5 mths already

According to my little counter at the top of my page we've been doing this for 5mths already. That is great news as it seems like it wasn't that long, here's hoping the next 8-10mths are just as fast.

Quick update: I emailed my adoption practioner today and she said she has already mailed out our package. I'll be sending our agency (IA) their cheque tomorrow and I think that's about it for now.

Thanks everyone for your support and thanks to everyone in advance for puting up with me for the months to come.

HOME STUDY COMPLETE

YEAH!!!!! Our home study is finally completed. To keep you up to date with the last post, within 48 hrs of calling our local MPs office, we had our checks done and letters in hand. I still can't believe how a few phone calls can change the way some things happen. Needless to say I went and picked up the papers on Friday and met our adoption practioner Saturday morning before leaving for my brothers. Now according to that last meeting our Home Study dossier with all our paper work will be sent out to our agency worker tomorrow, Tuesday September 9th 2008, from there our worker will review it and make sure it's not missing anything. It will then take approx. 8-10 wks for them to receive our letter of approval and then 2-3 wks to get our dossier off to Ethiopia. If all the time lines work out our dossier should be in Ethiopia a few weeks before Christmas. At that time we will be waiting approx. 6-8 mths for our referral. I know I repeat myself with the time lines but they do change and as the steps get completed I receive more information. Now the waiting begins.

Chris and I went to a football game in Buffalo NY yesterday. They were playing Chris' favorite team the Seattle Seahawks, it was my first time at a live NFL game and we had a blast. It was raining like crazy but in the morning we had time do some tailgating, and make breakfast and walk around before the rain really fell. Seattle did lose but it was fun as the Buffalo fans were going crazy the games atmosphere was pretty amazing. Here is a pics of us at the game.

Causing issues....

So yep, here I am causing issues again to make sure all goes well. This is the "coles notes" version. Our adoption practioner told us that the Children's Aid of Sudbury was not processing our child welfare checks for both Chris and I, and she didn't know when this would happen. Well being the type of person I am, and seeing as that is the absolutely last piece of paper needed for Chris and I to send out our documents to the ministty I contacted our local MPs office and voila, within a few hours CAS was on the phone with me trying to get to the bottom of things. Well it looked like they had a mix up with my adoption practioner and she only verbally requested the checks, so she got in some kind of trouble for me contacting the MPs office. Needless to say I feel bad for getting her in trouble, but how long would I have waited had I not done anything right??? So within 24 hrs of my phone call, I have them working on the checks and will receive them within a week. Once I get those we are done for now. Our adoption practioner will then send the documents to our adoption agency, who in turn will send it to the Ministry for approval. Hopefully we will have an approval by Christmas and our documents can be off to Ethiopia by the NEW YEAR... here's hoping anyways.

I know I should have maybe let them do what they had to do, but I feel i'm waiting long enough for Kaysen to come home and every day with a delay is a day further from our baby....

PRIDE Training

Chris and I just returned from Cambridge, for a week of intense PRIDE (Parent Resources for Information Development and Education) Training. Wow, what a course. Prior to this week I thought, "ok, just go and take it as it's something that needs to be done" and figured I knew everything....well I was WRONG. Chris and I learned so much this past week. We were in a class of great people with great teachers who we planned to stay in touch with throughout our journey. The training allowed us to learn and open our eyes to many different challenges that may come along once our little guy gets home. Prior to the training I felt very treatened by the birth parents in all forms of adoptions, I now realize how truly important they are to the process and would love to explain it to you all should you want to discuss further. We also learned that it is okay for our son not to "Fall in love" with us right away, I mean he won't know who we are at all, and that is okay, we will simply have to do different things with him to allow him to feel comfortable with us and eventually with a lot of hard work and commitment and consistency our family will be just as bonded as a birth family. I just can't wait to put it all together and share the events with you all. There is so much about this training that I could go on for days, but I won't. I just want to say that I truly feel it is a very important course to take and will be a forever advocate of future adoptive parents in taking this training. I would like to take this moment to thank our trainers for the wonderful teaching they provided us this week.

We had our FINAL home study done this morning as well. It was short and sweet, just as I like it. We are now reviewing the home study report, well what is completed so far anyways, and once our adoption practioner is done completely we will review it again, sign the paper work and off it goes to the Ministry for approval. We hope to have it sent by the middle of this month and then hopefully it is back to us by mid Nov..

