WEEK OF DECEMBER 1st THROUGH DECEMBER 7th
We start the month of December with great news from our friend's the "G's" They received the "CALL" yesterday!!!!!!!!!!! Yeahhhhhhhhhh........... We are truly happy for them.... They are having a BOY. He was born in January 2008. They will be traveling soon. We wish them a safe and happy travel.
On the other hand, we are waiting (still) to get our call. This process, unfortunately, has gotten the best of me. I feel tired, sad, and angry. Angry at the not knowing what's going on in Russia. The Ministry and the judges keep changing their regulations, but unfortunately, they keep changing in a way that affects the future adoptive parents. They keep making things harder and harder. Sometimes I truly believe that they do not want us to adopt, which is very sad. I pray to God and our Angels, that they will help us find the strength we need to keep going. We have already reached the 18 month mark, since our paperwork left to Russia. The waiting is the worst part....it can get to be excruciating. I know that the wait has gotten to Mauricio too, but he is a quiet man, and he tries not to upset me even more that what I already am. I tell you, I don't know what I would do without him. He is the love of my life. He is my best friend and the pillar in which I can lean on with my eyes closed :) Well, enough of that......
I send an email to Tver on Sunday asking to see if they had any new information and this is what they had to say (below):
Dear Yadira and Mauricio,
The matter is that we don’t issue referrals to adoptive families, it is the duty of the adoption center, and we have no information of when they will select a referral for you. When we have any news, we’ll let you know.
Best regards,
Alexey
CHI – Tver Regional Coordinator
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Alexey:
We hope this email finds you well. The purpose of this email is to request information in regards to our referral. As you are aware, it has been a month since we were registered with the Tver Adoption Center (October 28th), but we have not heard anything since, and we wanted to know if there are any news that you can share with us.
Also, there is a very important question that we would like to ask you and we hope that you can answer it, do you know if there is a possibility that we might be called to travel in December??? Or do you think that we are going to have to wait until January 2009 to travel??? As always, your assistance is truly appreciated.
Best Regards,
Yadira & Mauricio
Well, as you can see, they really don't have any news. I want to truly believe that our dream of becoming parents will become true one day. Please, keep us in your prayers.
Have a Blessed Week.............
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
NOVEMBER 2008 CON'T.
WEEK OF NOVEMBER 13th THROUGH NOVEMBER 30th
Well, I have not posted anything in the past two weeks because there really has not been anything new to report (sadly). I have been updating paperwork that had expired or was in the process of expiring, but that's about it. We are hoping to hear something very soon....
On a different note, the whole family is leaving for Chicago to spend Thanksgiving together. I am very excited about that. Mom is leaving on Tuesday and Mauri, Ana Maria and my Brother-in-Law Nelson and I are leaving on Wednesday night. We will be there until Saturday evening, until we have to take the place back to Miami. We are going to meet Claudia and Donnie's seven month old puppy. His name is Buddy. Well, wish us luck..... Until the next post.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!
WEEK OF NOVEMBER 10th THROUGH NOVEMBER 12th
We start the week with some news from another family that is traveling for court. They are the "I". They are leaving for Moscow on November 12th. Poor "T" they have made her crazy while getting ready to leave, Russia was requesting documents until the very last minute!!!! There were changes and changes.... It is unbelievable that they keep requesting more documents every time. If it was not enough all the paperwork that we have submitted so far..... but we have to do what they and we have no choice but to try to comply with everything they request, no matter how silly it might look to us. Well, "T" was informed yesterday, that there was a change in judges, she will be attending before a new lady judge, and that's not all, instead of one day court, they are going to have a 2 day court...... I feel for them... They had to pay a penalty and change their plane tickets, because they were coming back the day after court to wait out the 10-day period, and because of the 2 day court they had to change their return. Well, they left today, we pray and hope that their court dates go as smooth as they can be. Best Wishes "I" family :)
On a different note, I called our rep yesterday to ask her if she new anything as of why is Tver not following the same pattern that they had followed in the past. During this past year, Tver has been really good when it came to registering a family, after that the family would get their call a week to 2 weeks after they had been registered. Unfortunately with our friends the "G" and with us that has not happened. Our friends have been registered for a month and us for 2 weeks and we have not heard anything. Our rep says she does not know what it's going on. This is nerve wracking for us. The holidays are around the corner and we do not know if we are going to travel before the end of the year or not. We are in God's hands and in the MOE's hands, we can only pray that the MOE will give us the chance to travel, at least by early December. Mauri and I are more than ready and willing to go asap. We can only have faith and hope that we will hear good news soon...... Until next time......
Well, I have not posted anything in the past two weeks because there really has not been anything new to report (sadly). I have been updating paperwork that had expired or was in the process of expiring, but that's about it. We are hoping to hear something very soon....
On a different note, the whole family is leaving for Chicago to spend Thanksgiving together. I am very excited about that. Mom is leaving on Tuesday and Mauri, Ana Maria and my Brother-in-Law Nelson and I are leaving on Wednesday night. We will be there until Saturday evening, until we have to take the place back to Miami. We are going to meet Claudia and Donnie's seven month old puppy. His name is Buddy. Well, wish us luck..... Until the next post.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!
WEEK OF NOVEMBER 10th THROUGH NOVEMBER 12th
We start the week with some news from another family that is traveling for court. They are the "I". They are leaving for Moscow on November 12th. Poor "T" they have made her crazy while getting ready to leave, Russia was requesting documents until the very last minute!!!! There were changes and changes.... It is unbelievable that they keep requesting more documents every time. If it was not enough all the paperwork that we have submitted so far..... but we have to do what they and we have no choice but to try to comply with everything they request, no matter how silly it might look to us. Well, "T" was informed yesterday, that there was a change in judges, she will be attending before a new lady judge, and that's not all, instead of one day court, they are going to have a 2 day court...... I feel for them... They had to pay a penalty and change their plane tickets, because they were coming back the day after court to wait out the 10-day period, and because of the 2 day court they had to change their return. Well, they left today, we pray and hope that their court dates go as smooth as they can be. Best Wishes "I" family :)
On a different note, I called our rep yesterday to ask her if she new anything as of why is Tver not following the same pattern that they had followed in the past. During this past year, Tver has been really good when it came to registering a family, after that the family would get their call a week to 2 weeks after they had been registered. Unfortunately with our friends the "G" and with us that has not happened. Our friends have been registered for a month and us for 2 weeks and we have not heard anything. Our rep says she does not know what it's going on. This is nerve wracking for us. The holidays are around the corner and we do not know if we are going to travel before the end of the year or not. We are in God's hands and in the MOE's hands, we can only pray that the MOE will give us the chance to travel, at least by early December. Mauri and I are more than ready and willing to go asap. We can only have faith and hope that we will hear good news soon...... Until next time......
NOVEMBER 2008
WEEK OF NOVEMBER 3rd THROUGH NOVEMBER 7th
On November 7th Mauri and I took the day off to take care of a number of things that we need for court. We started our day at 5:30 in the morning. The first thing we did was to take my car to the dealer because it was in great need of an oil change :) and the a/c was leaking water inside the car. After that we left to go to the primary care doctor. We were there for almost 2 hours. Finally he gave us the prescription so we could have the x-rays of the chest that Tver requests. He also gave us the lab papers so Mauri and I could have the following tests done:
10 panel drug test
HIV tests
Syphilis
Hepatitis
Alcohol
After that we went to see my Allergist, I needed to have my weekly shot. Thank God my friend Heather (who works at the Dr's. office was able to get us an appointment for both us to have our x-rays taken that same day. Thank you Heather :) The we went to see our Psychiatrist, yes you read right, we need to be cleared by a Psychiatrist before we can adopt. Well, the first evaluation that he gave us is about to expire and we needed to be re-evaluated, in order to get the new set of letters. After the Psych. doctor we drove to Coral Gables to pick my brother-in-law Nelson, he found a lab place in Miramar who could do all the labs that we need for less money that the other labs. We couldn't do the labs through the insurance because they are not medically necessary...so we where on our own :(
Once we did the labs we had to drive back to Coral Gables to drop Nelson and then we had to drive to Kendall so we could go do our x-rays. After we were finished with the x-rays, we were starved, it was about 5:00pm and we had not had any lunch, so we stopped to get lunch/dinner. Then we had to run back to the dealership to get back my car. Thanks to Mauri's driving, we able to make it 3 minutes before they closed, so we were saved by the bell :) After that we ran back home to make copies of some documents. Then, we had to go meet the notary. We had made a late appointment with her. She graciously notarized all the necessary documents so I could send them to Tallahassee to be Apostilled. We finished at about 10:00pm. By that time we were exhausted, but happy and proud that we had accomplished everything that we had set out to do for that day":)
Well, now we have to get all those papers ready so they could leave on Monday. I wanted them to leave on Saturday, but Fedex was charging too much money, so we had to wait until they can leave on Monday.
We end the week with no news about receiving a referral. Our friend's the G's have been waiting for almost a month to receive the "Call", but sadly nothing has happened yet, and we do not know when are we going to receive our "Call". We can only hope for it be very very soon.
On November 7th Mauri and I took the day off to take care of a number of things that we need for court. We started our day at 5:30 in the morning. The first thing we did was to take my car to the dealer because it was in great need of an oil change :) and the a/c was leaking water inside the car. After that we left to go to the primary care doctor. We were there for almost 2 hours. Finally he gave us the prescription so we could have the x-rays of the chest that Tver requests. He also gave us the lab papers so Mauri and I could have the following tests done:
10 panel drug test
HIV tests
Syphilis
Hepatitis
Alcohol
After that we went to see my Allergist, I needed to have my weekly shot. Thank God my friend Heather (who works at the Dr's. office was able to get us an appointment for both us to have our x-rays taken that same day. Thank you Heather :) The we went to see our Psychiatrist, yes you read right, we need to be cleared by a Psychiatrist before we can adopt. Well, the first evaluation that he gave us is about to expire and we needed to be re-evaluated, in order to get the new set of letters. After the Psych. doctor we drove to Coral Gables to pick my brother-in-law Nelson, he found a lab place in Miramar who could do all the labs that we need for less money that the other labs. We couldn't do the labs through the insurance because they are not medically necessary...so we where on our own :(
Once we did the labs we had to drive back to Coral Gables to drop Nelson and then we had to drive to Kendall so we could go do our x-rays. After we were finished with the x-rays, we were starved, it was about 5:00pm and we had not had any lunch, so we stopped to get lunch/dinner. Then we had to run back to the dealership to get back my car. Thanks to Mauri's driving, we able to make it 3 minutes before they closed, so we were saved by the bell :) After that we ran back home to make copies of some documents. Then, we had to go meet the notary. We had made a late appointment with her. She graciously notarized all the necessary documents so I could send them to Tallahassee to be Apostilled. We finished at about 10:00pm. By that time we were exhausted, but happy and proud that we had accomplished everything that we had set out to do for that day":)
Well, now we have to get all those papers ready so they could leave on Monday. I wanted them to leave on Saturday, but Fedex was charging too much money, so we had to wait until they can leave on Monday.
We end the week with no news about receiving a referral. Our friend's the G's have been waiting for almost a month to receive the "Call", but sadly nothing has happened yet, and we do not know when are we going to receive our "Call". We can only hope for it be very very soon.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
WEEK OF OCTOBER 27th THROUGH OCTOBER 31, 2008
Well, we have GREAT NEWS to share, We were REGISTERED on October 28, 2008, YEAHHHHH. I will give you a brief description of how we found out..... About 2 weeks ago, I connected my pda through my hotmail email, in order to be informed if I received an email from Tver. Well, it paid off.... Yesterday morning when I got out of the shower I decided to check my phone and see if I had any emails. Well, what was my surprise, that as I was skimming through the list of emails, I came across an email from Tver. As you can imagine, I was a little nervous at first, I was afraid to read it.... But what was our surprise, the email read:
Dear Yadira and Mauricio,
Your dossier was registered with Tver adoption center on October 28, 2008. when we have any news concerning referral for you, we’ll let you know.
