After our initial meeting with Wide Horizons, I, as mentioned, knew that we would be in good hands. I also knew that this would be a scary journey to embark on. I didn't, however, know just how long it might take. Some people have told us that they waited years for a child to adopt and others said they waited about a year. Just how long would it take? We were about to find out.
Our first meeting was in mid-September on a Saturday. I remember waiting about a week to get a set of paperwork, later to find out it was labelled as Part A. That set of paperwork was actually very easy to complete and I raced through it in a week. We were then put in touch with a Social Worker- Christine. Thus began our home study. We also started on Part B of the paperwork.
I was able to complete the Part B paperwork within a couple months. By December we were also finishing our home study. Over Christmas we waited for Christine to write our home study report. This was completed by mid January. Then we began piling the paperwork for our dossier which would go to Russia. That paperwork would require a lot of notarizations and apostilles, or state authorization stamps. We needed to receive those from both Massachusettes and Connecticut. Finally, after much copying I was able to send out my 4 pound "baby" of paperwork- one original dossier set and one copy in March. I was ecstatic! Finally, my end of the paperwork was complete- or so I thought. Now I needed to wait for the referral.
We were told that a referral call could come any time from 1 month to 4 months. I often mentioned to Mike that if I didn't get the call by May I would get very cranky. Luckily I have a wonderful husband and he was very patient the whole time. I, on the other hand, am not quite so patient. But, during this process I had plenty of opportunities to practice patience. It is a virtue I am told. So, thus was the end of the paperwork, we thought, and thus began the wait for the referral. Wait, wait, wait!
Russia
We went to Yekaterinburg
Monday, June 30, 2008
Sunday, June 29, 2008
The Beginning: Questioning Where to Start
The Beginning:
I am not sure if I know where to start, but I would like to tell you about our adoption story. I know that there are many people who are, or will be going through a similar journey as my husband and I so perhaps reading this blog might help. I guess I should start at the beginning.
My husband, Mike and I were married on 4/15/06. It was a beautiful wedding that we shared with our family and friends. From the start we knew we would love to have children. Family is so important to both of us, coming from large families on both sides. However, from the start we knew that having children would be difficult. We went to doctors and they promised to help, but there would be no guarantee. Is it wise to spend so much money without a guarantee in the end? And the emotional costs as well. We finally decided to put the medical idea on hold. Mike actually brought up the idea of adoption. I was uncertain at first. Being a woman, I wanted to actually experience a pregnancy. Would we love a child even if he or she wasn't biologically ours? From experiences in the past, I knew that I could and definitely would. So we went to our first adoption information meeting with DCFS.
The DCFS meeting was a little scary I guess you could say. They were really pushing foster care instead of adoption. And adoption in the USA we found is quite a difficult and never truly final process. The whole meeting left me feeling sad. However, we did have the fortune of having a couple at the meeting mention an adoption agency that they were currently using- Wide Horizons. I went home and immediately looked them up on the computer. Boy was I amazed and surprised. The agency seemed well organized and the programs they offered looked well thought out and planned. We then signed up for an initial informational meeting. That was in Sept of 2007. The day my whole life would begin to change.
We went to the meeting on a Saturday and registered with Wide Horizons immediately. The program was great and the people were so nice and helpful. They answered all our questions and if they couldn't, they had a list of people who could. I knew right away that we would be in good hands. About a week later, we received the first set of paperwork. Then the journey truly began.
I am not sure if I know where to start, but I would like to tell you about our adoption story. I know that there are many people who are, or will be going through a similar journey as my husband and I so perhaps reading this blog might help. I guess I should start at the beginning.
My husband, Mike and I were married on 4/15/06. It was a beautiful wedding that we shared with our family and friends. From the start we knew we would love to have children. Family is so important to both of us, coming from large families on both sides. However, from the start we knew that having children would be difficult. We went to doctors and they promised to help, but there would be no guarantee. Is it wise to spend so much money without a guarantee in the end? And the emotional costs as well. We finally decided to put the medical idea on hold. Mike actually brought up the idea of adoption. I was uncertain at first. Being a woman, I wanted to actually experience a pregnancy. Would we love a child even if he or she wasn't biologically ours? From experiences in the past, I knew that I could and definitely would. So we went to our first adoption information meeting with DCFS.
The DCFS meeting was a little scary I guess you could say. They were really pushing foster care instead of adoption. And adoption in the USA we found is quite a difficult and never truly final process. The whole meeting left me feeling sad. However, we did have the fortune of having a couple at the meeting mention an adoption agency that they were currently using- Wide Horizons. I went home and immediately looked them up on the computer. Boy was I amazed and surprised. The agency seemed well organized and the programs they offered looked well thought out and planned. We then signed up for an initial informational meeting. That was in Sept of 2007. The day my whole life would begin to change.
We went to the meeting on a Saturday and registered with Wide Horizons immediately. The program was great and the people were so nice and helpful. They answered all our questions and if they couldn't, they had a list of people who could. I knew right away that we would be in good hands. About a week later, we received the first set of paperwork. Then the journey truly began.
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