Hosting Midway Point

We are just past the midpoint for Olga's stay on this hosting trip.  This is both good and bad.  Olga has had a great time on her trip so far, although I believe having her brother and sister home all day every day is getting to be a bit much for her.  Okay, I won't lie.  It's a bit much for me, too.  :)  I'm not sure why the two week break over Christmas is so much more crazy than the eight week break over summer.  Perhaps it's just the excitement of Christmas combined with the fact that it is hard to get outside to do things.  In the summer I pretty much open the door to the backyard and let them go play.  We also have a lot more outdoor activities to look forward to during the summer months like swimming, bike riding, trail walking/exploring, Six Flags, White Water, road trip to FL to see Grammy, etc...

Anyway, back to Olga.  She very much enjoyed her Christmas.  She received three gift cards to three different stores and had a blast spending them.  She had no idea what a gift card was, but quickly learned.  She was so excited to be able to buy about a million pairs of earrings at Claire's for herself and to take back to Ukraine to give to her friends as gifts.  Same purchase with her Wal-Mart gift card.  Her Kohl's gift card was harder to spend because she really wanted jeans and couldn't find any that she liked.  But she managed to spend it on a cool new jacket, a couple of shirts and yes, more earrings!  I teased her after her shopping expedition that she had enough earrings to put in a new pair every hour.  She thought that was pretty funny.

Now that the excitement of Christmas has passed Olga has had some time to come to the reality that she really misses her friends and even her teachers.  She wanted to call one of her teachers the other day and I had to tell her no (NHFC rules).  I told her she could write a letter instead.  She was excited to be able to do that until she sat down to actually write.  She couldn't think of any Russian words.  She can rattle off a ten minute conversation in Russian on the phone with her chaperone, but when it came to actually writing it, she couldn't do it.

I think she is also very sad about not being in Ukraine for their biggest holiday of the year: New Years Eve/Day.  In Ukraine Christmas is celebrated on January 7 and it isn't really a big celebration.  Their New Year celebrations are a huge deal.  The students at her school always do dance performances and participate in New Year preparations.  I think she is really, really missing that right now.

Olga returns to Ukraine two weeks from tomorrow and Jeff and I leave for Ukraine four weeks from today.  As excited as I believe Olga will be to come to America forever I can see now that it will be bittersweet.  We will make sure to leave her friends lots of postage to be able to write to Olga here in America and of course she will be able to call & write to them as well.

Happy New Year to everyone!
S~

Olga's First American Christmas

My eight year old tried to start Christmas Day out at 2:35 in the morning, but I told him it was a wee bit too early.  It was a rocky night for everyone sleep wise, but we got up around 6:00am (I think) and the unwrapping frenzy began.  The night before I had a conversation with Olga to try to give her an idea of what to expect on Christmas morning.  I knew it would be chaotic and loud and I didn't want her to be overwhelmed.  She seemed in awe of what I was telling her.  She handled everything beautifully in the chaos and craziness of gift unwrapping.  We don't sit around and hand each other gifts.  We let the kids open what they what and in whatever order they desire so it seems like a bit of a free-for-all.  One of the gifts to all three kids was "Just Dance 2" for Wii.  I think she has already logged about 12 dancing hours using it.  :)  She also received one new outfit including earrings and necklace and a gift basket from Bath & Body Works.  Shortly after gift opening was finished she made a bee-line for the shower and came down afterwards decked out in her new outfit and smelling like a rose.  Okay, it wasn't really like a rose, but you know what I mean.

Then the cooking frenzy began.  It's an all day cooking event for a 20 minute meal, but it is one of my favorite Christmas traditions.    It was wonderful to have friends and family over to help us celebrate Christmas.  Olga got to meet her Grammy (Jeff's mom), Uncle Greg and her cousin Geoffry for the first time.  And to top it all off we were able to experience the first white Christmas this area has seen in over 100 years!  The kids got to make a snowman, too.  It was nothing in comparison to Ukrainian snowfall, but for us Georgians it may as well have been a blizzard!  It was a true blessing for all of us.

We have three weeks left until Olga returns to Ukraine, and five weeks until Jeff and I travel to Kiev for our SDA appointment.  At some point I am going to have to get organized for extended travel!  But for now I continue to procrastinate.  :)  My sister and brother-in-law gave Jeff and I "travel sheets" for our trip which was something I was going to look into, so I can check that off my list.  I wonder what my chances are that someone else will organize everything we will need for me?  I probably shouldn't hold my breath, huh?

I hope everyone had a wonderful and special day yesterday.  I know I did!

S~

Thank goodness one of my kids likes Shake & Bake Chicken! :)

I'm sure if Olga ever had dreams of having her very own family it probably included a mother who could actually cook.  That wouldn't be me.  I'm a terrible cook.  I can bake the pants off just about anyone, but cooking is not something I have ever done well.  I have a handful of dishes that I make that are, if I do say so myself, great!  And I will be making every single one of those dishes for Christmas dinner.  What I lack during the entire year in dinner making skills I make up for at one dinner.  But I digress.  Olga was introduced to two American staples today.  Kraft Mac & Cheese and Shake & Bake Chicken.  And no.  Not at the same sitting.  The Mac & Cheese was part of her lunch, which she really liked.  The Shake & Bake was for dinner tonight.  She poked at it and asked what it was with a worried look on her face.  She started in on the broccoli first.  Then the rice.  Finally she took a little nibble of the chicken.  And we have a winner!  Wheh!  You can probably figure out from the title of this post that R&M aren't too fond of Shake and Bake Chicken.  Seriously, though.  How many times can one eat spaghetti or grilled cheese for dinner?

Currently Olga and Jeff are out taking advantage of the late mall hours-open till 10:00 this week!  It will be interesting to see what they come home with as Jeff has a really, really hard time saying "no" to her!  I'm not great at it either, but I am able to do it when absolutely needed.  I have a feeling Olga is going to learn very quickly that Daddy should always be with us when shopping.  :)  The sad thing with them going shopping together is that R really wanted to go.  They were going to actually get him a specific toy for Christmas so he really couldn't go.  Jeff told him that Olga wanted to go shopping to buy both R&M gifts, so Rhys accepted that he couldn't go graciously, but he is very, very sad now.  :(

We have 26 days left with Olga here and 39 days until Jeff and I will be traveling to Ukraine!  While I had originally been hoping for an SDA appointment at the same time that Olga went back I can honestly say now that I am going to need those two weeks to finish getting ready to travel.  I am getting pretty much nothing accomplished these days.  :)  There is still that pesky moratorium vote that is scheduled for this week.  You remember, the one that may or may not stop adoptions for an undisclosed period of time.  Add that into the fact that the Ukraine Parliament just passed a new budget and decided to move the SDA under new management and have closed (or will close very soon) the SDA for the time being with no real timeframe for reopening and I guess you could say that nothing is written in stone.  There is nothing we can do but move forward and pray that 1) the moratorium vote does not pass and 2) the SDA (or whatever it will be called under the "new management") will reopen quickly without disrupting our appointment of January 31.  We actually have two sets of friends that have appointments during that time frame so we are all hoping and praying for this outcome!

That's all for now!  Thanks for checking in on us!

