Monday, August 1, 2011

Abby is Home

We brought Abby home 2 weeks ago. I am still in the process of detailing our trip. I also just posted family pictures. All of these can be found at www.livingwithouradoptionoption.blogspot.com

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Moving Over to the Family Blog

Just in case anyone is wondering why I'm not updating here, I've decided to just post at www.livingwithouradoptionoption.blogspot.com The only thing is, we can't actually mention that Abby is from Bulgaria--we just have to say Eastern Europe since it is a public blog. I plan to return here when we travel. Thanks,
Joy

Thursday, May 27, 2010

FBI Fingerprints

Yesterday Kevin and I got our fingerprints done at a near-by police station. Today I mailed the fingerprint cards, cover letters and cashier's check to the FBI so they can search their records for any criminal activity related to either of us. This will be the first of 3 sets of fingerprints needed for this adoption!! Apparently the FBI prints have been taking about 13 weeks to process :( I do hope ours are an exception to the rule.

It's kind of fun that one of the ladies at the parcel station recognized me from Steven's adoption, and asked if our current process is almost done. I told her we're just plugging along and she encouraged me to remember last time when it was all finally accomplished.

Today I also contacted 4 people to see if they are willing to provide a personal reference for us. For our last two adoptions I believe we just needed 3; this time we need 6!

We are tentatively scheduled for our first home visit for this home study on Monday!

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Apology

I'm sorry to those who wrote such sweet comments and they never showed up. I forgot I had set the comments to a moderation-needed setting :) And then once I found the comments I marked them all as OK and only one shows on the blog.

Friday, May 21, 2010

She has a new name!!

We plan to change "Stephanie's" name to Abigail Anne and call her Abby.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Wednesday, May 19--Three envelopes on their way

One with 6 forms requesting background checks from 6 states to A New Beginning office in Boise; the 2nd with our Reece's Rainbow Family Disclosure form to Andrea; and the 3 rd to our home study worker with paperwork for her to fill out from Reece's Rainbow and About A Child.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Wednesday, May 19 FSP, Notary, Background checks

Andrea emailed me with the link to our new Family Sponsorship Profile. It is www.reecesrainbow.org/sponsormcclain.html
It is so fun to see our family information and Stephanie's pretty picture all together--it just makes the adoption seem more real. This is also the place where anyone who wants to partner with us in accepting God's invitation (to join with Him in providing a loving family for one fatherless girlie) can contribute to our adoption fund. Remember, all monies donated through Reece's Rainbow are 100% tax-deductible and are actually given on behalf of the CHILD, not the family (just in case the family, for some reason, cannot complete the adoption) The funds aren't distributed to the family until just prior to traveling to bring their child home.

This morning we got a couple more documents notarized--one for Reece's Rainbow and one requesting the state of Texas to diligently search their files for records pertaining to that notorious villain known only as "Joy The Adopter". We were waiting at City Hall when it opened at 9:00 am. That way Kevin could run in, sign his John Henry in front of the city clerk and still get to work by 9:30 as needed. I just cannot express how wonderful it is for both of us to be on the same page with this adoption.

And just in case there is anyone out there in blogdom who is perhaps considering adoption from Bulgaria, you do need background checks for every state in which you have lived as an adult. BUT this is not nearly as complicated as I thought it would be. Our agency, A New Beginning, emailed us the specific downloadable form required for each separate state. All I had to do was print and then fill out name, date of birth, address, SS# on each one. Some also wanted the name of the city where I had resided, while a couple needed actual street addresses. This last requirement threw me for a bit of a loop momentarily. We are talking ancient history here, back when I had to scratch my cave number above our entry hole with a sharp rock ;) Thank the Lord, in a moment of rare inspiration I had written down most previous addresses on a piece of paper in my old resume' file several years ago and I was able to find the street address of my Alma mater on the internet.

And very, very early this morning I found out I now have access to the Bulgarian documents section of About A Child's website--so now I can even get going on paperwork for the dossier. I love to have something tangible to do to help speed the process of bring Stephanie home.

You can always tell when I've spent too long enhancing my blog entries--I start getting silly.