Physicals, Part 1

Jeff and I had our physicals today for the Home Study and dossier.  There were a few snags with the actual paperwork, but in the end we got it worked out.  We both got Tetanus shots so I am really looking forward to that sore arm tomorrow!  And TB skin tests, too.  We will need to go back on Thursday to have the TB test read and have blood work done as well as the drug screening.  All of the test results and labs should be back at the end of next week so hopefully that part will be done.

It was an extremely frustrating day regarding the paperwork snags, which I won't rehash here.  But as frustrated and upset as I was, I am sitting here now and it is done and over with.  In the end, we got what we needed so I'm trying very hard to not hold onto the frustration I felt earlier today.  I will admit that it sometimes feels as though people are working against us!  I know that we are on the right path and that God is going to carry us through this.  Perhaps He is trying to teach me patience?  

I had to laugh yesterday when I got Jeff's certified birth certificate in the mail.  He thought he was born in Scottsdale, AZ, which is what we had put on all the paperwork.  His birth certificate says Phoenix.  Oops!  Our adoption agency is going to go through everything we have submitted so far to make corrections.  It isn't a big deal because we caught it now, but if the wrong birth city had made it onto the documentation for our dossier, that could have derailed everything.

It is almost 4:00 in the morning for Olga as I write this.  She will be getting up in the next couple of hours to get ready for her first day back at school.  I think about how she knows everyone she goes to school with and how when she gets here it will be all new.  As hopeful as I am that she will be so happy to know that we are adopting her, I also know how hard this is going to be for her.  She will be leaving behind everyone she has ever know and will most likely not ever see or talk to most of them again.  She will be leaving behind her native tongue and will have to learn English in a sink or swim fashion.  Her school now is very small.  I'm not even sure that she switches classrooms.  Here she will be going to a huge, brand new high school, will have to switch classes and for the first time in her life have homework.  In her orphanage and school she does not have access to a computer for recreational use.  Things are going to be so different for her here.  I hope she will be more excited about these challenges than scared.

Hopefully I will get to talk to her soon.  I should be able to call the orphanage in the next couple of weeks.  The interview team *should* be there tomorrow or Thursday barring any issues.  I can't wait to see the picture they take of her!

I am very thankful for all of the support we are receiving from friends, family and strangers alike!

Thanks!

S~

Adopting Olga @ Active Giving

First Home Study Visit Complete!

Our first home visit seemed to go very well.  Our case worker's name is Carla, and she is someone that Jeff and I both feel comfortable with.  For some reason I had it in my head that she would have a list of questions to ask us and check them off as she went along.  It was a much more conversational interview than I was expecting.  She toured our home and said it had the perfect amount of space.  Carla has a 15 year old daughter and was quick to suggest that Olga would need a makeup vanity in her room or Rhys and Maddox would never get in there in time to brush their teeth in the mornings!   Our next visit with Carla is this Friday after Rhys and Maddox get home from school.

Olga should be getting back to her school today from "camp".  Her classes begin on Wednesday.  The interview team should be at her orphanage on Wednesday or Thursday.  I am praying that they tell her that we are in the process of adopting her!  I'm not sure when we will hear back from the interview team, but I believe they are in Eastern Europe for about a month.  We were able to send Olga a "goody bag" along with the interview team so she should receive it at the interview.  They said they would take a picture of her receiving her goody bag so hopefully we will get that soon! 

Thanks for all the support!

S~

Adopting Olga @ Active Giving

First Home Study Visit on Monday

There is not really anything new to report tonight, but we do have our first Home Study Visit tomorrow at 11:00.  I am actually pretty calm about it right now.  I'm not too sure how I'll feel in the morning, but there is not too much more I can do to prepare for this.  Except maybe re-sweep the kitchen floor.  :-)

This past Friday I finally received the two certified copies of my marriage license that I had ordered.  The dossier needs two copies for some reason.  I was so excited to get them until I saw that my maiden name was spelled incorrectly.  Oh well, I don't need the copies in the next few weeks.  I reordered the certified copies and they should be here in the next week or two.  If that is the biggest paperwork issue we have for this entire process then I would consider myself very fortunate!

I will update the blog tomorrow with the Home Study details.  Wish us luck!

S~

Adopting Olga @ Active Giving

Please help us bring Olga home!

We are making progress with the adoption process, but still need some help with the financial end of things.   If you would re-post this to your FB page, we would really appreciate it.  We have received a tremendous amount of support, but we still need help!  Please visit our fundraising page at:

Adopting Olga @ Active Giving

If you would like to make a direct donation to us, please e-mail me for details at:

SusanPirkey@gmail.com

Thank you so much for your thought, prayers and support.  We truly appreciate it!

S~

Another late night for me.  I was busy at the school all day today and the evening, too.  In between school "stuff" I took the medical forms for our physicals to our doctor so she could look them over and make sure she was prepared for all of the tests that must be done.  Jeff completed all of his biography, survey and questionnaires yesterday.  I still hadn't completed mine so I was getting a little antsy about that.  I just spent the last two hours answering questions and I am so close to being done.  I have ten more questions left, but I don't have enough brain power left tonight to finish it up.  However, I should be able to finish in the morning.  Whew!  It will be great to have that out of the way.

Tomorrow is cleaning day!  Between everything I have been doing for the adoption, volunteering at school and running our bio to their activities...well...let's just say the house is a bit of a pit right now.

I will hopefully have something a little less boring to report soon!

S~

Little by Little~

I had been a little stressed out last night about all the child abuse clearances that I thought we had to get done for our home study.  A fellow adoption mom saw my post about it and let me know that for non-Hague countries you only need the states that you've lived in the last five years!  We've been in GA for 7 years now, so we are done with that part!  Yay!  Thank you so much, Melissa, for the heads up!