S~

Home-Week One

I can't believe Olga has been here almost a week already!  The time has flown by.  We have had a wonderful week and are looking forward to watching her celebrate her first Christmas in America next week.

Olga has been practicing her English speaking skills using the Rosetta Stone set we bought for her.  She is doing great with it!  I think she was on it a little too long yesterday (3 hours!) as she got a little frustrated with it at the end, but she is excited about using it.

Today we went to the Welcome Party put on by New Horizons for Children.  The only kids from her orphanage that are being hosted in this area are younger boys, so she didn't really see anyone she knew or was friends with there.  Jeff and I had a chance to mingle with some other families that we met at the airport while we were all waiting for the kids to arrive, so that was nice for us.

Our two younger kids were in school all week so it was good "settling in" time for Olga.  They are now out for Christmas break which will be great for us to spend time together as a family.  I was able to take Olga to R&M's elementary school to see them during their holiday parties and introduce her to a few people along the way.  We've done lots of typical "running around" this week and I'm sure next week will be much of the same.  We were able to have lunch with friends and meet my mom (Grandmom) at the mall, which Olga was very excited about.  Last night Jeff took O&R and one of R's friends from school and his older sister to play laser tag.  They had a *blast* and Olga has a new American friend.  I think they are already planning their summer at the pool.  :)

America is a completely different culture than what Olga is used to.  There are a few girls her age that are very excited to meet her and that just baffles her.  I don't think kids in Ukraine want to just be your friend when you've never met them before.  I am so happy that she had such a great time with her new friend last night.  There is another girl in the neighborhood who goes to the same school that Olga will go to and will even ride the same bus to school.  I am hoping to be able to introduce her to that girl very soon.  It will be so good for Olga to know a few girls her age before she has to jump into a huge American school!

Olga is very excited to go to church tomorrow.  I'm pretty sure it has more to do with seeing her friends she made over the summer than going to hear the word of God, but that is okay for now.  Then in the afternoon one of the friends she is so excited to see will be having a birthday party that we get to go to!  Olga is really soaking all of this in and is so, so happy to be here.

And that has been our week so far.  Nothing too exciting.  Just so very happy to have our girl home.

Will update again soon!

S~

  

Home for Christmas

Olga arrived last night safe and sound.  She was exhausted after 24+ hours of travel but very happy to see us all.  It took two hours for her group to clear customs so we didn't get home until close to 10:00.  She has very quickly settled back into "family life" and is sitting comfortably on the sofa playing Mario Kart.  :)

I will update the blog throughout her stay.  We are looking forward to our first Christmas together as a family of five!

S~

Another Big Step Forward

I am so excited that I finally get to post this:  We have our travel date!  We received an e-mail from our agent this morning that our first appointment with the SDA is January 31.  We are so excited to finally know when we will be able to go to our beautiful daughter's country to officially begin the adoption process.  Hard to believe that it still isn't official in the eyes of her government that we want to adopt her, yet here we are.  :)

Olga is scheduled to arrive for Christmas hosting in just a few short days.  Four days, to be precise.  She will be here until January 15, 2011.  Jeff and I will spend the two weeks after she leaves getting ourselves ready to travel for an extended period of time.  We are incredibly blessed that my mom has volunteered to take care of our two youngest kids while we are gone.  Okay, she didn't exactly volunteer so much as agree when I told her she would be watching them, but who's keeping track of details like that?

Thanks to everyone for waiting along with us as we waited for word of our travel date.  It won't be long now before I am blogging about our adventures on the other side of the world.  :)

S~

    

Still Waiting...

We have not heard anything about our SDA appointment, nor do we expect to for at least another week or two. We are just nervously patiently waiting to be notified.

In the meantime we have been busy getting ready for Olga's arrival for the Christmas hosting.  Our oldest girl arrives in 11 days!  Yippee!  When Olga came this summer we had her stay in the "guest room/storage area".  Of course, we got the room pretty much cleaned out before she arrived, but it was still a guest room.  We had a nice futon (chocolate brown color) from IKEA along with a desk and two bookcase/dresser/storage units.  Like I said, nice for a guest room.  Our son really, really wanted the futon in his room so we have played "switch-a-roo" with the bedroom furniture.  Now Olga has a queen sized bed in her room and thanks to a very generous donation marked specifically for Christmas spending I was able to buy a comforter set appropriate for a 15 year old girl.  When I received the donation in the mail I contacted the donor to let them know what I would like to use it for (fixing up Olga's room vs. buying Christmas gifts) and they were very pleased the money could be used in that way.  I explained to them that I had really been wanting to give Olga the kind of bedroom that she has never been able to have, but with all of the other "mandatory" expenses redecorating just wasn't very high on the priority list.  Now we are off to a great start!  I was able to get the comforter set on clearance so there is still quite a bit leftover for new paint (the walls are currently beige and a muted green) and some girly chachka-y things.

Hopefully I will have something exciting to report regarding our SDA appointment before Olga arrives for Christmas.  I will, of course, post our travel dates when I get them!

S~

 

Exactly Three Weeks Ago Today...

...I wrote a blog post titled "Paperwork Bottleneck".  In that post I talked about how we had just found out that we had to have our dossier submitted to the SDA by December 1.  Within a few days of that we realized it was actually November 30 that we had to have it submitted.  (I know one day doesn't seem like that big of a deal but it really, really is!)  In that blog post I asked for some pretty specific prayers, that we would receive our state background clearance, that we would get our biometrics appointment, that we could get our I600A expedited and that we could get our dossier to our facilitator in time to have it translated and notarized in country for submission by the November 30 deadline.  Guess what?  ALL of that happened and it has been submitted to the SDA ONE FULL WEEK ahead of the deadline!  Between finally reaching the *right* person at the Georgia Bureau of Investigations for our state clearance, to being able to "walk in" for our biometrics appointment vs. waiting for the appointment date, to speaking to the  *right* agent at the USCIS to have our I600A expedited, to having not one, but two different families traveling to Olga's country hand deliver our documents to our facilitator at the exact times that we needed we have officially made the deadline!  Thank you, thank you, thank you for all of the thoughts and prayers that I know have come from so many different people.  We are truly grateful.  As long as the SDA doesn't find anything wrong with our dossier we should be notified of our invitation to travel right around the same time Olga arrives for Christmas hosting.  We are praying that our SDA appointment is on or just after January 17, 2011.

And now we wait some more!  But at least with this waiting I know we have done everything we can do up to this point.

Thanks so much for following along and providing all of the much needed support that we have received.

S~

Dossier Update

Just wanted to post a quick update.  Our I171H has arrived in country (many thanks to the family who took it!).  Everything has been translated and as of today should be notarized.  Our facilitator plans to submit it to the SDA tomorrow morning.  As soon as I know that it has been submitted I will update the blog again.

