Adoption Mama Tag

1. How many months (days, weeks, YEARS...)from 1st paper signed to placement ? 3 years 7 months

2. WAS YOUR SIGNIFICANT OTHER EXCITED? In the beginning, but he was about ready to quit.

3. WHAT WERE YOUR REACTIONS WHEN YOU GOT "THE" PHONE CALL?
I was in total shock! There I sat having just folded a load of kitchen towels and vegging out watching The Next Food Network Star marathon and up I went out the door to the birth of my son!!

4. WHERE WERE YOU WHEN YOU FOUND OUT? Sitting in my living room in my big cozy chair.

5. HOW OLD WERE YOU? 37 when we started 40 when he was born YIKES!

6. WHAT IS YOUR CHILD'S BIRTH-COUNTRY (and province or city)? Texas, USA

7. WHO DID YOU TELL FIRST? Hubby called me to tell me about the baby. I called my Daddy on the cell phone on the way out of the driveway.

8. DID YOU REQUEST A BOY, GIRL, OR EITHER? A girl, a girl and only a girl LOL!

9. HOW OLD WAS YOUR CHILD AT REFERRAL? about 2 hours shy of birth!!

10. WHEN AND HOW DID YOU SEE YOUR CHILD'S FACE/PICTURE FOR THE FIRST TIME? When he popped out into the world :O)

11. WHAT WAS THE FIRST THING YOU BOUGHT FOR YOUR CHILD? Probably some diapers? We were given sooo many gifts, that we didn't need anything at all for several weeks!

12. WHO/WHAT IRRITATED YOU THE MOST? Before July 29 the wait was BEYOND irritating after the call I didn't have time to be irritated about anything!

13. WHEN WERE YOU ABLE TO TRAVEL? The second I hung up the phone :O)

14. DID YOU HAVE A BABY SHOWER? Yes, a big one when he was 3 weeks old

15. HOW OLD WAS YOUR CHILD WHEN YOU SAW THEM IN PERSON FOR THE FIRST TIME? The moment he was born.

16. DID YOU PACK ANYTHING SPECIAL JUST FOR YOUR BABY? NO! I didn't even have a camera with me!

17. WHAT SURPRISED YOU ABOUT YOUR TRAVEL EXPERIENCE THE MOST? That it was just down the street instead of half way around the globe!!

18. DID YOU HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS WITH YOUR PAPERWORK/PROCESS?Boy oh boy, could ours be the most complicated adoption that ended in the least complicated way???

19. WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE MEMORY OR PLACE YOU VISITED IN YOUR CHILD'S BIRTH COUNTRY?THE BEST? Every time I pass the little hospital where C was born, I think of that amazing day! And I pass it every day!

20. HOW MANY DAYS/WEEKS WERE YOU IN YOUR CHILD'S BIRTH COUNTRY? N/A

21. FAVORITE PLACE/THING TO EAT WHILE THERE? N/A

22. FAVORITE PLACE TO SHOP WHILE THERE? N/A

23. HOW MANY HOURS WERE YOU ON THE PLANE GOING/LEAVING? N/A

24. WHO MET YOU AT THE AIRPORT? N/A

25. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU DID AFTER LEAVING THE AIRPORT? N/A

26. WHAT DO YOU CALL YOUR ADOPTION DAY? I guess our "gotcha day" for C is his birthday! But Adoption day will be the day we finalize.

27. WHAT DID YOU NAME HIM/HER? CDY

28. HOW OLD IS YOUR FIRST BORN TODAY? Well D is 8 years 3 months, but since we're
talking about C's adoption right now . . . he's 6 months two weeks

29. ARE YOU PLANNING TO GO BACK TO THEIR BIRTH COUNTRY SOMEDAY? N/A

30. HAVE YOU STARTED OR ALREADY MADE YOUR CHILD A LIFEBOOK? I've started, but haven't touched it since Sept.

Pray for Jeff and Jenny

Jenny and Jeff, one of the final waiting families from our "original" group of bloggers, are finally on their way to court for their two girls!

