June 29

I had my individual meeting with our social worker today. I thought it went well. I didn't feel nervous or awkward at all, and I was very open about my family life. I actually thought it was nice. We have an end date - July 11th! That's our final homestudy visit. She is having surgery on the 20th and wants it all wrapped up beforethen. Sounds good to us! We have a week off because she's on vacation next week, but then we have DH's meeting the following Tuesday and the home visit on the Wednesday. Whew!

The other piece of news is that my child abuse check came back, so that's GREAT. I was afraid it would take ages, but it only took a week. DH turned his in a day after I did, so his will probably be in soon. Our social worker thinks the CORI form should be in soon, so my fears about this stuff holding us up will hopefully be unfounded. Now, if we could all saya little prayer that the INS form won't take too long. that's often teh BIG hangup. We've been told it's taking as little as three weeks, but I know it can take much, much longer sometimes.

We also wentyesterday to apply for DS's passport. That's exciting!
:)

June 27

Well, things do seem to be moving quickly! our social worker emailed today saying she had already completed several sections and expected to complete another by our next appt on Friday if I could just send her a bit of info! We're thrilled, but had a sudden realization that the one hang up may be the paperwork we sent into the state - the child abuse check and the CORI check. I don't know how long those typically take. That would suck to be done except for that!

In other news, I called the Russia program lady and we're sending our application in, so it's official - WE'RE GOING TO RUSSIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The cool thing is, she told us that she wants to basically have our entire dossier completed by the timethe homestudy is done so all we have to do is wait for our INS form and then Neer will be on his way to Russia to drop off our paperwork. Holy crap! This is wild! We'll see what tomorrow brings! Seems there's a new piece of our adventure every day!

Hey, if anyone actually reads this - leave a comment. I'd love to know if I'mtalking to myself ;)

June 26

so, we had our homestudy visit today! Holy crap, this is going to move FAST! Our social worker is having surgery on July 20, so she wants to be totally done by then. that's THREE weeks from now!!!!!!! Holy holy holy crap! I have my individual visit on Friday and then she's on vacation next week, so we'll do our last two visits the week she returns. INSANE! It wasn't too bad. DS was a good boy, so that made us look good, but otherwise, it was fine. Pretty much what I expected, nothing insane, plus I wasn't nervous, so I'm sure that helped. I'm just ready to go bring my kids home!
:)

June 25

We met with the woman who does the Russian placements and we think we're going to go with her. She was very nice, knowledgeable, and helpful. We have a few more things to go over with her, but we think we're going to sign with her. She thinks we should have our referral around 9 months from now, which is exciting! It's always hard to tell for sure, but that would be fantastic! DS was on his BEST behavior, which was great, because it sure made us look good! Hopefully, he'll be on such great behavior tomorrow when we meet with the social worker to OFFICIALLY BEGIN OUR HOMESTUDY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

June 24

Today we went to the big annual picnic of the agency we're doing our homestudy with. It was really interesting and a lot of fun. DS enjoyed the pony rides, the bouncy thing, and playing frisbee. I enjoyed meeting the families who've been created through adoption and seeing how close the children are to their parents. Plus, we were able to say hello to our social worker and the woman we're meeting with tomorrow to discuss her Russian program! Good times! Crazy week ahead - meeting with the woman about Russia tomorrow, homestudy visit on Tuesday, and we'll probably try to sneak another in this week because our social worker is going out of town next week - yikes! Talk about jumping in with both feet!
:)

June 22 take two

We heard back from our homestudy social worker and we'll be having our first official meeting on Tuesday afternoon - WOOHOO! I'm so so so so so excited to get moving. We also received a packet from the woman our homestudy agency recommended for Russia and her program seems interesting, so we meet with her on Monday and that's SO thrilling! What a week we have ahead of us!!!!!!!

June 22

So, we finally heard back from the homestudy social worker today and we'll probably meet up next Tuesday at some point, so that's EXCITING! I'm really ready to move on!

So, today, we

1. Mailed off the CORI requests
2. Photocopied the Background Check that I had goofed up.

Also, I have an appt with the NURSE at my doctor's office next Tuesday morning, since the bouncers at the desk wouldn't set up an appointment to see the doctor. They claimed they didn't have time to squeeze in a physical. Even when I TOLD them why I needed it an dhow important it was. How aggravating is that? Hopefully it all works out soon!
:)

June 21

So, today I wrote my autobiograhy for my homestudy. I'm STILL waiting to hear from the social worker, which I'm a little bit frustrated about since I emailed her Tuesday evening. Any thoughts on how long I should wait before I try again? i'm so not a forceful person, especially when it's someone who HAS to like me, but I am really getting anxious! Argh!

June 20

So, we heard from a woman who runs a small, local agency placing children from Russia. She places them semi-independently and our homestudy agency recommends her. I emailed her last night and we're meeting with her on Monday! I can't wait to hear what she has to say!!! that will hopefully help us make a decision between Moldova and Russia.

The bummer is that we also emailed the social worker who will be completing our homestudy and we haven't heard back yet. that makes me a little nervous that maybe she won't be quick with email replies and I'm a NOW kind of girl. So, I guess we'll see with that.

DS has informed us that he wants a brother AND a sister, so hopefully we're able to pull that off for him!
:)

COSTS!

6-19-07 Homestudy fee $2500
6-28-07 Fee to foreign placement agency $250
7-05-07 $36 for two money orders for FBI fingerprinting
7-05-07 $50 for two criminal background checks from state of MA
7-14-07 $2500 to foreign placement agency (half of the agency fee)
7-23-07 $545 for I-600A
7-23-07 $140 ($70 each for fingerprinting)

6-19 (part 2)

had our intake visit with our homestudy agency today! We paid our homestudy fee and got matched with a social worker (who happens to be the agency owner's sister!). We emailed her to set things up and we're working on figuring out country still. HOpefully we figure out where we're going soon! Our little one or ones are actually already born and out there somewhere. I hope his or her caretakers are loving him or her tons for us!

STARTING OUR ADOPTION!!!!!!!!!

Thought I'd start posting in this again, so I can keep track of what we're doing. I'll try to keep track of how much things REALLY cost as well as our real time frame and all of the decisions we make during this process. I'm so so so so over TTC and really don't want to be pregnant at all anymore, so I'm excited to move on. I can't wait to get the ball rolling!

So, tonight is our first meeting with our homestudy agency. It's an intake meeting, and the one where we fill out the paperwork (including signing the check!). Can't wait!

Currently debating between Moldova and Russia. No idea which we'll choose, but they both have major pros and cons. Wish us luck!