Update 5/31/05

Not much to report this week. Just waiting for the final homestudy. The reference letters should arrive to the SW tomorrow or Wednesday. Then we just wait for fingerprint reports from the state.I have been in contact with our facilitator. She is checking out our registration packet that will be sent in once the homestudy is completed. Here is an analogy for you on our 'pregnancy.'

Morning sickness - paperwork

Labor - waiting

Exhaustion of delivery - getting there and back

I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend. Have a good week!

Kirsten & Michael

Mon May 23, 2005 7:09 am

We heard from our social worker this week. He has completed our homestudy but there was a problem with the fingerprints from the state so we will have to have them sent back. There was supposed to be a letter stating that they are true and accurate in order for the international adoption to continue. This is our first delay. I will try not to count them because it will become depressing! Evidently delays are very common in international adoption.
Our SW has received one of three reference letters (thanks Mom & Dad for doing this for us!) Hopefully, the other two will arrive shortly.
I had to drive an hour to Denton Friday to correct our marriage license. My name and the minister's name were spelled incorrectly. Russia would never accept it with my name wrong. All the state of Texas does is attach a notarized sheet of paper stating the mistake and the correction.
Have a great week! This is our last week of school so next week Iplan to start cleaning out this house. This may be the last chance I have for many, many years!

Sun May 15, 2005 7:45 pm

We received our copy of the binder which has everything in it that you everwanted to know about adopting from Russia.

We also received copies of your marriage license. (Mind you this was the first time we had ever requested copies of them.) Turns out after almost 11 years my name has been spelled wrong (what a shock!) and the minister's name is spelled wrong. It took several phone calls to the court house to finally get this straightened out. Now I have to drive to Denton to complete an addendum which will be added to the original marriage license. They will reprint copies of the license free of charge.

Today makes 3 weeks since our home study - SW should have it completed in the next 2 weeks. Then we can proceed with the dossier preparations and immigration. Russians are concerned about parents who take anti-depressants because they see it as a mental problem. I asked my OB/GYN in Nacogdoches to write a letter stating the purpose of my medication. I received the most wonderful letter from my doctor this week. I wanted to laminate it and hang it on my wall. One of the things that happens through this process is you get to hear some wonderful things that the people around you think. The letter literally brought me to tears.

Take care this week. Please let us know if you have any questions about thislong drawn out process.

Kirsten

Sat May 7, 2005 3:30 pm

Finally got my passport this week! I was beginning to wonder. I took care of some paperwork this week that needed to be done. Sent the contract to LMI via FedEx. Sent some documentws to our Social Worker. Should hear something about the contract Monday. Then LMI will send us a folder that will have all of the documents needed to send to Russia to get a referral.I've been reading alot lately about people who are getting referrals again. Sounds like Russia is picking back up. There have also been lots of people returning from their first trip and getting their court date to return to Russia a week later. They will be traveling within a month. It's nice to see all of this back up and running.

New update

Michael and I were both off Friday so we went to have his fingerprints done and asked the officer to do a local background check on us for the homestudy. The officer said he would have this completed for us by Monday. About 15 minutes after arriving back home, the officer arrives at our house with the background checks completed! Talk about curbside service! Michael started his new job today. He seems really happy about it!