The Family Zone

Greyson's Adoption Journey
Will the paperwork ever end?
I see a light at the end of the tunnel.  By next week we will have all of our documents for the dossier!  A few of the documents have their apostilles already.  We received our updated homestudy today thanks to our awesome social worker, Teresa!  I also received an email from someone at the Charleston USCIS office that said we will get the one time no fee extension and change of country for our I-171H.  Things are looking up!

Happy 4th of July to everyone!
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Posted by Candice at 6/26/2008 5:46 PM | View Comments (2) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
Starting Over
We have decided to change countries.  Ukraine is becoming increasingly difficult to adopt from.  There are many families traveling to Ukraine only to return home without a child.  Jay and I have decided to go with an agency to pursue an adoption from Russia.   I'm hopeful that we will be the parents of a little boy very soon!  As we learn more about this new process I will post more updates. 

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Posted by Candice at 4/12/2008 9:50 PM | View Comments (3) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
Orphans of Ukraine Video



This clip is posted on many other adoption blogs but for those of you who just know me I thought I would share.  No matter how long this adoption takes it will be worth it to bring home our child.
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Posted by Candice at 10/23/2007 5:50 PM | View Comments (3) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
Adoption Update
Our adoption will not be completed in 2007.  There are so many families out there who have been in this process much longer than we have.   All of those families are in line to be submitted before we are.  Our time will come but I have accepted that it will not be this year.  Now that September is here and the holidays are just around the corner I can't think of a better time for waiting.  Before we know it we will have carved pumpkins, consumed turkey, hung Christmas lights, and toasted in the New Year.  Then it will be 2008 and hopefully we will be bringing home our child!
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Posted by Candice at 9/16/2007 7:49 PM | View Comments (2) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
Still waiting...
In two weeks I've updated half of our dossier.  If only I could have pulled everything together this quickly the 1st time!  My SC documents are ready so I'm only waiting on one document of this group to come back from being apostilled in TX, then all of the updates will be sent to Ukraine.

Did you know that when you go to a bookstore such as Barnes & Nobles there are usually several long rows of books dedicated to your pets and only one small section dedicated to adoption?  If you know me then you'll understand that I'm not saying the pets don't deserve to have countless books written about them.  They are amazing creatures that bring comfort, love, and fun to families.  I could actually use a book from one of these long rows if one is dedicated to helping pets cope with fear.  As I write this entry Bailey (at 48lbs) is on my lap and shaking.  I'm waiting for her newly prescribed anti-anxiety pill to kick in and help her survive this latest thunderstorm!  My other observation at the bookstore was that this small section where I found books on adoption were under the "Special Needs" heading.  I won't even get started on how wrong I think that is.  On the Barnes and Nobles website there are 383 books on international adoption and 3,166 books on dogs.  Of the 383 books on international adoption only a few are directly related to adopting from Ukraine.  

This is why I'm hooked on checking other adoption blogs.  Since there aren't many resources out there I'm counting on other families who are going through this same process to help me out.  I have followed countless families from the time they began their paperwork until well after they are home and adjusting to life with their child or children.  I thank each of the blogging families for helping me prepare for what's in store for us once we get to Ukraine.  For all of you out there who are reading my blog hoping to find information for your own adoption timeline please feel free to email me anytime with questions or if you just need to vent about how long this process takes!  Because just like many of you...I'm still waiting.
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Posted by Candice at 7/28/2007 12:50 PM | View Comments (2) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
Waiting for news...

I'm sorry to say there is no news to report on the adoption.  Based on what I've been reading the line for submission of dossiers is moving VERY slowly due to holidays.  I don't mind the waiting but I am worried about the expiration dates on some of our documents.  Soon I will have to start over on some of our paperwork.  I was hoping to avoid this since it means spending more money on notarizing, apostilles, etc. but of course it will all be worth it in the end.  Next summer I'm hoping Dylan will have a new little cousin to join him in the waves!
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Posted by Candice at 7/10/2007 6:00 PM | View Comments (0) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
Translation
Our dossier arrived in Ukraine last Monday.  I heard from Julia today and they have almost completed the translation!  After the translation is completed and notarized the next step is for the dossier to be submitted to the SDA.  The lines are long at the SDA and only a limited amount of dossiers from the US are submitted each week.  I'm still hoping for an appointment around Christmas!

I hope everyone has a fun and safe 4th of July!
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Posted by Candice at 6/19/2007 7:36 PM | View Comments (0) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
Dossier Location

After one last delay our dossier has finally left the US!  I had hoped the dossier would be in Ukraine by now but during my last obsessive check of the documents I realized there was a mistake.  The Secretary of State had stapled the social workers license to the back of the home study and gave it one apostille when they should have been separate with two apostilles.  This meant sending the copy of the social workers license back to the capitol for an apostille of it's own.  This weekend Jay and I were finally able to make the trip to FedEx.

I tracked the package today and our dossier is now in Paris! 

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Posted by Candice at 6/5/2007 6:21 PM | View Comments (2) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
Memorial Day Weekend

All of our documents have finally been apostilled and returned safely to us.  This Tuesday our dossier will be sent FedEx to Ukraine!  Then we will begin the long wait.  Below is a photo of the room I painted for our child. 




I've always looked forward to Memorial Day weekend as 3 days to have off of work for fun, sun, and grilling out.  This year with our brother-in-law in Afganistan it takes on a whole new meaning.  My prayers go out to the families who have lost loved ones who served our country.  My brother-in-law says the children are beautiful in Afganistan and he would love for my sister and him to be able to adopt from there.  I pray for his continued safety and for a day when Afganistan will be a safe and stable country where international adoptions take place.  
Have a great Memorial Day!
 

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Posted by Candice at 5/26/2007 4:43 PM | View Comments (1) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
Aloha!
In my last entry I neglected to mention that we have one final step to complete before we send our paperwork to be translated.  All of our documents have to be apostilled before they can be sent to Ukraine to be translated.  I thought this would be a quick step but I was forgetting that our employment letters were both notarized out of state.  This means that while the bulk of our paperwork was sent to Columbia we also had to send one document to Texas and one to New Jersey.  We're waiting now to have all of our documents returned to us.  I'm hoping that I will have a FedEx package waiting for me in the next two days.  If this is not the case then the paperwork will be waiting until we get back from Hawaii!  This is one possible delay that I will not be complaining about.  We will be enjoying our last vacation before we become parents! 

We have been assigned our translator/facilitator in Ukraine and her name is Julia.  I'm hoping Julia will have our paperwork soon! 
Happy Mother's Day to all of you mothers out there!!
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Posted by Candice at 5/13/2007 2:58 PM | View Comments (0) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
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