It's all starting to become quite real! Now that all of our paperwork is there, we got to focus this weekend on the fact we will actually have a son soon. Friday is the big day! If all goes as planned, we'll be the proud new absentee parents of little Addison. Woo Hoo!
We updated our packing list today and started packing his suitcase full of all the little goodies we've bought and gotten from friends. We've got 80 gDiaper inserts and his new little gDiaper pants crammed in along side swimming diapers, cereal, baby food, bowl, spoons, formula, bottles, socks, outfits, blankets, butt cream, hats, wipes, etc. I'm so proud of us for being meticulous, space saving packers. :)
We're also doing a really good job with Ella. We spent this morning listening to her cry about how she's scared that we won't love her anymore once Addison comes. It was important for us to listen and validate her and be totally honest with her about how things will change while reassuring her that we could never love her an ounce less.
We are planning a big luau for her birthday less than a week before we leave, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I really just don't want her 5th bday to get swept under the rug in the pre-departure melee. She's so amazing, and we are so in love with her. I don't want to ever forget her 5th bday. There are over 100 people coming to our house! But by the end of the day today, she decided that she didn't want any presents, but instead just wanted to save up her money (and any spare change her friends might want to donate to her) and buy Addison a welcome home gift. I'm so glad. The gift giving stuff is just too much...and how much more could she really need? This process is really reminding us what matters and what doesn't, and we haven't even made the trek across the planet yet.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Friday, May 1, 2009
Great News!
The embasssy in Ethiopia FINALLY has all of our final visa and fingerprint info that the USCIS and NVC have been saying they've sent but no one in ET could track down! That's it! We are finally complete in terms of everything we can provide/do to make the process complete. Barring something unforeseen that is out of our hands, in ONE WEEK from today, Addison will go to court with our agency rep and legally be ours! It's so hard to believe, but yep...on May 8th is the big day, and today is already May 1st! Woo Hoo! Shout outs to the Immigrant Visa Chief in Addis Ababa. :)
Our last day at Smarty Pants will be two weeks from today. Then we'll have the week to pack up, get our lives together, do things like map out our travel plans and buy all the things we don't even know we need...and then hop aboard Ethiopian Air. We leave on the 23rd if all goes as planned. Cross your fingers for us. We are SO happy today!
Our last day at Smarty Pants will be two weeks from today. Then we'll have the week to pack up, get our lives together, do things like map out our travel plans and buy all the things we don't even know we need...and then hop aboard Ethiopian Air. We leave on the 23rd if all goes as planned. Cross your fingers for us. We are SO happy today!
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Still Waiting
CIS is saying that they USPS Priority Mailed to the National Visa Center our updated visa 37/approvals, but NVC is STILL saying they haven't received it...a week later! This is so friggin' frustating b/c we can't go pick up Addison without Ethiopia having the approval in hand, and the damn NVC people can't re-send it to Ethiopia if they don't have it or can't find it. Somebody shoot me! These gov't agencies need to get their shi-ite together!
Friday, April 17, 2009
Does It Ever End? Pt. 2
Yesterday we spent our afternoon dealing with both the US CIS and the NVC offices to try to find out why in the world Ethiopia still doesn't have our approvals. NVC (the national visa cabling service) first said that they emailed the approvals to ET, then they said that they sent hard copies (which is required), then they said that it's Ethiopia's fault the stuff isn't there. They sent us back to CIS (immigration folks that issue our approvals) and they said that the NVC people only received hard copies from them (not email copies as NVC said) and that if NVC didn't get them cabled to Ethiopia properly then they'd have to re-request the original hard copies. It was the biggest debacle that is still not resolved. All we know is that NVC did re-request the approvals this morning, so that's a good thing. Now if they can just get them in hand and ship them off to AA where they belong, we could sleep a little easier.
It's so frustrating b/c all of these are US agencies - one of which won't talk to you on the phone after being on hold FOREVER and trying to navigate a bunch of # options that don't match up with your needs and both of which have no clue what they are talking about and just blame each other for everything. A third world country's beaurocracy is looking pretty good these days. :)
The good news is that these papers are needed until our final appt on the 28th of May, and our agency keeps telling us that we have plenty of time. These papers don't effect the adoption proceedings which happen on May 8th, thank goodness.
On a much happier note, we had five friends jump in to offer us Starwood points for our hotel! Huge thanks and shout outs go to Sara Beth H from Smarty Pants, Michael D from MTV, Allison B from Nickelodeon, Pam G from Wrigley, Barbara Z from Smarty Pants. We have a few other friends checking to see if they have enough points to give us. :) You guys are THE BEST!