I do feel sad at this point as I feel I no longer have any control of the next years mild stones. At least when we had the home study I had certain dates to look forward to, now I have a 6-8 week or 6-8 months and that's it. as all of you who know me well, I will find it quite hard not to know when things will happen. The good thing is, that I realize now that I am not the only one going through this and with the support of our new adoptive families and our family and friends here, i'm sure things will go easier.

I'm guessing i've said enough for today.

Amazing

I found this song on another adoptive family's blog and had to add it to mine as it truly explains what I feel inside and look forward to have the same happy ending.

Enjoy...a few tears never hurt anyone.

Baby Room Projects

Chris and I were busy last weekend creating a few baby room projects. We have decided on a Baseball theme for his room and I found a great book case at a yard sale for 50 cents. I sure wish I had taken a before picture as it was covered in oil and paint and looked like hell, but with a little TLC, and hard work I have created a cute bookcase to be proud of. We have also made a coat hanger and a book shelf for now. I'm planning on one more bookcase and at least a few more little projects. I'm trying to hold off on painting the room and redoing the floor in the room until winter as I will be very bored if not but i'm not sure i'll make it. Again, I have attached pictures below for you to see our creations.

Coldplay

Chris and I went to the Coldplay concert in Toronto this thrusday, It was a great day. First we stopped at Vaugh Mills and checked out all the cute baby clothes. Chris mentioned he no longer wants me to purchase clothes here in Sudbury as they are much cuter out there, so a few road trips a year and my boy will be styling. We then headed to Toronto and took a walk down from the Eaton Centre to the lakefront pier where we simply relaxed and took in the scenery. Then we headed to the concert, it was more than I could have imagined. I've wanted to see Coldplay in concert for years now and it was great, they are suppose to be coming back next year so hopefully we will be able to go again. I have attached a few pictures of our day out.

What luck!!!!

So I'm sitting here in my office waiting on a beautiful Saturday morning. What am I waiting for you may ask??? Well, i'm waiting for my parents to pick me up as I have locked my keys in the car. I know, what and how. So this is the story, my honda tends to lock the doors on it's own should you not open the doors fast enough when you unlock them, so i unlocked the doors, set all my things in the car, threw my keys on the drivers side seat and closed the door, only to come back and all the doors are locked. What kind of stupid invention is that, I mean I did open the passenger car door, therefor it should have stayed unlocked, no??? Needless to say i'm not impress, I have no idea where my spare key may be, and i'm not sure what to do.

Just a little venting as i'm patiently awaiting a ride home, thank god for my mom and dad being around.

News from Ethiopia

We received great news from Ethiopia this weeks. Looks like the adoption Agency we are using has opened up a new 6500 sqft, home for babies only and they have purchase 40 cribs. So what does this mean to all of you.... well it means that there is now a home dedicated to babies only, meaning that the turn around in this home should be faster as babies are a higher demand, therefor as babies come and go more babies will arrive. We are all hoping this will make the referral process shorter. I guess only time will tell.

We have most everything we needed now. The only thing missing is our employment letters, which are on the way. I went and visited my lawyer this week to have 8 documents notorized, our letter to the Ministry of Women's Affairs in Ethiopia has been written and the photo album we must send them with pics of us and our families is almost complete. Now we just have to do the PRIDE training and then complete the home study and our work will be done and the waiting begins.

2 down 2 to go

We had a our second home study this morning. It went very well. We mostly discussed our familys and our childhood. We have rescheduled our next visit to be done right after the PRIDE training, which will be Aug18-22nd, so our third home study will be Aug 23rd, and she said she will have most of it done by our last one on Sept 6th. She also gave me a better time line, and said we should have our dossier back from the ministry within a month or so and then off to Ethiopia, so hopefully our dossier is in Ethiopia by the end of November which could mean a referral as early as March/09, that would be amazing. Earing this news made me tear up.... I know it doesn't take me much, but to know that we may have Kaysen with us a few months earlier than predicted is a great feeling. I have been so excited since our first home study visit. It's as if I feel more confident of the outcome and can now fully picture my family with Kaysen in it. I can't wait to be able to see his face and actually have a face to associate the name to.

We were at a ball tournament this past weekend and there were so many little ones running around, I kept thinking how nice it will be to have our little one running around in a few years as well. I highly doubt we will have Kaysen home by next years tournament but soon he will get to play baseball with all the little boys as well.

