Hurray for barking dogs!

Usually when our dogs see either the UPS guy or the Fed Ex guy, its bark city. If its in the house, its quite raucous. If they are outside, I cringe the neighbors will be upset- it's not really that bad and doesn't last long, but you know how people are at times. Regardless, I am very thankful we have such good little companions that alert us to people coming to the house- especially today. In the late morning, the Fed Ex truck pulled up and brought us the first of the apostilled documents to come back! Hurray!

It was great seeing what they actually looked like. In a way, I thought the whole apostille thing was basically a do over of the notary and a bunch of government whooey, so I was pleased to see it was much more than that. Those beautiful gold seals were actually kinda cool and definitely feels like another step has been achieved on our journey. So now I'm kinda looking forward to the next "barkfest" and what treasures may come. Woof!


One of my sweet babies

Back to School- check! First Home Study Visit- check!

Well, another big step in the process yesterday as we had our first home study meeting with our social worker, Ann. She is so great that we spent hours here at the house and most of it was just talking about life- lol! Its so great to have another major hurdle cleared and since Ann wrote a favorable home study for us when we thought about pursuing domestic adoption (and not much has changed thank goodness), it should be fairly painless.

By far though I have to say one of the most frustrating aspects of this whole journey so far has been getting the child abuse clearances from states we have lived in. Has anyone else experienced this lunacy and even more reason for a master central registry nationwide?? Now, our home state (SC) isn't hard at all and neither was MI, whose online services and information are very user friendly and tell you exactly what you need to complete etc. WI was ok, if not a little unorthodox and odd, but still helpful once we reached the person in charge. A little phone/email tag and finally, success. But MN? Simply awful! Not only did they NEVER answer their phones or return left messages, the time allotment required to decipher their website and find the correct forms is unreal. We asked for help via mail and they sent us back a sticky note with white out on it- I mean, seriously? In the amount of time it probably took to find the white out the person could have emailed us- duh. Our social worker said she had done international adoptions before and they were real bad (but not as bad as VA- boy did she have a story for that!). Still, I think we've got it all figured out and all those silly forms are in the mail or finished, so we're on our way.

Question though about these- did you all have the originals returned to you after the social worker received them and then have them notarized etc OR did the originals get put in the home study and then that whole thing was notarized by the social worker before sent to you? Does that make sense? I know we need at least one set of 12 original documents per Lina for the dossier (and a second set with copies of the clearances and affidavits), but I can't figure out if these clearance forms are separate entities or included in the home study. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

You may remember my little "gossiping" situation I had at the police department? Well, as much as I wanted to, I opted to not say anything since I guess it was an innocent thing and never meant to go far. Granted, it still left me very distrustful and disgusted, but I did decide to get another set of prints done at the same place. My first set looked a little smudged to send to the FBI and rather than wait for them to just reject them, I had them done again. So with trepidation, cynacism, and a little chip on my shoulder I walked into the PD. Well, God must have heard my pleas because the officer that helped me out was the sweetest man who took special care when I told him it was for adoption. Ok, I admit it, I had "practiced" rolling my prints at home, but this set came out great and even he said it was one of his best ever. We'll see if the FBI agree, but for now a big "Phew!"and brow wipe.

We also started to school this week! My son (a 3rd grader- I can't believe it!) was thrilled and so excited! I was too, not because he'll be gone (I miss him during the day) but because this should be a fantastic grade and he'll learn so much. I love seeing what sponges kids are at this age! I spoke with both his principal (awesome man) and his teacher and kinda broke the ground for the potential regarding the trips. They were both super about it and I feel much better already (see my freakout post- lol). That and everything else made it a much better adoption-related week. I know the Holy Mother and our Heavenly Father are supporting and loving us all the way!

Late Night Freakout

So, last night about 2:00am my son had a bad dream and I went up to comfort him. I decided to sleep with him for a bit, but I had a hard time falling asleep- my mind was racing for some reason. As I watched him snoring peacefully, I started thinking about how much his life will change this next year and also how much I love him. He will be a phenomenal big brother- that I'm not worried in the least about. What kept me up was that I started freaking out about the details and logistics of the trips to Poland. We haven't even submitted the dossier or gotten half the things apostilled yet and still I am being plagued by the "hows and whats".

I had all sort of questions, scenarios, and emotions leaping in and out of my brain:

Home-related:
How and what we have to do to secure the house for the long trip?

What about mail, papers, bills?

What about our dogs- do we board them or do we have someone stay here with them?

How much I would miss them, especially my 12 year old schnauzer, my first baby.

The plants? Our fish? The yard?

Would we need to fly family down or would someone here help us out (since we have no family nearby)?

