So the Spring continues to fly by even though it has only just begun. And I keep wanting to write a more interesting or meaningful or funny post, but it seems I keep finding myself either too exhausted to write or, in the mood to write, but unable to think of witty, interesting things to say! So forgive me if guzo is not all it can be these days... I'm working on it.
As for adoption round 2, the last of our application documents are at Gladney and we have only a couple of documents left to complete our dossier (yes, including the bank letter... ugh, ugh, ugh!). We now wait for our homestudy to be finalized so that it can be sent to CIS, but other than that, we are moving right along.
Otherwise, things have been a bit hectic in our house as of late and they won't be calming down any time soon. (Hectic and crazy and I still don't have anything interesting to write about. Hmm... Writer's block, anyone??)
We've got a bit of travel ahead of us, as I've got three work trips between April and July and Ryan may have one as well. Then we'll be taking a family trip in early August to visit Ryan's family. (Dare I admit that once upon a time I thought it would be really, really cool to have a job that required lots of travel. What was I thinking???). Fortunately I convinced the boys to join me on one of my work trips to Germany, as I really don't like spending so much time apart, so we'll see how that goes. This will be our longest flight with Simon since bringing him home and a very different kind of trip than we've taken before with him, which should make it... well... interesting. (Hoping and wishing for exciting and fun and fabulous and the first of many, many international family trips, but don't worry, I'm not totally fooling myself about how hard traveling with a toddler can be - we're just as prepared for a few meltdowns and a lot of time spent in our hotel room). Anyhow, I am still looking forward to it, but I'm not entirely sure Ryan is.
And so it goes.
Simon is growing and changing and learning and entertaining us at every turn. These days it's all about counting and letters. Everywhere we go, he points out the letters and numbers on signs. Can't read a book without stopping to identify the letters. Can't eat without counting the number of pieces on his plate... We even hear him counting and reciting letters while he plays in his crib before and after naps/bedtime! So amongst all the crazy, there are some really sweet, calm moments, and we are definitely taking the time to embrace them.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
untitled update
So, it has been my intention to chronicle adoption round 2 via this blog very much the same way we chronicled Simon's adoption, but the fact is, the process has been much different for us this time (at least so far). And by "different," I guess I really mean less eventful. Perhaps it's because we've been through this before, perhaps because the expected start to finish timelines look so different (this round is expected to take quite a bit longer than the last)... but everything feels much more low key than it did before.
Since we had copies of all of our paperwork from Simon's adoption, it was pretty easy putting our Gladney (that's our adoption agency) application together. We lucked out with our state criminal and child abuse clearances (each took less than a week to process) and our homestudy was scheduled quickly - and since we've become pros at being visited and it was the same person who had done our last post-placement visit for Simon, well, it was pretty laid back. Even our employer letters were easier to obtain the second time around - both of our employers gave us dossier-worthy letters on the first try!! (If you followed our blog in 2007, you know this is a major accomplishment)
Our doctor's appointments are this week, and after that, our Gladney app will be complete! We also have pretty much all of our dossier paperwork - well, at least everything that is within our control (although I still need to get my bank letter - yes, I know, I'm being a giant (GIANT) procrastinator), but I'm committed to making an attempt for it this week (really!). If all goes well, we're hoping we can be done with everything by mid-April.
Everything except CIS fingerprints and approval, of course. Unfortunately, I'm hearing that those are taking far longer to process these days compared to when we adopted Simon (when our approval was granted about a week after our fingerprints were taken!). So even though our work is largely done, it could still be a while before we are back on the waitlist.
And that's about it. And pretty much will be it for a long, long, long time. And that's why I find myself at a bit of a loss when trying to write new posts.