Best regards,
Alexey
CHI – Tver Regional Coordinator
Ohh my God, I started crying, shaking, and jumping...... I could not believe what I was reading, we had waited so long to see those words..... Well, the first thing I did was to call Mauri to give him the news. He was already at work, and when he heard me crying he got a little worried, but I immediately told him that there was nothing wrong, but that I had to share some news with him, and what news...... He started crying too and we both got very emotional. We can't wait to get "the Call" so we can finally go meet our son/daughter. We will keep you posted. That's all for now.... please continue to pray for us.... God Bless you!!!!
Well, we have GREAT NEWS to share, We were REGISTERED on October 28, 2008, YEAHHHHH. I will give you a brief description of how we found out..... About 2 weeks ago, I connected my pda through my hotmail email, in order to be informed if I received an email from Tver. Well, it paid off.... Yesterday morning when I got out of the shower I decided to check my phone and see if I had any emails. Well, what was my surprise, that as I was skimming through the list of emails, I came across an email from Tver. As you can imagine, I was a little nervous at first, I was afraid to read it.... But what was our surprise, the email read:
Dear Yadira and Mauricio,
Your dossier was registered with Tver adoption center on October 28, 2008. when we have any news concerning referral for you, we’ll let you know.
Best regards,
Alexey
CHI – Tver Regional Coordinator
Ohh my God, I started crying, shaking, and jumping...... I could not believe what I was reading, we had waited so long to see those words..... Well, the first thing I did was to call Mauri to give him the news. He was already at work, and when he heard me crying he got a little worried, but I immediately told him that there was nothing wrong, but that I had to share some news with him, and what news...... He started crying too and we both got very emotional. We can't wait to get "the Call" so we can finally go meet our son/daughter. We will keep you posted. That's all for now.... please continue to pray for us.... God Bless you!!!!
WEEK OF OCTOBER 20th TRHOUGH OCTOBER 24, 2008
After my last post, a lot things have developed.... There are two very important news to share with all of you.
First, my friend "A" and her husband "K" were registered with Tver adoption Center. That means they they are acknowledged by the Russian Legal Authority for Adoption and the MOE (Ministry of Education) They were registered on October 10th, but they were not informed until October 14th. They are really really happy. We are truly happy for them and we hope they are called soon to meet their baby. They are, according to the Russian Govt. "officially" on a waiting list waiting for their child..... Yeahh, another family who gets registered in our same region, yeahh. She is a great person and we have become really good friends. I am personally happy for them.
Second, we now have an idea why we have not been registered as of yet. We received an email from our Coordinator on Friday, October 24, with the following:
TVER
We recently received news that any international adoption agency working in Tver region can only register two families at any given time. This means, that a family can get registered only after one of the two families that is already registered there receives and accepts a referral. Please speak with your adoption consultant if you have any additional questions about this change.
That explains why there has been a delay in us getting registered (well, at least to some extent). We have no choice, but to trust and wait.
On a different note, I decided to go visit my dear friends in Honduras. I leave today in the early evening.... I know some of you might think that I am not thinking this through.... well, you are right, but there are some important things that I need to go to take care of.... It will be a very quick trip....I also found a great flight with a great price, so I consulted with Mauri and he agreed for me to go and "clear my head". I just wished he could come with me. I am going to miss him terribly. Wish me luck, I will post when I return. Until then...............ciao..................
After my last post, a lot things have developed.... There are two very important news to share with all of you.
First, my friend "A" and her husband "K" were registered with Tver adoption Center. That means they they are acknowledged by the Russian Legal Authority for Adoption and the MOE (Ministry of Education) They were registered on October 10th, but they were not informed until October 14th. They are really really happy. We are truly happy for them and we hope they are called soon to meet their baby. They are, according to the Russian Govt. "officially" on a waiting list waiting for their child..... Yeahh, another family who gets registered in our same region, yeahh. She is a great person and we have become really good friends. I am personally happy for them.
Second, we now have an idea why we have not been registered as of yet. We received an email from our Coordinator on Friday, October 24, with the following:
TVER
We recently received news that any international adoption agency working in Tver region can only register two families at any given time. This means, that a family can get registered only after one of the two families that is already registered there receives and accepts a referral. Please speak with your adoption consultant if you have any additional questions about this change.
That explains why there has been a delay in us getting registered (well, at least to some extent). We have no choice, but to trust and wait.
On a different note, I decided to go visit my dear friends in Honduras. I leave today in the early evening.... I know some of you might think that I am not thinking this through.... well, you are right, but there are some important things that I need to go to take care of.... It will be a very quick trip....I also found a great flight with a great price, so I consulted with Mauri and he agreed for me to go and "clear my head". I just wished he could come with me. I am going to miss him terribly. Wish me luck, I will post when I return. Until then...............ciao..................
Monday, October 13, 2008
OCTOBER 2008
WEEK OF OCTOBER 1st THROUGH THE 9th
As you can imagine, I was livid..... I got really upset because I thought that our Coordinator should not have send the email copying everybody and their mother (figure of speech). She should have sent it directly to me or even better, she could have picked up the phone and talked to me about, but she chose to embarrass me instead. My response to them was very professional. I wrote 2 emails, once to Tver, explaining to them that the only thing we want is to know about our paperwork. I wrote a very very lenghty email to the Russia Program Director and our Coordinator, where I politely, spoke my mind. Since our Coordinator was not aware of everything we have had to endure, in the almost 17 months since our paperwork left to Russia, I tried to explain to her that we had the right to know what the status of our paperwork is. That besides being Prospective adoptive parents, we are also paying customers to them... Well, the email goes on and on and on, but I rather not disclose everything I wrote. At the end, we received an email from the Coordinator apologizing and sympathizing for everything we have had to endure throughout this process, and she gave us green light to get in touch with Tver anytime we deemed necessary. The only thing she requested was to be cc'd on the emails so she could be kept abreast of what it's going on with our case, which is what we have been doing all along. We always do things by the book. We are not perfect, but we are fair, loving and respectful individuals who cannot wait to meet their beautiful little angel.
Today, it's October 9th and we got an email from Tver in regards to the latest email I had sent to him. What he wrote was, "of course, when we have any news, first thing we’ll let you know."
I wish he was a little more specific somethimes. Don' they realize that the wait its excrutiating and that we need to be fed with some news. To be fair, I know he is trying his best to get us registered and there are some things that are well beyond his control, but at the same time, it would be nice to know a little more.
We start the month of October with a new Coordinator Pam, we will see how things go. We are being positive and hopeful. It is so hard to start with someone new when we are son far into the adoption process. The truth is that we don't know her and she does not know us, but we have to give her a chance. With that said, we hope to get her introductory email very soon. We already sent our introductory email.
LATEST NEWS!!!
We just found out that our friend's who were in 5th place (2 families after us) received a referral of a 9 month old baby girl. We are more than happy for them. We wish them all the happiness in the world. At the same time, we VERY upset and CHI, because they are not following any order of who applied when. I really don't think that it is fair that they jumped the 2 families that were before them, but they got the referral after all and there is nothing we can do at this point. That does not make it less dissapointing though. To be honest, there is no real method that we could explain to the families how they decide who goes first. I know for a fact that we all submitted our paperwork at the same time, but they were the lucky one's chosen to receive a referral. They will be traveling to meet their baby girl on the 18th. We trully wish them the best. We pray to God and all our Angels that our turn will come very very soon.
On a different note, today we finally finished our Heart of the Matter Seminars. Finally, we thought we were never going to finish watching those DVD's. We watched the entire workshop about three times. We wanted to make sure that we really understood all the materials. We took all the test and we passed them (yeahhhhh) We also got our Certificates of Completion. How exciting!!!! Once less task to worry about.
Today, we received news from Tver (Alexey). They confirmed that they received both packages containing court documents. Praise the Lord..... That's a relief!
We had requested to know the status of our papers and we were informed that the Legal Authority has not finished checking our registration paperwork. They also told us that since there are many families applying to adopt in Tver from different agencies, that they have a lot of documents to review. It is frustrating, not knowing when they are going to look at our paperwork. We are sooooo close, but yet so far.... We need a miracle!!!
I have made several attempts to contact Tver via email this week, but I have not received an answer yet. I think that Tver it's getting tired of hearing from me since I keep asking when do they think our paperwork will be ready for registration after being checked by the legal authority, but I have not been very successful. I even got in trouble with the new Coordinator, she sent me an email telling me that I should limit my emails to Tver (see below).
"Please limit your questions to Alexey about any documents that might be missing or that he says you might need. He is very, very busy with lots of families at this time. We will notify you of any thing to be aware of.
Thank you so much for your patience and understanding. I know the wait is very difficult and our Regional Directors understand this too. If Alexey spends his time answering questions like these for every family he is working with in Tver, he wouldn’t get much done for them and your family when the time comes for you to get a Referral and travel."
Thank you so much for your patience and understanding. I know the wait is very difficult and our Regional Directors understand this too. If Alexey spends his time answering questions like these for every family he is working with in Tver, he wouldn’t get much done for them and your family when the time comes for you to get a Referral and travel."
As you can imagine, I was livid..... I got really upset because I thought that our Coordinator should not have send the email copying everybody and their mother (figure of speech). She should have sent it directly to me or even better, she could have picked up the phone and talked to me about, but she chose to embarrass me instead. My response to them was very professional. I wrote 2 emails, once to Tver, explaining to them that the only thing we want is to know about our paperwork. I wrote a very very lenghty email to the Russia Program Director and our Coordinator, where I politely, spoke my mind. Since our Coordinator was not aware of everything we have had to endure, in the almost 17 months since our paperwork left to Russia, I tried to explain to her that we had the right to know what the status of our paperwork is. That besides being Prospective adoptive parents, we are also paying customers to them... Well, the email goes on and on and on, but I rather not disclose everything I wrote. At the end, we received an email from the Coordinator apologizing and sympathizing for everything we have had to endure throughout this process, and she gave us green light to get in touch with Tver anytime we deemed necessary. The only thing she requested was to be cc'd on the emails so she could be kept abreast of what it's going on with our case, which is what we have been doing all along. We always do things by the book. We are not perfect, but we are fair, loving and respectful individuals who cannot wait to meet their beautiful little angel.
Today, it's October 9th and we got an email from Tver in regards to the latest email I had sent to him. What he wrote was, "of course, when we have any news, first thing we’ll let you know."
I wish he was a little more specific somethimes. Don' they realize that the wait its excrutiating and that we need to be fed with some news. To be fair, I know he is trying his best to get us registered and there are some things that are well beyond his control, but at the same time, it would be nice to know a little more.
SEPTEMBER 2008 (CON'T)
WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 15th TO THE 19th
WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 22nd TO THE 26th
WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 29th TO THE 30th
September has been a very busy month so far... in regards to news and communication with Russia, we hope to hear great news very soon.
On September 18th we received an email from Alexey saying that the documents are currently being Translated and Notarized. After that they are going to be sent to the legal authority that deals with adoption papers for a check. This week was kind of slow. There were really no news. We are eagerly awaiting to receive "The Call", but so far it has not happened!!! We will see what next week brings!!!
Today, I sent an email to Karla asking her if there had been any movement in Tver and she told me that there was a family who had received a referral and CHI was waiting to see if this family was going to accept their referral and therefore, travel to Russia. We know from a good source that this family had turned down a referral before and this was their second referral. I found out that they did accept to travel. That leaves us with the W's, another family who was placed on the Tver list (after being transferred from 2 different regions), the us, then our friends the G's and the I's. What we do not understand is why this family who was transferred from another region has to go in front of us, I honestly do not think that it is fair. After we have been waiting for over 16 months to get a referral, all of the sudden CHI just puts a family ahead of us. Very deceiving and disappointing on CHI's side.
Today its September 24 and Karla just received our second package with court documents in order to be sent to Russia. It took us a month an a half to get 90% of the requested documents for court. We are hoping that by doing all that required work, it will help us along the way once we go to Russia on the first trip and then getting a court date and therefore, going on the second trip.
I emailed Alexey today asking him for an update on our paperwork. We wanted to to know were we were! He answered the next day and this is what he had to say:
"The translation and notarization of your documents was completed, and they were submitted to the legal authority which deals with adoption papers, for a check. When we have any news, we’ll let you know."
That's it's great news to us. We have been waiting a long time to hear that. Now we have to wait and see how long more do we have to wait in order to get registered. Praise the Lord!!!