AAAHHHH! The Craziness! Well, I thought about each and every one and when I finally had worked these out enough to feel ok about it, the real panic set in.

What about my son missing school? Should he? Would the absences be excused? I mean, I think so but, would they?

Should he come on both trips or one? What time of year would it be? He has testing this year and can't miss it. How will we coordinate that? Is there a better time to submit the dossier (yes, I went back and looked at other blogs that had adopted already to get an idea on time frames)?

Oh no, the testing. What about that required standardized state testing? (I actually got on the computer to check that out at 4:30am- at least I know the dates he HAS to be there but it still worries me). I mean, his principal is phenomenal but would this be expecting too much? Will we be able to have him here for those 3 days or will we have to work something else out? Can we?

No solution was clear cut and freaked me out even more. So, as I continued to run through solutions and possibilities, I also prayed and prayed for God to settle my mind and bring me peace and calm so I could sleep. Although I struggled until about 6:00am, I eventually did. Thank you God and thank you Motrin.

In times like this, I also pray for Holy Mother Mary's intercession and blessing (how ironic that it would be today, the day of Mary's assumption). Since losing my own mother, I have often turned to Mary to give me strength, guidance, and motherly affection and I have not been disappointed. I feel I will need her ALOT this next year and pray she stands beside me and us as we become parents again. The sacrifices we may have to make are nothing compared to the one she made and if I keep perspective, it should make it easier. Still the same questions seem ever present in my mind today and I'm pretty sure it will continue until our referral is received and the logistics are worked out.

Also ironically, the ONE thing that I didn't worry about last night was the fact that our child IS waiting for us. I know God is leading us down the path to him/her and I trust in Him completely. We just have to figure out the logistics and my motivation will have to be that our child is waiting for us to do just that. So I know I may have nights like this (hopefully not too many), I just need to keep my eye on the prize and do whatever is needed to bring our child home, without too much stress and compromise to my current family.

Lord, give me strength!

Fingerprints and some real annoyance!

Ok, so we are in the process of gathering documents for the dossier, getting our clearances, and completing fingerprints etc. Happy time,right? Last week I went in to our local police department and had my prints done, followed closely that afternoon by my husband once he finished work. It seemed to go smooth and my 8 yr old thought it was "cool"- of course, there was no one actually in holding at the time thank goodness! lol Anyway, after I got home and compared our cards, I decided that my fingerprints are not as clear as Brian's so I'm going to go back and have them re-done, rather than wait for the FBI to kick them out. Just one of those adoption related things in making it all perfect I know, so no biggie.

But that's not the annoying thing. Even though our town is rather small (about 6000), the police department has always seemed professional etc. I really had no problems going in for the first set of prints and was actually quite impressed they were so efficient and nice. That is until yesterday. The notary we have helping us in my husband's office told him that she heard some of the women talking about our adoption. Hmmmm, interesting since we had decided to not tell anyone the specifics yet because we just got the dossier requirements and didn't want Brian's partners to freak out about him being gone and leaving his patients etc etc- they tend to overreact at times but are good guys). Still, it seemed the whole office knew and rather than us breaking/sharing the news, gossip took care of that. Now, this woman is totally honest and was quite annoyed herself because she had not told anyone and I believe her. Of course, people thought we were leaving, like, tomorrow (not the sharpest tools in the shed) and there was a little bit of damage control to be done- not much, but some without a doubt.

So needless to say, I'm a bit miffed and couldn't figure out where the info came from. And here's the kicker- someone at the POLICE DEPARTMENT saw we came in for fingerprinting for adoption and told their sister-in-law, who works in the office, and she took it upon herself to spread the word!! Can you believe that??! She didn't come up to Brian and say "Congratulations" "I just heard. Are you telling people?" NOTHING! I know gossip has always been a problem in the office and I fully expected that once the news got out, and it is a small town, but still! I never would have thought the info would have come from the police themselves! I purposely went to the city police instead of the county to avoid this kind of thing, and now I wonder if I change and go to the county, if even MORE people will find out our plans and gossip! UGH!

Needless to say, I am stymied by what to do- I don't want to cause an issue at the police department but I mean, what else gets told around that is confidential? Does the post office tell people we stopped our mail for vacations? What about newspapers? I know I sound like a paranoid, but I'm starting to worry about little things like that and I worry about when we go on the trips and people know. Now we are going to have to get someone to stay at our house while we are gone just to be sure (no family near us).

We tried to keep it on a need-to-know basis initially and wanted to break the news ourselves. It thoroughly ticks me off and I wonder who we can trust! Here we are, Brian and I professionally sworn to confidentiality oaths (through medicine) and yet others would violate ours in a heartbeat. It makes me very sad, mad, and wondering what my next step should be since I still have to walk back in there for another set of prints. Wish me luck!