Other progress we're making: Radames pulled out our four biggest suitcases that are now strategically positioned against the wall in the basement (you just have to laugh), we got three more docs notarized this week, we got in touch with the malaria hotline at the CDC (how sad are we that this makes us happy), we got our 2008 taxes done and out the door!, we got our sit and stroll (car seat and stroller in one) back from ganna, and we started making nightly notes and task lists on color coded notecards to alleviate the daytime bickering! That's a big one. And Addison turned 6 months old on Sunday. How could we forget that one? :)
It's so frustrating b/c all of these are US agencies - one of which won't talk to you on the phone after being on hold FOREVER and trying to navigate a bunch of # options that don't match up with your needs and both of which have no clue what they are talking about and just blame each other for everything. A third world country's beaurocracy is looking pretty good these days. :)
The good news is that these papers are needed until our final appt on the 28th of May, and our agency keeps telling us that we have plenty of time. These papers don't effect the adoption proceedings which happen on May 8th, thank goodness.
On a much happier note, we had five friends jump in to offer us Starwood points for our hotel! Huge thanks and shout outs go to Sara Beth H from Smarty Pants, Michael D from MTV, Allison B from Nickelodeon, Pam G from Wrigley, Barbara Z from Smarty Pants. We have a few other friends checking to see if they have enough points to give us. :) You guys are THE BEST!
Other progress we're making: Radames pulled out our four biggest suitcases that are now strategically positioned against the wall in the basement (you just have to laugh), we got three more docs notarized this week, we got in touch with the malaria hotline at the CDC (how sad are we that this makes us happy), we got our 2008 taxes done and out the door!, we got our sit and stroll (car seat and stroller in one) back from ganna, and we started making nightly notes and task lists on color coded notecards to alleviate the daytime bickering! That's a big one. And Addison turned 6 months old on Sunday. How could we forget that one? :)
Monday, April 13, 2009
Does It Ever End?
Today we got an email from our consultant that Ethiopia doesn't have a record of our updated CIS approval. This is the same issue we had before...and they finally found it when they looked a second time. They keep telling us they don't have a petition for the Rodriguez family. But legally, I'm the petitioner, so it would be under Tyree. I'm assuming that's the problem again. Hopefully we'll hear from our consultant tomorrow that they find it when they look under Tyree, rather than Rodriguez. Radames called the National Visa Center today and they said it was sent to Ethiopia on March 22nd, so it has to be there. Jeez
Aside from that, things are clipping along nicely. The nursery looks adorable and we got another round of vaccinations last week. We have an appt. with a notary tomorrow to get a few more docs notarized, and we got our taxes done for this year. Now we just have to redo a few of our financial declarations docs and have them notarized, too. We'll maybe get to that next week when our accountant has time for us.
We also went away for the Easter weekend, which was nice, b/c we actually got to be a family for a change. We've been arguing so much that we really needed to walk around and make fun of people in Gatlinburg to reconnect. :) just kidding. It was nice though. We went ice skating, went to an amazing aquarium, stayed at a hilarious Christmas-themed hotel, went swimming in the hotel pool, ate at local dives, took a tram up a mountain as it swung in the breeze, shopped for clothes for our trip and for Addison, and had a nice time chit chatting with Ella. She bought some "jewels" (aka rocks) in a gift shop, so we used them at meals to play sharing games. For each rock we put in the middle to person had to say something. Radames and I sadly used rocks to play the "things I could do differently to make sure we quite arguing" game as Ella ate chicken fingers and the "how I'm feeling about this whole process" game as said "can we PLEASE leave this place!?". It was really enlightening, as corny as it sounds. :)
Just let Addison get here already! We bought him the cutest little outfit for our final visa appt at the embassy, so we're ready. :)
Aside from that, things are clipping along nicely. The nursery looks adorable and we got another round of vaccinations last week. We have an appt. with a notary tomorrow to get a few more docs notarized, and we got our taxes done for this year. Now we just have to redo a few of our financial declarations docs and have them notarized, too. We'll maybe get to that next week when our accountant has time for us.
We also went away for the Easter weekend, which was nice, b/c we actually got to be a family for a change. We've been arguing so much that we really needed to walk around and make fun of people in Gatlinburg to reconnect. :) just kidding. It was nice though. We went ice skating, went to an amazing aquarium, stayed at a hilarious Christmas-themed hotel, went swimming in the hotel pool, ate at local dives, took a tram up a mountain as it swung in the breeze, shopped for clothes for our trip and for Addison, and had a nice time chit chatting with Ella. She bought some "jewels" (aka rocks) in a gift shop, so we used them at meals to play sharing games. For each rock we put in the middle to person had to say something. Radames and I sadly used rocks to play the "things I could do differently to make sure we quite arguing" game as Ella ate chicken fingers and the "how I'm feeling about this whole process" game as said "can we PLEASE leave this place!?". It was really enlightening, as corny as it sounds. :)
Just let Addison get here already! We bought him the cutest little outfit for our final visa appt at the embassy, so we're ready. :)
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
We're Connected
Well, today we crossed over into the other world of the adoption life - we got linked up with others from our agency via an online group. This is something we've avoided doing for a while, since we've been busy with work and, honestly, I just haven't had time to make chit chat about things that are still unknown.
