are a childless couple, not by choice, and really love having children around. We hate having to give our nephews and nieces back when they visit.

Sorry for the long post, but we are in better spirits. We love roller coasters. Though things are looking brighter than they were several days ago, we are ready to get off this ride. Enough is enough, but we will be here though it all. This may sound selfish, but the children deserve it and so do we; let's get this done.

Once again, we thank you all for your prayers, thoughts and advice. We may be contacting some of you in the near future as we evaluate our options.

Thanks Again,
Chris and Virginia

Update on our options

First, we want to say thank you all for your prayers, thoughts and advice.

Just so you know, we are not giving up by any means. Money is the least considered factor, but we still need to keep it in mind (not rich, just saved awhile to afford this). We've looked at our options realistically. We contacted Washoe County Child Protection Services about an update for the HS. No fees for this, but we need to do another background check which takes about 10 days. Ouch. The state background checks take 2 weeks on a good day and that is expedited. Redoing the medicals could be done probably without any problems. Then, if we got the dossier there on time, it still needs to be translated which I imagine could be expedited as well. The most significant factor is whether we actually have a June 4th appointment. There is a translator which is going to check on this today (Wed Ukraine time).

We are giving our current facilitator one chance to keep us and that's to get us a date with the existing dossier. The date would have to be verified by the letter from the SDA. We are also looking for another facilitator that will take us and hopefully has a submittal date for later this year. As I said before, we aren't giving up.

One other option we are looking into is changing countries (we have one in mind). This is an option we can pursue now to see the viability. I only see Ukraine becoming harder next year with more uncertainties, but that didn't prevent us this last year. We still have options and are not closing any doors. I know many of you have had similar problems that you've overcome. With prayers, tenacity and some luck, we will overcome this as others have.

Thank you everyone for putting up with my rants and vents. I think I'm done with that and hope to get back to posting positive forward movement soon. Thank you again :-).

Decision making time - Venting

Well, I wish I had received better news than this. We have a June 4th submission date. Wait a minute, didn't I tell you all our dossier was submitted in February. Well, that's what was told to our agency and that's what we were told. Now, the facilitator comes back today and says we have a this new date.

OK, so what's that problem, we now have a date. Well, our entire dossier will have to be redone because the last updates were in January. This means that I need to get an updated HS done, physicals done again along with lab tests, everything re-notarized and apostilled.

So again I say, what's the problem. Nevada apostilles take 7-10 working days but I can get them expedited. I've spent over $1K getting documents expedited and nothing to show for it. I would have to spend at least another $600 to get these expedited and could cost more depending on how long everything else takes.

So, I think that this could be possible if I dropped everything else. I run my own business and this week is filled with critical timing for my clients so now I have a further dilema, loose my clients and pursue the adoption (no way to now pay for it) or look at other options. I no longer trust our facilitator to get the job done so that leaves me with finding another facilitator who could submit us this year. I could let him submit it then try and change facilitators, but the atmosphere in Ukraine, I feel, is rather hostile right now to IA. This adoption is at the top of our priority list, but we still have to be reasonable about our decisions.

So tonight, Virginia and I are going to look at the options and decide. We may choose another country and cut our losses here. My heart has been in Ukraine for several years now, why I don't understand. Though it is still there, we may end up going to a different country. We may stay the route and see if we can get a later submission date. No matter what way we go, we will have to redo our complete dossier.

We need to take some time and decide what is the best possible way to go. This will be a hard decision. :( It seems that all I've been doing lately is venting but there is an upside. Virginia's brother and family are going to Mexico in June for a vacation. It's a wonderful place on the Carribean side that we've been to before and love. They've been hounding us to come along and we've been in limbo since we didn't know when we would be traveling. Well, it's now decided; we need a vacation and time away so we are going. We get to hang with a wonderful family and this should rejuvenate us for whatever is coming next.

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.