In the mail...

We were not sure if we needed to do our FBI fingerprints over again for travel so to be safe we had them re-done. They arrived in West Virginia on Feb.9 and were returned to us on March 31. 7 weeks and 1 day.

We did find out that we did not have to have them..we only needed our local fingerprints done again.
I am very concerned with the "break" that I am hearing the MOJ takes in the summer. We travel on April 17th for our 1st trip and are hoping to travel back in August...But with this "break" who knows. We might also need to get our local prints and medical done over again. Every time our doctor sees us he just shakes his head at us. Since May 2009 we have seen him 3 times. One for the Home study, one for the dossier, and a re-do for the MOJ. The MOJ requires it to be 6 months or less. It is my understanding that when we get a court date they again want to see it 6 months or less. If anyone knows this for sure please let us know.

We have been busy getting ready for our trip. Working on a family album to take and leave for N. Buying gifts for the caretakers and children. The orphanage is home to kids 3-7.

Prayers to all of us that our in this process no matter what stage!
hugs!

getting closer...

We are 4 weeks away from leaving. Okay, actually 3 weeks and 6 days and feeling all the emotions that go with that. Our medical and local fingerprints that we had to re-do are ready to go. We have been ready since we found out that the MOJ approved us on Feb.3. I know 4 weeks is not that long, but I am ready to meet him. I want to hold him and let him know that we are his mommy and daddy. I have started thinking a lot about having to leave him. I remember when Barry and I first saw that we had to make two trips to Bulgaria. Oh..two trips not a problem! How naive we were. It is going to be tough.
The Bulgaria CD's that we ordered has been great! I listen a lot while I am at work. It came with a sheet that has all the phases on it so you can see them as you listen. That has been the most helpful part to me.
We received an email from our agency telling us that all of our reservations in Bulgaria are set. I was happy to see that we will have an interpreter with us for most of the trip. We spent 9 weeks in VietNam and had an interpreter for maybe 2 of the days. It amazed me how many people spoke English.
About 3 weeks ago Barry got a stomach bug and passed out in the boy's bathroom. When he fell, he crashed through the drywall. He is doing great now, but the wall needed a lot of TLC. The bathroom had wallpaper in it that I have been wanting to change for a long time. So no time like the present. The wallpaper has been torn down, hole fixed, and painted. We put bead-board up on the bottom half of the wall, chair rail, and painted the top blue. We are thinking about a "things in the sky" theme. We want to keep it simple.

Tam and Barry have been battling a cold for the last few days. Last night it got bad for both of them. Tam slept with me and Barry slept in Tam's room.
I am hoping that they will be feeling better in the next couple of days.


xxxooo

7 weeks until....

Chestita Baba Marta!

You have to love a tradition that celebrates the end of winter and welcomes in the spring. I am ready!

We have 7 weeks before we get to meet our little guy. I say little because he was 26 lbs. in September. We have only seen one picture of him and are not expecting to get anymore:(
We have been busy getting his room together. But our biggest challenge...both out laptop and camera decided that they were done. So we have been looking for the right ones with cost being a major factor. We ordered a camera, but Barry is hoping to fix our laptop. He is trying everything he can think of!
I still shake my head and can not believe that we are going to be in Bulgaria in 7 weeks. I just want to hold him and get to know him. I wonder how much they prepare him for?? When we adopted T he was only 11 months old so he went with us no questions asked. From the moment we left the orphanage we never had any issues with bonding. He trusted us completely! With D I have a lot of anxiety about how he will feel. Are the kids prepared at all for meeting us? I would doubt it, but if anyone knows please share your experience.

We ordered the Phases for children CD and got it today! We got it very quickly. I will let you know what we think after we listen to it.
Have a great week!

Who's ready to travel???

We are! We are!

That's right! We will be leaving for Bulgaria on April 17 and returning on April 24.
My mind is racing with all the things that need to get done. I can not wait to meet him. To get to hug him and play with him. Our state department already sent us back our medical and local criminal check that we had apostilled. North Carolina is so fast. We sent it off on Tuesday and got it back in the mail today! Crazy fast!!!

Going to celebrate:)

Weekend update..

Nothing new going on with the adoption. We are still waiting to find out when we will get to travel. We were told 2-3 weeks from Feb.3 so we have made it 2 weeks. It would be nice to hear something this week so we can start planning. Right now it looks like my(Donna) parents will be watching Tam. It will be so hard to leave him. This trip will mark the longest that we have been away from him. He has stayed at my parents for 2 nights. He does well, but we miss him!!

Sunday, Feb.14 was Tet.(Lunar New Year in VietNam) We celebrated with many dear friends that have also adopted from VietNam. Everyone had a blast. When we got ready to leave Tam said '"no leave Tet party" and laid on the floor. I think he had a good time! All the way home he asked if he could go back. I hate that I did not get more pictures, but I was busy catching up with everyone. I kept thinking while I was there that next year we will be a family of 4. What a great thought:)

Other Tam news..potty training is going really well. Tam says "me big man" when he wears his pull ups and new Thomas and Mickey underwear. One trick that I have used with him is to say that he can't wet Thomas. Thomas needs to stay dry. He has done well with that.

Our next step...

We have waited one week since we got the official news from the MOJ. It feels so much longer.
We are hoping to have our travel dates in about 1-2 weeks. In adoption I always prepare myself for the longer wait time.
We were told in our email from Bulgaria that we would need to do our medical and local criminal check again since it would expire by the time we travel. Bulgaria wants us to bring these documents when we travel. It's nice that they give us busy work while we wait::)) Makes the time go by much faster. So of course I wanted to get this done right away because they needed to be notarized and apostilled. We went to our local Sheriff's office got fingerprinted and mailed them off to the FBI. After talking with another wonderfully kind PAP we discovered that we did not need to send them to the FBI. They really meant local criminal check. We will be going back to the Sheriff's office next week and get the "criminal check" that we needed. We also have appointments tomoorow to re-do our medical forms. After these 2 things we can sit back and wait for our travel dates.
I can not wait to meet him. Hallmark has a story book out that you can record your voices and as your child turns the page you tell him the story. I thought it would be a great gift to leave him. Our bodies might not be there with him, but our hearts and voices will.

Big news on the home front

This morning Tam, still in his footie PJs, announces "Me haffa potty" and races off. He unzips himself, takes off his diaper and pees on his potty, "all by my ownself". Such an independent BIG boy!

He then asks for a pull-up. There aren't any pull-ups downstairs. We have come to a crossroads. Daddy decides to persuade Tam to not wear any "parachute." He is okay with no diaper, no pull-up and no underpants. Within 5 minutes, he gets "that look" on his face and races off and pees a little more, a very little. Mommy calls and is very proud. While that call is still going, Tam gets "that look" again and says "need poopoo". The call ends, we tag team the PJs and Daddy has to convince Tam that there is no poopoo on his PJs. He sits on the potty for several minutes, while Daddy is making him a crown (for his little prince of the potty!). He gets up, inspects his work and proudly announces that he has poopoo-ed in his peepee! He is such a big boy!

And no, no picture(s)!