Well, we're now officially "friends" with 8 other couples that are also adopting from Ethiopia through CHI, each one with our same court date and visa appointment/pick-up dates. :) It's really exciting to now be part of a group of 9 families that will all be traveling together. Radames and I are feeling way less alone in the journey simply because of their emails, posts and our little spreadsheet of "the May 28th visa appointment pack". Through our online dialogue, we've already had someone offer to take pictures of Addison for us while they are there (from an earlier travel group).
We also had a great conversation with our agency rep today who helped us demystify a lot of outstanding docs we still need to do/re-do. My brain is getting ready to explode, but information is a good thing these days.
We also made a lot of progress with the travel agency that CHI uses and recommended. It was SO nice to not be talking to the American Airlines or US Airways fool who has no clue about adoption travel. They knew exactly what we were doing, asked when our court dates were, when our visa appointment was, etc. and gave us a lot of good advice on planning, tix, fares, etc. That's a major relief!
Right now, our plan is to leave out of Dulles (in DC) on Sunday morning May 24th. We get there on Monday morning b/c of the time change. It's a direct flight!!! That's why we're going to just put all of our shit in the Acura and drive for 6 hours to DC. It'll be so much easier than driving four hours to ATL to then have to connect in London or Dubai or Frankfurt. And then we'll return from Addis on Sunday night the 31st and arrive DC on Monday morning the 1st of June. You have no idea how psyched we are to have gotten connected with them today and to now have a non-29-hour flight (both ways) in store. The flight is on Ethiopian Air, which seemed a little too rickety for my travel elitist ass, but we checked out the virtual tour of the airplane online, and it's awesome. You can see it at Ethiopianairlines.com and then click on "our luxury 787 Dreamliner to Ethiopia". We are so chillin' on that bad boy! Ethiopian Air, here we come.
Well, we're now officially "friends" with 8 other couples that are also adopting from Ethiopia through CHI, each one with our same court date and visa appointment/pick-up dates. :) It's really exciting to now be part of a group of 9 families that will all be traveling together. Radames and I are feeling way less alone in the journey simply because of their emails, posts and our little spreadsheet of "the May 28th visa appointment pack". Through our online dialogue, we've already had someone offer to take pictures of Addison for us while they are there (from an earlier travel group).
We also had a great conversation with our agency rep today who helped us demystify a lot of outstanding docs we still need to do/re-do. My brain is getting ready to explode, but information is a good thing these days.
We also made a lot of progress with the travel agency that CHI uses and recommended. It was SO nice to not be talking to the American Airlines or US Airways fool who has no clue about adoption travel. They knew exactly what we were doing, asked when our court dates were, when our visa appointment was, etc. and gave us a lot of good advice on planning, tix, fares, etc. That's a major relief!
Right now, our plan is to leave out of Dulles (in DC) on Sunday morning May 24th. We get there on Monday morning b/c of the time change. It's a direct flight!!! That's why we're going to just put all of our shit in the Acura and drive for 6 hours to DC. It'll be so much easier than driving four hours to ATL to then have to connect in London or Dubai or Frankfurt. And then we'll return from Addis on Sunday night the 31st and arrive DC on Monday morning the 1st of June. You have no idea how psyched we are to have gotten connected with them today and to now have a non-29-hour flight (both ways) in store. The flight is on Ethiopian Air, which seemed a little too rickety for my travel elitist ass, but we checked out the virtual tour of the airplane online, and it's awesome. You can see it at Ethiopianairlines.com and then click on "our luxury 787 Dreamliner to Ethiopia". We are so chillin' on that bad boy! Ethiopian Air, here we come.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Things are Moving Along Nicely
The time is approaching. It's so hard to believe. It is really going to happen! Our court date is still set for May the 8th. We haven't heard of any changes or issues, so we're all set to be the legal parents of Addison on May 8th, 2009. Yep, his name will be Addison. We are still deciding on the middle name, but we are leaning toward Everett.
