This is a copy of a website journal that I kept when I adopted Grace. I'm transferring it to the blog since the website host is shutting down.
Dear Friends,
I decided to start this page so I can keep you all up to date on Grace's adoption instead of trying to let you know what is going on by phone, etc. I have applied to adopt from a country called Kazakstan through World Partners Adoption in Georgia. They come highly recommended and I'm looking forward to working with them.
For those of you who do not know, her name will be Annalee Grace and I will call her Grace. Cara keeps pulling for calling her Annalee, but I really like Grace because it means "Gift of God."
Aunt Mary has agreed to travel with me, so I won't be alone. She has said that she doesn't feel too comfortable with childcare, but she will be Lea Anne's caretaker!
Week of March 26th- Beth Krissel from Frank Adoption came on Wednesday to start the homestudy. She is a very nice lady and she thinks that if I do my part, the homestudy can be done by mid or late May.
I also got notification from INS that they had received my application and that the wait for INS approval is currently 12 weeks. Beth told me that if you go to INS on Saturdays, they sometimes will do your fingerprints without an appointment. I plan to go next Saturday (4/7/01) and see!
Please continue to pray for both of us. I pray every night that God will take care of Grace until I can get her home and that He will find a way for me to afford all that is involved.
Week of April 2nd- On Wednesday, I got my letter from INS regarding my fingerprint appointment. It's Saturday the 14th at 10:30 am. Of couse, that is the same day I need to be in Asheville for a friend's wedding, so I'm still going to try and get to Charlotte this Saturday. The worst they can say is NO.
I have talked to the folks at the adoption agency and it looks like it will be somewhere between six to eight months before I even get a referral. Mona, my adoption coordinator, says that the requests for infant girls is just great right now. So, I'm trying to be patient and trust that God knows what He is doing!
Saturday- I went to INS and they would allow me to have my fingerprints done. It was pretty cool- they scan your fingers over a glass scanner like they have at the grocery store. Your fingerprints appear on the computer. I was amazed at how nice the people were there; I had heard horror stories! I only had to wait about 45 minutes and it was neat to see the different people there. I think there were two couples who were adopting getting their fingerprints done as well as people from just about every country you can think off! I'm just glad to have that done and now I wait for FBI clearance.
Week of April 9th- I got an email from Beth, who is doing my homestudy. She got my autobiography and we are trying to schedule our 2nd meeting for the week after Easter. After this meeting, we will only meet one more time to tie up loose ends and my homestudy will be complete! The homestudy will be sent to INS so I can get my final INS approval (which allows me to bring an orphan into the country) and it also goes in my dossier. A dossier is a collection of documents that will be sent to Kazakstan so the "officials" can be assured that the child will be cared for. Some of the documents that will go in there besides the homestudy are letter of reference from the bank, letter from my employer, physical, and birth certificates. The paperwork is the hardest part besides the waiting!
Wednesday- I went today and got my physical done. The folks at the doctor's office were very nice; asking questions about the adoption, saying congratulations. I had to have a TB test done and a HIV test. Just one more piece of paperwork that is almost complete! Beth and I have scheduled our next meeting for Wednesday, April 18th pending she doesn't have out of town visitors.
I decided to start this page so I can keep you all up to date on Grace's adoption instead of trying to let you know what is going on by phone, etc. I have applied to adopt from a country called Kazakstan through World Partners Adoption in Georgia. They come highly recommended and I'm looking forward to working with them.
For those of you who do not know, her name will be Annalee Grace and I will call her Grace. Cara keeps pulling for calling her Annalee, but I really like Grace because it means "Gift of God."
Aunt Mary has agreed to travel with me, so I won't be alone. She has said that she doesn't feel too comfortable with childcare, but she will be Lea Anne's caretaker!
Week of March 26th- Beth Krissel from Frank Adoption came on Wednesday to start the homestudy. She is a very nice lady and she thinks that if I do my part, the homestudy can be done by mid or late May.
I also got notification from INS that they had received my application and that the wait for INS approval is currently 12 weeks. Beth told me that if you go to INS on Saturdays, they sometimes will do your fingerprints without an appointment. I plan to go next Saturday (4/7/01) and see!
