I've had baby girl on my mind a lot lately. Sometimes when that happens I itch to write something here...
I don't really have much new to tell from the last time I posted, but here's what I do have. On July 27th we attended a picnic for our adoption agency. We had the pleasure of meeting a family there who is also adopting from Haiti and were leaving the next day to meet their child for the first time! It was really exciting to talk to them. They turned their dossier in last summer too, so that was fairly encouraging to us to picture ourselves perhaps at the picnic next year being close to heading to Haiti ourselves (one never knows about timelines with adoption, but it doesn't keep us from trying to figure it out or from hoping).
While we were there Chareyl did say that most likely we would be sent to their affiliated orphanage that had agreed to take our file without a match since they have 4 children leaving soon (meaning they will have spots open for 4 incoming children and a good likelihood that one would meet our parameters). Chareyl said that she would probably send our file to Haiti within 2 weeks. Mind you this was 3 1/2 weeks ago. I'm not upset if she hasn't sent them or anything, but I am curious if there has been any change (if an orphanage took in a child that could be considered a potential match for us) or if perhaps she did send our papers and is waiting for confirmation of them being received to let us know. I'm anxious for news, but not in a stressed out kind of way (which is normally more my M.O. for those that know me). I'm actually excited. Hopeful. It's just kind of a big milestone to have the papers send off, so I'm excited to know that I'm allowed to be excited about it :)
I sent off an email to Chareyl today just following up on things, so we'll see what she has to say!
Tuesday, July 21, 2015
Thursday, June 18, 2015
Newsletter update
Chareyl sent out a general update to Haiti families about a week ago. She does that periodically just to touch bases and update on anything going on relevant to Haitian adoptions. In that update Chareyl mentioned that she was nominated and elected the Joint Council Haitian caucus co-chair. Most Hague accredited agencies and most if not all agencies working in Haiti are members of the Joint Council. Their annual meeting is this month and Mr. Guillaume (second in command with IBESR, who issues official adoption referrals in Haiti) has agreed to attend. Chareyl will be one of the people able to attend and address a list of questions and concerns regarding adoptions in Haiti. Any time something like this can happen it is very encouraging and there is hope for progress to be made from this type of direct communication. Additionally, I believe that the Council will benefit greatly from Chareyl's insight and lengthy experience regarding Haiti and Haitian adoptions. Thumbs up all around!
Also! Chareyl confirmed a rumor that I heard that IBESR recently hired and are training 10 new staff members! That is a really big deal as one of the biggest hold-ups with processing Haitian adoptions is the sheer amount of work that has to be done to process the paperwork and the lack of staff! They may be adding an additional fee to cover the cost of these staff members, but that is well worth it in my opinion! Very encouraging news!
Also! Chareyl confirmed a rumor that I heard that IBESR recently hired and are training 10 new staff members! That is a really big deal as one of the biggest hold-ups with processing Haitian adoptions is the sheer amount of work that has to be done to process the paperwork and the lack of staff! They may be adding an additional fee to cover the cost of these staff members, but that is well worth it in my opinion! Very encouraging news!
Monday, June 8, 2015
Haitian Roots
In case I haven't ever mentioned this amazing organization, I figured now was a good time. A couple weeks ago I volunteered at a yard sale benefitting Haitian Roots. The yard sale brought in a couple thousand dollars, but would have been a lot more if it hadn't been so cold and pouring rain the whole time. So! They stored all the leftover items and did a second yard sale last Saturday and I enjoyed volunteering at that as well. Here are a couple pictures of those of us running the yard sale:
The goal set for the yard sale was $5,000 and with proceeds and donations (from both tries at the yard sale) that goal was met, and exceeded. One hundred percent of these funds go to Haitian Roots which provides education for children in Haiti who would otherwise receive no education. I absolutely believe that this is the most effective long term solution for making change in Haiti, and it was satisfying to play a tiny role in helping an organization that is focused on this role. Haitian Roots also sponsors an orphanage in Haiti as well, and the children in that orphanage are able to receive education as well while they are waiting to be adopted. Please take a look at Haitian Roots website to learn more about the organization and how you can help...whether it's with time, donations, or sponsorship of a child!