I feel like I got a lot accomplished today and for the first time in a week I can see my kitchen table!  We have our physicals scheduled for next week and I will be glad to have those out of the way.  Poor little Sushi the Cat goes to the vet tomorrow for his annual checkup.  (Yes, we even have to have vet records for the home study!)  We are waiting on our certified copies of our birth certificates, but those should be in soon.  All in all I can see everything starting to take shape.

The hosting organization (NHFC) left for Eastern Europe yesterday.  I'm not sure which country they are starting with, but I believe they will get to Olga's region late next week.  I am praying that the director of her orphanage will let them tell Olga that we are adopting her.  It's hard to believe that through all of this there is a chance she won't know we are adopting her when she gets here for the Christmas hosting!

I think tonight I might actually make it into bed before midnight!

S~

Making some progress~

Another busy day today.  Jeff and I started the day off by visiting the local Sheriff's Office to have our fingerprints taken for the FBI.  They do electronic fingerprinting, which is pretty cool and I didn't have to get my fingers all inked up.  Next stop was the bank to pick up a money order for the FBI to do whatever they do to the fingerprint cards.  Then we were off to get several documents notarized for the agency.  I got the fingerprint cards sent off to Virginia, and the request for child abuse clearance in the mail to DFCS (Dept. of Families & Children). I didn't get the notarized docs sent off to the agency, but will do so tomorrow.  I also got the COGENT (I have NO idea what that stands for!) request completed and paid for. That request will get us an appointment to have our fingerprints taken *again* for the state level.

In the middle of all that I finally got to speak with our case worker who will be completing our Home Study.  Her name is Carla and we get to meet her next Monday at our first Home Study visit.  YAY!!!

I'm really wishing I hadn't moved so much in my 20's.  We need to have a child abuse clearance from every state we have lived in since we were 18.  Jeff and I are tied at 7 states each, but for good measure he just had to live in St. Thomas for a few years.  If I could at least find the information I need to get this done it wouldn't be so bad!  Hopefully our agency will be able to help us figure this one out.

Tomorrow will be another day of paperwork, phone calls, internet research and hopefully carving out a little time to get some housecleaning done.

S~

ActiveGiving.com

Please note: We have completed our fundraising portion for the hosting and referral fees!

As exciting as getting all the paperwork filled out is (not), we also have the task of raising a whole lotta money to be able to bring Olga home for good.  We started a fundraising page with ActiveGiving.com in hopes of raising enough money to pay for the Christmas Hosting program for Olga.  The program will bring Olga back to us for four weeks.  The travel dates aren't set yet, but it will be from mid-December to mid-January.  We really hope to be able to complete her adoption not long after that.

The ActiveGiving site is great because it gives people a chance to make a donation and get a receipt from New Horizons for Children for a tax deduction.  We've had a few donations made through that site, but we have also had some donations sent directly to us!

If you are interested in making a donation via ActiveGiving.com, please visit this link:

Adopting Olga

If you would like to make a donation, but don't want to use the ActiveGiving. com website, please contact me directly at:

SusanPirkey@gmail.com

Donations sent through ActiveGiving.com will be used to offset the cost of re-hosting Olga this Christmas.  Donations sent directly to us will be used to either help offset the cost of re-hosting OR be used to offset the cost of the actual adoption.

Thanks so much to everyone for all the prayers, well wishes & donations!

S~

Home Study Information

I've spent the better part of the day trying to plow through all the paperwork that is required for the Home Study.  I got about 1/4 of the way through my part of it!  I think Jeff just might cry when he sees everything he has to do, too!  The adoption agency wants to know pretty much everything about each one of us, including our childhoods.  This is typical that any adoption agency would want this rather than an exception.  I have written a biography and filled out a 19 question marriage survey.  The survey isn't a "check the box" kind of survey, but a narrative.  I still have to complete a "Definitions" survey and "Adoptive Parent" survey in addition to helping our biological kids complete their surveys.  I am not complaining (really, I'm not!).  I am more than happy to do it.  I just wish I were faster at it.    And of course besides all the narratives that need to be written there are the standard financial/misc. forms that need to be completed.  That part shouldn't be too hard.  I will be so relieved when we are through this part of it.

I know that getting through this first big step gets us that much closer to bringing Olga home.  So, on that note, off I go to fill out more forms!

Susan

And so it begins...

For five weeks this summer my family had the privilege of hosting a 15 year old girl from Eastern Europe.  Her name is Olga, and we knew from Day 1 that this girl was a part of this family.  Making the decision to adopt her was a no-brainer.  Now we must navigate our way through the paperwork.  I know that on the other side of this my daughter is waiting.  She is counting on us to bring her home.  And home she shall be with God's blessing, a little time and a lot of paperwork!

We have already hit a few bumps at the beginning of this journey, but I believe we are on the right path now.  The adoption agency we originally selected was absolutely wonderful, but they did not use the in country facilitator that we were required to use.  (We didn't realize that we were required to use a specific facilitator!)  After a few weeks, some frantic e-mails/phone calls and a lot of prayer we selected another agency and I began to RE-fill out all of the paperwork that I had already completed for agency 1!  So, here we are, back at square one but very ready to move forward.  There is a lot to do in the coming months and I am so excited to be on this journey.

Our biological children already consider Olga their sister.  They pray for her daily and ask when we will be able to adopt her.  They love her and miss her very much.

International adoptions can take many months, or in some cases, years.  I do not know how long it will take to complete this adoption, but I am happy to say that Olga will be able to come back for four weeks over Christmas on another hosting trip!  

For more information on hosting orphans from Eastern Europe, please visit: New Horizons for Children