Addison is because he is our son from Addis (Addis Ababa is the full name of the city, but people often call it Addis). That's where we will pick him up, where he was found (although that seems callous to say), and probably where he was born. The name also means "son of Adam", and we like that because it ties back to the original man, which according to all known scientific evidence, actually came from Ethiopia. The fossil remains of "Lucy", the oldest skeleton remains of a human being (yes, she's almost 4 million years old), are located in Addis Ababa in the national museum. We feel like it's a name he can be proud of and that will always link him back to where he came from - ethnically and regionally. We already have a big letter A on his nursery door.
Yep, the nursery is now done. That was the project for last week that had Radames and I on the verge of a divorce. Terrance painted most of the walls for us and hung up the drapes, thank goodness. Radames and I could not have been any more at each other's throats re: paint spills, why the crib still wasn't put together, etc. Note to self...do not try to work on nursery with husband if you are anal and your husband is not...you will inevitably end up wondering why you married each other.
The room is so adorable now, though. The walls are tan and everything in there is baby blue and chocolate brown. We got everything at Restoration Hardware's Baby and Child...it's the Cloud collection at rhbabyandchild.com. So adorable! All that's missing is a baby!
We also got 4 updated pictures of Addison last week. They are SO amazing. He looks like a whole different kid. So much older. There's one of him in a little bouncy contraption grinning from ear to ear and you can just totally see his personality. I wish so badly we could share the pics. That's the crappy part about this process.
So now we're in the midst of starting to plan travel. We are being told that our embassy visa appointment date that we have to attend (and then fly home the next day or two) will probably be May 28th. Yikes! That means we'll probably leave on the 23rd or so, and be there from Mon to Mon. But Ella turns 5 on the 21st of May, and of course I want her to have a big party, Radames turns 39 on the 25th, Ella's preschool graduation is on the 26th, and work will be crazy busy in May, so the timing is not ideal. But if I went into labor at that time, I guess we'd re-arrange everything anyway, so I won't complain. If the 28th doesn't happen, then it'll be June the 11th...and we'll go on like 6th or 7th of June or something. The crazy part is that we can't book our plane ticket until like 5-10 before we leave (bc that's when they do the final confirmation on the visa appointment), so that has me beside myself with uneasiness. I don't like the idea of not knowing exactly when we leave. And being the travel elitist that I am, my worst fear is that we are stuck in the back of coach near the toilet with a new baby who thinks we've kidnapped him. Dear Lord, let first class please still be available when we can book our flight.
On the hotel front, we are able to use Starwood points to stay at the Sheraton, so that's great. And if we change the dates, there's no penalty or drama. And I think we have enough to stay the whole time, but if anyone who'd like to make a "charitable" donation of SPG points to the Tyree-Rodriguez Sheraton fund, we'd love you for it. It's possible to transfer them over, but we'll have to tell you how.
We're getting more vaccinations this week, too. So that makes me feel like we're making progress. And we just finished up our taxes this week, which is a big relief b/c we have to take copies of our tax returns and all forms, supporting evidence of our income, etc. with us! So ridiculous! But since we don't get to make the rules, I'm just happy that those are done.
We also need to either start to buy things or register for things. We still don't own a carseat, stroller, bottle, diaper, pacifier (ugh! we never used a pacifier with ella, so that's freaking me out), formula (don't even get me started on that one. that is totally scaring me too, b/c ella only ever drank from the...well, you know), clothes, and whatever else kids need. We can't even remember, we are so disconnected from infancy now. Good thing is that he'll be about 7 1/2 months old when we get him, so he'll probably already be eating some foods. But if anyone knows of a website where we can have a registry that pulls for a bunch of other sites that would be so cool and convenient. I'd love to register for everything from a bottle to a cutesy Obama t-shirt. I saw a funny one on cafepress.com. And there's an adorable one that says "Does this shirt make me look Ethiopian?" on it that i'm dying to get. :)
I think that's all of the updates for now. We'll keep you posted. :) Addis Ababa, here we come. Only about 50 days left until we leave. Woo Hoo! Can't wait to hop on the Brangelina express flight. :)
Addison is because he is our son from Addis (Addis Ababa is the full name of the city, but people often call it Addis). That's where we will pick him up, where he was found (although that seems callous to say), and probably where he was born. The name also means "son of Adam", and we like that because it ties back to the original man, which according to all known scientific evidence, actually came from Ethiopia. The fossil remains of "Lucy", the oldest skeleton remains of a human being (yes, she's almost 4 million years old), are located in Addis Ababa in the national museum. We feel like it's a name he can be proud of and that will always link him back to where he came from - ethnically and regionally. We already have a big letter A on his nursery door.
Yep, the nursery is now done. That was the project for last week that had Radames and I on the verge of a divorce. Terrance painted most of the walls for us and hung up the drapes, thank goodness. Radames and I could not have been any more at each other's throats re: paint spills, why the crib still wasn't put together, etc. Note to self...do not try to work on nursery with husband if you are anal and your husband is not...you will inevitably end up wondering why you married each other.