Also a huge shout out to Towne Storage who stored all the yard sale items until the sale, hosted the sale, and will even auction off the remainder of the items as a unit. Hopefully joining up with them can be an annual partnership!
Chareyl (our adoption worker with WIAA) also happens to be on the board of directors for Haitian Roots (she is in the photos above wearing yellow). She, like everyone else I met volunteering here, has a passion for the people of Haiti. While volunteering at the yard sale Chareyl introduced me to another adoptive parent there who is waiting to bring her daughter home. When asked what point of the process we were at with adopting, Chareyl chimed in that our papers were completely finished, copied and ready to send off to Haiti (fun to hear!) and that she has "two maybes" from orphanages that may be able to take our file. Now, I'm not sure exactly what that means (and I refrained from asking)...I don't know if that means they have children that could potentially be a match for us, or that they're confident that they will at some point. Either way, I'll be excited to hear what happens and things sound promising :)
It has been fun to re-connect with Brianne (Bri), that I grew up with, over Haiti. She has been involved with Haitian Roots for some time, including a trip down there when the school was officially opened. They also hope to adopt from Haiti someday. She is the one in the photos with the long, dark hair. She grew up in my ward, just down the street from me, and we also played soccer together. It was fun to see her and her mom and sister...and fun that they have the same enthusiasm about Haiti that I feel. I may not have traveled there yet, but I already feel such a connection to this country that will be the heritage and birthplace of our child.
I have to mention that the other adoptive parent that Chareyl introduced me to is Jaimi. She is married to Ryan who grew up in Morgan (and therefor knows Mark's family). Ryan and Mark's parents both are in a group of couples that get together regularly and it came up that they are both expecting little Haitian grandkids someday, so we got in touch and were able to see all of Ryan & Jaimi's pictures (in a private online album) from their socialization visit to Haiti to meet their daughter. So! It was fun to meet them both in person at the yard sale! I was even able to go through all the clothes that didn't sell at the yard sale and pick out clothing for kids at the orphanage (that's run by Haitian Roots) that Jaimi will take back with her next time she goes to visit her daughter while waiting for paperwork to clear to bring her home. It made me want to get on a plane and go to Haiti right now. Not yet. Someday...
Also a huge shout out to Towne Storage who stored all the yard sale items until the sale, hosted the sale, and will even auction off the remainder of the items as a unit. Hopefully joining up with them can be an annual partnership!
Chareyl (our adoption worker with WIAA) also happens to be on the board of directors for Haitian Roots (she is in the photos above wearing yellow). She, like everyone else I met volunteering here, has a passion for the people of Haiti. While volunteering at the yard sale Chareyl introduced me to another adoptive parent there who is waiting to bring her daughter home. When asked what point of the process we were at with adopting, Chareyl chimed in that our papers were completely finished, copied and ready to send off to Haiti (fun to hear!) and that she has "two maybes" from orphanages that may be able to take our file. Now, I'm not sure exactly what that means (and I refrained from asking)...I don't know if that means they have children that could potentially be a match for us, or that they're confident that they will at some point. Either way, I'll be excited to hear what happens and things sound promising :)
It has been fun to re-connect with Brianne (Bri), that I grew up with, over Haiti. She has been involved with Haitian Roots for some time, including a trip down there when the school was officially opened. They also hope to adopt from Haiti someday. She is the one in the photos with the long, dark hair. She grew up in my ward, just down the street from me, and we also played soccer together. It was fun to see her and her mom and sister...and fun that they have the same enthusiasm about Haiti that I feel. I may not have traveled there yet, but I already feel such a connection to this country that will be the heritage and birthplace of our child.
I have to mention that the other adoptive parent that Chareyl introduced me to is Jaimi. She is married to Ryan who grew up in Morgan (and therefor knows Mark's family). Ryan and Mark's parents both are in a group of couples that get together regularly and it came up that they are both expecting little Haitian grandkids someday, so we got in touch and were able to see all of Ryan & Jaimi's pictures (in a private online album) from their socialization visit to Haiti to meet their daughter. So! It was fun to meet them both in person at the yard sale! I was even able to go through all the clothes that didn't sell at the yard sale and pick out clothing for kids at the orphanage (that's run by Haitian Roots) that Jaimi will take back with her next time she goes to visit her daughter while waiting for paperwork to clear to bring her home. It made me want to get on a plane and go to Haiti right now. Not yet. Someday...