Please continue to pray for both of us. I pray every night that God will take care of Grace until I can get her home and that He will find a way for me to afford all that is involved.
Week of April 2nd- On Wednesday, I got my letter from INS regarding my fingerprint appointment. It's Saturday the 14th at 10:30 am. Of couse, that is the same day I need to be in Asheville for a friend's wedding, so I'm still going to try and get to Charlotte this Saturday. The worst they can say is NO.
I have talked to the folks at the adoption agency and it looks like it will be somewhere between six to eight months before I even get a referral. Mona, my adoption coordinator, says that the requests for infant girls is just great right now. So, I'm trying to be patient and trust that God knows what He is doing!
Saturday- I went to INS and they would allow me to have my fingerprints done. It was pretty cool- they scan your fingers over a glass scanner like they have at the grocery store. Your fingerprints appear on the computer. I was amazed at how nice the people were there; I had heard horror stories! I only had to wait about 45 minutes and it was neat to see the different people there. I think there were two couples who were adopting getting their fingerprints done as well as people from just about every country you can think off! I'm just glad to have that done and now I wait for FBI clearance.
Week of April 9th- I got an email from Beth, who is doing my homestudy. She got my autobiography and we are trying to schedule our 2nd meeting for the week after Easter. After this meeting, we will only meet one more time to tie up loose ends and my homestudy will be complete! The homestudy will be sent to INS so I can get my final INS approval (which allows me to bring an orphan into the country) and it also goes in my dossier. A dossier is a collection of documents that will be sent to Kazakstan so the "officials" can be assured that the child will be cared for. Some of the documents that will go in there besides the homestudy are letter of reference from the bank, letter from my employer, physical, and birth certificates. The paperwork is the hardest part besides the waiting!
Wednesday- I went today and got my physical done. The folks at the doctor's office were very nice; asking questions about the adoption, saying congratulations. I had to have a TB test done and a HIV test. Just one more piece of paperwork that is almost complete! Beth and I have scheduled our next meeting for Wednesday, April 18th pending she doesn't have out of town visitors.
Week of April 16th- I went Saturday and had my TB test read. The other test will not be back until Tuesday. Of course while I was there, they told me that they couldn't find my medical record that had the forms I had given them. Just my luck. Hopefully they will find it by Wednesday when I go to pick up the test results.
Tuesday- I picked up my medical forms from the doctor's office. All the tests came back the way they were suppose to! I received my contract from the adoption agency which means I have my final approval from them. Now I am officially with this agency and they will act on my behalf to identify my child.
Wednesday- I received an email from Mona, my adoption facilitator. She said that I'll probably hear in a couple of days that adoptions from Kazakstan are on hold. She said not to panic. They are trying to make the adoption process from one region to another the same. She said that there may be a slight delay, but she didn't feel that it would effect me too much since I don't have a child identified or travel plans. I just keep assuring myself that God is guiding this adoption the way He wants. Beth came again today for our second meeting. She toured the house this time (it wasn't as clean this time as last time). We talked about what my fears and concerns are and she brought her photo album of the children of families she has worked with. I loved looking at the pictures and hearing her talk about how the children have adjusted and thrived. We will meet one more time to wrap everything up.
Week of April 23rd- I got a phone call from the adoption agency stating that the freeze in Kazakstan is over. That is good news especially for those families who are to travel soon. I received a three ring binder full of information about my adoption. It covers what kind of paperwork I need to do, how the process will be, about travel, etc. It is overwhelming to see all that is involved. Things are moving, just not as fast as I'd like.
Week of May 1st- Another slow week. Beth Krissel is coming for our last visit for the homestudy on Wednesday, May 16th. We will tie up loose ends and hopefully she can get my homestudy finished so I can send it to INS. They must have it before they can give me final approval. My goal is to have all the paperwork done by the middle of June so that it can be sent to Kazakstan. Then all I will have to do is wait for a referral. The adoption agency has an email loop that only folks with their agency can join. The families on the loop form a support network for each other. There are people who have already adopted, as well as those of us who are waiting. The loop lets you ask questions and get information from people who have worked with this agency and who are going to the same place you are. I've been amazed to find that there are at least 7 single women waiting to adopt through this agency. One of them got her referral this week. I can't wait until it's me! Please continue to pray for Grace and me.