Otherwise, life is as normal and chaotic and fun and crazy as ever. I'm thrilled that Spring is finally here, but also feel like the time is flying by. We've got so many things planned for the next few months, that I feel like the Summer will be over before it even starts! But hey, at least I might have a few more things to write about. Stay tuned ;)
Since we had copies of all of our paperwork from Simon's adoption, it was pretty easy putting our Gladney (that's our adoption agency) application together. We lucked out with our state criminal and child abuse clearances (each took less than a week to process) and our homestudy was scheduled quickly - and since we've become pros at being visited and it was the same person who had done our last post-placement visit for Simon, well, it was pretty laid back. Even our employer letters were easier to obtain the second time around - both of our employers gave us dossier-worthy letters on the first try!! (If you followed our blog in 2007, you know this is a major accomplishment)
Our doctor's appointments are this week, and after that, our Gladney app will be complete! We also have pretty much all of our dossier paperwork - well, at least everything that is within our control (although I still need to get my bank letter - yes, I know, I'm being a giant (GIANT) procrastinator), but I'm committed to making an attempt for it this week (really!). If all goes well, we're hoping we can be done with everything by mid-April.
Everything except CIS fingerprints and approval, of course. Unfortunately, I'm hearing that those are taking far longer to process these days compared to when we adopted Simon (when our approval was granted about a week after our fingerprints were taken!). So even though our work is largely done, it could still be a while before we are back on the waitlist.
And that's about it. And pretty much will be it for a long, long, long time. And that's why I find myself at a bit of a loss when trying to write new posts.
Otherwise, life is as normal and chaotic and fun and crazy as ever. I'm thrilled that Spring is finally here, but also feel like the time is flying by. We've got so many things planned for the next few months, that I feel like the Summer will be over before it even starts! But hey, at least I might have a few more things to write about. Stay tuned ;)
Monday, March 15, 2010
Thursday, March 11, 2010
and so it goes
Some of you have probably already heard the news: the requirements for adoption in Ethiopia are changing again. Specifically, families will now be required to make two trips to Ethiopia in order to complete the adoption - one trip for the Ethiopian court date (this is new; families used to be represented by their agencies at court) and one for the embassy appointment/trip to take home your adopted child.
We learned very quickly last time around that the best motto for international adoption is "expect the unexpected," so we are taking this in stride. Surprised that the unexpected is upon us so soon into the process, but not getting too worked up about it. I figure we have a good year (at least!) to go before we are traveling to Ethiopia, and I can only imagine what other surprises are waiting for us!
That is not to say that this doesn't get us talking. Even though we are nowhere near having to worry about travel, I can't help but start running the possibilities through my mind.
Will we take Simon with us? Initially, we thought no - although we very much look forward to the day when we will be able to take Simon on a trip to Ethiopia (hopefully, more than one trip), he will probably be only 3 or 3 1/2 when we travel for adoption #2 and at that age, I don't think he will be old enough to appreciate much about the trip. To the contrary, such a demanding trip where our focus will be elsewhere is likely to be more confusing and stressful for him, than it is exciting and enlightening. But two big trips away from him in a period of just a few weeks or months is also difficult to imagine. So maybe he comes with us on trip 1 and vacations at Grandma's and Grandpa's during trip 2? Hmmm...
Will we take advantage of trip 1 to see more of Ethiopia? We regretted last time that we did not spend time touring Ethiopia (outside of Addis) when we traveled to pick up Simon. Of course, we were so anxious to meet Simon that we couldn't really imagine being in Ethiopia and not going directly to meet him. And I expect we will feel the same this time around. But as we will not be able to travel home with our child on trip 1... well maybe that makes it the perfect opportunity to do some touring.
There are lots of other thoughts and questions too. Will these changes affect other aspects of the process? What other surprises lie ahead? How will we ever manage to leave Ethiopia at the end of our first trip and the opportunity to meet our child? Are we really going to be able to stay cool and calm throughout the rest of the process? I already know the answer to that one: of course not! ;)
And so it goes. Our perspective is different this time, having been through the process before, but for sure the process can still be challenging. But we are up for it.