Today, I decided to get registered for our future Baby Shower at Babies"R"Us. I did it online. We won't have the Baby Shower once we go on the first trip to meet our baby, not before....
I also went ahead and I opened another registry at Wal-Mart. I also did it online! For now, we wait. At least that its ready!
Finally, CHI notified us who our new Coordinator is going to be, since Karla's last day is tomorrow. This is what their email said:
Dear Friends,
Last week you should have received an email from your consultant in regard to some of the changes that are currently taking place in international adoption, at Children’s Hope, and in the Russia program in particular. One of the changes mentioned in the previous email was in regard to the restructuring that is going on within the Russia program at CHI, and how that will affect your adoption process.
Basically, starting on October 1, 2008 all of our consultants in St. Louis will be specializing in a small number of regions instead of everyone working with families from across the regions. For the most part this will only affect new families; however some of the families that are currently assigned to a region will be assigned to a new consultant as well. If you are a family that is will be affected by this change, you will be notified by your consultants prior to this change taking place.
From October 1, most of the current application families and all new applications that are approved for the Russia program will be handled by Karolyn Tucker (contact information bellow). Once your application is assigned to a specific region, however, you will be assigned to a consultant who specializes in that region. Furthermore, if for some reason you end up switching regions during your adoption process, you will be reassigned to a new consultant or a team of consultants that specialize in that particular region.
Last week you should have received an email from your consultant in regard to some of the changes that are currently taking place in international adoption, at Children’s Hope, and in the Russia program in particular. One of the changes mentioned in the previous email was in regard to the restructuring that is going on within the Russia program at CHI, and how that will affect your adoption process.
Basically, starting on October 1, 2008 all of our consultants in St. Louis will be specializing in a small number of regions instead of everyone working with families from across the regions. For the most part this will only affect new families; however some of the families that are currently assigned to a region will be assigned to a new consultant as well. If you are a family that is will be affected by this change, you will be notified by your consultants prior to this change taking place.
From October 1, most of the current application families and all new applications that are approved for the Russia program will be handled by Karolyn Tucker (contact information bellow). Once your application is assigned to a specific region, however, you will be assigned to a consultant who specializes in that region. Furthermore, if for some reason you end up switching regions during your adoption process, you will be reassigned to a new consultant or a team of consultants that specialize in that particular region.
We were assigned to Pam Bischoff. One of the region's she was assigned to is Tver (our region). I know she was a Coordinator from China. We pray that we will be able to get along with Pam, just as we did with Karla, which was Great. I am really going to miss Karla. Many Blessings and great things to come is what we can wish Karla. She really made a difference in our case and in our lives. Good Luck Karla!!!!
Today, September 30th, I sent an email to Alexey, I wanted to know if he was in receipt of the 2 packages containing court documents that we previously sent. He responded by saying that they had not received it yet. That really worried us. They should have received them by now. At least one of the packets. I pray to God that nothing has happened to the documents. They took so much work on our behalf, that I could not bear it if something happened to them. But we have to be positive. God is in our side and he will look after us and after our papers.
We close the month of September a little bit sad because we have not received "The Call" yet, but we are very hopeful that we will get to hear great news very very soon. Please keep us in your prayers
SEPTEMBER 2008
WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 1st TO THE 5th
We start the month of September with news from Tver. Alexey wrote us an email in regards to our documents. (See below)
We received the requested documents in Tver: CHI agency license and Agreement between the agencies.
But our translator found mistakes in two documents:
- HS agency post-placement letter
- HS agency recommendation letter.
There is a mistake in your passport number in each of these documents, so these document have to be corrected, so we could submit your dossier for registration.
As you can imagine I was really upset at me and at our SW. I should have checked that our SW would have included my new passport information (since my passport got stolen at the Chicago airport on 12/07), but no she for got to include it. So now I have to rush, rush, rush so I can get to CHI by Friday morning so it can leave in the bag to Russia. This is my game plan. Our SW will have the documents ready by Wednesday, I already spoke to her and I asked her if I could overnight a Fedex envelope to her so she can place the documents in another Fedex envelope directed to our Courier service in Tallahassee, so then she can place them in another envelope to be directed to Karla at CHI. All this in less than 3 days. Pretty stressful and a great deal of expectation on my part, but I know that with God's help and all my guides it can be done!!!
Well, today its Friday, September 5th and Fedex just sent me an email that CHI just signed off on the documents, and the documents will be leaving to Russia by noon (yeahhh). I already asked Karla if she could be so kind as to send me a scanned copy of the documents. So there, we made it possible.... yeahh.... I don't feel as guilty anymore. Thanks to God the delay was of about a week, instead of 3 weeks or a month. Thank you everybody!!
I also went ahead and I sent an email to Alexey letting him know that the corrected documents will be leaving to Russia today, Friday, September 5. I also attached a scanned copies of the documents to see if it was possible for Russia (Ana) to start working on the translation from the copies while they gets the originals next week. Alexey wrote back saying that he will forward the scanned documents so the translator can start working on them while they get the originals next week.
I just wanted to let you know that the corrected documents will be leaving to Russia today, Friday, September 5. Please let me know when you receive them. Also, I have attached a scanned copy of the documents to see if it was possible to start working on the translation from the copies while you get the originals next week. That way we won't have lost so much time in between. Any assistance that you can kindly provide us in order to get registered sooner will be greatly appreciated.
WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 8th TO THE 12th
Today it's Monday and I wrote a question to Alexey in regards to which Medical Form to use, since we are already working on getting documents for court ready. There are 2 forms in the CHI website, regular form and an addendum to the form and I would like clarification from him in which form to use. We will wait to see what he has to say tomorrow.
Well, Alexey wrote me back this morning in regards to the email from yesterday and this is his response:
"Thanks for your e-mail, and thank you for your hard work with the documents.
Regarding medical form, one of them can be used – Addition to the medical report, but you can wait with preparing it as most likely you’ll have to update it, because it’s valid only for 3 months’ period. And the psychiatrist’s conclusion is also valid for 3 months only."
Based on Alexey's response I am only supposed to prepare the Addendum to the Medical report. In regards to the Psychiatrist's conclusion, we already got the letter from our Specialist. Sweet Dr. Iglesias, but I think that at the rate we are going we are going to have to have those letters redone since they expire on November 25. We will see what happens.
On a happy note, today it's Mauri's Birthday!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY FUTURE DADDY
May God Bless you today and always.....
Today it's September 10th, and its the day after we celebrated Mauri's B-Day.... I am a little tired. We went to Tony Romas for dinner. We had a blast! All of Mauri's close relatives called him yesterday from Nicaragua and I know he really liked that! We are planning to take him out to dinner on Saturday with side of the family. We want to go to PF Changs at the Falls. They should be reopening soon, after going for 2 months of remodeling. We can't wait!!!
Well, in regards to Russia, I wrote another email to Alexey asking him whether I was to hold on to all the court documents that I have ready or whether I should mail them to Karla so she could mail it directly to them. He answered back by saying that I should mail them to Karla so she could mail it to them, so they could start the translation with some time to spare....
So, I am getting my packet ready to send to Karla. This time, since there are soooo many documents I am sending a packet of copies for Karla so she does't have to make the copies herself. I know it cost me double to send, but by being proactive, I am making sure that the documents will leave tomorrow Friday to Russia!!!
Today, I also received an email from Karla with answers to several questions I had enquired earlier last week. This is what she responded:
Today, it's Friday, September 12th, and we end the week with a devastating email from Brenda Barker:
Dear family,
Last Friday, I let our social work families know that the SE Branch office of Children’s Hope International will be closing, as of September 30. I know more information will be forthcoming from our STL office of Children’s Hope, but let me assure you that Children’s Hope is NOT closing! For current families, since all of the adoption consulting work has been transferred to our main office in STL, this should not affect you, if we did not do your social work. Those families that we are currently doing social work for in Tennessee, Kentucky and Arkansas, we are working with an agency in each of these states to take our social work cases to make this transition as easy as possible.
I wanted to share with you excerpts from the letter I sent last Friday:
On behalf of Children’s Hope International, I wish to thank you for your loyalty and commitment to providing homes, health, and hope to children in need. We feel privileged to be your agency of choice to assist you in this rewarding journey.
This past year has been full of learning experiences, speed bumps, and transitions for all involved in the adoption process. We have shared prayers and sadness with you as we learned together that the Memorandum of Understanding Agreement between Vietnam and the United States will most likely expire in a few weeks. We all have watched and waited as the China adoption program extended from a 6 month to now a 3 year program. And just a few weeks ago, all of us mourned together with you as we learned that we did not receive Hague Accreditation. But during this sadness, we must also remember the times of joy we had welcoming home our first Ethiopian baby, my own Ethiopian daughters coming home, in receiving accreditation in Russia, and our expanding the Child Sponsorship and Humanitarian Aid programs. These are all reminders that with every uncertain step, we also have many sure steps full of reward for the world’s orphans.
At this time, we are doing what we believe is in everyone’s best interest and voluntarily terminating our license as a Child Placement Agency in the State of Arkansas, Tennessee, and Kentucky.
I have had over 15 years of serving families through international adoption, and helped close to 2,000 children find homes in the Southeast during this time. I started the Russia program, and helped CHI get licensed in several countries. I have been to over 20 countries through my adoption experiences. But what I will miss the most is each of you. It is with great sadness that I leave you. I will miss talking to you, laughing together, and sometimes even crying together. I will miss not being a part of bringing your child home…many of you I remember that first time we met at an information meeting! I know I will miss seeing God’s daily miracles. You can not be a part of adoption as a consultant, a social worker, or as a family, and not see God’s hand and heart as He builds your family.
Please know that I hold you dear in my heart, and consider you a part of my family, as I hope you do me as well. It has been an enormous privilege in watching your families grow, and feeling that I was a part of that, at least in some small way…from seeing your baby come off that airplane, to the first day of school, and some of you to college graduations. You have been indelibly etched into my heart, and have made my life so much richer in so many ways. For those of you waiting please know that your time will come as well…there is nothing better in this world than giving a child a home and watching them grow!
I hope you will all continue to mail me your Christmas letters and pictures as every year that is what I look forward to the most during the holidays. Please see my contact info below. Please delete any other contact info you have for me and only use that info below after September 30th. I may be leaving international adoption as my career, but I have always been a mom and I am always available to help families and children.
Thank you once again for your understanding, cooperation and grace in this time of transition.
I wish you many blessings on your adoption journey!
Blessings,
Brenda Barker
Regional Director
Children’s Hope International
This is very sad news for everyone. We feel really bad for all those people who are being let go. We pray for all the families, including ours.
We start the month of September with news from Tver. Alexey wrote us an email in regards to our documents. (See below)
We received the requested documents in Tver: CHI agency license and Agreement between the agencies.
But our translator found mistakes in two documents:
- HS agency post-placement letter
- HS agency recommendation letter.
There is a mistake in your passport number in each of these documents, so these document have to be corrected, so we could submit your dossier for registration.
As you can imagine I was really upset at me and at our SW. I should have checked that our SW would have included my new passport information (since my passport got stolen at the Chicago airport on 12/07), but no she for got to include it. So now I have to rush, rush, rush so I can get to CHI by Friday morning so it can leave in the bag to Russia. This is my game plan. Our SW will have the documents ready by Wednesday, I already spoke to her and I asked her if I could overnight a Fedex envelope to her so she can place the documents in another Fedex envelope directed to our Courier service in Tallahassee, so then she can place them in another envelope to be directed to Karla at CHI. All this in less than 3 days. Pretty stressful and a great deal of expectation on my part, but I know that with God's help and all my guides it can be done!!!
Well, today its Friday, September 5th and Fedex just sent me an email that CHI just signed off on the documents, and the documents will be leaving to Russia by noon (yeahhh). I already asked Karla if she could be so kind as to send me a scanned copy of the documents. So there, we made it possible.... yeahh.... I don't feel as guilty anymore. Thanks to God the delay was of about a week, instead of 3 weeks or a month. Thank you everybody!!