The room is so adorable now, though. The walls are tan and everything in there is baby blue and chocolate brown. We got everything at Restoration Hardware's Baby and Child...it's the Cloud collection at rhbabyandchild.com. So adorable! All that's missing is a baby!
We also got 4 updated pictures of Addison last week. They are SO amazing. He looks like a whole different kid. So much older. There's one of him in a little bouncy contraption grinning from ear to ear and you can just totally see his personality. I wish so badly we could share the pics. That's the crappy part about this process.
So now we're in the midst of starting to plan travel. We are being told that our embassy visa appointment date that we have to attend (and then fly home the next day or two) will probably be May 28th. Yikes! That means we'll probably leave on the 23rd or so, and be there from Mon to Mon. But Ella turns 5 on the 21st of May, and of course I want her to have a big party, Radames turns 39 on the 25th, Ella's preschool graduation is on the 26th, and work will be crazy busy in May, so the timing is not ideal. But if I went into labor at that time, I guess we'd re-arrange everything anyway, so I won't complain. If the 28th doesn't happen, then it'll be June the 11th...and we'll go on like 6th or 7th of June or something. The crazy part is that we can't book our plane ticket until like 5-10 before we leave (bc that's when they do the final confirmation on the visa appointment), so that has me beside myself with uneasiness. I don't like the idea of not knowing exactly when we leave. And being the travel elitist that I am, my worst fear is that we are stuck in the back of coach near the toilet with a new baby who thinks we've kidnapped him. Dear Lord, let first class please still be available when we can book our flight.
On the hotel front, we are able to use Starwood points to stay at the Sheraton, so that's great. And if we change the dates, there's no penalty or drama. And I think we have enough to stay the whole time, but if anyone who'd like to make a "charitable" donation of SPG points to the Tyree-Rodriguez Sheraton fund, we'd love you for it. It's possible to transfer them over, but we'll have to tell you how.
We're getting more vaccinations this week, too. So that makes me feel like we're making progress. And we just finished up our taxes this week, which is a big relief b/c we have to take copies of our tax returns and all forms, supporting evidence of our income, etc. with us! So ridiculous! But since we don't get to make the rules, I'm just happy that those are done.
We also need to either start to buy things or register for things. We still don't own a carseat, stroller, bottle, diaper, pacifier (ugh! we never used a pacifier with ella, so that's freaking me out), formula (don't even get me started on that one. that is totally scaring me too, b/c ella only ever drank from the...well, you know), clothes, and whatever else kids need. We can't even remember, we are so disconnected from infancy now. Good thing is that he'll be about 7 1/2 months old when we get him, so he'll probably already be eating some foods. But if anyone knows of a website where we can have a registry that pulls for a bunch of other sites that would be so cool and convenient. I'd love to register for everything from a bottle to a cutesy Obama t-shirt. I saw a funny one on cafepress.com. And there's an adorable one that says "Does this shirt make me look Ethiopian?" on it that i'm dying to get. :)
I think that's all of the updates for now. We'll keep you posted. :) Addis Ababa, here we come. Only about 50 days left until we leave. Woo Hoo! Can't wait to hop on the Brangelina express flight. :)
Monday, March 16, 2009
FINALLY!!!
Today, we got the letter that we have been waiting for. After all the great e-mails and follow-up letters by Wynne, we finally got the approval for our I-600A extension. I went to the mailbox and saw that we had recieved a letter from USCIS and I started getting nervous and excited at the same time. As I'm coming into the house, I'm opening up the letter, fumbling nervously awaiting what new hoops the government was going to make us do now. I opened it and I read the magic words that we were waiting for: APPROVAL!! I ran right into our bedroom and showed it to Wynne with a big smile. She read it and we hugged and kissed. It's finally coming to fruition. Short of an act of God, we will be able to pick up our son in two months. Now we have to start getting his room and figure out things like what color to paint it, what furniture do we need, and how long it's going to take me to put together Ella's old crib for him. Oh well, it's all good because our family will be growing by one really soon.
Friday, March 13, 2009
He's at House of Hope Now!
So, we got an email today that our little one has been moved to the House of Hope. That's our agency's "carriage house" where the babies are moved from their orphanages for their "pick up" from thier new moms and dads. Most travelers from our agency also stay there at the HOH so they can bond 24/7 with their new babies. It's basically the meeting place that our agency runs. But kids don't get brought there unless "it's time"...which is exciting because it means he's officially in our agency's care now (which will mean better care), he's officially just hanging out and waiting for us :( and it also means we'll probably get more regular pics of him.