In more immediate news... other than this little surprise, we are moving along fairly well in adoption round 2. We have our homestudy tomorrow (talk about a different perspective - this time in 2007, we were frantically cleaning every nook of our apartment; tonight, I'm chilling on the couch (and blogging)). And we are closing in on the paperwork requirements, although I still haven't set foot in my bank. No matter how cool and calm we may be or how much we learned from our last adoption, some things just don't get any easier!
We learned very quickly last time around that the best motto for international adoption is "expect the unexpected," so we are taking this in stride. Surprised that the unexpected is upon us so soon into the process, but not getting too worked up about it. I figure we have a good year (at least!) to go before we are traveling to Ethiopia, and I can only imagine what other surprises are waiting for us!
That is not to say that this doesn't get us talking. Even though we are nowhere near having to worry about travel, I can't help but start running the possibilities through my mind.
Will we take Simon with us? Initially, we thought no - although we very much look forward to the day when we will be able to take Simon on a trip to Ethiopia (hopefully, more than one trip), he will probably be only 3 or 3 1/2 when we travel for adoption #2 and at that age, I don't think he will be old enough to appreciate much about the trip. To the contrary, such a demanding trip where our focus will be elsewhere is likely to be more confusing and stressful for him, than it is exciting and enlightening. But two big trips away from him in a period of just a few weeks or months is also difficult to imagine. So maybe he comes with us on trip 1 and vacations at Grandma's and Grandpa's during trip 2? Hmmm...
Will we take advantage of trip 1 to see more of Ethiopia? We regretted last time that we did not spend time touring Ethiopia (outside of Addis) when we traveled to pick up Simon. Of course, we were so anxious to meet Simon that we couldn't really imagine being in Ethiopia and not going directly to meet him. And I expect we will feel the same this time around. But as we will not be able to travel home with our child on trip 1... well maybe that makes it the perfect opportunity to do some touring.
There are lots of other thoughts and questions too. Will these changes affect other aspects of the process? What other surprises lie ahead? How will we ever manage to leave Ethiopia at the end of our first trip and the opportunity to meet our child? Are we really going to be able to stay cool and calm throughout the rest of the process? I already know the answer to that one: of course not! ;)
And so it goes. Our perspective is different this time, having been through the process before, but for sure the process can still be challenging. But we are up for it.
In more immediate news... other than this little surprise, we are moving along fairly well in adoption round 2. We have our homestudy tomorrow (talk about a different perspective - this time in 2007, we were frantically cleaning every nook of our apartment; tonight, I'm chilling on the couch (and blogging)). And we are closing in on the paperwork requirements, although I still haven't set foot in my bank. No matter how cool and calm we may be or how much we learned from our last adoption, some things just don't get any easier!
Friday, March 5, 2010
it's all coming back to me now
Since the secret is out, we might as well take advantage of the opportunity to share, vent about, ask for help, and record the journey to our second child here on guzo. This blog became such an important aspect of our adoption of Simon - it enabled us to meet so many other adoptive families, provided an outlet for channeling some of the frustrations and sadness we encountered along the way, and, most importantly, captures the best record of our journey to meet Simon and the first year+ of our lives together. So I am excited to be writing again for our guzo - part 2.
To catch everyone up... pretty much since bringing Simon home in 2008, we had said we would not even talk about starting adoption #2 until 2010. Of course, that didn't hold true at all. When we would adopt again and whether it would be one child or two, an infant or an older child, etc. was a pretty common topic of conversation for a lot of the last year and a half. But we didn't get serious until late last year, and we agreed that if all was well, we would start the process again this year. And so it began.
We called Gladney shortly after the start of the year for our re-orientation and to get a feel for where things were with the Ethiopian adoption program, etc., and then we slowly started getting things in order. By mid-February we delivered to Gladney our application and most of the supporting documents, filed our CIS I600-A, and scheduled doctor appointments, requested employer letters, etc. Since we had copies of all our paperwork from Simon's adoption, the Gladney application process has generally been easier and quicker.
