Our dossier is in Bulgaria

It arrived on Nov.4. It should take about 2-3 weeks to have it translated and another 30 days to have it approved by Bulgaria. We are hoping to be officially on the waiting list by early January. Now the hard part starts..waiting! Not one of my strongest points. Although adopting has helped me work on that.

Tam had a great Halloween! We spent the weekend in Greenville, NC with my brother and sister-in-law. Last year Tam was to little to enjoy it, but boy did he make up for it this year! We walked their neighborhood for about 2 hours. Tam was so tired when he got back! I gave Barry some much needed daddy alone time.

Breaking the silence

Well, since posts don't actually make sound, hmmmm....

Yesterday was a huge day! We received our I-800A approval - specifically a 797C. This is the crucial paperwork from immigration (ours) that allows us to submit our dossier to Bulgaria and get on their waiting list, officially the Registry. There are three more "routine" steps: 1) Receive results of our 2nd HIV test - the 1st was 3 months ago. I could go on about the likelihood that adoptive parents are at that high a risk, but... 2) Send everything left (four documents, including a copy of the 797C) off to Raleigh for apostille - fancy for verify that we saw a real, commissioned Notary Public. 3) Send everything we've collected off to our agency for review and submission to their/ our partner agency, in Bulgaria for translation. Then, they submit it to the Ministry of Justice. Whew!

So, we're still pretty glowy! It took less than 2 weeks (not even business weeks!) to receive our 797C from USCIS after our fingerprint appointment. (and that was our 2nd fingerprinting too) And we got to do it here, instead of Charlotte! And quick, courteous, informative service... Just doesn't come close to lining up with our last experience, at any stage...

We are expecting something in the 18 month range from the actual registration with Bulgaria's MOJ. There have been a couple significant changes that may speed things up, but we are perfectly okay with it taking as long as it's supposed to. We only get to enjoy Tam solo for however long this takes.

So, enjoy the recent pictures of the boy (singular only for a limited time!):

Two posts in a row..

What's happening to us??


Tam's 2nd birthday pictures.

At long last!

We have been focused elsewhere for a while, so....
How 'bout some updates?

First, on the political scene, there is a proposition in Congress for a new sub-department (YAY!) within DoS, tasked with preserving families and helping provide permanent parental care (i.e. adoption)
Take a look, and if you like what you see, please contact your Representatives and Senators.
http://jcics.org/families%20for%20orphans.htm
or for the "raw" version:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.3070:

On the much more fun front, Tam is doing very well. Tam had his second birthday on June 22. We kept it low key this year. There is a new Vietnamese restaurant that opened close to our house so we celebrated with family and some good food. Of course there were presents and cake!

He is now making a mildly rocky transition to his toddler bed, aka the "big boy bed". It's not as though he sleeps through the night too well anyway... he also spent his first overnight without Mommy or Daddy. Grandma and Papa handled two before dawn wake-ups quite well. Mommy & Daddy returned to their former titles: Donna & Barry for a night and much of the next day; much to our delight, we remembered that we had a pretty good thing going even before The Boy came into the picture. Not so secretly, the dogs also enjoyed sleeping in their "rightful" place: on our bed. And it was great to see him again!

We are (already??!!??) playing the waiting game with our next adoption - paperwork, oh how we don't love you! Our home study went well. Our agency has convinced us that waiting for a last piece of documentation for our home study will be worth it. They even brought out the dreaded RFE - Request for Evidence. Yes, apparently USCIS can issue one at the I-800A stage, which is where the completed homestudy will immediately be sent. Current estimate to receive that document is September (another 5 weeks +/-) Not what we wanted to hear, but we know that it will be here faster than we think.

And since you had to scroll down:
Tam having fun!

Welcome!

Sorry for such a long delay in posting!
Welcome to our new blog.
We decided to change blogs to reflect a change in our lives.....

We are going to grow our love by one.... yes we have begun the adoption process again. YAY!

Two days ago we sent off the first wave of paperwork to our next adoption agency. Yesterday, they got it and we have another mountain of paperwork to begin.

We have chosen Bulgaria as the country and Hopscotch as the agency. Hopscotch is in High Point, NC - so not as close as Mandala, but about 2 hours away in case we need something or, more likely, they need something.