I also went ahead and I sent an email to Alexey letting him know that the corrected documents will be leaving to Russia today, Friday, September 5. I also attached a scanned copies of the documents to see if it was possible for Russia (Ana) to start working on the translation from the copies while they gets the originals next week. Alexey wrote back saying that he will forward the scanned documents so the translator can start working on them while they get the originals next week.
I just wanted to let you know that the corrected documents will be leaving to Russia today, Friday, September 5. Please let me know when you receive them. Also, I have attached a scanned copy of the documents to see if it was possible to start working on the translation from the copies while you get the originals next week. That way we won't have lost so much time in between. Any assistance that you can kindly provide us in order to get registered sooner will be greatly appreciated.
WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 8th TO THE 12th
Today it's Monday and I wrote a question to Alexey in regards to which Medical Form to use, since we are already working on getting documents for court ready. There are 2 forms in the CHI website, regular form and an addendum to the form and I would like clarification from him in which form to use. We will wait to see what he has to say tomorrow.
Well, Alexey wrote me back this morning in regards to the email from yesterday and this is his response:
"Thanks for your e-mail, and thank you for your hard work with the documents.
Regarding medical form, one of them can be used – Addition to the medical report, but you can wait with preparing it as most likely you’ll have to update it, because it’s valid only for 3 months’ period. And the psychiatrist’s conclusion is also valid for 3 months only."
Based on Alexey's response I am only supposed to prepare the Addendum to the Medical report. In regards to the Psychiatrist's conclusion, we already got the letter from our Specialist. Sweet Dr. Iglesias, but I think that at the rate we are going we are going to have to have those letters redone since they expire on November 25. We will see what happens.
On a happy note, today it's Mauri's Birthday!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY FUTURE DADDY
May God Bless you today and always.....
Today it's September 10th, and its the day after we celebrated Mauri's B-Day.... I am a little tired. We went to Tony Romas for dinner. We had a blast! All of Mauri's close relatives called him yesterday from Nicaragua and I know he really liked that! We are planning to take him out to dinner on Saturday with side of the family. We want to go to PF Changs at the Falls. They should be reopening soon, after going for 2 months of remodeling. We can't wait!!!
Well, in regards to Russia, I wrote another email to Alexey asking him whether I was to hold on to all the court documents that I have ready or whether I should mail them to Karla so she could mail it directly to them. He answered back by saying that I should mail them to Karla so she could mail it to them, so they could start the translation with some time to spare....
So, I am getting my packet ready to send to Karla. This time, since there are soooo many documents I am sending a packet of copies for Karla so she does't have to make the copies herself. I know it cost me double to send, but by being proactive, I am making sure that the documents will leave tomorrow Friday to Russia!!!
Today, I also received an email from Karla with answers to several questions I had enquired earlier last week. This is what she responded:
- In regards to Tax Returns - Do we need the last 3 years? (Notarized and Apostilled) or do we need only the most current (2007) Yes, last 3 years notarized and apostilled.
- In regards to Bank Statements - Do we print them right of the Internet or do we need to get a letter from the bank indicating our current balance? You will get from bank – but wait they will want it at a later date.
- In regards to Dr. Puffer Letter - (from the Tver Checklist) - Does CHI takes care of it? I will send the Dr. Puffer Letter to Russia tomorrow and I will scan you a copy for your file.
- In regards to State and Local Police Reports - Do I have to get from both or only from State. Also, how long is the shell life? One year or 3 months? For Tver, it is best to get both. The checklist states it is good for a year.
- In regards to the Letter about HS Agency authority in International Adoption - Is there a Template that you could send me to see what the letter it's supposed to look like? This is a Letter of Good Standing from your home study agency.
Today, it's Friday, September 12th, and we end the week with a devastating email from Brenda Barker:
Dear family,
Last Friday, I let our social work families know that the SE Branch office of Children’s Hope International will be closing, as of September 30. I know more information will be forthcoming from our STL office of Children’s Hope, but let me assure you that Children’s Hope is NOT closing! For current families, since all of the adoption consulting work has been transferred to our main office in STL, this should not affect you, if we did not do your social work. Those families that we are currently doing social work for in Tennessee, Kentucky and Arkansas, we are working with an agency in each of these states to take our social work cases to make this transition as easy as possible.
I wanted to share with you excerpts from the letter I sent last Friday:
On behalf of Children’s Hope International, I wish to thank you for your loyalty and commitment to providing homes, health, and hope to children in need. We feel privileged to be your agency of choice to assist you in this rewarding journey.
This past year has been full of learning experiences, speed bumps, and transitions for all involved in the adoption process. We have shared prayers and sadness with you as we learned together that the Memorandum of Understanding Agreement between Vietnam and the United States will most likely expire in a few weeks. We all have watched and waited as the China adoption program extended from a 6 month to now a 3 year program. And just a few weeks ago, all of us mourned together with you as we learned that we did not receive Hague Accreditation. But during this sadness, we must also remember the times of joy we had welcoming home our first Ethiopian baby, my own Ethiopian daughters coming home, in receiving accreditation in Russia, and our expanding the Child Sponsorship and Humanitarian Aid programs. These are all reminders that with every uncertain step, we also have many sure steps full of reward for the world’s orphans.
At this time, we are doing what we believe is in everyone’s best interest and voluntarily terminating our license as a Child Placement Agency in the State of Arkansas, Tennessee, and Kentucky.
I have had over 15 years of serving families through international adoption, and helped close to 2,000 children find homes in the Southeast during this time. I started the Russia program, and helped CHI get licensed in several countries. I have been to over 20 countries through my adoption experiences. But what I will miss the most is each of you. It is with great sadness that I leave you. I will miss talking to you, laughing together, and sometimes even crying together. I will miss not being a part of bringing your child home…many of you I remember that first time we met at an information meeting! I know I will miss seeing God’s daily miracles. You can not be a part of adoption as a consultant, a social worker, or as a family, and not see God’s hand and heart as He builds your family.
Please know that I hold you dear in my heart, and consider you a part of my family, as I hope you do me as well. It has been an enormous privilege in watching your families grow, and feeling that I was a part of that, at least in some small way…from seeing your baby come off that airplane, to the first day of school, and some of you to college graduations. You have been indelibly etched into my heart, and have made my life so much richer in so many ways. For those of you waiting please know that your time will come as well…there is nothing better in this world than giving a child a home and watching them grow!
I hope you will all continue to mail me your Christmas letters and pictures as every year that is what I look forward to the most during the holidays. Please see my contact info below. Please delete any other contact info you have for me and only use that info below after September 30th. I may be leaving international adoption as my career, but I have always been a mom and I am always available to help families and children.
Thank you once again for your understanding, cooperation and grace in this time of transition.
I wish you many blessings on your adoption journey!
Blessings,
Brenda Barker
Regional Director
Children’s Hope International
This is very sad news for everyone. We feel really bad for all those people who are being let go. We pray for all the families, including ours.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
AUGUST 2008
On July 30th, 2008, Our Russia Program Coordinator called us to let us know that she was leaving CHI. Her last day was going to be August 8, 2008. At first, I was very distraught. I could not believe that she was leaving and I was concerned for our case. I wrote a letter to the Head of the Russia Program and I explained to him my concerns. Unfortunately, his response was not what I was expecting, but I had no choice, but to wait and see. Thank God, Marti's replacement (Karla) turned out to be one of the best, if not the best thing that happened to us (sorry Marti). Not to discredit Marti, but she was too overwhelmed with so many cases to handle. Anyways, Karla and I have worked very closely together and she is not only great, but AWESOME! Thanks Karla!!!!!
Before leaving Marti sent us a list of documents to get ready for court once we are called to go to Tver to meet our little one.
On August 2nd, Marti forwarded us an email that was sent to all the parents, letting us know about a new way of communicating with the Russia Staff Coordinators (below):
Dear Friends,
It is no secret that the adoption process is extremely time-consuming and that much preparation is required on both the side of the families and the adoption agencies they are working with.
This is especially true in the case of Russia adoption where each region has its own requirements and regulations on how the adoption process is handled. Moreover, Russia is always undergoing changes, which means new regulations regarding international adoption are constantly developing in each of the regions.
Because of this, timely completion of documents is increasingly important. However, this has often been difficult because of the numerous steps that are involved in communicating in-country requests to adoptive families and also in conveying questions back to the respective regions.
In order to ease this process and improve the overall stream of communication, we are implementing a new communication system for all CHI Russia families. Our hope is that this will improve the speed and the process with which we process documents, convey requests, provide information, and ultimately complete adoptions.
Here’s the step-by-step description of how this will happen:
After the family’s dossier/registration documents are sent to the respective region in Russia, your consultant will send out an introductory email to you and your regional coordinator/translator outlining the guidelines for direct communication between you and your regional coordinator. The most important thing to remember is that in order to assure that this benefits your adoption process YOU MUST CC’ YOUR CONSULTANTS ON ALL OF YOUR COMMUNICATION WITH YOUR REGION! This is the only way everyone will be able to remain on the same page and ensure that no information will be lost.
After you have been introduced to your regional representative/translator, they will send you an email with an update on the status of your documents. In addition to this, they will let you know what other documents are needed from you in order to complete the registration packet for your specific region. For families that already have their documents assigned to a specific region, you will be contacted by your regional representative/translator with an email regarding the status of your documents.
CORRESPONDENCE GUIDELINES
- You must cc’ your consultant in the US on all of your communication with the regions. In return, the regional representatives are instructed to include the Moscow and US offices on all of their communication to you.
- This new communication structure is only intended for questions that are business related. This includes questions to regional representatives/translators relating to documents, the adoption process and other relevant requests.
- This is not intended for unrelated questions for regional representatives/translators such as the weather in the region, how many bags one can bring with them on their trips, etc. Our in-country representatives are extremely busy ensuring that everyone’s adoption process goes as smooth as possible, so questions of this nature will not be answered. However, please continue to direct these, and all other questions to your consultants who will be happy to assist you.
- This communication tool is strictly for information related to your documents. Notices of travel/court dates, etc. will continue to come from your Adoption Consultants. Questions of this nature will not be answered by the regional representatives in Russia and will be forwarded to your consultant.
- Each representative is instructed to reply to your requests within 24-hours to notify you that they have received your email. They will also give you an approximate timeline of when they will be able to provide you with an answer to your question if it’s something that requires additional research and preparation.
- Please be courteous and follow the same principle when you receive an email from your consultant in the US or your regional representative/translator.
We are confident that if the above mentioned rules are followed, this system will greatly improve our communication structure and as a result will improve the entire process of your adoption from Russia.
If you have any questions and/or suggestions, please do not hesitate to contact your adoption consultant, and you may also reach me via email at Andrei.Skurtu@ChildrensHope.net
Please note – this new communication structure is a work in progress and is subject to change. You will be notified of all changes in writing as they occur.
Well, that was a long email. We hope that information will start to flow better between Russia and the parents. We will see....
Right after Marti left I received a call from Karla letting us know that we were missing the Agreement Between Agencies and the Home Study Post Placement Letter. As it turns out, I had sent the letter twice already to Marti, once at the end of March 08 and then in July 08. Unfortunately, the letter were misplaced (lost) when Marti was there, and we had no choice but to redo them a third time! How frustrating!
I spoke to Karla about it and I even sent her a copy of the the email from Marti confirming that she had received the letter. Karla did well, she took the bull by the horn and told me to just redo the papers. That she would make sure they got to Russia okay. Well, I took care of the "missing" documents and the left to Russia, thanks to Karla.