Thanks for hanging in there with us!
S~

 

Happy Dance Time

I had a good feeling about today.  I got a little exercise in first thing this morning then went to the kids school to do some copying for Rhys' teacher.  Then I went home.  And stayed home.  That doesn't happen a lot.  I just really wanted to be here when the mail came.  The letter carrier came around 12:30.  Guess what she had in her stack of mail for us?  YES!!!  Our I171H has arrived!!!  I made copies, ran to the UPS Store to get the "True Copy" letter notarized and then drove to Atlanta to get the notarization apostilled.  I got all of that done in two hours, and the icing on the cake was that I got it done without getting caught in Atlanta crush hour traffic!  There is a another family traveling for their SDA appointment this weekend so I am overnighting our *FINAL* document to them to hand deliver to our facilitator.  We had our fingerprints taken just six days ago.  I am thinking that has got to be some kind of record for turnaround!  I am so incredibly thankful for all of the prayers that went out on this and to our USCIS agent for going against the "norm" and expediting our I600A.

Now we wait.  As soon as everything is translated (and it might already be except the I171H) it can be submitted to the SDA.  BEFORE the November 30 deadline.  YEEHAW!  (Lots of exclamation points in this blog post!)  By the way, I don't think I ever mentioned that the rest of our dossier that we sent last week made it safe and sound and the facilitator said it looked perfect.  :)

Thanks again for all of the prayers.  We truly feel them and can see them in action.  You all ROCK!

Off I go to do a Happy Dance.  :)

S~

Got to speak with Olga

We were able to speak with Olga again.  She sounds really good.  She has received the package that I sent with a sweater and two pair of funky socks which I was relieved to hear.  When I asked her if there was anything she needed she became very quiet and said, "Yes, Mama, I do need something.  I need lip gloss." We all laughed and I promised her I would run out to Bath and Body Works to get her favorite lip gloss.  Then she said, "And I need to ask for something else, and it is very serious.  Can you send me sneakers?"  My heart sank because I really don't think I can send her sneakers.  On larger packages the recipient might have to pay a tariff and Olga is obviously not in the position to do that.  I tried my best to explain that to her in hopes that she would understand.  After a few minutes of me explaining and re-explaining she finally said, "But Mama, it's just candy!".  Okay....she wanted Snickers!  Not sneakers!  Another good laugh was had by all.  So now I have three lip glosses and four Snickers bars ready to go out.  I did warn her the Snickers might melt, but she was okay with that!

I mentioned last week that the Parliament in Olga's country had passed the first reading of a bill that would suspend all international adoptions.  While we have heard nothing concrete about a second vote happening there are rumors flying wild on others' adoption blogs.  Quite honestly I have no desire to deal with rumors and those who have posted have not backed up their information with facts.  My desire here is to let you know that there is something very real you can do to help.  I am asking that you write your congressman and senators using the letter below or something similar to it.  I am also posting links for you to use to get your congressman/senators e-mail addresses.  All of the below information I have stolen borrowed from a different blog!

House of Representatives

Senate

Dear (name),

On November 2, 2010, the Ukrainian parliament voted to proceed with voting on legislation that would halt all international adoptions until inter-country adoption agreements are in place (see the State Dept. announcement at http://adoption.state.gov/news/ukraine.html) . At this point, all that is needed for this to become law is one more vote in Ukrainian parliament and a signature by the Ukrainian president. This could happen any day.


If it does, many families and innocent children will be greatly affected. Many of these families are adopting older children who have a very short time-frame before no longer being eligible for adoption.  American families adopting these children in the NEXT MONTHS offer them what may be their only opportunity at a normal and productive life free of crime, prostitution, or institutionalization due to illnesses that are treatable in the United States. I personally know one of these families.

I am writing to you to URGE you to act quickly on this matter by completing two actions. First, contact your Ukrainian counterparts and request a consideration of revision of the law to allow adoptions to proceed while the agreement is being drafted (as was done in Russia).  Secondly, work with your colleagues in congress to begin drafting this agreement so that it is ready to go in the event the law passes.

Thank you for your timely consideration of this urgent matter!


And, as always, please continue to keep our family in your prayers!


Thanks,
S~

Gold Party Fundraiser Results

I think I can say that the gold party I hosted last night was a success.  Between the 20% check that Southeast Gold Buyers gave me and additional donations from guests we made $650 to help bring Olga home!  Another big step forward in our fundraising!  Big thanks to Helene from SGB and all of my guests who not only brought their own gold but also brought a friends gold to sell!

In other fundraising news, a Bible study small group from our church has offered to cover the remaining cost of Olga's Christmas hosting!  So this means two things: after their donation and our Christmas Tree Fundraiser money comes in we will not owe NHFC anything else and I no longer will be asking for tree sales to benefit our family!  If you are thinking, "Shucks!  I was going to buy a tree!", don't despair!  You can still buy a tree, just select another family for the fundraiser to benefit.  My personal choice would be Melissa Macy as she put quite a bit of legwork into researching and getting this fundraiser set up!  Her family is adopting a brother and sister that they hosted this summer.  Check it out if you are still looking to order a tree for Christmas:  Dutchman Tree Farms Fundraiser  

I did call the USCIS back yesterday regarding our I171H approval letter.  I spoke with our agent and she said that our application has been processed and forwarded to her supervisor for approval.  She indicated that it would move from the supervisors desk to be mailed within 24 hours and we should have it within 7-10 days, probably sooner!  So...if we have received it in the mail by Friday we should be able to have it notarized and apostilled on Monday.  I was told of another family traveling the week of Thanksgiving so if we can get them the form before they leave we should make our dossier submission deadline.  Otherwise, I am seriously considering getting on a plane to Ukraine and taking it myself.  It feels like a sprint to the finish at this point!

Thanks for all of the prayers!  Keep 'em coming!

S~

Spoke to the USCIS today...

I got all of our apostilles photocopied and then bundled everything up to overnight to our fellow Ukrainian adoptive family who is using the same facilitator.  They should have all of our documents by 10:30 tomorrow morning, and they are traveling this weekend!

I called the USCIS this afternoon to see if our prints were in the system or not.  The representative I spoke with first gave me the "canned answer" that it usually takes 48 hours for the prints to get into the system.  I pressed a little harder and explained my time dilemma.  She finally looked in the system and located our prints.  I asked when an agent would be assigned to our case and she told me that the cases were assigned in the order they were received.  Seems fair, but I'm quite frankly looking to jump the line here!  She explains I should call back in a week, I explain that will be too late.  We go back and forth, she remained professional yet firm, I remained calm yet teetering on the edge of hysteria.  I realized after about 10 minutes that I wasn't going to be able to persuade her to have my case assigned to an agent.  I got off the phone upset, but amazed at the fact that I didn't completely fall apart.  I had already decided that I would call back on Friday and hope to get a different agent who might be willing to expedite our application.  About an hour or so later my cell phone rang.  It was the USCIS agent I had spoken with earlier.  She said that after checking to see about the deadline I had told her about she went ahead and pulled our application and we should have "something" in 7-10 days!  I, of course, start gushing "Thank You's" in about 15 different ways.  I was so thrilled with her phone call I didn't get any really important details.  Like, was she our case agent or had she given it to someone else?  Seven to ten calendar days or business days?  The "something" we should receive is the I171H approval letter or just an acceptance letter?  I basically think I got great news, but as I didn't get the details I'm not all that positive I got great news!  *sigh*  The USCIS is closed tomorrow, but I will call back on Friday to try to get some of my answers.