It's really exciting, b/c it's just another step in bringing us together. He's actually more ready than us now...since we're still waiting for the doggone CIS approval extension.
We also got updated medicals on him today. Our agency retested him for everything. His white blood cell counts are still slightly high, but like 16, when they should be like 8-12. Ella's are probably 20 this week as she hacks up who-knows-what, so we won't complain. And our doctor already told us that WBC are not correlated in any way with any chronic illnesses. They are basically elevated to ward off infections, which could be from anything from a bugbite to diaper rash. Who knows. We're just happy that he's at HOH now and that we got new medicals on him. :) He's perfect.
It's really exciting, b/c it's just another step in bringing us together. He's actually more ready than us now...since we're still waiting for the doggone CIS approval extension.
We also got updated medicals on him today. Our agency retested him for everything. His white blood cell counts are still slightly high, but like 16, when they should be like 8-12. Ella's are probably 20 this week as she hacks up who-knows-what, so we won't complain. And our doctor already told us that WBC are not correlated in any way with any chronic illnesses. They are basically elevated to ward off infections, which could be from anything from a bugbite to diaper rash. Who knows. We're just happy that he's at HOH now and that we got new medicals on him. :) He's perfect.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Cross Your Fingers for Us
So today we mailed back to CIS the addendum to the updated homestudy that we had to have our social worker do because she didn't write exactly what they wanted in the updated homestudy. Cross your fingers that we've now been so overly specific that they'll have no choice but to extend our original approval. At this point, it's just simply ridiculous.
We just really need them to send us an "okay, here's your updated approval to bring your son into the country" letter already. Is it really our fault that the process has taken so long that we even have to request the approval extension? This is just so emotionally fatiguing. It would be really nice to think about our son rather than the fact that our approval has now expired.
At this point, we just can't really emotionally invest in the fact that we'll soon have another child. It's sad because we now know who he is and he's sitting and waiting for us, and we still don't know if we're going to be able to bring him home...until we get the next letter from these gov't fools. We have three or four boxes of brand new stuff for his nursery sitting in the boxes in his room, but we haven't even opened the boxes because we just can't emotionally go there yet.
Jeez. Can we just be done already!? And it doesn't help when Radames jets out at 5 o'clock to make sure the paperwork gets out to the CIS office on Monday and the racist idiot who works at the post office says, "Oh, are you applying for your citizenship?" as Radames hands him the packet to overnight. Radames nicely said, "No, I'm not." I would have gone off on the guy. I'm still fuming just thinking about it. But then again, that's why Radames goes to do these things instead of me. These things infuriate me. Ditto on the trailor park bi-otch who said to Radames, "Uh, were you born in this country?" as we checked in at the local health department where we had to go to get our hepatitis and menengoccocul (sp?) vaccines. I almost went off on the chic. Hence Radames handles all local interactions... :)
We just really need them to send us an "okay, here's your updated approval to bring your son into the country" letter already. Is it really our fault that the process has taken so long that we even have to request the approval extension? This is just so emotionally fatiguing. It would be really nice to think about our son rather than the fact that our approval has now expired.
At this point, we just can't really emotionally invest in the fact that we'll soon have another child. It's sad because we now know who he is and he's sitting and waiting for us, and we still don't know if we're going to be able to bring him home...until we get the next letter from these gov't fools. We have three or four boxes of brand new stuff for his nursery sitting in the boxes in his room, but we haven't even opened the boxes because we just can't emotionally go there yet.
Jeez. Can we just be done already!? And it doesn't help when Radames jets out at 5 o'clock to make sure the paperwork gets out to the CIS office on Monday and the racist idiot who works at the post office says, "Oh, are you applying for your citizenship?" as Radames hands him the packet to overnight. Radames nicely said, "No, I'm not." I would have gone off on the guy. I'm still fuming just thinking about it. But then again, that's why Radames goes to do these things instead of me. These things infuriate me. Ditto on the trailor park bi-otch who said to Radames, "Uh, were you born in this country?" as we checked in at the local health department where we had to go to get our hepatitis and menengoccocul (sp?) vaccines. I almost went off on the chic. Hence Radames handles all local interactions... :)
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Ridiculous Bureaucracy
We'd been in panic mode about getting our immigration paperwork extended before it expires on 2.28.09. We got our new home study done and sent away the most beautiful and perfect packet of every goodie possibly imaginable on the 17th of Feb.
Well, we got the government's response letter back on Wednesday, and lo and behold, they did not approve our petition. They said that our homestudy "failed to address that the petitioner's home continues to conform to state regulations" and that our old home study said we wanted a 0-12 month old healthy boy and that this one made reference to a 0-15 month old boy. The second one is legit and is an error on our social worker's part. The first one is just beyond ridiculous. I was fuming. But what's new with this process.