Week of May 14th- Things are moving slowly; almost to the point where I can't stand it. Beth came for our last visit on Wednesday. She will have the homestudy done by the middle of June and then I can send to INS. She was very positive and told me to get busy on the baby's room. So, I'm going to get busy. I still have a little more paperwork to do and then I can send my dossier off. Please continue to pray that things work out the way God intends for them to.
Week of May 21st- I got the completed copies of my Homestudy this week. This is the last piece of paperwork I needed for my dossier. I've been fortunate so far not to run into problems, but now my luck has ended. I have two different places (Frank and World Partners) telling two different things about what I need to send to INS for my final approval. In addition, World Partners asks that you have everything notarized with a person whose commission expires at least one year from now. All the paperwork from Frank is notarized with a commission that expires in November. What that means is that if I travel to Kazakstan after November, all my paperwork is void. I've emailed my adoption coordinator to ask for advice, but it is frustrating. I just want to get all the paperwork done, so I can get it sent off. This week on the agency e-mail ring, a lady was saying that she had her paperwork in Kazakstan since March and she still hasn't gotten a referral. She is a teacher and wanted to travel this summer. I think I may be waiting a long time.
Week of June 4th- I finally got all the paperwork in the mail to Paperwork Partners. This company is a part of the adoption agency and they will take your documents and have them apostilled. If you do it yourself, you have to take them to Raleigh and go to the department who does this. It is often time consuming and frustrating to a lay person, so they suggest that you allow them to do this for you. I was more than happy to let someone take care of this end of it. Just when I thought all the paperwork was almost done and things were okay, I got a letter from INS on Friday stating that my homestudy was not complete and that the social worker would have to update it. Of course I panicked and cried Friday night. I emailed Beth and Mona and faxed the papers I got to them. Beth called me back on Saturday and told me not to worry, she would look into it all on Monday.
Week of June 11th- Beth emailed me today and said that she had contacted Frank Adoption, the agency she works for. She has emailed INS and Frank will contact them to see what the problem is. She feels sure that the homestudy is written correctly. She told me that Frank can appeal or contest what INS has said. They did this previously and the homestudy was deemed appropriate. She said to just hang on and she hopes to know something by Thursday.
On a happier note, Cara came down a couple of weekends ago and we put the border up in the nursery (Davis and Paiden were the "sponge boys"). The border is little girl dresses. She also brought alot of the baby stuff and we put up the crib and swing. It looks great and Mom will be making the curtains and bumper pads for the room. Paiden was asking me about adopting the baby and told me that babies were alot of trouble. "Babies cry and you have to get up with them, you have to take care of them alot. Anne, are you sure you want to do this?" Of course I said yes. Grace's room is almost ready, we just need her! Please continue to pray that when the time is right (and I really want it to be soon, but God knows what is best) I will get my referral and that Grace will quickly come home.
Thursday- Beth heard from INS and it seems that they want a listing of my expenses. I have submitted that to Beth and she has written the addendum. She has faxed it to INS and I hope that will take care of it. If it doesn't, then we will figure something else out. I am thankful that I don't have a referral and this is a hold up that would keep me from traveling when I needed to.
Week of June 18th-
Wednesday- 9:40 am I received an email from Beth with a forward from INS. They have approved my application. Now I can bring an orphan into the country when the time comes. YAHOO! What a relief. One step closer to Annalee Grace.
Week of July 2nd- I am waiting. The process for getting your dossier approved and sent to Kazakstan has changed and is causing delays while "they" figure out how things will be done. You use to send all your documents to the Kazak Consulate in NY in English and they would approve it. Then you sent it to Kazakstan where it was translated into Russian and given to the courts. Now it appears that they want the dossier translated into Russian before it is sent to the Consulate in NY. Of course it looks like the cost of having your dossier approved is going up as well. The adoption agency assures me that they will process my paperwork as soon as possible. I can still get a referral at any time, but I have a feeling that what you will be reading for the next several weeks will be that I am waiting.........