Tuesday, June 2, 2015
Name suggestion
Today out of the blue Max looked at me and said, "Someday when our baby girl comes home I think we should name her Wheat."
Random.
Figured I better write that one down for later ;)
Random.
Figured I better write that one down for later ;)
Monday, June 1, 2015
Not in our hands anymore (as if it ever really was)...
So, last Friday I mailed off a copy of our updated USCIS approval to our agency. Our agency is very close by so they would have received it Saturday or will get it today.
That means that as far as we are concerned we are done with the freakin' paper chase! - Until updates start rolling around I guess...
I have mixed feelings about being done with this part. It's nice to know that I don't have anything nagging at me that I need to be getting done or following up on, but it's also strange to totally turn over control of the process. Especially since we've done that once already and that crashed and burned. BUT then I remember that although I was processing paperwork and felt the weight of things on me...I was still never the one really in control. I know that He is watching over this whole process and will guide things at the right time. I'm trying to remember that at this stage while our papers get ready to be sent off to Haiti (to start the whole legalization process there now).
I feel such a mixed bag of emotions at all of this. Relief, excitement, nervousness, anxiousness, worry (for baby girl and her birth family), curiosity, dependency (on decisions our adoption worker is making prior to sending paperwork off as well as on the officials in Haiti upon receiving our paperwork), faith, longing to have her soon and worry that I'm not ready.
Nonetheless...here we go!
That means that as far as we are concerned we are done with the freakin' paper chase! - Until updates start rolling around I guess...
I have mixed feelings about being done with this part. It's nice to know that I don't have anything nagging at me that I need to be getting done or following up on, but it's also strange to totally turn over control of the process. Especially since we've done that once already and that crashed and burned. BUT then I remember that although I was processing paperwork and felt the weight of things on me...I was still never the one really in control. I know that He is watching over this whole process and will guide things at the right time. I'm trying to remember that at this stage while our papers get ready to be sent off to Haiti (to start the whole legalization process there now).
I feel such a mixed bag of emotions at all of this. Relief, excitement, nervousness, anxiousness, worry (for baby girl and her birth family), curiosity, dependency (on decisions our adoption worker is making prior to sending paperwork off as well as on the officials in Haiti upon receiving our paperwork), faith, longing to have her soon and worry that I'm not ready.
Nonetheless...here we go!
Tuesday, May 26, 2015
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
Whew!
Well I was feeling really down about this latest hiccup, but today brought good news!
I heard back from Gretchen (the person handling our file with USCIS) today and she said that due to information that I was able to provide them about another page in our home study that says "the couple is approved...child 0-18 months..." she was able to get a supervisor to approve the change on our approval letter without us submitting an update form (and the accompanying $360 fee) AND she had already completed that and mailed it out this morning! Wahoo!
I figured that we would still have to go through all the notarization/authentication process again with the other copies of our home study (dossier, etc)...but sufficeth to say that Chareyl figured out how we could take care of that too! So, we should have this little problem (that could have been time consuming and fairly expensive) all taken care of in the next few days!
Relief.
I will be excited to announce when we receive our corrected USCIS approval soon!!!
I heard back from Gretchen (the person handling our file with USCIS) today and she said that due to information that I was able to provide them about another page in our home study that says "the couple is approved...child 0-18 months..." she was able to get a supervisor to approve the change on our approval letter without us submitting an update form (and the accompanying $360 fee) AND she had already completed that and mailed it out this morning! Wahoo!
I figured that we would still have to go through all the notarization/authentication process again with the other copies of our home study (dossier, etc)...but sufficeth to say that Chareyl figured out how we could take care of that too! So, we should have this little problem (that could have been time consuming and fairly expensive) all taken care of in the next few days!
Relief.
I will be excited to announce when we receive our corrected USCIS approval soon!!!
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