We now have had our social worker write up another addendum and now we wait for it to get notarized and approved by the agency and then sent to us and then we send to CIS and then we wait again. Hopefully they'll say we're good to go. If not, we're really screwed because we obviously can't bring him home if we don't have gov't clearance to bring an immigrant into the country. We wouldn't even be allowed to travel there until our gov't has cabled the approval to their gov't.
Jeez Louise! Make this paperwork and approval nonsense end already. There's a kid waiting for us in a third world orphanage. Hello!
Well, we got the government's response letter back on Wednesday, and lo and behold, they did not approve our petition. They said that our homestudy "failed to address that the petitioner's home continues to conform to state regulations" and that our old home study said we wanted a 0-12 month old healthy boy and that this one made reference to a 0-15 month old boy. The second one is legit and is an error on our social worker's part. The first one is just beyond ridiculous. I was fuming. But what's new with this process.
We now have had our social worker write up another addendum and now we wait for it to get notarized and approved by the agency and then sent to us and then we send to CIS and then we wait again. Hopefully they'll say we're good to go. If not, we're really screwed because we obviously can't bring him home if we don't have gov't clearance to bring an immigrant into the country. We wouldn't even be allowed to travel there until our gov't has cabled the approval to their gov't.
Jeez Louise! Make this paperwork and approval nonsense end already. There's a kid waiting for us in a third world orphanage. Hello!
Friday, February 20, 2009
We Got Our Dates! Woo Hoo!
We got an email from our agency today that our court date for little boy blue is finally set. May 8th is the big day. A representative from CHI that we've signed over power of attorney to will be going to the court for us. We don't have to go there on this day. But after this day, he will legally be ours in the Ethiopian courts eyes. :)
We then have to wait 3 weeks or so for him to get his travel visa, which allows us to bring him home. We do have to be there for his visa appt, b/c we're his parents, and we have to be there to legally request his travel docs. The visa appointments are only on Thursdays, so our date is tentatively, according to our agency, Thursday the 4th of June! That means we'll travel to Ethiopia at the very end of May/first couple of days of June. We have to be there for the 5th, and ideally settled, bonded, etc. and ready to travel back on the 6th or 7th.
Everyone cross your fingers that these days stick. The way the courts work is that they can just change the dates/postpone at any time, for no reason whatsoever. It'll really suck if these aren't the real dates, because it's already almost 5 months past our match date that we get to pick him up.
We then have to wait 3 weeks or so for him to get his travel visa, which allows us to bring him home. We do have to be there for his visa appt, b/c we're his parents, and we have to be there to legally request his travel docs. The visa appointments are only on Thursdays, so our date is tentatively, according to our agency, Thursday the 4th of June! That means we'll travel to Ethiopia at the very end of May/first couple of days of June. We have to be there for the 5th, and ideally settled, bonded, etc. and ready to travel back on the 6th or 7th.
Everyone cross your fingers that these days stick. The way the courts work is that they can just change the dates/postpone at any time, for no reason whatsoever. It'll really suck if these aren't the real dates, because it's already almost 5 months past our match date that we get to pick him up.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Another Frustrating Week of Waiting
This has been another crazy week of waiting and disappointments for us. We are still waiting for our new homestudy report to get written and finalized, but our social worker is telling us that she found out that she has to check the national registry of child abusers before finalizing it. The goofballs in the Nashville state registry office - only one guy, mind you - just don't seem to have time to pull our records, so we are still just waiting and waiting as our previous approval gets closer to expiration and our new approval can't happen without the updated homestudy...which can't happen without the new registry clearance. Every day has been this powerless frustration of wanting to move things along, but we can't. The good news is that none of this is effecting our wait time, from what we understand. Ethiopia has no clue we are doing all this, so they are still moving full steam ahead on their end. If everything works out perfectly, we'll get the home study report next week, mail it off to CIS and then they'll say "congrats, your approval has been extended" and we'll just keep on keeping on.
When will this ever end!? Is it all just an evil, beaurocratic plot to distract us from sitting around and counting the days until we can go to Ethiopia?
When will this ever end!? Is it all just an evil, beaurocratic plot to distract us from sitting around and counting the days until we can go to Ethiopia?
Sunday, February 1, 2009
NO! Say it Can't Be So!
So, this should be the week that we are celebrating the fact that we've accepted our referral and everything is moving along nicely.
We knew there was an outstanding detail to be taken care of, which was to have our immigration clearance extended. In short, CIS has already approved us to bring our son into the country. But the approval is only good for 18 months. And because it's now been almost 18 months, we have to apply for a free extension, which should just be a formality.