After waiting 10 months between the first trip and this trip, they are about an hour into their flight from JFK to Moscow.

My prayers are definitely with them.

As much as I love C and am beyond thrilled to have him in our lives and family, a part of my heart will always belong in Russia and long to return there. I'll be following their journey to bring Sugar and Spice home and living vicariously through their journey!

Another of my Pre-Adoptive friends, K and her husband M left Saturday to meet their hopeful son-to-be, baby I. They have been waiting for a referral since about the time we went to meet Viktoria in March of 2006! So they are really due for an easy breezy process from here on out! Nope, she doesn't have a blog yet no matter how much I've begged her to make one. So, please pray for K, M and baby I as they begin their journey to family-hood!

Where have I been?!

There's been some pretty interesting stuff happening around here this week. I'm anxious to tell you about it, but it'll be a couple more days. Stay tuned . . .

Got Toilet Paper??

When our case manager was here yesterday for our home study update, we were going over a check list thing as all home studies seem to have. But this one I've never seen before. On one of the questions it asked if the family was able to supply toilet paper and soap?!

Let me just say, if we can't afford toilet paper and soap what on earth are we doing adopting a child from Russia!!! Now, there again, after it's all said and done we may have to go back to corn-cobs when the money runs dry!

Anyhow that just struck me as funny and the more I think of it the funnier it gets!

Home Study Update - Today

I have been so busy, I haven't had time to get on here and let you know that we are having our homestudy update today at 1 p.m. CT.

I'll report later.

*** Ok, I'm reporting back. Everything went just fine - as it usually does. I always get so nervous beforehand and want to get every single thing perfect in the house. This time it was just extra stressful in a way because we are still in such transition. But on the plus side, the house hasn't had much time to get dirty yet, so cleaning wasn't too bad.

Of course we talked a bit about the little boy who died in VA. Everyone (at the agency and the families waiting) are on pins and needles waiting to see if this will effect accreditation. Our agency's paperwork is literally sitting on the desk of the Ministry of Education waiting to be stamped with the final approval. Terrible timing.

Yes, we have even more paperwork to do. Isn't there always "more paperwork?" But at least maybe this batch will not be for naught.

I'm ready to relax and eat bon-bons for a few days. But I gotta get busy on that paperwork!

I am unpacking books

While unpacking books, I came across this book, "The Right Fit" by Sinead Moriarty. If anyone would like to read it, I'll send it along!

A Good Site - Describing Russia's Orphan Population

This site is one of the best I've read. It describes many details concerning Russia's Orphan Population.

Long time no post - sorry!

I didn't realize it had been so long since I'd posted an update until last night when my mother in law asked on the phone why I hadn't posted any new pictures of the house in such a long time!

Things are happening on the house which is wonderful! They began bricking last Friday and they're doing a great job on it too. I'm picky about bricks and didn't want any messy brick work. Smudgy and lumpy mortar is a pet peeve of mine. I'm very pleased with their work! They've come a long way since I took these pictures, but I can't find my camera! I'm sure it'll turn up, but here is a glimpse at the brick work...




They also got all the texturing done inside and did the primer coat on the walls and the ceilings. Here are a couple pictures of that...



We met with the builder and cabinet maker two days ago. It took about 2 hours to walk through the house and hash out our ideas and for him to work through them and come up with a workable plan. I thought I had the kitchen all planned out, but we had to re-work several things to make all the drawers etc. fit. I think it's going to be beautiful. I really like this man, he reminds me sooo much of my uncle, my dad's youngest brother, that I felt like I already knew him. D and I went by the house this afternoon after school and were so surprised that the mantle was already there! Just two days after meeting with him! The builder estimates that the cabinets will be delivered by the end of next week! And we have a lot of cabinets!!