So, if I could amend my earlier prayer request, please pray that she meant that we should have our I171H in 7-10 calendar days and that perhaps I can pay a little bit better attention to detail!

:) S~

Apostille

I made the trip into Atlanta again this morning to have our notarized documents apostilled.  If you are unfamiliar with that term, it basically means that they (the Georgia Superior Court Clerks' Cooperative Authority, or GSCCCA) research each notary to ensure that their signature matches what is on file and then they put a fancy seal on it.  Mission accomplished, but not without a bit of drama thrown in.  I gave all 25 documents to the Notary Manager and he told me to come back in about an hour.  When I came back I could tell by the look on his face that something wasn't quite right.  The notary who had signed our medical records had signed them with her First Name, Middle Initial, Last Name.  That is what was on her notary stamp as well.  Unfortunately according to her commission with our county her stamp and signature should have been written First Name, Middle Name, Last Name.  The GSCCCA could not issue an apostille because of that.  The notary manager had called the county clerk to have them contact the notary so that she could "promise" to sign an affidavit changing her notary commission using her middle initial instead of middle name.  Remarkably, the county clerk called the notary manager at the GSCCCA back in less than 45 minutes giving him the go ahead to apostille those last few documents!

Wheh!

The last four months of our lives represented in paper form

So now I need to make some photocopies of all the apostilles and ship them off to the family traveling to Olga's country this weekend.  

I will be calling the USCIS this afternoon to see if our prints have shown up in the system yet.  It's a bit early, but tomorrow is Veteran's Day so their office will be closed.  Here's hoping I get to update my blog twice in one day with good news!

My big "ASK" for right now is prayers that our USCIS prints land on the right persons desk and that they are able to get our I171H approval letter to us in record time!  Our deadline for dossier submission the the SDA in November 30.  And overnighting documents there doesn't actually get them there overnight.  After I get the approval letter I still have to get it notarized and apostilled before it can be sent.  

Thanks to everyone for following along and all of your support.


S~

Biometrics Walk In Appointment

We got our our kids on the bus this morning for school at 7:00, then hopped in the car to go sit in traffic on our way to Atlanta.  We arrived at the Application Processing Center hoping for a walk in appointment to have our fingerprints taken at 8:20.  I'm so glad it was a relatively mild morning as they made those of us without scheduled appointments wait outside for about 15 minutes before allowing us in the building.  Once inside the process went fairly quickly and we had our paperwork filled out and prints taken less than an hour after we arrived!  YAY!  Now I get to call the USCIS everyday and pester the daylights out of them to get an agent assigned and get our I171H ASAP!

On the way back home we decided to make a quick stop for coffee.  Thankfully (for us) we weren't the first car in line at the light as the car in front of us was hit by a minivan running a red.  Everyone was okay, but we stayed to be witnesses and ended up being there for almost an hour.  No coffee for us, but I'm really just thankful that there were no major injuries.  We got back on the interstate and drove up to our exit to go home.  No joke, at the top of the exit ramp a big car carrier had just rear ended the car in front of it!  Yeesh!

Next I was off to Starbucks to meet our adoption agent to go over all of our paperwork.  Everything looked good except perhaps one thing, but our agent is checking on that.  Luckily the one thing that might not be okay is relatively easy to fix so it shouldn't be a problem.  We now have all of the paperwork, excluding the I171H, that we need for our dossier.  Tomorrow morning I will head back into Atlanta to have all of the notarizations apostilled.  After that they get overnighted to a family traveling to Ukraine this weekend to be hand delivered to our facilitator.  They can't be officially turned into the SDA without the I171H, but they can be translated and ready to go ahead of time!

And in closing...another letter from Olga!!!  Actually, two, but one envelope had drawings for each of us and the other envelope had a letter and a fairly recent picture of Olga with a friend of hers.  It just so happens the friend is a boy.  If you have a teenage daughter living under your roof and you worry about her and teenage boys, try being on the other side of the world from her and worrying about teenage boys!

Thank you all so much for all of the thoughts and prayers as we are racing against the clock.  The dossier submission deadline is three weeks from today!  Keep those prayers coming!

S~

USCIS Biometrics Letter

GOT IT!  I have in my possession our appointment letters to have our biometrics completed!  The appointment isn't until 11/16, but we plan to go tomorrow morning to see if we can snag a "walk-in appointment".  Keep sending those prayers our way!

S~

Busy Week Ahead of Us! (I hope!)

I wish I had a really exciting "Olga Update", but no such luck!  I just wanted to post an update about where we are in the process and where we hope to be in the process a week from now.

I was speaking with our adoption agent last Friday about our Marriage License and how it was not notarized, but certified.  She was checking with the facilitator to make sure that would be sufficient.  Then she casually mentioned that the marriage license would need to be apostilled in the state it was issued.  That would be Missouri.  We live in Georgia.  With the luck we have had so far with government efficiency I was a little panicked.  I was prepared to drive to Missouri today so I could be in Jefferson City first thing Monday morning to hand deliver the license to be apostilled.  I called the Secretary of State's office in Missouri and they assured me that they can turn it around same day!  So off I ran to the UPS Store to overnight our license along with a pre-paid air bill for them to overnight the apostilled documents back to us.  I should have that back on Tuesday morning.

Next on the list is our I171-H approval letter from the USCIS.  Or, to be more precise, the lack of our I171-H approval letter from the USCIS.  We still do not have our biometrics (fingerprint) appointment letter which is needed before our very important I171-H approval letter is issued.  I was assured that the appointment letter was in the mail.  Tick-tock-tick-tock.  Our letter carrier is going to be lucky if I don't jump in her mail truck looking for the letter myself when she pulls up to our mailbox tomorrow.


In the meantime I will go to Atlanta on Tuesday or Wednesday to have all of our notarized documents (that we actually have!) apostilled.  At that point they will be ready to send to Ukraine.  I will then place all of the documents in an overnight envelope to send to another family who is traveling to the SDA on Saturday to hand deliver our *still* incomplete dossier to our facilitator.  Our hope is that they can be translated now even though they cannot be submitted to the SDA without the I171-H.  


The last thing to address is something I have been attempting to bury my head in the sand about.  I won't pretend I know all about the adoption laws from Olga's country and how they differ from other Eastern European countries.  But, here is what I do know.  Last week a draft of a law that would most likely suspend all international adoptions from where Olga is from passed.  It is something that they have been trying to pass for years, but it has never happened until now.  I have heard different things about how fast this *could* become law.  The update on the US Embassy website has the most bleak estimate.  If it passes a second reading it could be signed into law by the end of 2010.  Here is the post from the Embassy of the US:

PUBLIC ADOPTION NOTICE – NOVEMBER 3, 2010

November 3, 2010

The Ukraine legislature is in the process of voting on a bill that would suspend all intercountry adoptions from countries without bilateral agreements with Ukraine, including adoptions from the United States.  The bill passed a first reading and vote, but must still pass a second reading and be signed into law by the president.  The second reading could take place in the next few weeks.  If the bill passes the second reading, it may be signed into law as early as the end of 2010.  The draft bill appears to include suspension of all adoptions in progress.

The Department will post updates as information becomes available.

This notice is posted at the Department of State website athttp://adoption.state.gov/news/ukraine.html.