Week of July 23rd- Well I'm still waiting. I received word that the Consulate in Moscow has received my INS approval so when I get there (if I ever get there), I'll be good to go. The adoption agency also sent out information regarding our Dossiers. They finally have a process down and hopefully my dossier will be in Kazakstan soon. I did have to submit one additional form for my dossier due to the process change. I talked to Mona on Sunday. She was very encouraging and said that she didn't think I'd have to wait much longer for a referral. I sure do hope she's right. I'm really starting to doubt that Grace will be home for Christmas, unless things starting moving soon. Like I told you before, you'll be reading about waiting for awhile!
Week of July 30th- Still waiting. The adoption agency sent out an email stating that when you send in your contract (I sent mine in April) your name is placed on the bottom of the waiting list. Then you are referred a child based on your requests when your name comes up. The more specific you are, the longer the wait. They said the average wait right now is six months. I've been waiting three and they have been the longest three months of my life. So, I guess I'll settle in for a long wait. The other factor is that when you request an infant, your referral may come when the baby is two or three months old. Then you have to wait until the baby is six months old before you can take custody. If I wait three months until the referral and another three months until I can get her, it will be six months before I bring her home. I'M TRYING TO BE PATIENT!
Tuesday- I picked up my medical forms from the doctor's office. All the tests came back the way they were suppose to! I received my contract from the adoption agency which means I have my final approval from them. Now I am officially with this agency and they will act on my behalf to identify my child.
Wednesday- I received an email from Mona, my adoption facilitator. She said that I'll probably hear in a couple of days that adoptions from Kazakstan are on hold. She said not to panic. They are trying to make the adoption process from one region to another the same. She said that there may be a slight delay, but she didn't feel that it would effect me too much since I don't have a child identified or travel plans. I just keep assuring myself that God is guiding this adoption the way He wants. Beth came again today for our second meeting. She toured the house this time (it wasn't as clean this time as last time). We talked about what my fears and concerns are and she brought her photo album of the children of families she has worked with. I loved looking at the pictures and hearing her talk about how the children have adjusted and thrived. We will meet one more time to wrap everything up.
Week of April 23rd- I got a phone call from the adoption agency stating that the freeze in Kazakstan is over. That is good news especially for those families who are to travel soon. I received a three ring binder full of information about my adoption. It covers what kind of paperwork I need to do, how the process will be, about travel, etc. It is overwhelming to see all that is involved. Things are moving, just not as fast as I'd like.
Week of May 1st- Another slow week. Beth Krissel is coming for our last visit for the homestudy on Wednesday, May 16th. We will tie up loose ends and hopefully she can get my homestudy finished so I can send it to INS. They must have it before they can give me final approval. My goal is to have all the paperwork done by the middle of June so that it can be sent to Kazakstan. Then all I will have to do is wait for a referral. The adoption agency has an email loop that only folks with their agency can join. The families on the loop form a support network for each other. There are people who have already adopted, as well as those of us who are waiting. The loop lets you ask questions and get information from people who have worked with this agency and who are going to the same place you are. I've been amazed to find that there are at least 7 single women waiting to adopt through this agency. One of them got her referral this week. I can't wait until it's me! Please continue to pray for Grace and me.
Week of May 14th- Things are moving slowly; almost to the point where I can't stand it. Beth came for our last visit on Wednesday. She will have the homestudy done by the middle of June and then I can send to INS. She was very positive and told me to get busy on the baby's room. So, I'm going to get busy. I still have a little more paperwork to do and then I can send my dossier off. Please continue to pray that things work out the way God intends for them to.
Week of May 21st- I got the completed copies of my Homestudy this week. This is the last piece of paperwork I needed for my dossier. I've been fortunate so far not to run into problems, but now my luck has ended. I have two different places (Frank and World Partners) telling two different things about what I need to send to INS for my final approval. In addition, World Partners asks that you have everything notarized with a person whose commission expires at least one year from now. All the paperwork from Frank is notarized with a commission that expires in November. What that means is that if I travel to Kazakstan after November, all my paperwork is void. I've emailed my adoption coordinator to ask for advice, but it is frustrating. I just want to get all the paperwork done, so I can get it sent off. This week on the agency e-mail ring, a lady was saying that she had her paperwork in Kazakstan since March and she still hasn't gotten a referral. She is a teacher and wanted to travel this summer. I think I may be waiting a long time.