On 8/11/08, I wrote an email to the Tver staff, for the first time, inquiring about the status of our documents. They answer to Karla on 8/12/08 and then she forward me a list of documents that we were missing in order to get registered. Well, at first I was happy to get to hear from the Tver staff. Finally, a sign of movement. Then, as I read the email, I became really really upset. We had to redo other documents because they too never made it to Russia. At that point, I was furious, because It is not fair that they keep loosing documents left and right, and then we are caught up in the middle. How irresponsible, but anyways, I have no choice but to redo them. This time, since the documents that we send every time to be apostilled take about 2 1/2 weeks to come back, Mauricio and I decided to drive ourselves to Tallahassee to take the documents to be apostilled and get them back right away. We left to Tallahassee at 11:00pm. At about 5:00am, Mauri and I started to fall asleep, so we stop at a reststop's parking lot and we took a nap. At first, I was very nervous and scared that someone could mug us or something (too many horror movies), but I was so tired that I decided to just sleep and try not to worry about anything. A few minutes before 6:00am, I woke up and decided to keep going and let Mauri continue to sleep while I drove for a couple of hours. We still had quite a bit of a drive. Once we arrived in Tallahassee, we stop at a Publix Supermarket to freshen up and wash our teeth. It was like in the movies. I had never "freshen up" at a supermarket before. Mauri did not want to do it, but he had no choice. :)
We followed the directions we had and we finally made it to the Apostilles office. We went in and requested the documents to be apostilled. Once I started talking with one of the ladies that works there she told me that their hole entire system was not working, that only the apostilles office was working because they were in a different system. Can you believe it???? God is great!!! Can you believe driving for more than eleven hours straight to make it there and find them "closed". Well, much to my surprise, the certification took about 15 minutes, 15 minutes, I could not believe that they took so little time, after it takes more than 2 weeks for us to get the paperwork back in the mail. Anyways, the important thing here is that we got what we came there to do. There was another document we needed, that took a little bit more time, because it had to come directly from the Director of Divisions and Corporations explaining the process of the Florida Apostilles. Again, we are grateful to Karla, because she email me a copy a recent letter that had been submitted, so I could what to ask for. After we left the Apostille office, we rushed to the Post Office to Overnight the papers to Karla, so she could rush them ro Tver. After that we went to check in at the hotel we had reserved so we could sleep. We were so tired, but happy and grateful that we accomplished everything that we set out to do :)
That same evening we went out to dinner to Red Lobster and the food and the service were amazing!!!! Mauri and I had a great time!
On Saturday we left the hotel to head back to Miami and we encountered heavy rain and a lot of traffic. We stopped briefly in Orlando and we got lost trying to find and address (my fault) and we encountered one of the worst traffic jam on a regular street that I had ever been on!!! We made it home really, really late, but Thanks to God we made safe and sound!
Before leaving Marti sent us a list of documents to get ready for court once we are called to go to Tver to meet our little one.
On August 2nd, Marti forwarded us an email that was sent to all the parents, letting us know about a new way of communicating with the Russia Staff Coordinators (below):
Dear Friends,
It is no secret that the adoption process is extremely time-consuming and that much preparation is required on both the side of the families and the adoption agencies they are working with.
This is especially true in the case of Russia adoption where each region has its own requirements and regulations on how the adoption process is handled. Moreover, Russia is always undergoing changes, which means new regulations regarding international adoption are constantly developing in each of the regions.
Because of this, timely completion of documents is increasingly important. However, this has often been difficult because of the numerous steps that are involved in communicating in-country requests to adoptive families and also in conveying questions back to the respective regions.
In order to ease this process and improve the overall stream of communication, we are implementing a new communication system for all CHI Russia families. Our hope is that this will improve the speed and the process with which we process documents, convey requests, provide information, and ultimately complete adoptions.
Here’s the step-by-step description of how this will happen:
After the family’s dossier/registration documents are sent to the respective region in Russia, your consultant will send out an introductory email to you and your regional coordinator/translator outlining the guidelines for direct communication between you and your regional coordinator. The most important thing to remember is that in order to assure that this benefits your adoption process YOU MUST CC’ YOUR CONSULTANTS ON ALL OF YOUR COMMUNICATION WITH YOUR REGION! This is the only way everyone will be able to remain on the same page and ensure that no information will be lost.
After you have been introduced to your regional representative/translator, they will send you an email with an update on the status of your documents. In addition to this, they will let you know what other documents are needed from you in order to complete the registration packet for your specific region. For families that already have their documents assigned to a specific region, you will be contacted by your regional representative/translator with an email regarding the status of your documents.
CORRESPONDENCE GUIDELINES
- You must cc’ your consultant in the US on all of your communication with the regions. In return, the regional representatives are instructed to include the Moscow and US offices on all of their communication to you.
- This new communication structure is only intended for questions that are business related. This includes questions to regional representatives/translators relating to documents, the adoption process and other relevant requests.
- This is not intended for unrelated questions for regional representatives/translators such as the weather in the region, how many bags one can bring with them on their trips, etc. Our in-country representatives are extremely busy ensuring that everyone’s adoption process goes as smooth as possible, so questions of this nature will not be answered. However, please continue to direct these, and all other questions to your consultants who will be happy to assist you.
- This communication tool is strictly for information related to your documents. Notices of travel/court dates, etc. will continue to come from your Adoption Consultants. Questions of this nature will not be answered by the regional representatives in Russia and will be forwarded to your consultant.
- Each representative is instructed to reply to your requests within 24-hours to notify you that they have received your email. They will also give you an approximate timeline of when they will be able to provide you with an answer to your question if it’s something that requires additional research and preparation.
- Please be courteous and follow the same principle when you receive an email from your consultant in the US or your regional representative/translator.
We are confident that if the above mentioned rules are followed, this system will greatly improve our communication structure and as a result will improve the entire process of your adoption from Russia.
If you have any questions and/or suggestions, please do not hesitate to contact your adoption consultant, and you may also reach me via email at Andrei.Skurtu@ChildrensHope.net
Please note – this new communication structure is a work in progress and is subject to change. You will be notified of all changes in writing as they occur.
Well, that was a long email. We hope that information will start to flow better between Russia and the parents. We will see....
Right after Marti left I received a call from Karla letting us know that we were missing the Agreement Between Agencies and the Home Study Post Placement Letter. As it turns out, I had sent the letter twice already to Marti, once at the end of March 08 and then in July 08. Unfortunately, the letter were misplaced (lost) when Marti was there, and we had no choice but to redo them a third time! How frustrating!
I spoke to Karla about it and I even sent her a copy of the the email from Marti confirming that she had received the letter. Karla did well, she took the bull by the horn and told me to just redo the papers. That she would make sure they got to Russia okay. Well, I took care of the "missing" documents and the left to Russia, thanks to Karla.
On 8/11/08, I wrote an email to the Tver staff, for the first time, inquiring about the status of our documents. They answer to Karla on 8/12/08 and then she forward me a list of documents that we were missing in order to get registered. Well, at first I was happy to get to hear from the Tver staff. Finally, a sign of movement. Then, as I read the email, I became really really upset. We had to redo other documents because they too never made it to Russia. At that point, I was furious, because It is not fair that they keep loosing documents left and right, and then we are caught up in the middle. How irresponsible, but anyways, I have no choice but to redo them. This time, since the documents that we send every time to be apostilled take about 2 1/2 weeks to come back, Mauricio and I decided to drive ourselves to Tallahassee to take the documents to be apostilled and get them back right away. We left to Tallahassee at 11:00pm. At about 5:00am, Mauri and I started to fall asleep, so we stop at a reststop's parking lot and we took a nap. At first, I was very nervous and scared that someone could mug us or something (too many horror movies), but I was so tired that I decided to just sleep and try not to worry about anything. A few minutes before 6:00am, I woke up and decided to keep going and let Mauri continue to sleep while I drove for a couple of hours. We still had quite a bit of a drive. Once we arrived in Tallahassee, we stop at a Publix Supermarket to freshen up and wash our teeth. It was like in the movies. I had never "freshen up" at a supermarket before. Mauri did not want to do it, but he had no choice. :)
We followed the directions we had and we finally made it to the Apostilles office. We went in and requested the documents to be apostilled. Once I started talking with one of the ladies that works there she told me that their hole entire system was not working, that only the apostilles office was working because they were in a different system. Can you believe it???? God is great!!! Can you believe driving for more than eleven hours straight to make it there and find them "closed". Well, much to my surprise, the certification took about 15 minutes, 15 minutes, I could not believe that they took so little time, after it takes more than 2 weeks for us to get the paperwork back in the mail. Anyways, the important thing here is that we got what we came there to do. There was another document we needed, that took a little bit more time, because it had to come directly from the Director of Divisions and Corporations explaining the process of the Florida Apostilles. Again, we are grateful to Karla, because she email me a copy a recent letter that had been submitted, so I could what to ask for. After we left the Apostille office, we rushed to the Post Office to Overnight the papers to Karla, so she could rush them ro Tver. After that we went to check in at the hotel we had reserved so we could sleep. We were so tired, but happy and grateful that we accomplished everything that we set out to do :)
That same evening we went out to dinner to Red Lobster and the food and the service were amazing!!!! Mauri and I had a great time!
On Saturday we left the hotel to head back to Miami and we encountered heavy rain and a lot of traffic. We stopped briefly in Orlando and we got lost trying to find and address (my fault) and we encountered one of the worst traffic jam on a regular street that I had ever been on!!! We made it home really, really late, but Thanks to God we made safe and sound!
After that long drive, I got kind of concerned because I was not sure how we were going to do once we were in the middle of preparing documents for the 1st trip and then for court. I knew that I did not want to endure that type of drive unless we really had to. Then, I tought of other options, maybe fly to Jacksonville and then rent a car and drive 2 hours to Tallahassee and back. I am not sure why, but flying to Tallahassee its really really expensive. It is cheaper to fly to Jacksonville, rent a car and have lunch before heading back. Well, I emailed April, one of the CHI adoptive parents to ask her a question and I kind of mentioned what we had to do in order to get the missing papers rushed and she emailed me the link to a courier service in Tallahassee (tallydocs.com)
The company its called Capitol Document Express. April also mentioned that they had been recommended by CHI, so I decided to give them a try.
Once I started trying them, they were like a Gift from God. They have worked out great. Karen Rubin, the owner, its fast, affordable and reliable.... I am very happy we started using her! Thanks April!!!
I have been back and forth with additional documents needed for registration. Tver has requested more documents. At the same time I started preparing the documents for court. It is a huge list of documents that need to be notarized and apostilled!!! God help us!!!
At the same time, Mauri and I started watching the CD Seminar, Heart of the Matter Seminars, and to be honest with you I found it to be really boring. I understand that we have to do whatever it takes to get our child, but that seminar still really boring! Mauri and I took the online tests and we passed them. We still have to watch the last CD and we still need to take the written test. I am really eager to get that part done and over with.
Unfortunately, I received another email from the Tver Staff saying that they had found mistakes in 2 documents that our social worker had prepared. They had the wrong passport on them. I blame myself too for not checking them, but that has taught me to check, double check and triple check everything before I send it to Tver. I had to ask God for a mini miracle so I could get all that paperwork completed by the HS Social Worker, sent to Tallahasse to be Apostilled and the Overnighted to St. Louis in less than 3 days and then have it in Karla's hands before noon Friday so they could leave in the batch that leaves for Russia every Friday at noon. Thanks to God, the HS SW, Karla at CHI, and my smart thinking I was able to get it done.... Yeahhhh.... They left for Russia as planned!!!!!!
Did I forgot to mention that on August 9, I finished my last class......... I AM FINISHED!!!!! I just finished my Master's Degree in Public Administration. Isn't that awesome!!!! I would like to formally thank my Dear Husband Mauricio and my Mother Thelma for all their unconditional support. Thanks guys, I would have never done it without you!!!!! I just have to wait for my degree to appear on my transcripts so I can request a degree incentive (1,200)! I am very very happy and proud of myself! Yeahhhhhh.......
Well, that concludes the month of August. We hope and pray that after everything we have been through this month, we can get registered very very soon.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
JULY 2008
Today, Its July 1st. I cannot believe we are in the month of July already! Wow!
I received an email from Marti, that she received a request from Tver to update, yet more documents!!! This is what she is requesting:
2 - Home study post adoption letter
2 - Agreement between agencies.
2 - Article 7
2 - Request for additional information
3 - Copies, each notarized and apostilled, Passport picture pages-Mauricio
2 - Application on rendering assistance (it has the age preference as ’18 months and
younger’ whereas in HS and HS recommendation it is ’24 months and under’ - this
difference can cause problems with registration)
2 - for each parent Questionnaires (it has the age preference as ’18 months and
younger’ whereas in HS and HS recommendation it is ’24 months and under’ - this
difference can cause problems with registration)
To be honest, I am a little puzzled..... most of these documents we submitted back in April. I do not understand WHY we have to do them again???? Ohhhh well, we have not choice, but to REDO THEM.... :(
I did sent an email to Marti asking why we had to redo all those papers, and her response was that Tver was requesting them again.....I was not really convinced with that answer, I think it is an easy way out type of answer.... but like I said, we have no choice :(
Then, I had to email Marti with some questions. You see, while as I was going through the paperwork, I came across this other form (Questionnaire of the candidate for adoption) and it had the age information of the child we are requesting, 18 months or younger. I wanted to know whether it needed to be updated too. Second, I noticed that the CHI license was expiring in August and I needed the new expiration date of the new CHI License. Well it turned out that the forms had expired and I had to redo them. Thanks God I noticed!!!