We got "WYO'ed", but are finally home again!

Well, we just returned from a wonderful vacation at a ranch in Wyoming. There is nothing like the peace and solitude of being in a cell-free zone for an entire week. Couple that with the beauty of the Big Horn Mountains, fantastic horses, fly-fishing, and friendly people and well, its as near to paradise as I can imagine. This is the second oldest dude ranch int he country and it has hosted and continues to host loads of famous people, who are just seeking rest and peace like all of us.

The horseback riding is the central activity and we went out wrangler-free alot this year since we are familiar with the trails from having come a number of times. Our son rode even better than last year and we had 3 fabulous horses: Russia (my American Bashir- think dreadlocks for a mane and a curly coat); Scotty for my son (about the most trustworthy animal alive); and Miller for my Wisconsin-bred husband (could that be any more appropriate? lol). We met wonderful people from all over the world and saw some friends from previous years as well.

We even went to a professional rodeo while there- awesome! Of course, again, we found ourselves thinking and talking about how great it will be to take this annual trip with our second child waiting for us in Poland. We can't wait to share this beautiful state and awesome ranch with him/her too!

As for the nitty-gritty of the adoption process, we have happily completed our references and medical exams and have sent away or received our passports and birth/marriage certificate copies. We were so happy and blessed our priest that is leaving took the time to fill this out because we just adore him and really wanted to have him as a part of this. But better yet, we just found out that the agency is "all in" for us to use Ann, the social worker we used previously for a domestic adoption (that quest ended because of the birth mother flat out lying to us and our adoption attorney etc we just decided to go another route- loooong story). Anyway, we are thrilled to be able to work with Ann since she won't have to update much on us and we won't be starting over fresh with someone that doesn't know us. If only everything else in life worked as smooth .

As we start looking down the road, I am seriously contemplating getting a credit card that will allow us to start securing miles for upgrades etc. Even if we keep it for a year or two, I think it could help and why not, right? Anyone with suggestions out there please feel free to share. :) Also, for those who have traveled to Poland already- what airlines did you use from the US and would you use it again? We would be flying out of either Charlotte or Atlanta, but can adjust as necessary obviously.

So as we continue to decompress from a va-ca at 5300 ft (the altitude change is challenging!) we look forward to the next couple of months preparing our dossier etc. School starts up soon again for us, so we are in those last precious weeks of summer. Hope everyone's is going great as well!

-L

Some sad news and exciting steps. But still, getting closer!

So this last week was a little sad when we found out our priest was transferring to another parish. We love Father and he was excellent with my son when he did his first reconciliation and first communion this year. Still, he requested the move because his parents are getting older and he wanted to be closer to them- can't fault him for that. It does prove rather challenging though since we need him to fill our one of the references we need before he leaves at the end of July. He's got alot on his plate and although I'm sure he'll happily do it, I just want to make sure its done before he goes. Can you say control freak? Yep, I do have that tendency- lol.

On a brighter note, we received our pack from Lina with the reference and medical forms so that is exciting! Since we are both in the medical profession, getting the tests and exams done will be pretty easy and the references are going out to reliable friends. So I'm not worried about that part at all. I actually kinda like this busy work stuff and filling out forms (I know, freak!! lol). Also, our new passports arrived- yay! And holy cow are those things ultra-cool now or what?! The electronic chip thing is pretty awesome and the way they are more counterfeit-proof is funky! Still, a major relief to have them in our possession in such a short time. One step closer, one step closer!

Happy 4th of July!!

Far and away, one of my fave holidays! I mean Christmas and the others are great, but for some reason I have always LOVED celebrating the 4th! The flags, fireworks, bands, parades, and overall celebration of FREEDOM- I totally love it! Add in a little breakfast at Wimbledon (I know, English but still a part of the day) and a baseball game and it is perfect!

It also seems to be more exciting this year since we have started our adoption journey. I now find myself looking at the different elements and part of our history and thinking about what we will teach our new son/daughter about US history. I loved a video link another adoption blogger posted that listed the Polish Constitution of 1791 as the second most important such act in the world- right behind the US! There is such a rich history from Poland and I feel like I want to absorb it like a sponge; yet, I also look forward to the day I can teach my other child about his/her new country and the attributes that make us unique and special. But since I can't teach that lesson yet, today I will celebrate the awesome heritage we have as Americans and all the events that led to the formation of our great country- Happy 4th of July everyone!!

We made 4th of July Bald Eagle Marshmallow Treats to celebrate!!