Today we started our day with a fingerprinting appointment for our state criminal and child abuse clearances, moved on to another fingerprinting stop for our FBI clearances, and then ended with a good lunch and some serious shopping (okay the last part has nothing to do with the adoption, but hey, it was really fun and worth a mention!). So we are moving along pretty well.
But here's the thing: I cannot bring myself to go into my bank and ask for the all important bank letter. I just can't deal with it. If you recall, the bank letter turned out to be one of the hardest documents for us to get last time around (check here and here if you need to refresh your memory). I know it's kind of silly, but I'm just dreading it. I don't even think I was this thrown by taking the bar exam!
I know I need to get over my dread pretty quickly. We'll have our homestudy next week and our doctors' appointments later this month. And we only need to get a couple of more documents together for our dossier, so we are on track to complete our paperwork in the next month or so. If I actually can get myself to a bank, that is ;)
Of course, there are still lots of things that are not in our control - i.e. processing of our criminal clearances and CIS fingerprinting and approval - that can mean we are still months away from being on the waitlist for a referral (and we are hearing that both of those things have been taking longer for families in our area these days). And even then, our waits for a referral and court date are expected to be far longer than they were for Simon's adoption... so we still have a very long haul ahead of us.
I will get a timeline up on the blog soon and will do my best to keep you updated on the process. For now, I can say that we are moving steadily along and trying to be optimistic, to remain pretty laid back and most importantly to maintain a sense of humor about the insanity that inevitably lies ahead.
To catch everyone up... pretty much since bringing Simon home in 2008, we had said we would not even talk about starting adoption #2 until 2010. Of course, that didn't hold true at all. When we would adopt again and whether it would be one child or two, an infant or an older child, etc. was a pretty common topic of conversation for a lot of the last year and a half. But we didn't get serious until late last year, and we agreed that if all was well, we would start the process again this year. And so it began.
We called Gladney shortly after the start of the year for our re-orientation and to get a feel for where things were with the Ethiopian adoption program, etc., and then we slowly started getting things in order. By mid-February we delivered to Gladney our application and most of the supporting documents, filed our CIS I600-A, and scheduled doctor appointments, requested employer letters, etc. Since we had copies of all our paperwork from Simon's adoption, the Gladney application process has generally been easier and quicker.
Today we started our day with a fingerprinting appointment for our state criminal and child abuse clearances, moved on to another fingerprinting stop for our FBI clearances, and then ended with a good lunch and some serious shopping (okay the last part has nothing to do with the adoption, but hey, it was really fun and worth a mention!). So we are moving along pretty well.
But here's the thing: I cannot bring myself to go into my bank and ask for the all important bank letter. I just can't deal with it. If you recall, the bank letter turned out to be one of the hardest documents for us to get last time around (check here and here if you need to refresh your memory). I know it's kind of silly, but I'm just dreading it. I don't even think I was this thrown by taking the bar exam!
I know I need to get over my dread pretty quickly. We'll have our homestudy next week and our doctors' appointments later this month. And we only need to get a couple of more documents together for our dossier, so we are on track to complete our paperwork in the next month or so. If I actually can get myself to a bank, that is ;)
Of course, there are still lots of things that are not in our control - i.e. processing of our criminal clearances and CIS fingerprinting and approval - that can mean we are still months away from being on the waitlist for a referral (and we are hearing that both of those things have been taking longer for families in our area these days). And even then, our waits for a referral and court date are expected to be far longer than they were for Simon's adoption... so we still have a very long haul ahead of us.
I will get a timeline up on the blog soon and will do my best to keep you updated on the process. For now, I can say that we are moving steadily along and trying to be optimistic, to remain pretty laid back and most importantly to maintain a sense of humor about the insanity that inevitably lies ahead.
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