On July 18, 2008, we received an email from Gloria at CHI, in regards to the Hague accreditation. This is what it said:
"On July 9th, 2008 CHI was reviewed by COA for our Hague accreditation. Yesterday, July 17, 2008 we were informed by COA that our Hague application has been denied. Our denial was based on being non-compliant in one state where we are licensed. This was not brought to our attention until last week after the Hague review was already underway. We are currently working to resolve this issue and will be requesting from COA re-consideration to our approval."
At first, we did not know what to think or expect, but after doing some research we found out that the Hague Accreditation does not affect Russia, since Russia does not belong to the Hague. Only about 75 countries belong to the Hague, which include China. CHI was affected tremendously because of this and they are in the process of appealing. They've even had to close down the Kansas City regional office, in order to be in compliance with the Hague, at least in part. We pray that CHI can resolve this with a positive outcome.
On July 30, 2008 we found out through Marti that she had resigned from CHI and that her las that was going to be August 8, 2008. At first, I did not know what to think. We were really concerned. I even wrote to Andrey, the Program's Director with my concerns. After reading Andrey's response I felt a little better. We Thank Marti for everything she did and we wish her the best. On the other hand, we welcome our new Coordinator, Karla, and we pray to God that move its the best for us parents and for Karla as well. Welcome Karla and Good Luck!!!!
To end the month, right before leaving Marti left us a list of documents that we should need for court. What a list..... I feel that getting the dossier ready for registration was nothing compared to this list..... This is what we need:
List for Court:
2 Apostilled pictures of family and home.
2 Apostilled pictures of child's room.
2 Home Study Agency License
2 Social Worker license
2 Home Study Recommendation Letter. (This will need to be signed by both the home
study social worker and the hs agency director.)
2 Home study Post Placement consular registration letter (This will need to be
signed by the hs agency director and social worker.)
2 Agency licensing letter
2 Adoption training letter or certificate
2 Agreement Between Agencies
2 State Adoption Laws
2 State Median Income
2 Immigration Law
2 Post adoption report
2 Adoption Certificate and court decree
2 Police Clearance. (2 originals-Good for 6 months)
2 FBI (2for each parent) - 2 originals - A notary must attest that they are true and
authentic originals, you cannot. You need to complete two fingerprint cards for
each parent. Wait to complete this until you receive a referral as it has a
shelf life of 6 months
2 Passport picture page
2 Copy of original (or amended) I-171H
2 Marriage certificate
2 Medical report and Medical addendum
2 Doctors License
2 Psychiatric evaluation
2 Psychiatric license (as a medical doctor and as a psychiatrist)
2 Statement of legal residence. 2 originals
2 Deed of Trust
2 Statement confirming you are current on all mortgage payments.
2 for each parent Employment Letter
2 2007 Taxes
2 Bank statements
2 Financial Statement. To be Completed by an accountant.
2 Accountants license
2 originals Letter from the guardian
2 Letter from Secretary of State concerning apostille. 2 originals needed. Need to
be taken to the Secretary of State office. This the format that Tver would like
to see. I am putting this on your list, but we will complete this in our office.
2 Guardianship letter
3 reference letters. You will need two originals of each reference letter.
All those documents need to be Notarized, Apostilled and some of them need to be Incumbent also.
I am going to be very very busy for the next month :)
I am hoping to have everything completed by the end of August (with God's help).
I received an email from Marti, that she received a request from Tver to update, yet more documents!!! This is what she is requesting:
2 - Home study post adoption letter
2 - Agreement between agencies.
2 - Article 7
2 - Request for additional information
3 - Copies, each notarized and apostilled, Passport picture pages-Mauricio
2 - Application on rendering assistance (it has the age preference as ’18 months and
younger’ whereas in HS and HS recommendation it is ’24 months and under’ - this
difference can cause problems with registration)
2 - for each parent Questionnaires (it has the age preference as ’18 months and
younger’ whereas in HS and HS recommendation it is ’24 months and under’ - this
difference can cause problems with registration)
To be honest, I am a little puzzled..... most of these documents we submitted back in April. I do not understand WHY we have to do them again???? Ohhhh well, we have not choice, but to REDO THEM.... :(
I did sent an email to Marti asking why we had to redo all those papers, and her response was that Tver was requesting them again.....I was not really convinced with that answer, I think it is an easy way out type of answer.... but like I said, we have no choice :(
Then, I had to email Marti with some questions. You see, while as I was going through the paperwork, I came across this other form (Questionnaire of the candidate for adoption) and it had the age information of the child we are requesting, 18 months or younger. I wanted to know whether it needed to be updated too. Second, I noticed that the CHI license was expiring in August and I needed the new expiration date of the new CHI License. Well it turned out that the forms had expired and I had to redo them. Thanks God I noticed!!!
On July 18, 2008, we received an email from Gloria at CHI, in regards to the Hague accreditation. This is what it said:
"On July 9th, 2008 CHI was reviewed by COA for our Hague accreditation. Yesterday, July 17, 2008 we were informed by COA that our Hague application has been denied. Our denial was based on being non-compliant in one state where we are licensed. This was not brought to our attention until last week after the Hague review was already underway. We are currently working to resolve this issue and will be requesting from COA re-consideration to our approval."
At first, we did not know what to think or expect, but after doing some research we found out that the Hague Accreditation does not affect Russia, since Russia does not belong to the Hague. Only about 75 countries belong to the Hague, which include China. CHI was affected tremendously because of this and they are in the process of appealing. They've even had to close down the Kansas City regional office, in order to be in compliance with the Hague, at least in part. We pray that CHI can resolve this with a positive outcome.
On July 30, 2008 we found out through Marti that she had resigned from CHI and that her las that was going to be August 8, 2008. At first, I did not know what to think. We were really concerned. I even wrote to Andrey, the Program's Director with my concerns. After reading Andrey's response I felt a little better. We Thank Marti for everything she did and we wish her the best. On the other hand, we welcome our new Coordinator, Karla, and we pray to God that move its the best for us parents and for Karla as well. Welcome Karla and Good Luck!!!!
To end the month, right before leaving Marti left us a list of documents that we should need for court. What a list..... I feel that getting the dossier ready for registration was nothing compared to this list..... This is what we need:
List for Court:
2 Apostilled pictures of family and home.
2 Apostilled pictures of child's room.
2 Home Study Agency License
2 Social Worker license
2 Home Study Recommendation Letter. (This will need to be signed by both the home
study social worker and the hs agency director.)
2 Home study Post Placement consular registration letter (This will need to be
signed by the hs agency director and social worker.)
2 Agency licensing letter
2 Adoption training letter or certificate
2 Agreement Between Agencies
2 State Adoption Laws
2 State Median Income
2 Immigration Law
2 Post adoption report
2 Adoption Certificate and court decree
2 Police Clearance. (2 originals-Good for 6 months)
2 FBI (2for each parent) - 2 originals - A notary must attest that they are true and
authentic originals, you cannot. You need to complete two fingerprint cards for
each parent. Wait to complete this until you receive a referral as it has a
shelf life of 6 months
2 Passport picture page
2 Copy of original (or amended) I-171H
2 Marriage certificate
2 Medical report and Medical addendum
2 Doctors License
2 Psychiatric evaluation
2 Psychiatric license (as a medical doctor and as a psychiatrist)
2 Statement of legal residence. 2 originals
2 Deed of Trust
2 Statement confirming you are current on all mortgage payments.
2 for each parent Employment Letter
2 2007 Taxes
2 Bank statements
2 Financial Statement. To be Completed by an accountant.
2 Accountants license
2 originals Letter from the guardian
2 Letter from Secretary of State concerning apostille. 2 originals needed. Need to
be taken to the Secretary of State office. This the format that Tver would like
to see. I am putting this on your list, but we will complete this in our office.
2 Guardianship letter
3 reference letters. You will need two originals of each reference letter.
All those documents need to be Notarized, Apostilled and some of them need to be Incumbent also.
I am going to be very very busy for the next month :)
I am hoping to have everything completed by the end of August (with God's help).
JUNE 2008
Dear All:
June has been a really busy month for me at work. We are working on closing the Fiscal Year 2008-2009 and we are also working on a new FY 2009-2010. There have been a lot of late nights. School is also very hectic. I am in the last leg of the race (sort of speak). I am working on my Capstone Seminar. I have to do different projects throughout the semester, but there are 2 major projects that we have to complete, a Advocacy Paper and an RFP, Request for Response on a Latin American Country respoding to a USAID Request. I am praying that everything goes well. At the same time I continue to update papers on the adoption. We have still not heard anything about registration. We continue to hope that we will hear something very very soon. Nelson's Birthday its coming up. He is my sister's Ana Maria's husband.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY NELSON!!!
We took him to take him to PFChangs for Lunch. We had a great time, Mauricio, Mom, Ana Maria and I. We did a little bit of shopping and then we went to get him an Ice Cream cake from Cold Stone Creamery. He really enjoy it.
Mauricio and I each received an email from Marilyn at CHI, requesting "Signat erifiat re Yadira Codina-Guillen re Application"
At first, we thought that Tver was actually looking at our file, but after asking Marilyn, she informed that this is an internanl procedure that they do to verify certain documents.
This is the formal verbage from her: "Children's Hope has an active Quality Improvement process, and we are verifying the authentication of random documents that are being sent to our international countries. We respectfully request that you verify that the attached document did indeed originate from your office and was signed by yourself, Yadira Codina-Guillen."
I am also in the process of requesting an extension of the from I-171H from Department of Homeland Security. I had to request an additional copy of the latest home study to our Social Worker, Lori, in order to prepare the package for INS.
For a while now, I have been in communication with some Mom's who are in the process of adopting, just as we are. I started talking to T., she is very nice. She and her husband already adopted a baby from Tver in 2006 and are now in the second round of adoption. They filed their dossier a little bit after us.
In one of the emails from the chat groups, one of the Mom's was asking if anyone had used or maybe knew any International Adoption Doctors. There were different responses from parents who had already adopted and some other thoughts of those who are in the process of adopting, just like us. We honestly have not decided whether we are to hire a IAD. Nevertheless, I already did my homework and just in case we decide to hire one, we have one lined up. Mauricio and I asked ourselves this: How can we turn down a child because he might not look "good" or because it is not what we had in mind. I think that its one of the most difficult decisions. #1, after waiting for so long to receive a referral, are we to turn down a child, for x reason?? #2 After we prayed and prayed, God has given you the answer by providing you with a referral for a child, and after you meet that child, he becomes part of your life experience! Can you you go against that. I understand, like in anything, there are different situations for everything, but I am just talking about our thoughts. Each family will do what its best for them....
Next month (July) it's my baby sister's B-Day (July 4th) and it is also my B-DAY :)
Until next time.....
June has been a really busy month for me at work. We are working on closing the Fiscal Year 2008-2009 and we are also working on a new FY 2009-2010. There have been a lot of late nights. School is also very hectic. I am in the last leg of the race (sort of speak). I am working on my Capstone Seminar. I have to do different projects throughout the semester, but there are 2 major projects that we have to complete, a Advocacy Paper and an RFP, Request for Response on a Latin American Country respoding to a USAID Request. I am praying that everything goes well. At the same time I continue to update papers on the adoption. We have still not heard anything about registration. We continue to hope that we will hear something very very soon. Nelson's Birthday its coming up. He is my sister's Ana Maria's husband.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY NELSON!!!
We took him to take him to PFChangs for Lunch. We had a great time, Mauricio, Mom, Ana Maria and I. We did a little bit of shopping and then we went to get him an Ice Cream cake from Cold Stone Creamery. He really enjoy it.
