Introducing our budding family. We hope you will enjoy watching us grow... and everything else under the sun. ;)
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Please Pray for The Families of Kyrgyzstan

Sometime yesterday an airplane carrying about 100 passengers crashed near the capital of Bishkek Kyrgyzstan. The plane, traveling to Iran, was having technical difficulties and made the decision to turn around. A Bishkek high school sports team were amongst others on board who were either injured or killed.
We will pray for the families who lost loved ones - especially as this now draws close to home, our daughters.

Feel free to click on the header of this post for the complete news story about this tragedy (or click here). 0 comments

Donations

I am always on the lookout for a bargain - cheap, free, on clearance or on sale. I know many smart savvy moms who shop like me. Along our journey full of research many families have traveled to their childs country and brought gifts. We have been thinking about this for awhile now and figure now would be a good time to start. Clearance... I always raid the clearance racks wherever I go - even if we don't need anything or there isn't a b-day coming up. With that being said, we are starting a collection of items to take with us on our trip to Kyrgyz. Clothes ranging from any size (newborn/infant, toddler and school-aged) and any season. Socks, booties, shoes and hats. We are hoping to collect a good amount in addition to maybe supply diapers and possibly diaper cream once we arrive (easier to buy there than travel with).

In addition some may notice the pretty pink banner I've added on the bottom of the page. Once clicked, this will take you to another site. Please note that if you decide to sign up for this site - that we are registered ONLY for the cash option of which will help us fund Baby V's adoption. In the past I have completed several sites like these (quickly labeled as "get paid to" sites) and have been successful in completing them. I know there is a fair amount of individuals that may feel this type of networking is "shady". If you worry go ahead and do some research, Google the site and form your own opinion.

Lastly if you would like to donate any type of clothing item, all would be greatly appreciated by the Kyrgyz children and their caregivers. Please contact me for more information on how you can help. Mandm2002@ameritech.net (Please enter "DONATIONS" in subject line)

Edited to add: New or gently used clothes would both appropriate donations. :) 1 comments

If It Was As Simple As Curtains Holding Us Back

This is the period that most adoptive parents dread - the wait. Though I am sure we have just begun. Now that the doctor forms have FINALLY come in and the homestudy has been written and finalized... the dossier/paperwork that we have been so busy collecting can now be taken to the Secretary of State for certification. Once we get the finalized copy in our hands and Michael can take a day off of school - Chicago here we come!

The USCIS print taking was pretty uneventful. Though the 45 minute wait would have been avoided if we had been rehearsed on using our middle name, or the initial of it. With that, we got stuck waiting for the immigration officer to come in (20 minutes late) for him to check off our form and match us to our I.D.

Anyhoo... we are still on the search for bedroom furniture for Baby V. It's stressful to know (for me anyway) if she will be in a crib or a toddler bed. Some may not think this is an issue, but when you are preparing a room it matters millions. She will use Hayden's crib if need be, but we plan on buying her a bedroom set for her later years, thus being able to make us of the dressers. Unfortunately we haven't made much headway on decorating her room. I've been searching for the most "perfect" curtains but truthfully the only "perfect" curtain comes in the set that matches the blanket and prints for her room. I don't think I will need the quilt and diaper keeper and other stuff that comes in the set (and neither did I need it for Hayden when he was little). Nor can I see spending $180 just to get the set for the curtains. So I am stuck at a fork in the road.

New this week I have included a timeline... this list depicts the important dates when paperwork, prints, etc. were accepted and more. Keep an eye on this list to know where we are at in this stage/day. Even if I don't have a blog entry for the day, there may be news here.

Hayden has aced his speech lesson on pronouncing Kyrgyzstan. It's not easy for an adult to say it, but for a 5 year old it's pure chance. It's simply endearing (heartbreaking, tearfull and loving all roled up into one) to hear Hayden talk about his baby sister. For instance, while on one of our many journeys for furniture, Hayden came across a small rocking chair. He mentioned buying it for baby sisters room. He then moved onto a small stuffed animal, only to realize that we were only shopping for dressers. It's so cute that he wants to buy her things, acknowledging that she will need things - making this more real everyday.

With that note we appreciate the support from our friends and family. Everyone has questions and we have no problem answering them. We recently ordered several books on Kyrgyzstan and are busy studying them. By T-day (travel day) we should be experts! We are so excited to learn all there is about where our daughter is coming from, share it with Hayden and everyone willing to hear. 0 comments

Souvenirs Don't Count

Amongst preparing the dossier which consists of over 20 forms... we've been keeping a watchful eye on our mailbox for our I-171H form. This is yet another crucial form that must be returned to us and then included in our dossier-which then needs to be translated and shipped off to Kyrg. Unfortunately... along with the letters for our NEXT FBI fingerprinting appointment which they conveniently schedule for you (Saturday August 8, 8am - they so don't know I am NOT a morning person do they?) came a cordial letter stating that we screwed up. LOL

I guess when Michael and I got married, we received a souvenir marriage license and just assumed that it was an official copy. So, we made a copy of it... sent it in and haven't heard a complaint... until now. Anyway, we headed back to VitalChek.com (amazing how convenient the internet is these days!) and ordered us up some originals. First thing we did was ship off one of these "non-souvenir" marriage license to the USCIS office and are back to drooling at the window. Once all these forms are back in our hands we will be traveling to the Secretary of State to have them certified and then ship them off to have them translated for Kyrg.

Well, it's melancholy here. Michael goes back to school shortly, as does Hayden. He will start Kindergarten on August 28th. It will be great to have the quiet time again but I will miss having my boys home. On the bright side... my ear should be recovering shortly. I went to the doctor (killing two birds with one stone) to have it checked out and get blood drawn for yet another form for our dossier. We got back last Wednesday from our short but sweet water park adventure and Hayden had a great time. We visited the Andersen Japanese Gardens and also a childrens hands-on museum during our trip.

It's a busy August here. We have several birthday parties to attend. Fingers to print. A future sister inlaw to celebrate (bridal shower) and my brothers wedding coming September 6th. It's quite a whirlwind here with traveling.

That's about it for today. Hopefully the last form on our end (in the doctors hand's) will be completed and returned shortly and we will be on our merry way.
Until next time... thank you for all your support! 0 comments