Not really needed...

I know another post is not really needed after those cute pics, but I thought I would comment a little bit.

First of all, I apologize for three separate posts; remember that I don't really know what I am doing, so it is taking me a while to get the hang of it.

The two new pics were taken at the end of Feb. or beginning of March. I am not totally convinced that is David, but everyone else thinks it is. Anton is too cute. I assure you that both of them will have BOY clothes when they come home.

I received an email from USCIS wanting more documents to finish our approval. That was disappointing because I thought we were just waiting on the letter and we would be good to go. I am working on what they want and will get it to them ASAP.

Things are moving much quicker than I thought they would with everything else, though. I have everything I need for the dossier, except of course, for the golden ticket. I have the room about 50% done, but both beds bought. I have lots of clothes and supplies. I have had a lot of things donated for our second yard sale and hopefully we will be having it in the next couple of weeks. We are still about 6 or 7thousand dollars short, but I think we will be able to come up with it somehow.

Anyway, no news yet on anything final. I will try to keep you updated.

New Pics

New Pics

First Letter to Ukra*ne

Well, we sent our first letter today to the Ukraine. It cost a whopping....wait for it...$137.00 to send ONE piece of paper to the Ukraine. We used fed-ex, but we will definitely shop around for the next documents to go. I thought the lady behind the counter was joking or giving me the price in Ukrainian money (whatever the heck that is), but yes, it really was $137. That costs more than the crib! Speaking of cribs, we do have one of the cribs set up and the bedding and stuff came in the mail today. It is so cute. It is jungle themed and has lots of monkeys! I think the boys will really like that.

Anyhooo...will try to post pictures of the room later.

Dates for us all to remember

I have been saying for at least a couple of months that I need to write down some of the important dates related to the adoption so I can remember them later. Well, as you can tell, it has not been done. So, here goes nothing....

November 24, 2009-official committment to Anton
November 25, 2009-contacted first homestudy agency
December 12, 2009-first homestudy agency canceled home visit
January 4, 2010-first homestudy agency canceled home visit (Yes, again)
January 24, 2010-obtained new homestudy agency
Feb. 5, 2010-mailed application to USCIS, first meeting with new homestudy agency in office
Feb. 8, 2010-official committment to David
Feb. 11-homestudy visit completed
Feb. 25, 2010-fingerprint appointment in Nashville
March 22, 2010-mailed completed homestudy to Nashville
March 23, 2010-mailed first set of documents to Nashville for apostilles

Now, that doesn't seem like a lot of work, but if you have not been through it, it is unbelievable!! I have been actively working (almost daily) on "paperwork" since the end of November and I am still not finished. Anyway, wanted to put those dates down before they were lost forever.

Apostilles!!!!!!!!!

Believe it or not, we finally received some of our documents with the apostille on them! We sent them to Nashville last week, but we did not have the county clerk's approval on them, so they sent them back. We had the county clerk sign off on them, sent them back to Nashville, and they finally arrived!!!! It only took 4 days to get them back after they were sent. That is pretty good turn around time.

I am not waiting on an address and specific instructions on what to do with all of these papers. I think (and could very well be wrong) that I have all of my papers needed to complete my dossier, except for the Golden ticket. I will send another nicely worded email on Monday to see when I should expect that .

Anyway, things are starting to move a little faster and it is exciting, but scary. I am unsure about traveling, whether we will do one long trip or two trips. I am nervous about how this will work into my school schedule and what I am going to do about that. We shall see!

Happy Easter to everyone and I hope everyone finds the prize egg!~!!!

Getting Things Ready...

Sean and Tony painted the boys room yesterday and it looks GREAT! It is light brown on the bottom and a medium blue on top and it is exactly what I wanted. GO BOYS!!!! I went shopping today and picked out cribs for the room and Sean is going to go get them sometime this week. I also bought some toys and some clothes for them. I feel like we are finally making a progress and that they will be here before we know it. We really have to start making some decisions about names and get that part out of the way.

I mailed out our first set of documents to Nashville to get apostilled yesterday and I am very interested to see what the turn around time is. This won't be our last mailing for apostilles, so it is important to know exactly how long it takes.

I am going to add more pictures of the rest of my "crew" to show you all the whole picture. I have two nieces and one nephew that are a big part of my inspiration to adopt. I will add their pictures when I actually have a digital pic of all of them (don't want to leave anyone out).

Will update again in a few days!