I have also started doing a little bit of shopping. It's hard to purchase clothes for him, since we don't know what size he will be or what season he will arrive in, I have been busy purchasing 12-24mth old sleepers and onesies, as I know he will need them and a season is not a factor. I have also purchased a few sippy cups/bowls/bibs/spoons...ect. This week I started buying baby shampoo, oils, lotions and stuff. I figure, why not buy some know, it will save me the cost then. I swear, by the time I have Kaysen home we may need a whole other room just for his stuff. I would rather be prepared now then have to buy everything next year. My parents, and sister have also be buying things here and there which I love. Gifts are great, but when they are for such a special person they are even better. I also purchased the flooring for his bedroom this weekend, as it was on sale. We will be painting the room first and then installing the laminate flooring. We chose a dark wood look. I know that carpet is more comfy to crawl around on, however with the amound of hair we have in our home, laminate will be easier to keep clean. Don't you agree?

Retainer fee finally sent out

I wanted to wait to make sure the home study went well before I sent out my retainer fee to the adoption agency, so yesterday we sent it out to Imagine adoption, as well as we booked our spots for the PRIDE training in August. I was speaking to Joann from Imagine Adoption yesterday and she said we would probably be waiting longer since we are being more specific in terms of age and sexe (0-9mth boy at time of placement), which made me think, oh oh, but she said I would be probably waiting approx. 6mths from the time our dossier hits Ethiopia, which would mean a referral by June of next year, therefor hopefully home by Christmas 09, here's hoping anyways.



I have also asked two of our dear friends to write our reference letters, and I know have to get to writing mine. I'm not sure where to begin with it, but i'm suppose to receive a package with some guidelines. I think that is about all we will need to get from our end. The agency will be providing the rest....I think.


I saw this picture and it may me smile, I thought I should share.

1st Home Study Visit Completed

We finally had our 1st home study visit this past weekend (june 21) and it was great. I was so nervous. I figured she would come in and tell me everything wrong with my home that will prevent me from having a child and she did nothing of the sort. She simply sat down with us, discussed our reason for adoption, our history, our personal information and did a quick tour of the home. She was so down to earth and comfortable to be around. Once the visit was done I felt so confident about the situation. I now have no worries at all about the process and feel very confident that it will all happen. We have chosen a new name for our boy, Kaysen, so far that is staying. I really find it fits well and it feels right. We requested 0-9 months at time of placement but we also requested as young as possible, so who nows. Our final home study visit will be Sept 6th, so if all goes well our dossier should be sent out to the agency and ministry by the second week in Sept. I can't wait.

I did have my first mini melt down last week, which allowed me to really evaluate what we are doing and if we were doing the right thing and after many days of crying, questioning our decision, and discussions with Chris, I feel much better and know that we are doing the right thing. I'm sure it won't be my last freak out, but i think it's normal to feel the way I feel. As Judy (our adoption practionner) said, it's hard not to feel that way when you have absolutely no control as to the future of your family. But i now feel even better. Well enough about that. Life is good and I can't wait till Sept....

Quick note

6 days and counting for my home study, i'm nervous and excited all in one. I can't wait to get it over with and move on to the next step. Once it's done I will fell much better about sending my retainer fee and getting the rest of the process going. Chris and I have both received our new passports and are waiting for our fingerprint clearance to come back. That's about it for an update. Look for news of the home study to come.

Reschedule again....

My Home study has now been pushed back to June 21st 2008 at 11am. Here's hoping this time it actually happens. I find it hard not to get discouraged as it seems like we can't even get the beginning to get started but i know that there is a reason for everything in life and maybe the fact that it is getting pushed back all the time is the fact that the adoption time line i'm suppose to have in order to have the child meant for us is only suppose to start on June 21st 2008.

Chris did receive his passport back and i'm just awaiting mine. I will be sending out the fingerprints for approval this week, i've been so busy with the new office that I completely forgot to send them out. We have all our reference letters back except for one, so far we are at a stand still until the home study to find out what the next step will be. We will probably be sending out our retainer fee this week as. The retainer fee is a fee paid to the adoption agency, the first step with them, which will give us more details as to what we need. We have not sent it yet as we were waiting for the home study but I think we will send it out to get started on that paper work.

Well that's it for now. i'll keep you posted to new changes.

Home Study

Today was suppose to be our first home study visit, however due to schedule changes at Chris' work we have had to reschedule. The Home Study will now be Thursday June 5th 2008 at 3:30pm, here's hoping we can get it done and not have to reschedule a 3rd time.

We are still trying to figure out what to do in regards to the Mandatory PRIDE training course we have to take. Children's Aid here in Sudbury offers it but it's every tues. for 10 weeks, which is no good as Chris is on shift work and would end up missing about 4 of the 10 sessions. So now we are looking to go out of town, but the out of town sessions are for a few weekends in a row or a day here and a day there which doesn't seem to work for us as well. What a frustrating program, you would think, since its mandatory that they would have figured out a better way for all private adoptions to take the course in a convenient way.