I really don't like ending a posting with bad news, so I will finish up here by saying OLGA ARRIVES FOR CHRISTMAS HOSTING IN 36 DAYS!!!!

Here is my list of how you can help:

1. PRAYERS!  The list is long this time-pray that we get our biometrics letter in the mail TOMORROW!  That our marriage license is back on Tuesday.  That all of our documents are SDA ready (no mistakes or issues).  That the family who is taking our dossier to Ukraine has a safe journey-and not just because they are taking our dossier!  And, of course, pray that whatever happens with the Ukraine adoption laws, that we are able to get Olga home by February, 2011.
2. Christmas Tree Fundraiser!   If you usually have a live tree for Christmas, consider ordering from Dutchman Tree Farms.  Click the following link, select "yes" for New Horizons for Children, and the select my name, Susan Langvin Pirkey, from the drop down list.  Dutchman Tree Farms Fundraiser  
3. Repost my blog!  Please share this blog with your Facebook friends, or e-mail it to anyone you think might enjoy reading my insanely long posts.  :)
4. Donate!  You can use the yellow "Donate" button at the upper right corner of this blog to donate directly to our adoption costs.

Thanks, and I will keep you all posted throughout the week.  I hope to have lots of good news to report all week long!

S~

Travel Dates for Hosting

I received an e-mail from NHFC today.  It was one last outreach to match host families with orphans for winter hosting.  I will copy her e-mail below so you can read what she had to say.  It's lengthy, but worth the read.  I think everyone who reads this blog understands how grateful I am that we have Olga in our lives and that we wouldn't be here if it were not for an amazing set of circumstances that led us to host with NHFC.  If you have thought, even briefly, about being a host family for just over four weeks this winter now is the time to take action.  The last day to sign up is November 7.  Please keep in mind that NHFC is NOT an adoption agency.  Their #1 goal is to match children with no families of their own with Christian families in America who would like to share their love of Christ with them.  It is a month long commitment that will undoubtedly change your life and the life of an orphan.

In the e-mail from NHFC it was casually mentioned that the host dates are December 13, 2010-January 15, 2011!  I'm sure that information will be sent to us host families shortly, but when I saw the dates in the e-mail I felt like I had hit the jackpot and gotten some kind of super secret insider information!  YAY!  I can now officially start the countdown until we get to see our oldest daughter again!  39 days!

If you would like to contact me directly to ask questions about our personal experience, please e-mail at:  SusanPirkey@gmail.com  Here is the e-mail from NHFC:


Dear Friends and Family of New Horizons for Children:
This will be my last update email asking for additional prayers for the few remaining children who do not have Christmas host families. I prayed and thought about what to write. Yesterday, it became clear as to what it has to be…

An 18 year old young lady, by the name of Sidney, has been doing her Senior Project with me over the past month. She decided that she wanted to learn more about the hosting program, the reasons for it, about adoptions that often result from it and wanted a better understanding of how it all works. She came in a few times to question me, interview Renee and her daughter, Michelle and one of her sons and has sent me several follow up emails along the way. Through our time together, I have been really impressed with her professionalism and dedication to her work. We’ve had University interns that put in less effort than Sydney! I’ve learned that she carries a 4.25 GPA and is presently number 18 in her graduating class of 505 students at a public High School and aims to be in the top 10 by graduation in May. I asked how she achieved a GPA above 4.0 and she explained she took Advanced Placement classes in Human Geography, (English) Language Arts, World History, US History, Micro Economics, Literature, Statistics, Government and Honors classes in Spanish which “count more” due to the difficulty level. She also earned college credits from these classes ready to transfer as soon as she graduates! Sidney wants to attend either the University of Georgia or Georgia Tech and major in International Business if things go her way. She is also President of the Spanish Honors Society and was in Beta Club in 10^th and 11^th grades in addition to being a member of the both the National Honor Society and Model United Nations which is a debate team.

Yesterday, she came back to our office for her final meeting with Renee and I and met with a young man, Taylor, who is 24 and now a senior at Kennesaw University also majoring in International Business. They went into another office and talked for a long time. When they finished, she exclaimed, “We have SO much in common and understand each other a lot!” When I asked what she felt they had in common she had a lot to share: Taylor graduated as Valedictorian of his high school class, and had many achievements both in school academics, soccer on two teams and other extra-curricular activities. But, they share something even more special… They were both adopted as teens from foreign countries: Taylor is actually my oldest son, who was adopted at age 13 from Russia and Sidney is actually one of our first Latvian children who came on a hosting program 5 years ago. They both came to America not speaking a word of English and not knowing a soul except for the family who adopted each of them. Sidney has a younger brother and they were hosted as a (hard to place) sibling group, while Taylor left behind a younger sibling in Russia, he has now has many younger siblings who were also adopted. Sidney and Taylor both kept their first language of Russian and were able to communicate in that too! Their goals in life are similar and the things they shared and realized since being adopted are also very much alike.

When I asked Sidney how she felt she has changed since coming to America, she shared, “I am now more accepting in regards to other kinds of people and different cultures.” This led her to choose International Business for her intended major in college. Taylor has shared similar feelings with me and this was one of his deciding factors in choosing International Business! Sydney stated she appreciates what she has now, more than ever before; especially her family and friends. One of the things she does better now and she feels makes her successful is that she knows how to make friends since she is more outgoing and sociable. In Latvia, in the orphanage she said, “I never had any incentive to do this before.” She credits her family for teaching her “to go out there and take a chance even without knowing if the outcome would be totally successful…even when she didn’t know English very well at first.” She shared her self esteem is so much higher now, which was apparent without asking… and she feels successful and ready to have a future both personally and professionally.

There are FOUR days left to choose one of the children who remain for the Christmas hosting program. Sidney knows that if a family did not “take a chance without knowing if the outcome would be totally successful” and hosted her and her brother, she would not be where she is today… a young lady with a future, a loving family, a solid education, who is safe, happy and healthy--physically, mentally and spiritually. She said she was “blessed to have this chance in this family.”

Meet Sidney:	Meet Taylor:

Perhaps you are one who receives this email, and goes through one of these scenarios:

• Looks at the children, prays for direction on what to do… but, hasn’t felt called to host.
• Thinks, “I’d like to send a donation to help one of these children, but what if (how, where)….”
• Believes, “I live in the state of _________ and therefore I can’t host…”
• Has called before and thinks that the mandatory training day is not offered close enough to your house.
• Thinks it’s too late, and therefore, won’t make the decision to move ahead.