Well, we sent off our extension request a week or so again, and this week got a letter back that said...well, the details are boring...but in essence we finally got in touch with someone via email (because they won't pick up the phone!) that said we can't get an extension unless we have an updated homestudy! Okay, so that is the worst news ever!
The homestudy is the final write up from the social workers and adoption agencies that includes any and every detail of your life - financial, physical, mental, historical, educational, etc. - plus the details of home visits they do. When you go through the process to compile everything it takes about 3-4 months! It involves everything from getting notarized letters from your local sherriff's office that state you have no criminal record to having your doctors offices write and notarize letters that state they've cleared you mentally and physically and that they recommend you as adoptive parents to having your accountant write and notarize statements that detail out all of your finances...and they have to match your financial declarations and tax statements to the penny or they aren't valid. Hearing that we'd have to do all of this all over again...and by the time the end of Feb rolls around, was the biggest blow ever! How could they expect this? Why did no one tell us we'd have to do this? How are we ever going to get all of this done all over again in a matter of weeks!? It involves dozens of people doing things they don't want to do for no pay...and a level of detail that warrants a PhD at the end for everyone involved.
We got in touch with our social worker (who does the home visits) and our program leader at CHI, and they both said they'd do whatever they could to help move the process along. We're just still so pissed that we didn't see this coming. And this should be the relaxing homestretch and here we are again at square one, but doing it under amazingly ridiculous time constraints that have us up all night, with papers all over the house, and quite frankly...at each other's throats out of frustration and resentment about the process. The good news is that our social worker has agreed to come on Thursday to redo our home visit. She has to write up the the home study, so getting her on board asap is critical. Jeez, are we really back to cleaning up the house, mapping out our family fire evacuation plan, checking all the batteries in the smoke detectors and...most importantly, acting like we live in a calm, relaxing house that would be welcoming to an infant!? Is this for real?
We knew there was an outstanding detail to be taken care of, which was to have our immigration clearance extended. In short, CIS has already approved us to bring our son into the country. But the approval is only good for 18 months. And because it's now been almost 18 months, we have to apply for a free extension, which should just be a formality.
Well, we sent off our extension request a week or so again, and this week got a letter back that said...well, the details are boring...but in essence we finally got in touch with someone via email (because they won't pick up the phone!) that said we can't get an extension unless we have an updated homestudy! Okay, so that is the worst news ever!
The homestudy is the final write up from the social workers and adoption agencies that includes any and every detail of your life - financial, physical, mental, historical, educational, etc. - plus the details of home visits they do. When you go through the process to compile everything it takes about 3-4 months! It involves everything from getting notarized letters from your local sherriff's office that state you have no criminal record to having your doctors offices write and notarize letters that state they've cleared you mentally and physically and that they recommend you as adoptive parents to having your accountant write and notarize statements that detail out all of your finances...and they have to match your financial declarations and tax statements to the penny or they aren't valid. Hearing that we'd have to do all of this all over again...and by the time the end of Feb rolls around, was the biggest blow ever! How could they expect this? Why did no one tell us we'd have to do this? How are we ever going to get all of this done all over again in a matter of weeks!? It involves dozens of people doing things they don't want to do for no pay...and a level of detail that warrants a PhD at the end for everyone involved.
We got in touch with our social worker (who does the home visits) and our program leader at CHI, and they both said they'd do whatever they could to help move the process along. We're just still so pissed that we didn't see this coming. And this should be the relaxing homestretch and here we are again at square one, but doing it under amazingly ridiculous time constraints that have us up all night, with papers all over the house, and quite frankly...at each other's throats out of frustration and resentment about the process. The good news is that our social worker has agreed to come on Thursday to redo our home visit. She has to write up the the home study, so getting her on board asap is critical. Jeez, are we really back to cleaning up the house, mapping out our family fire evacuation plan, checking all the batteries in the smoke detectors and...most importantly, acting like we live in a calm, relaxing house that would be welcoming to an infant!? Is this for real?
The Joys of Naming our Son
This morning began with us brainstorming for a middle name. We've already decided on the first name, but we had thought we'd keep his birth name as his middle name, just out of respect. Now that we know that we'll never know his real birth name, we've gotta come up with a middle name. And if you've ever bounced ideas around with Radames, you know that it was a most hilarious adventure. He migrated from Castro to Smokey as I laughed hysterically. He also seriously threw out Coletrain (as in Miles) and Hendrix (yes, as in Jimmy). I'm sure he thought my ideas were just as ridiculous, but nothing topped Ella's contributions once she joined in the morning brainstorming party. She recommended (First Name) Left Foot Tyree-Rodriguez and then opted instead for (First Name) Bacon Tyree-Rodriguez. Now do we live in the South or what!? Good times. :)
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