On the Adoption Topic: We got a report today that our agency's paperwork is actively being worked through by the ministries to determine accreditation. The multiple regional representatives have been notified that the "powers that be" have inquired as to our agency's reputation in each region and have been giving positive remarks. In addition, the Russian Consulate in Houston has also given our agency positive reviews. So, it looks like we may be close. I've not been reading FRUA and have tried to just take a step back from staying right on top of it. I had gotten a good bit discouraged so this new report at least encourages me a smidge. I'm trying to just "let it be." Yeah, right!

Thursday Things

Not much to update. The house is just sitting for the last two days - ugh. I don't like these nothing days. They delivered the sheetrock on Monday and the plumber finished up his work for now. Got the Shower and D's tub plumbing "roughed in." We woke up to huge rain this morning and hubby stopped by the house after dropping D off at school. There were 4 leaks! I'm so glad we learned of them now, though, instead of after sheetrock had been hung. The hugest leak is coming from the chimney and then the others are around vent things. The contractor came out and hubby showed him everything. Hopefully they'll get that taken care of and this rain will leave! It's supposed to be pretty tomorrow (clear and low 60's).

Our lighting plan has changed a bit. We ended up about $750 over our lighting budget after our shopping spree at the Light Gallery. So we went to Lowe's to compare. We ended up getting about 75% of our lighting on Saturday! It was so fun. They were so much less expensive and very comparative in quality. Our biggest find was the hall lights and toilet room lights that were about $30 each at the Gallery were available for virtually the same exact light in a 2 pack at Lowes for $16.50 per two pack! We also went ahead and got our blinds for the whole house and our mirror/medicine cabinets for the Master Bath. It all fit into our van, believe it or not! We drove home in a torrential downpour, though, so we didn't unload it that night and I had to drive to church with my van loaded down LOL!

Here is D in the van on the way to church Sunday morning surrounded by lights!

This is the two-pack of hall/toilet room lights from Lowes
that is comparative to that at the gallery.

This is the light from the Gallery which is comparative to the Lowes two-pack.

Still nothing new adoption-wise either, not a peep about pending accreditation. I did read an update in ITAR-TASS about a flu epidemic that is in our region. So pray for those kids and caretakers and especially for our little one!

I'm still here

It's been a while since I've posted, I know. I've not had time to do anything but read a few e-mails when I've stopped by hubby's office and I don't think I've even been online since Monday.

Still nothing new with the adoption. The dossier is off and now we just wait for the additional documents to be translated and wait for accreditation. I really thought Accreditation would happen yesterday, on Valentines day. Maybe the end of the month afterall?

On the new house topic. I don't have many new pictures of the house because nothing new has been done to the outside. They have been working all week on the inside, but it's been plumbing work and getting things ready for insulation. Not much to take a picture of there. Today they set the insulation so we can't walk through walls anymore - Yay! The sheetrock will be delivered Monday which I take to mean that they'll begin working on that Monday!

We had to pick out paint colors and texture for the walls. So Monday morning we went and chose our flooring because I didn't want to choose paint before I chose flooring. So we picked out our laminate wood flooring, carpet and tile-like vinyl.

Here is everything together to show how they all blend together.

Here's up close of the carpet with the wood.

After we left the carpet place we decided to go to the Lighting Gallery and get started on our lighting choices. Wow, that was overwhelming! So many choices! But we took it one room at a time and it was fun. Here are a few of the lights we've chosen:

There will be two of these on each end of the kitchen along with 3 pendant (hanging) lights over the island. We still need to choose those elsewhere, they didn't have any we just loved.

This is the Chandelier in the Dining Room

This will be the Ceiling Fan/light in both the Family Room and Master Bedroom

This is the ceiling fan/light for the girls' rooms (click to enlarge and see detail)

This is the lighting fixture for the girls' bathroom (2 of these)

This is the front porch lighting, one on either side of the front door.