By now most everyone knows that our adoption plans have changed. God has blessed us and Joella is pregnant and safely through her first trimester. The news was certainly a great Christmas and New Year's present, but we decided to keep the good news under wraps until after the first few months had passed. For everyone's information, we are keeping the international adoption paperwork going for at least a few more months, but we will not be accepting a referral during the pregnancy. We will still consider international adoption in the future and we will probably look at sponsoring an older child in the meantime. The way our adoption paperwork was being processed we would not have had a referral until May and we would not have been traveling until July. Once we have completed the 20 week sonogram, we will officially put our adoption paperwork on hold. For those of you who are wondering, we will not be finding out the gender of our baby so you can start taking bets.
Our blog has obviously now gone through some editing, but we will leave much of the information on Kazakhstan as it stands because we still feel a part of the adoption community. We have certainly been blessed, but it is very rare to become pregnant in the midst of adopting and we feel close to all those people who are still yearning to complete their families. We appreciate everyone's prayers for us and we also ask that you pray for all of those orphans throughout the world who are still searching for a home.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Saturday, February 2, 2008
One More Step Closer
We did receive some news a couple of days ago from our adoption coordinator that verified our adoption paperwork had completed the translation process and was being sent to the Kazakhstan embassy in New York. Once the paperwork is fully processed there it will be sent back to Kazakhstan where it must be reviewed by several different departments before the officials even start checking on the availability of children for adoption.
We hope that everyone is doing well and we are definitely looking forward to spring. It seems like we both have been sick the whole month and we can't wait for some nicer weather.
We hope that everyone is doing well and we are definitely looking forward to spring. It seems like we both have been sick the whole month and we can't wait for some nicer weather.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Not Much to Update
We have not posted in quite some time because there really is not much to update. Plus, both of us developed colds since New Year's day (Schastliv s novom godom...literally be happy with the new year) so we have not been doing much. Some of you might not know that I (Mark) studied quite a bit of Russian in high school and some even in college, so I have dusted off my old text books. It is really amazing how many interactive lessons are available for free online. These online lessons are certainly a nice break from regular books.
Even though she is just now getting over her cold, Joella has started to help out with a high school robotics team. Several of her friends from work have done this project for the last few years and she is really enjoying it. I am sure Joella will write some more about it later and provide the web links to their work. The team is planning on going to the regional competition in Minnesota later this spring.
I am sure that everyone really wants to hear more specifics on the adoption timeline. Although we certainly do receive updates, each phase can take from a week to two months so you can just estimate that it takes about 6 months (from dossier submittal) for us to have definite news.
Dossier apostilled in Kansas City - 12/13/07
Dossier sent to World Partners Adoption for review - 12/14/07
Dossier sent to Kazakhstan for translation - 12/19/07
Dossier goes to Consulate of Kazakhstan in New York City - 1/30/08
Dossier goes to Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) in Kazakhstan
Dossier goes to the Ministry of Education (MOE) in Kazakhstan
Ministry of Education determines where in Kazakhstan an infant is available for adoption
We receive the Letter of Invitation (LOI) to travel to Kazakhstan
We receive our Kazakhstan visas
We leave for Kazakhstan
Even though she is just now getting over her cold, Joella has started to help out with a high school robotics team. Several of her friends from work have done this project for the last few years and she is really enjoying it. I am sure Joella will write some more about it later and provide the web links to their work. The team is planning on going to the regional competition in Minnesota later this spring.
I am sure that everyone really wants to hear more specifics on the adoption timeline. Although we certainly do receive updates, each phase can take from a week to two months so you can just estimate that it takes about 6 months (from dossier submittal) for us to have definite news.
Dossier apostilled in Kansas City - 12/13/07
Dossier sent to World Partners Adoption for review - 12/14/07
Dossier sent to Kazakhstan for translation - 12/19/07
Dossier goes to Consulate of Kazakhstan in New York City - 1/30/08
Dossier goes to Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) in Kazakhstan
Dossier goes to the Ministry of Education (MOE) in Kazakhstan
Ministry of Education determines where in Kazakhstan an infant is available for adoption
We receive the Letter of Invitation (LOI) to travel to Kazakhstan
We receive our Kazakhstan visas
We leave for Kazakhstan
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Tis the Season
The snow that arrived today certainly is helping us to get into the holiday spirit. About 4" fell today at our house and the puppies certainly enjoyed playing in the snow.
We had a pretty relaxing day today as we finished some shopping, wrapped a few presents, and watched a movie after dinner. We also put the rest of our Christmas cards in the mail today so hopefully people will start receiving them soon. We will provide a sneak peak though of our second place photo which was nice, but not good enough to make our Christmas card.
Friday, December 14, 2007
The Dossier is in the Mail
First thing this morning we took our dossier to FedEx and got it in the mail. It definitely feels great having it completed and mailed off and we certainly look forward now to relaxing and enjoying the upcoming Christmas holiday.
Now that the dossier is out the door, it is somewhat nice to think back on the paperwork process that we went through. Yesterday, after all of the dossier copies were made, we made sure that we provided a picture of the stack that included both English and metric measurements since we will have to gradually prepare ourselves for international travel. Today we have included a picture of the three different apostilles (gold seals from the Secretary of State) that we needed for our dossier. The majority of our documents required the Missouri seal which is on the left, but the paperwork from our adoption agency needed the Georgia seal (middle), and finally our FBI fingerprint cards were processed in West Virginia so that seal is on the right. Our adoption agency has done a great job answering questions throughout this paperwork process and everyone at each of the government agencies has truely been wonderful and helpful.