Mauricio and I each received an email from Marilyn at CHI, requesting "Signat erifiat re Yadira Codina-Guillen re Application"
At first, we thought that Tver was actually looking at our file, but after asking Marilyn, she informed that this is an internanl procedure that they do to verify certain documents.
This is the formal verbage from her: "Children's Hope has an active Quality Improvement process, and we are verifying the authentication of random documents that are being sent to our international countries. We respectfully request that you verify that the attached document did indeed originate from your office and was signed by yourself, Yadira Codina-Guillen."
I am also in the process of requesting an extension of the from I-171H from Department of Homeland Security. I had to request an additional copy of the latest home study to our Social Worker, Lori, in order to prepare the package for INS.
For a while now, I have been in communication with some Mom's who are in the process of adopting, just as we are. I started talking to T., she is very nice. She and her husband already adopted a baby from Tver in 2006 and are now in the second round of adoption. They filed their dossier a little bit after us.
In one of the emails from the chat groups, one of the Mom's was asking if anyone had used or maybe knew any International Adoption Doctors. There were different responses from parents who had already adopted and some other thoughts of those who are in the process of adopting, just like us. We honestly have not decided whether we are to hire a IAD. Nevertheless, I already did my homework and just in case we decide to hire one, we have one lined up. Mauricio and I asked ourselves this: How can we turn down a child because he might not look "good" or because it is not what we had in mind. I think that its one of the most difficult decisions. #1, after waiting for so long to receive a referral, are we to turn down a child, for x reason?? #2 After we prayed and prayed, God has given you the answer by providing you with a referral for a child, and after you meet that child, he becomes part of your life experience! Can you you go against that. I understand, like in anything, there are different situations for everything, but I am just talking about our thoughts. Each family will do what its best for them....
Next month (July) it's my baby sister's B-Day (July 4th) and it is also my B-DAY :)
Until next time.....
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
May 2008
Mother's Day its approaching.... We also have my Mom's Birthday this month. Right after Mother's Day. My future Brother-In-Law's Birthday (Donnie) its coming too.....
Happy Birthday Mom!!!!!!!
Happy Birth Donnie!!!!!!!!!
We took Mom to a nice restaurant here in Miami. The name is: 94th Aero Escuadron. They have a very nice and extensive Sunday Brunch. My sister Ana, her husband Nelson, my sister-in-law Patricia, Mauricio, Mom and I went to Brunch... We had a great time!!
For Mom's Birthday we took Mom to Bahama Breeze. We also had a great time!!! It is always so nice to spend time with the family you love and adore. It was just sad that my sister Claudia and Donnie could not be here with us to celebrate :( We really miss them! They are planning a vacation in July, so I guess we have to wait to see them....
We got the great news that American Airlines will start traveling nonstop from Chicago (ORD) to Moscow (DME), starting June 2008. To us this are GREAT news, since we always try to fly with AA. We have earned some miles during our travels. My Mom also told us that she is going to gift us her miles so we can use them for the second trip and we could fly Business/First class. That way we would be more comfortable with the baby. We also bought extra miles through American Airlines. We are hoping to gather enough miles so we can both travel comfortable with the baby.
On a different note, we are going on a mini vacation, Mauricio and I will be traveling to Acapulco, Mexico. We are very excited since we have never been there. We will be going for Memorial Day Weekend (yeahh). We really deserve a break, even if it is for a few days, I am sure we are going to enjoy it to the max!!
I am also registered for my last class at Florida International University. By the end of the summer I will be finished with the Capstone Seminar, and I will be eligible to receive my Master's in Public Administration. It has been a very hard road, with one full time job, a part-time job, and with school... Now that I look back, I am not sure how I have been able to do it all. If it hadn't been for my dear husband and my Mom, I am not sure how I would have done it. THANK YOU BOTH!!! I LOVE YOU ALWAYS!
On a sad note, we received an email from Dwyatt, the Gantt, the Executive Director at Children's Hope... This has to do with all the structural and financial changes that CHI is currently experiencing. For example, and I quote:
"There have always been changes and cycles in the ‘adoption world’ but probably never have there been so many as in this last year – and continuing right up to this moment. China has more restrictions and fewer referrals, Russia continues to invent new ways to make adoptions more complex and expensive, Vietnam and the U.S. are now in a tug of war over how not to work together. Kazakhstan is s-l-o-w. Colombia is stable and steady and Ethiopia is splendid. Hague Accreditation has inserted itself at this fragile moment of history to add complexity to whatever other changes are taking place. It is a good thing but not well instituted, and we and a hundred plus other agencies have experienced delay in getting approved. We expect it in August. It does not affect adoptions in process but we can’t take applications for China and Colombia until we are approved. (Hold on ! We’re coming.)
So all these things have added weight to your wait.
"For ‘your agency’, it has meant that we had to get ‘lean’. We have restructured our agency completely and are very pleased with what is resulting – and wondering why we didn’t do it years ago. The St. Louis office is now the location for adoption program consultants for all branches (SE excepted). That means this. YOUR adoption consultant, while located in St. Louis is an extension of whatever branch office you might be working with. They are up to date every day about what is going on in your country and will give you that information directly. Your branch office will still be very much involved with you in giving moral support and help for home studies, CIS and local questions and post-adoption issues. With a smaller staff in your branch and a larger staff in St. Louis, you will get better service – and that’s just the simple truth"
Mauricio and I, and I am sure most of the waiting families appreciated Dwyatt's honesty. It is better to be informed of what it's "really" going on than to be led to believe that everything its going "peachy" when actual reality its actually soo different. We just have to pray and hope that things will get for CHI and for all the families who are so eagerly waiting to receive a referral and/or to receive their child.
Happy Birthday Mom!!!!!!!
Happy Birth Donnie!!!!!!!!!
We took Mom to a nice restaurant here in Miami. The name is: 94th Aero Escuadron. They have a very nice and extensive Sunday Brunch. My sister Ana, her husband Nelson, my sister-in-law Patricia, Mauricio, Mom and I went to Brunch... We had a great time!!
For Mom's Birthday we took Mom to Bahama Breeze. We also had a great time!!! It is always so nice to spend time with the family you love and adore. It was just sad that my sister Claudia and Donnie could not be here with us to celebrate :( We really miss them! They are planning a vacation in July, so I guess we have to wait to see them....
We got the great news that American Airlines will start traveling nonstop from Chicago (ORD) to Moscow (DME), starting June 2008. To us this are GREAT news, since we always try to fly with AA. We have earned some miles during our travels. My Mom also told us that she is going to gift us her miles so we can use them for the second trip and we could fly Business/First class. That way we would be more comfortable with the baby. We also bought extra miles through American Airlines. We are hoping to gather enough miles so we can both travel comfortable with the baby.
On a different note, we are going on a mini vacation, Mauricio and I will be traveling to Acapulco, Mexico. We are very excited since we have never been there. We will be going for Memorial Day Weekend (yeahh). We really deserve a break, even if it is for a few days, I am sure we are going to enjoy it to the max!!
I am also registered for my last class at Florida International University. By the end of the summer I will be finished with the Capstone Seminar, and I will be eligible to receive my Master's in Public Administration. It has been a very hard road, with one full time job, a part-time job, and with school... Now that I look back, I am not sure how I have been able to do it all. If it hadn't been for my dear husband and my Mom, I am not sure how I would have done it. THANK YOU BOTH!!! I LOVE YOU ALWAYS!
On a sad note, we received an email from Dwyatt, the Gantt, the Executive Director at Children's Hope... This has to do with all the structural and financial changes that CHI is currently experiencing. For example, and I quote:
"There have always been changes and cycles in the ‘adoption world’ but probably never have there been so many as in this last year – and continuing right up to this moment. China has more restrictions and fewer referrals, Russia continues to invent new ways to make adoptions more complex and expensive, Vietnam and the U.S. are now in a tug of war over how not to work together. Kazakhstan is s-l-o-w. Colombia is stable and steady and Ethiopia is splendid. Hague Accreditation has inserted itself at this fragile moment of history to add complexity to whatever other changes are taking place. It is a good thing but not well instituted, and we and a hundred plus other agencies have experienced delay in getting approved. We expect it in August. It does not affect adoptions in process but we can’t take applications for China and Colombia until we are approved. (Hold on ! We’re coming.)
So all these things have added weight to your wait.
"For ‘your agency’, it has meant that we had to get ‘lean’. We have restructured our agency completely and are very pleased with what is resulting – and wondering why we didn’t do it years ago. The St. Louis office is now the location for adoption program consultants for all branches (SE excepted). That means this. YOUR adoption consultant, while located in St. Louis is an extension of whatever branch office you might be working with. They are up to date every day about what is going on in your country and will give you that information directly. Your branch office will still be very much involved with you in giving moral support and help for home studies, CIS and local questions and post-adoption issues. With a smaller staff in your branch and a larger staff in St. Louis, you will get better service – and that’s just the simple truth"
Mauricio and I, and I am sure most of the waiting families appreciated Dwyatt's honesty. It is better to be informed of what it's "really" going on than to be led to believe that everything its going "peachy" when actual reality its actually soo different. We just have to pray and hope that things will get for CHI and for all the families who are so eagerly waiting to receive a referral and/or to receive their child.
April 2008
Happy April:
We just went through Easter Weekend. I hope everyone had fun and enjoyed a great weekend....
I received an email from my HS Social Worker to inform us that our upated dossier has been complete (yeahhh). She will be mailing it to us before the end of the week. That its great news. Now I need to have Apostilled....
I read in one of the Parent's blogs that you could open and account with Marriott Hotels and start receiving Rewards points. I went ahead and I opened one for Mauricio and one for me. I bought points for him and for me. We also opened a credit card though CHASE and Marriott Rewards so we could earn 20,000 points. That way we can pay for some of the nights during our stay in Moscow, since the hotels in Moscow are extremely expensive. So now everytime we use the credit card we earn points for "free" stays at the hotel. We hope and pray that this help us in a way....
On a quick note, all our updated papers have been shipped to Russia to be translated.... Yeahhh, what a relief.... With God's help we could be registered in the region of Tver very very soon.....
We just went through Easter Weekend. I hope everyone had fun and enjoyed a great weekend....
I received an email from my HS Social Worker to inform us that our upated dossier has been complete (yeahhh). She will be mailing it to us before the end of the week. That its great news. Now I need to have Apostilled....
I read in one of the Parent's blogs that you could open and account with Marriott Hotels and start receiving Rewards points. I went ahead and I opened one for Mauricio and one for me. I bought points for him and for me. We also opened a credit card though CHASE and Marriott Rewards so we could earn 20,000 points. That way we can pay for some of the nights during our stay in Moscow, since the hotels in Moscow are extremely expensive. So now everytime we use the credit card we earn points for "free" stays at the hotel. We hope and pray that this help us in a way....
On a quick note, all our updated papers have been shipped to Russia to be translated.... Yeahhh, what a relief.... With God's help we could be registered in the region of Tver very very soon.....
March 2008
We started this month very busy... We are in the middle of updating our dossier. We are also updating documents that were requested by our Coordinator, Marti. Our HS Social Worker, will be very busy preparing paperwork for us. This is a list of what it was requested:
(2) Apostilled pictures of family and home. This will need to be completed by our home study social worker.
(2) Home Study Agency License. The notary statement attached needs to be used for the home study agency license.
(2) Social Worker license.
(2) Home Study Recommendation Letter. This will need to be signed by both the home study social worker and the hs agency director.
(2) Home study Post Placement Letters. This will need to be signed by our HS agency director.
(2) Home study consular registration letter. This will need to be signed by our HS agency director.
(2) Agency licensing letter.
(2) Adoption training letter or certificate. It needs to by the HS agency director
(2) State Median Income
In the middle of all this crazyness, we just found out that the regional CHI office in Orlando will be closing in the next week. We are in shock, since the new Director just started in January. I guess with all the restructuring CHI is doing they thoght its for the best. I got an opportunity to speak with the new Director and she was very nice and eager to help. I wish Claudia Luck with her new endevours. I really think it was a loss for all the Florida families, but life continues on....
I think its going to take a few weeks before all the updates are completed since my HS Social Worker its going on vacation and nothing will be done until she returns :(
I have to patient and wait.......
