Let's Start This Again

Okay everyone.    We haven't kept up with this blog, but now that things are actually happening, I think it wise to keep updates with the process.  For those of you who don't know yet:

1. We are "matched" with a boy, aged 9, in Thailand.  We will call him "A" for now.  
2. We are just finishing up gathering our documents for our dossier.   This includes things like certified copies of our birth certificates, marriage certificates, financial statements, letters from our doctors, employers, etc.   And EVERYTHING has to be notarized.   
3. Our homes study has to be adjusted since Thailand is a signatory to the Hague Convention.     

Once these things are done (hopefully in the next month), then we submit paperwork to both our government and the Thai government.   As is the case with most things that go through the government, this can take a very long time.   

The biggest question we are asked is "when will he be here?"  The best answer we have is "we don't know."    We think it may take a year.  Maybe more, maybe less.   We hope it goes very quickly.   We do know that once we have this next official packet put together and sent in to the Thai government by our agency and they accept it, we get to send a package to A.   That will be the best package we ever send!   In that package, we get to send photos and a letter to A and we get to begin corresponding with him.   It's at that point that he finds out about us and the fact that we are adopting him (he doesn't know yet).   I'm thinking hard every day about what to send to him.   Word is that our package has to fit in a certain size box, so we have to be very judicious about what we choose to include.  

Lastly,  I want to encourage all of you to educate yourselves about questions you may have about this process, about adoption in general, or about Thailand or Thai people in general.    There are many great books and web resources out there about adoption, specifically about adopting older children.    In addition, it is very easy to find lots of great information about Thailand and Thai culture on the internet with a simple search.   Please don't wait for our lead to learn about these topics.  

Hey everyone, not much activity here :( the house and my job are consuming me right now. Brian and are are working on our training this weekend. We have our dr. appointments on the 25th to finish our physicals. I'm keeping up on the news from Ghana, mostly the new requirement for two trips. Two trips will certainly be mind-blowing, but hard. We want to save our time off for when we get the kids home.

We sent in our application to our placement agency last week and are just waiting to hear from them. We chose Ghana! Brian is stuck on names that start with "b"

We are also looking at a program in Ghana. We have submitted our home study application. Writing out that application check came with a little anxiety. Are we really doing this? Are we ready?

The next week or so will be spent deciding between Ethiopia and Ghana. And, of course, packing and getting ready to move into our new bigger home is on our agenda.

When I come home every night after work, my kittens always hear me coming and meet me at the door. I wonder what it will be like when my kids are excited when I come home?

We have an accepted offer on our house and are scheduled to close on the new one on February 19. Once we get settled in we are going full force ahead with the adoption. Stay tuned...

the beginning

Well, we've sorted through all the information and options out there and we are 95% sure that we want to adopt from Ethiopia. We are ready to start our home study, but we are going to put a bid in on a new house and want to find out first if we will be moving. It's a bigger house-more room for kids-and the price is right.

We know we want to adopt two siblings (we would love a boy and a girl) ages 1-5. Brian says he will teach them to build things and he can't wait for a little helper. Thinking a lot about the language issue if our kids are a bit older and already have an established language. more to come....