We were able to go out tonight and celebrate with our friends Adam and Angela along with our godchildren, Allison and Andrew. Although we were certainly pleased about mailing off the dossier, we were actually celebrating Angela's graduation from UMKC. Congratulations Angela!
Now that the dossier is out the door, it is somewhat nice to think back on the paperwork process that we went through. Yesterday, after all of the dossier copies were made, we made sure that we provided a picture of the stack that included both English and metric measurements since we will have to gradually prepare ourselves for international travel. Today we have included a picture of the three different apostilles (gold seals from the Secretary of State) that we needed for our dossier. The majority of our documents required the Missouri seal which is on the left, but the paperwork from our adoption agency needed the Georgia seal (middle), and finally our FBI fingerprint cards were processed in West Virginia so that seal is on the right. Our adoption agency has done a great job answering questions throughout this paperwork process and everyone at each of the government agencies has truely been wonderful and helpful.
We were able to go out tonight and celebrate with our friends Adam and Angela along with our godchildren, Allison and Andrew. Although we were certainly pleased about mailing off the dossier, we were actually celebrating Angela's graduation from UMKC. Congratulations Angela!
Thursday, December 13, 2007
The Dossier is Complete!!
We are proud to report that we have finally finished our dossier and are ready to FedEx it to our agency tomorrow morning! It feels great to finally have this portion of it done, now we just have to sit back and wait...easier said than done. At least now we can turn our attention to other things, like sprucing up the house a little and turning our office into a nursery :)
To give you an idea of what goes into the dossier, here is some of the paperwork we had to gather. We started in July with a home study, that took us about 6 weeks to complete. We also had to get our I171H approval from INS and fingerprints/clearance from the FBI. Then we had to obtain certified copies of our birth certificates, as well as our marriage license. We also had to get notarized letters from our work, bank, mortgage company, and our doctor, which included several medical tests. The paperwork also included numerous forms that were provided by our agency that needed to be filled out and notarized. Once everything had been notarized, we then took it to the Secretary of State's office to be Apostilled. By this point the stack of papers has grown to 60 sheets! Then we needed to make 5 complete copies of the dossier, one copy for us and 4 to send with the originals to our agency. So in all, we have 360 sheets of paper, 300 of which will be FedExed tomorrow. That is a stack of papers over 2 inches tall and weighing a couple of pounds! To give you an idea of how much that is, we took a few pictures of our hard work.
To give you an idea of what goes into the dossier, here is some of the paperwork we had to gather. We started in July with a home study, that took us about 6 weeks to complete. We also had to get our I171H approval from INS and fingerprints/clearance from the FBI. Then we had to obtain certified copies of our birth certificates, as well as our marriage license. We also had to get notarized letters from our work, bank, mortgage company, and our doctor, which included several medical tests. The paperwork also included numerous forms that were provided by our agency that needed to be filled out and notarized. Once everything had been notarized, we then took it to the Secretary of State's office to be Apostilled. By this point the stack of papers has grown to 60 sheets! Then we needed to make 5 complete copies of the dossier, one copy for us and 4 to send with the originals to our agency. So in all, we have 360 sheets of paper, 300 of which will be FedExed tomorrow. That is a stack of papers over 2 inches tall and weighing a couple of pounds! To give you an idea of how much that is, we took a few pictures of our hard work.
Once the paperwork is received by our agency, they will review it to make sure it is complete and then it is sent for translation. Translation can take from 1-2 months. We hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and New Year!
Friday, December 7, 2007
Dossier Update
We just checked FedEx tracking and it appears that our apostilled FBI fingerprint cards are in route from West Virginia so that is great news. Also, our adoption coordinator reviewed scans of all of our paperwork earlier in the week and almost everything looked good. We did have to go to the county courthouse today and obtain certified marriage licenses because the certified statements of marriage that we ordered from the state were not adequate. It is funny to see Matt's chicken scratch of a signature on our marriage license and to remember how he and Mia met at our wedding. Of course Anne's name is also on the license as the other witness and we recently heard great news that she had successfully sold her old house and moved to a place much closer to her job near downtown Denver. Way to go Anne! Next Thursday we have an appointment with our traveling notary at our doctor's office so we should get that difficult medical form out of the way soon. We have about ten other documents that are now ready to be signed by us and get notarized early next week so hopefully next Friday we will be ready to go to the Secretary of State's Office in downtown Kansas City and get all of the local document apostilled. After that has been completed, we just need to make about 150 pages of copies and then ship the dossier and copies off to our adoption agency so it can all be translated.
In other great news, we found out earlier this week that our sister, Lisa, was offered a new job in St. Louis. She will be the school nurse at Webster University starting sometime in January. Congratulations Lisa! We hope that everyone stays safe during this first bout of nasty winter weather and hopefully we can get our Christmas cards out sometime in the next ten days or so... but of course the dossier comes first!
In other great news, we found out earlier this week that our sister, Lisa, was offered a new job in St. Louis. She will be the school nurse at Webster University starting sometime in January. Congratulations Lisa! We hope that everyone stays safe during this first bout of nasty winter weather and hopefully we can get our Christmas cards out sometime in the next ten days or so... but of course the dossier comes first!
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