(2) Apostilled pictures of family and home. This will need to be completed by our home study social worker.
(2) Home Study Agency License. The notary statement attached needs to be used for the home study agency license.
(2) Social Worker license.
(2) Home Study Recommendation Letter. This will need to be signed by both the home study social worker and the hs agency director.
(2) Home study Post Placement Letters. This will need to be signed by our HS agency director.
(2) Home study consular registration letter. This will need to be signed by our HS agency director.
(2) Agency licensing letter.
(2) Adoption training letter or certificate. It needs to by the HS agency director
(2) State Median Income
In the middle of all this crazyness, we just found out that the regional CHI office in Orlando will be closing in the next week. We are in shock, since the new Director just started in January. I guess with all the restructuring CHI is doing they thoght its for the best. I got an opportunity to speak with the new Director and she was very nice and eager to help. I wish Claudia Luck with her new endevours. I really think it was a loss for all the Florida families, but life continues on....
I think its going to take a few weeks before all the updates are completed since my HS Social Worker its going on vacation and nothing will be done until she returns :(
I have to patient and wait.......
February 2008
It's the beginning of February.... Valentine's Day is approaching. One of the highlights of this month has been that I discovered that my US passport got lost while I was visiting my Sister Claudia and her boyfriend Donny during the holidays. The weird thing was that it got lost right out of my backpack. I am under the impression that it was "lost" while I was in flight back to Miami. Anyways, I had to request a new one, which has been a little bit frustrating since I am always on top of important documents.. Well, as you can imagine we had to redo a bunch of documents because they had the old passport information on it and I needed to update everything. We also had to update our home study, not only because of the passport information, but also, because it has been a year since we submitted the original one to CHI with our original dossier.
Well, on January 29, I sent an email to our coordinator (Marti) because we had some questions and concerns in regards to Registration. It took well over a week, but we finally got a response. The following are some of the things I asked:
1. Info about replacing passport information on documents! What needed to be redone.
2. We wanted to know when we were going to receive a letter that would inform us what documents need to be updated. Some of the paperwork will expire soon and we would like to get a head start on them.
3. We wanted to know if there was an idea of when we would be registered!
4. Waiting time?
Well, unfortunately, the response I got from Marti was not very encouraging. We have to continue to pray...
A quick note, I have been looking for different aids to learn Russian, at least the basics, I came across a very interesting aid. Mauricio and I started using it, and to be honest with you, I Love It... Its fun and easy to learn.
Below it's the information, just in case anyone becomes interested:
Earworms Russian (Berlitz Earworms)
Inc. Berlitz International
List Price: $24.95
Price: $16.47
Book Description
Earworms MBT Rapid Languages plants more than 200 Essential words and phrases into long term memory, ready for instant recall. Simply listen to the music CD filled with rhythmic repetitions a few times and the sound patterns will get to deeper levels of memory. Listeners will subconsciously acquire a collection of verbs, nouns and connecting words, all the while picking up the correct accent. Effortless, enjoyable, fast and effective language learning through music. Stimulating and self motivating through tangible rapid progress. Linguistic material that is presented in such a way as to make difficult structures easy to grasp for the learner. Upload it to Ipod or other MP3 players for use on the go.
You can find it through Amazon
Well, on January 29, I sent an email to our coordinator (Marti) because we had some questions and concerns in regards to Registration. It took well over a week, but we finally got a response. The following are some of the things I asked:
1. Info about replacing passport information on documents! What needed to be redone.
2. We wanted to know when we were going to receive a letter that would inform us what documents need to be updated. Some of the paperwork will expire soon and we would like to get a head start on them.
3. We wanted to know if there was an idea of when we would be registered!
4. Waiting time?
Well, unfortunately, the response I got from Marti was not very encouraging. We have to continue to pray...
A quick note, I have been looking for different aids to learn Russian, at least the basics, I came across a very interesting aid. Mauricio and I started using it, and to be honest with you, I Love It... Its fun and easy to learn.
Below it's the information, just in case anyone becomes interested:
Earworms Russian (Berlitz Earworms)
Inc. Berlitz International
List Price: $24.95
Price: $16.47
Book Description
Earworms MBT Rapid Languages plants more than 200 Essential words and phrases into long term memory, ready for instant recall. Simply listen to the music CD filled with rhythmic repetitions a few times and the sound patterns will get to deeper levels of memory. Listeners will subconsciously acquire a collection of verbs, nouns and connecting words, all the while picking up the correct accent. Effortless, enjoyable, fast and effective language learning through music. Stimulating and self motivating through tangible rapid progress. Linguistic material that is presented in such a way as to make difficult structures easy to grasp for the learner. Upload it to Ipod or other MP3 players for use on the go.
You can find it through Amazon
January 2008
It's January already.... We start the new year with the great news that our adoption agency just got accredited (December 17, 2007, to be exact) by the Russian Federation (yeahhh). Russia, as we were informed, is still celebrating Christmas holidays. The first business day this year will be January 9th and we want to be ready for the fresh start next week, just in case we get to hear anything...
We received news from CHI on 01/08/08, informing us that for all the families whose dossier is already in Russia, in the next couple of weeks we are supposed to be contacted by our personal case worker in Saint Louis about the documents we will need to update for registration of our family by local adoption authority under CHI accreditation.
We also received the news that CHI is planning to add more new regions. I have heard that some parents have already experienced adoption in new regions in 2007. They are going to be asking families if they want to be volunteers in their new regions. At first Mauricio (my husband) and I thought, Yes, sometimes it is more adventure and risk, but at the same time you can be first in line and finalize your adoption quickly. We spoke to our Coordinator Marti and we told her to please consider us, just in case the opportunity came up. Then , we were warned that there might be additional fees, in addition to everything else. What a surprise.... we kind of expected that!
In addition, we were informed that fees for new families who apply in 2008 will be increased, and at the same time everyone that applied in 2007 would have an increase in fees too, due to the devaluation of US dollar vs. Russian ruble. In other words, in order to complete our adoption, we will have to pay adjustment rate in addition to our signed fees.
We were also informed that this is the first year when domestic adoptions in Russia and foster care system became more intensive. As the result of this many of Russian families consider to bring home baby girls from the orphanage. Unfortunately for some families who are waiting for girls – this process will be longer. For families who have submitted their application for girls, but have not submitted their registration package – if you want to proceed with your adoption with CHI, you should be open to other ages or gender, or both. Currently, CHI are not accepting new applications for girls only, unless it is for a special needs girl. Acceptable request can be “boy or girl, prefer girl”. This can be very frustrating for families how have their hopes and dreams on having a "girl". This process of adopting in Russia keeps getting to be more complex every day :)
We are approaching the the end of January, and unfortunately, we have no news as of when we are going to be registered :(
God willing February will be better.....
We received news from CHI on 01/08/08, informing us that for all the families whose dossier is already in Russia, in the next couple of weeks we are supposed to be contacted by our personal case worker in Saint Louis about the documents we will need to update for registration of our family by local adoption authority under CHI accreditation.
We also received the news that CHI is planning to add more new regions. I have heard that some parents have already experienced adoption in new regions in 2007. They are going to be asking families if they want to be volunteers in their new regions. At first Mauricio (my husband) and I thought, Yes, sometimes it is more adventure and risk, but at the same time you can be first in line and finalize your adoption quickly. We spoke to our Coordinator Marti and we told her to please consider us, just in case the opportunity came up. Then , we were warned that there might be additional fees, in addition to everything else. What a surprise.... we kind of expected that!
In addition, we were informed that fees for new families who apply in 2008 will be increased, and at the same time everyone that applied in 2007 would have an increase in fees too, due to the devaluation of US dollar vs. Russian ruble. In other words, in order to complete our adoption, we will have to pay adjustment rate in addition to our signed fees.
We were also informed that this is the first year when domestic adoptions in Russia and foster care system became more intensive. As the result of this many of Russian families consider to bring home baby girls from the orphanage. Unfortunately for some families who are waiting for girls – this process will be longer. For families who have submitted their application for girls, but have not submitted their registration package – if you want to proceed with your adoption with CHI, you should be open to other ages or gender, or both. Currently, CHI are not accepting new applications for girls only, unless it is for a special needs girl. Acceptable request can be “boy or girl, prefer girl”. This can be very frustrating for families how have their hopes and dreams on having a "girl". This process of adopting in Russia keeps getting to be more complex every day :)
We are approaching the the end of January, and unfortunately, we have no news as of when we are going to be registered :(
God willing February will be better.....
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Our Adoption Timeline
And this is how we began our Journey......
February - June 2007
My husband and I decided to adopt in December 2006. We went to different adoption workshops, until we decided to go with Children's Hope International. We started the initial paperwork in February 2007. I spent restless nights trying to compile everything together, in order to be able to turn in a completed dossier, until we got delayed by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services. It turned out that we had to wait until we received approval for the I-600A application and therefore, receive an approved I-171H, before our dossier could leave to Russia to be translated. Well, it took about three months before we got the final form. After everything had been received, notarized, tripled checked and apostilled, it was sent to our CHI rep, Marti for checking. We were then assigned to the region of Tver. Finally on June 1, 2007, our dossier left to Russia.
July - December 2007
After the dossier left to Russia, we thought that things were going to move very quickly, and our dream was to have baby Matthew or baby Maya home for Christmas.... but boy we were wrong. Mauricio and I tried to keep busy while waiting.... we ordered the furniture for the baby's room, which took about 3 months to arrive. Our Best Friends, Rafael, Sol and my Mom gifted us the furniture for the Baby's room (Thank you Guys, We Love you!!!)
We decorated the room with a Winnie the Pooh theme. which it would work perfectly for both boy or girl. We have been purchasing baby clothes for a baby boy, but we recently stopped after we have found out that the last 3 referrals that have been received from Tver have been little girls. Don't take me wrong my husband and I (and the whole family) would be the happiest parents in the world with either, but my husband thinks that we should wait and see. Uncle Nelson has been buying things for his future nephew Matthew (which we really appreciate). But as I said we decided to stop buying until we get "The Call". After that we will know for sure what to buy.
Throughout the months of November and December we kept getting ready waiting to get the call that we had been registered. Unfortunately, because of the reaccreditation process we were not registered and we still have not! During those days we updated a few forms, but nothing major happened. Sadly, we ended the year without having our child with us. We keep praying and hoping that 2008 will be better.
February - June 2007
My husband and I decided to adopt in December 2006. We went to different adoption workshops, until we decided to go with Children's Hope International. We started the initial paperwork in February 2007. I spent restless nights trying to compile everything together, in order to be able to turn in a completed dossier, until we got delayed by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services. It turned out that we had to wait until we received approval for the I-600A application and therefore, receive an approved I-171H, before our dossier could leave to Russia to be translated. Well, it took about three months before we got the final form. After everything had been received, notarized, tripled checked and apostilled, it was sent to our CHI rep, Marti for checking. We were then assigned to the region of Tver. Finally on June 1, 2007, our dossier left to Russia.
July - December 2007
After the dossier left to Russia, we thought that things were going to move very quickly, and our dream was to have baby Matthew or baby Maya home for Christmas.... but boy we were wrong. Mauricio and I tried to keep busy while waiting.... we ordered the furniture for the baby's room, which took about 3 months to arrive. Our Best Friends, Rafael, Sol and my Mom gifted us the furniture for the Baby's room (Thank you Guys, We Love you!!!)
We decorated the room with a Winnie the Pooh theme. which it would work perfectly for both boy or girl. We have been purchasing baby clothes for a baby boy, but we recently stopped after we have found out that the last 3 referrals that have been received from Tver have been little girls. Don't take me wrong my husband and I (and the whole family) would be the happiest parents in the world with either, but my husband thinks that we should wait and see. Uncle Nelson has been buying things for his future nephew Matthew (which we really appreciate). But as I said we decided to stop buying until we get "The Call". After that we will know for sure what to buy.
Throughout the months of November and December we kept getting ready waiting to get the call that we had been registered. Unfortunately, because of the reaccreditation process we were not registered and we still have not! During those days we updated a few forms, but nothing major happened. Sadly, we ended the year without having our child with us. We keep praying and hoping that 2008 will be better.
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Cathedral of St. Basil the Blessed, Red Square