Perhaps God is tapping you on the shoulder right now, as you read this and is telling you “to go out there and take a chance even without knowing if the outcome would be totally successful…”
And to answer some of the concerns above:
Donations can be made via PayPal on our website: www.NewHorizonsForChildren.org;
We host children in ANY STATE in the continental USA;
Host Parent Training is now offered in many places:

Denver CO Orange County CA Portland OR St Louis MO Davidson NC Atlanta GA

Winter Haven FL New Orleans LA Dallas TX Reading PA Manchester NH

(NOTE: if you attend training now, it covers you for future hosting programs too!) The deadline to match is November 7, so it’s NOT too late if you act now.
Lastly, but most importantly: Go view the remaining children who need prayer warriors, sponsors and host families and forward this email to others.
Children arrive from Russia, Ukraine, and Latvia, on December 13 and return January 15.
We always solicit prayers, prayer warriors and churches around the country who are looking for an orphan ministry to operate within their church. November is National Adoption Month and many churches are focused on the grim future of orphans and want to find ways to help.
NHFC is a non-denominational, non-profit, Christian ministry. Our goals are to reach orphans in Eastern European countries and bring them to the USA to visit with American Christian host families for 4-5 weeks over Christmas and in the summer. This shows them a functional family environment, immerses them in English, gives them love of family, and of their Father in Heaven. It undoubtedly builds their otherwise non-existent self-esteem. They realize they DO matter and can succeed in life. In the end, more than 65% of children who come on New Horizons for Children’s host program and are eligible for adoption, do find forever families, and are later adopted. It may not be their host family who adopts them, but perhaps someone who knows their host family and met them through the program. Some children still have partial scholarships to offset their hosting fees. Others have families interested to host, but need financial assistance from donors. All of them need prayer warriors!
May God bless you on this journey,
Le Ann Dakake
Director of Hosting Programs
New Horizons for Children

Quick Chat with Olga

We called Olga's school this morning.  After several attempts and even speaking to the wrong child the first time we finally were able to speak with her.  (The first child we spoke to had a first name that rhymed with Olga's last name, so there was obviously something lost in translation!)  She said she is doing well.  She received the last letter I sent as well as the letter Aunt Deby (my sister) sent.  She sounded very excited to have received a letter from her Aunt Deby!  In the course of the conversation she told me that her host mother from Spain called her yesterday!  Olga had gone on hosting programs to Spain and stayed with the same family for 6 years before coming to America.  What is odd about that is that Olga hasn't been to Spain in two years and her host family from Spain hardly ever contacts her.  It made my stomach drop a bit when she told me that.  My brain starts going crazy with all kinds of "what if" garbage.  I quickly asked if she was still excited about coming back here for Christmas and she said yes.  I think with all of the snags we are running into here every little thing that isn't in "my plan" puts me into panic mode.

I plan to call the USCIS again today to see if our application has made it to the Missouri facility.  The rep I spoke with yesterday said to wait a week before calling.  I'm just going to ignore that little piece of advice.  :)

S~

 

Paperwork Bottleneck

Today is November 2.  We must have our dossier submitted to the SDA by December 1.  Before it can go to the SDA we must still wait for our USCIS fingerprint appointment and I171H approval letter.  All of the documents must be apostilled and then sent to our in country facilitator who must then translate all of the documents before submitting to the SDA.  In other words, we really, really need to have our dossier complete and in country in less than three weeks to get it to the SDA before December 1.  If we do not have this done then we are looking at next spring before we can bring our daughter home for good.  That is something I am really not willing to think about, so right now I am asking for prayers.  Prayers that God opens the doors to a speedy USCIS fingerprint process (called biometrics) and approval.  Prayers that all of our dossier documents are ready and correct (have I mentioned that our State of GA background clearance letter still isn't in our hot little hands?).  Prayers that our facilitator is able to translate all documents and submit them to the SDA by (or even before!) December 1.  And prayers that Jeff and I remain faithful that no matter what happens, God's timing is perfect.

Thank you,
S~

Garage Sale and Other News Part 2! New Fundraiser Coming Soon!

While we had to hold the garage sale over the course of four days I think we can declare it a success!  We have a few small items left for donation, but we sold all of our "big ticket" items and brought in about $750.  As a plus we really had some very nice customers and perfect weather!

And in other news...we have the receipt number for our I600A so I believe that means it's been accepted!  I have tried checking on the status, but the receipt number is not in the system yet.  Apparently checking for it every 30 minutes doesn't make it get entered any faster.  We are trying very hard to get all of our dossier documents together but keep running into the same snags!  We want to have all the documents ready now so that they are ready to send them to Ukraine when we get our approval letter (I-171H) from the USCIS.

We were recently blessed to receive another sizable donation toward the adoption fees we are facing.  While we are not 100% there financially we are getting closer and closer!  Our support system has been simply amazing and we are truly grateful.

I am excited to be hosting a gold buying event on Friday, November 12!   If you are local and would like to attend, please RSVP by Friday, November 5.  Bring a friend who sells gold and you will earn a cash gift!  Each seller receives 100% of the fair value of their gold and at the end of the event SGB will donate 20% of the total amount of gold they purchased to help us bring Olga home!

If you or someone you know is looking for a way to help, here are our current needs:

1. Prayers!  Specifically that our I600A is processed quickly so that we can submit our dossier to Ukraine and that the Southeast Gold Buyers party I am hosting is a successful fundraiser for us.
2. Re-post my blog to your Facebook page!
3. Christmas Tree Fundraiser!  If you typically buy your tree or wreath every year, please consider buying from Dutchman Tree Farms to help us raise money for Olga's Christmas hosting.  Click on the following link, select "yes" for New Horizons for Children then select my name, Susan Langvin Pirkey, as the person you are sponsoring.  Dutchman Tree Farms Fundraiser
4. Southeast Gold Buyers fundraiser!  Grab a friend and your unwanted gold and see how much money you can make while helping us raise money for Olga's adoption!  For my local friends, be on the lookout for another e-mail with attached flier.  If I somehow miss sending you an e-mail, RSVP anyway!  :)  
5. Donate!  You can use the yellow "Donate" button in the upper right corner of this blog to easily donate using PayPal.

Please e-mail me directly if you have any questions about our adoption process.  

SusanPirkey@gmail.com  

Thank you for hanging in there with us on this adventure!

S~

Garage Sale and Other News

We had our garage sale yesterday and today.  While not a phenomenal success, it was not a complete bust either.  We still have all of our "large ticket" items which we shoved carefully placed back into the garage where they shall wait until we try again next weekend.  I really miss parking in the garage.  :(  I will admit that without the very generous donations from our family and friends the garage sale would have been a complete bust!  And a very special thank you to my sister, Deby, and my mom, Joyce, for not only their donations but also their help with the selling on Friday!

The first two customers of the day walked up yesterday morning to purchase two adult bicycles.  They agreed to $35 per bike and said they would come back the next morning (today) to pay and pick up the bikes.  Jeff agreed and put the bikes in the garage for safe keeping.  During all of this Jeff mentioned to the couple that we were trying to raise a little extra money for an international adoption.  He told them a little bit of our story while they shopped. When they came back today to pay for the bikes Jeff was inside so they struck up a conversation with me about the adoption.  They were so interested that I ran inside to grab the family portrait that we had taken with Olga this summer.  They asked many questions and then told us that they wanted to give a little extra for the bikes because they were really touched by our story.  They handed me $100 and wished us the best of luck!  How's that for a feel-good story?  