Anyways, that's all for now. Off to work I go.

Name Change

It looks like Topher may or may not be our new sons name. Chris mentioned to me last week that he isn't stuck on that name and since I was naming him Topher because of Chris we have decided to search for a new name. We have come up with a few and I invite you all to send me some suggestions in the comment area. Let me know what you think as well. So far we have the following,

Chase
Grady
Kaysen (so far my fav.)

Please, Please, Please send us some ideas, thankfully we have a long time to choose a new one.
I'll keep you posted as to new names that become contenders....

Happy Mother's Day

Today is Mother's Day, hopefully one of the last one I can't truly celebrate. I just wanted to post a thank you to my mother on this special day.
Mom, Thank you for all you have done for me in life, thank you for not only guiding me as a mother but also as one of my very best friends. I know I can always count on you to be there when I need you and I can't tell you what that means to me. You are someone I treasure and thank God for on a daily basis. I also would like to thank you for always supporting me in my crazy last minute ideas, and never judging me. To know that I can tell you anything and not have to be judged is a very comforting feeling. You believe in me more than I believe in myself and because of that I have always strived to succeed. Thank you again for being you and most of all thank you for being my "MOM". I love you very much.

I would also like to wish all the mother's a Happy Mother's Day, you all deserve a day dedicated to you. As mother's you just do what you have to for your kids on a daily basis and to have one day that says "thank you" must make it worth while. Have a great day to all.

Chris' Fauxhawk

I forgot to add the pictures of Chris' new do, he came home with a "Faux Hawk" a few weeks ago and taught you would all get a kick out of it. Enjoy...

Toys and toy room

So sorry I haven't updated in a while, it's been spring cleaning time here and well let's just say it will never end. It may just be me, but i feel that by the time I get one floor done I have start all over, hence never being able to see the end in sight...lol oh, the joys of being an adult.

We finally have our flooring in for the living room and dinning room and after one year of living in this house we have installed baseboards in our 2nd living room. what a difference a little base board makes to a room. The flooring looks great, now we just have to get the kitchen flooring done and all renovations will be done for now. I can't wait. We were planning on a new counter top but for now we will make do with what we have. I have been on such a mission to get this house ready for the home study that i can't seem to think of anything else including work. But if i don't work we can't live and if we can't live we can't have our baby so it's a must I guess.

Ok, enough about the house, the best news is that I have officially created my first designated baby room, it will be one of his playrooms. I have attached pictures to give you a sense of what it will be like. It's a room located next to our recroom where we tend to hang out most of the time. I have decorated the room with all sorts of Sports Memrobillia that Chris had. Please note they are all located about 4 feet off the ground as I wouldn't want the baby to be able to reach them.


SO IF YOU HAVEN'T GUESSED YET!!! we have decided to request a BOY, we have decided to request him between the age of newborn to 6 mths which means we should hopefully pick him up when he is 8-10 mths. We are so excited about a boy. We kept going back and forth between a girl and a boy but for some reason it brought us to a boy, don't get me wrong we would love a boy or girl but since we could choose we went with our gut at this time We have also decided to name him Topher, he will be named after Chris, I didn't want to name my child Junior and I love the sound of the name therefore when you remove the Chris from Christopher you are left with our future son' name.

I also purchased my very first item for Topher yesterday. I was at my nieces Danika and Samantha's school play and they had a small french book sale. I purchased him two french books and when I got to my sister's she also had a gift for him. A small tug boat for the bath tub.



It's crazy that such small items can make a difference in the house. I have never had baby items in my house that were for my baby and here they are. Knowing me and my family, by the time Topher actually gets home he will have a few rooms full of toys and gifts. Since we don't know how old or big he will be when we pick him up we can't purchase clothes right now but nothing is stopping us from buying everything else....I may end up buying some clothes, i'll just make sure it's for when he is 2 or something....


In regards to the process it's self, We have filled out the necessary paper work for the home study and I am in the process of handing out the reference letters now. Chris had his physical today and all went well, we both went for our blood testing yesterday (results to follow) and we have all our passport paper work ready to go, just need our pictures. Only a few things done out of many but every little bit is one step closer.


Well that's my update for today and I hope I haven't babbled on and on about nothing.

Thank you

I also wanted to write today to thank everyone for the overwhelming support Chris and I are receiving from our family and friend. The kind compliments about our future parenting as well as the acceptance of our decision has been amazing. Thank you all very much it means more to us than you will ever truly know.