I guess there isn't too much else going on right now.  Oh, wait a minute...what's that?  Our FBI fingerprint clearances have finally come back?!  We can finally submit our I600A to the USCIS?  Pardon me while I go do a cartwheel.  (Funny...those were a lot easier to do 25 years ago!)  Thank you so much to all of you who kept us in your thoughts and prayers that the FBI finish with our clearances quickly!  It was only four days ago that I asked for that specific prayer, so I know we must have a lot of prayer warriors out there.  I am hoping to get our I600A into the mail for overnight delivery to the USCIS on Monday.  We just have to have our case worker for the home study add the FBI results and we need our adoption agent to look over our paperwork before it goes into the mail.  The USCIS process can take a long time also, but I plan to call my local congressman to ask for help.  If he agrees to help then we should be able to get through that process in about four to five weeks.  If that actually happens then we just might get our dossier off to the SDA by the beginning of December which *should* get us our SDA appointment sometime in January!  I know I really shouldn't count my chickens before they hatch, but it's so exciting when you can start to see things actually take shape.

It is hard to believe, but in just three months we should be traveling!  We have lots to do before then and as always, I have ways you can help if you are so inclined!

1. Prayers!  Specifically that we get our I600A in the mail Monday, October 25 and that our congressman can help get the process with the USCIS expedited.
2. Re-post my blog to your Facebook page!  I know that when people re-post this blog it gets a lot more traffic which means more people following our journey.
3. Christmas Tree Fundraiser!  Follow the link below to order a tree or wreath to be delivered right to your front door with FREE shipping!  After clicking the link, select "yes" for New Horizons for Children and then select my name, Susan Langvin Pirkey, as the participant you would like to help:   Dutchman Tree Farms Fundraiser
4. Donate! You can use the yellow "donate" button just to the upper right corner of this blog post!
5. I will be having a fundraising Gold Party on November 12.  If you are local and would like to attend just let me know!  I will be getting e-vites out soon, but if I miss you please don't think you aren't invited!

If you have specific questions about this process and need to contact me directly, please e-mail me at: SusanPirkey@gmail.com

Thanks,

S~

Another Letter From Olga

I'm starting to feel like a little kid at Christmas!  We received another letter from Olga today.  While I have decided to not scan and post this one because it is more personal in nature I will tell you a few things about it.  This one was actually quite long and full of love and humor.  She is very much enjoying her new class and her room and mentioned that she hopes we will like them, too.  That is her first acknowledgment to us that she knows we are coming for her!  She sends a big "Hello" to her American friends and listed several of hers that say hi to us as well.  She is trying very hard in school, but doesn't always understand what the teacher is saying.  I'm going to assume she meant in her English class, but I honestly don't know how the system works over there.  She is excited for winter so she can see us, especially her "dear" brother and sister.  She ended the letter with a joke: that she loves us more than bread with butter!  Actually, I hope she's not joking about that because that child loves bread with butter!

The timing of the receipt of that letter couldn't have been any better.  I had just gotten off the phone with the FBI and needed a pick-me-upper!  I had called the FBI office about our fingerprint clearances which we need to complete our home study which we need to send to the USCIS which we need to get our biometrics fingerprints appointment which we need to get our I71H approval letter which we need for our dossier!  When I spoke to the FBI last, on October 2, they told me that they didn't have us in the system and our request probably hadn't even been opened yet.  Then they proceeded to tell me that it could take 10-12 weeks from the time it was in their system to process.  I called again today hoping and praying that they have at least received our request.  Their response has led me to believe that the first person I spoke to didn't want to be bothered and didn't even look us up.  Our request was received on August 25!  Of course, it can still take a total of 12 weeks to process, but at the very least I know that as of tomorrow, October 20, they will have been working on it for 8 weeks.  Twelve weeks out will be November 10.  I would be happy to split the difference and have it back by October 30!

We are planning to have a garage sale this weekend to raise money for adoption expenses.  You need to understand that I despise organizing garage sales, therefore never have them.  I mentioned to my sister that I was thinking about having one despite my loathing for them and she and my brother-in-law graciously donated several very good items for our cause!

Here are a few things we would like to ask for help with:

• Pray that the FBI finishes up with our clearances quickly!
• Consider ordering a Christmas Tree or Wreath from our Dutchman Tree Farms Fundraiser.  Simply click on the link, select "yes" for New Horizons for Children, select my name, Susan Langvin Pirkey, from the drop down list and follow the website instructions from there:

Dutchman Tree Farms Fundraiser

• Re-post my blog to your Facebook page! 
• Donate if you can!  We do not owe NHFC very much money at this point between donations and monies we have already paid so we are no longer asking that donations be made the the Active Giving account.  If you would like to donate directly to help us offset the adoption costs, please use the following link, or click on the yellow "Donate" button just to the upper right corner of this blog entry.  Follow the directions from there!

Donate using PayPal

I can't say it enough: THANK YOU ALL so much for your support!

S~

New Horizons for Children

As I'm sure most of you know, our family was introduced to Olga through a Christian hosting program that brings orphans from Eastern Europe to America.  We are very fortunate to be able to host Olga over Christmas this year as we will not be far enough along in the adoption process to travel to her country before the end of this year.  While Olga is spoken for, there are well over 150 orphans who still need host families.    If you or someone you know has thought about being a host family, now is the time to act!  The deadline to sign up to host a Latvian child is October 21.  The deadline for Russian orphan sign up is November 1, while the Ukraine orphan sign up is November 7.  The deadline for Estonia has not yet been announced.

Please trust me when I say that even if you have no intention of adopting, this experience will change your life!  By clicking on the link below and filling out a very short online form you will be given access to the photo listing of available orphans.  The access is not immediate as the request must be approved.

New Horizons for Children Photo Listing Request Page

There are many orphans who have scholarships placed on them.  This means that the hosting fees you would normally pay will be reduced by the amount of the scholarship.

If you would like to speak with me directly about our experience, please e-mail me with your contact information and I will be happy to speak with you!

SusanPirkey@gmail.com

Thank you,

S~

Feeling Humbled, Blessed, Embarrassed, Thankful & Guilty!

Part of the fun in this whole process of adoption is seeing how other people are affected by it.  Many people have been moved to pray, donate and/or advocate for Olga on our behalf.  From the time of our announcement I have been deeply humbled by the outpouring of support we have received.  I cannot possibly put it into words.  I think this is just something you have to personally experience to fully understand how it feels.

I received a phone call from someone last week.  It wasn't a long conversation that we had, but it was one that truly affected our family in an amazing way.  We talked about how much money we still owed to New Horizons for Children (about $4,700 between the $2,500 referral fee and the remainder of the $2,500 Christmas hosting fee which was $2,200).  They explained to me that after meeting Olga this summer and seeing her interact with our family that they knew she was our child.  Long before we had told anyone that we were moving forward with adoption, they knew she was ours.  This person, along with their family, then expressed their desire to donate the full $2,500 referral fee to NHFC on our behalf.  They said they couldn't imagine Olga not being a part of our family and this is part of what they could do to make that a reality.  In addition to the donation, they have also been advocating for us since Day 1 among other things.  I think they are as anxious as we are to have Olga home for good!  They went to their bank on Saturday to get a money order, sent the money order to NHFC and it was signed for this afternoon and credited to our account!

So, how does one ever thank someone enough for something like this?  I don't know if there is even an answer to that.  I guess I can only hope and pray that they understand how incredibly grateful we are for their generous support.

One part of this process that has been difficult for me is letting go of the idea that asking for help is embarrassing.  When the NHFC donor called me last week, I was not only blown away but also feeling guilty that they were offering up such a large donation.  I asked if they were sure that they wanted to do that.  Of course they were sure.  These aren't the type of people to make spur of the moment decisions like that!  But I still felt guilty and embarrassed for accepting it.  I really need to knock that off!  I know that we can't do this without help.  So I will continue to tell you with each post exactly how you can help!

1. Prayers!  Specifically at this time that the paperwork portion proceeds without incident and that we continue to raise funds for Olga's adoption.
2. Advocate! Repost the blog entries to your Facebook page or e-mail them to friends & family.
3. Christmas Tree Fundraiser! If you purchase a tree using the following link, $10 will be donated to NHFC on our behalf for the Christmas Hosting Fees: Christmas Tree Fundraiser
4. Donate! Click on the "Donate" button on the upper right hand side of this blog entry to make a contribution to the adoption fees.  Or, e-mail me directly for me for details at: SusanPirkey@gmail.com

Thank you!

S~

  


  

Christmas Tree Fundraiser

Many thanks to another adoptive mom for setting up a group fundraiser for New Horizons for Children with Dutchman Tree Farms.  By ordering one of three trees or a wreath from Dutchman Tree Farms, you can help us offset the cost of our hosting fees for Olga this Christmas.  You can choose from a 3-4' "Table Top Tree", a 6-7' Fraser Fir, a 3-4' LIVE Christmas tree OR a 22" decorated Fraser Fir Wreath.  Just click on the link below, click "Yes, continue" for the New Horizons for Children organization and then select my name, Susan Langvin Pirkey, as the individual you are sponsoring.  The prices are very reasonable and shipping is FREE!!!  There are several shipping dates for you to chose from.  I have included a picture and description of the 6-7' Fraser Fir below.

Dutchman Tree Farms Fundraiser

G2 TRADITIONAL

The Fraser Fir has dark green needles and frosty glow underneath mixed with its pleasing fragrance make this a popular tree. It has upright branching, straight stems and excellent needle retention for little maintenance.  This Fraser Fir Christmas Tree is grown in Northern Michigan at Dutchman Tree Farms Christmas Tree Plantation.  This tree has been one of the most sold Christmas Trees at Christmas for the past 10 years.  This Fraser Fir Christmas Tree is available to Order Online through the Green2Green Fundraiser and Direct Ship to your home.  Order Yours Today! Free Shipping! 

$64.95

As always, if you would like to contribute directly to our adoption fees, please e-mail me at:

SusanPirkey@gmail.com

Thanks!

S~

Generosity

Money can be a hard thing to explain to kids.  To them "a lot" of money is a few dollars.  If I were to tell our 8 and 6 year olds that the adoption/hosting/referral fees are going to cost us around $30,000 they wouldn't even know what to do with that information.  They know that we have made changes in how we spend money, but we don't want to scare them into thinking we have nothing to spare.  I know that our 6 year old is taking our conversations to heart because she worries that we won't have enough money to buy Olga clothes when she gets here.  She has literally told me that she doesn't need something because we should save the money for Olga.  I really didn't think our 8 year old thought about it one way or another.  He still asks to buy things and I usually tell him no without saying that we need to save our money for the adoption.  I don't want him to become resentful over the adoption or Olga.

Our son had a conversation with his best friend a few days ago.  The conversation was all about Olga and how our family was trying to raise funds to help with the adoption fees.  His best friend is an adorable little 8 year old girl from down the street.  He explained to her in his best 8 year old way that the adoption will be very expensive and that we (Mom & Dad) have been asking people to give us money to help bring Olga home.  His friend told him that she would make a donation to us for Olga's adoption.  He very excitedly shared this information with me.  I just sort of nodded and said that would be very nice.  The very next morning at the bus stop our son's friend called him over to where she was.  They huddled and talked for a minute before they approached me.  She smiled sweetly and handed me a $5 bill.  I started to ask her what the money was for before I remembered what my son had told me.  I didn't even know what to say.  That $5 donation was given with love and generosity straight from her heart.  I spoke with her mother later that morning to tell her what her precious had done.  Her mom told me that her daughter had counted all of her money, came up with $7.50 and without hesitating decided that she would give $5 of it to help with Olga's adoption.  That's 80% of what she had!  That is five pieces of junk precious treasures from the Dollar Store that children seem to cherish.  In the eyes of an 8 year old, that's huge!  And in the eyes of this grown woman who sees the mountain before her, it is beyond huge.  I don't know that this little girl will ever realize the impact she made with her very simple gesture.  But I will remember it always.

If you would like to help us offset the adoption, you can donate below or contact me directly.

I don't have too much of an "Olga Update", but I did speak with Olga at her school.  She is doing well and has received the first package I sent.  She said it is very cold there and asked what it was like here.  She asked if there would be snow for Christmas and was a little disappointed when I told her no.  We talked about how much we missed and loved each other.  She sent her love along to Daddy, Rhys, Maddox and many others.  I really miss her!

Thanks to everyone for their incredible support!

S~

Fun Stuff. Or Not.

Obviously our first priority is getting Olga home.  But in this long process where we apparently have lots and lots of waiting to do, I can't help but think of what Olga's first year here will be like.  A lot of really fun things come to mind along with quite a few stomach churning thoughts.  Here are a few examples:

Fun: Watching her discover all of the things in America that she would probably not experience in Ukraine
Stomach Churning: Driver's Permit

Fun: Enrolling her in a dance class
Stomach Churning: Her wanting to enroll in $500/month worth of dance classes

Fun: Seeing her make new friends
Stomach Churning: First Date

Fun: Taking her shopping for clothes
Stomach Churning: Taking her shopping for clothes

Fun: Seeing her experience four years of high school where she would have only gotten through 9th grade in Ukraine before aging out of the system
Stomach Churning: Homework.  I can barely help my 3rd grader with his homework when he needs it!

Fun:  Giving her the opportunity to learn about God and know that He has a plan for her!
Stomach Churning: Not one thing stomach churning about that!

In all seriousness, I know that the coming years will be filled with joy and fighting, laughter and tears, bonding and pulling away...the list goes on and on.  We don't have the benefit of knowing Olga from the day she was born and seeing her grow into the 15 year old girl that she is today.  I have no idea if she has ever kissed a boy or even what kind of student she is.  And while she was here for five weeks this summer, she honestly has no idea what kind of parents we will be to her.  We are all diving into this headfirst.  She is putting her entire life into our hands.  Can you even begin to imagine the trust and faith she has already put into us?  So many people have told us what a wonderful thing this is that we are doing and how lucky Olga is to have us.  Truthfully, we are the "lucky" ones.  We feel so incredibly blessed to be the recipients of this girl's love, trust and faith.  She is wonderful in her willingness to allow us the chance to know her, love her and wrap her up in our arms and hearts.

So while the process is long, I will continue to use this time to daydream about all of the great fun we shall have and stress myself out about all of the other stuff that is going to come along with the fun.

Thank you so much to everyone that has taken the time to learn about Olga.  I can hardly wait to show her just how many people have been pulling for her and keeping her in their prayers.  If you would like to help us with the financial aspect of the adoption process please e-mail me for details at:

SusanPirkey@gmail.com

S~