Week of June 4th- I finally got all the paperwork in the mail to Paperwork Partners. This company is a part of the adoption agency and they will take your documents and have them apostilled. If you do it yourself, you have to take them to Raleigh and go to the department who does this. It is often time consuming and frustrating to a lay person, so they suggest that you allow them to do this for you. I was more than happy to let someone take care of this end of it. Just when I thought all the paperwork was almost done and things were okay, I got a letter from INS on Friday stating that my homestudy was not complete and that the social worker would have to update it. Of course I panicked and cried Friday night. I emailed Beth and Mona and faxed the papers I got to them. Beth called me back on Saturday and told me not to worry, she would look into it all on Monday.
Week of June 11th- Beth emailed me today and said that she had contacted Frank Adoption, the agency she works for. She has emailed INS and Frank will contact them to see what the problem is. She feels sure that the homestudy is written correctly. She told me that Frank can appeal or contest what INS has said. They did this previously and the homestudy was deemed appropriate. She said to just hang on and she hopes to know something by Thursday.
On a happier note, Cara came down a couple of weekends ago and we put the border up in the nursery (Davis and Paiden were the "sponge boys"). The border is little girl dresses. She also brought alot of the baby stuff and we put up the crib and swing. It looks great and Mom will be making the curtains and bumper pads for the room. Paiden was asking me about adopting the baby and told me that babies were alot of trouble. "Babies cry and you have to get up with them, you have to take care of them alot. Anne, are you sure you want to do this?" Of course I said yes. Grace's room is almost ready, we just need her! Please continue to pray that when the time is right (and I really want it to be soon, but God knows what is best) I will get my referral and that Grace will quickly come home.
Thursday- Beth heard from INS and it seems that they want a listing of my expenses. I have submitted that to Beth and she has written the addendum. She has faxed it to INS and I hope that will take care of it. If it doesn't, then we will figure something else out. I am thankful that I don't have a referral and this is a hold up that would keep me from traveling when I needed to.
Week of June 18th-
Wednesday- 9:40 am I received an email from Beth with a forward from INS. They have approved my application. Now I can bring an orphan into the country when the time comes. YAHOO! What a relief. One step closer to Annalee Grace.
Week of July 2nd- I am waiting. The process for getting your dossier approved and sent to Kazakstan has changed and is causing delays while "they" figure out how things will be done. You use to send all your documents to the Kazak Consulate in NY in English and they would approve it. Then you sent it to Kazakstan where it was translated into Russian and given to the courts. Now it appears that they want the dossier translated into Russian before it is sent to the Consulate in NY. Of course it looks like the cost of having your dossier approved is going up as well. The adoption agency assures me that they will process my paperwork as soon as possible. I can still get a referral at any time, but I have a feeling that what you will be reading for the next several weeks will be that I am waiting.........
Week of July 23rd- Well I'm still waiting. I received word that the Consulate in Moscow has received my INS approval so when I get there (if I ever get there), I'll be good to go. The adoption agency also sent out information regarding our Dossiers. They finally have a process down and hopefully my dossier will be in Kazakstan soon. I did have to submit one additional form for my dossier due to the process change. I talked to Mona on Sunday. She was very encouraging and said that she didn't think I'd have to wait much longer for a referral. I sure do hope she's right. I'm really starting to doubt that Grace will be home for Christmas, unless things starting moving soon. Like I told you before, you'll be reading about waiting for awhile!
Week of July 30th- Still waiting. The adoption agency sent out an email stating that when you send in your contract (I sent mine in April) your name is placed on the bottom of the waiting list. Then you are referred a child based on your requests when your name comes up. The more specific you are, the longer the wait. They said the average wait right now is six months. I've been waiting three and they have been the longest three months of my life. So, I guess I'll settle in for a long wait. The other factor is that when you request an infant, your referral may come when the baby is two or three months old. Then you have to wait until the baby is six months old before you can take custody. If I wait three months until the referral and another three months until I can get her, it will be six months before I bring her home. I'M TRYING TO BE PATIENT!
Friday, August 10th- Mona called around lunch time and I returned her call. She said that Cindy wanted me to look at this little girl. I said send it. It wouldn't hurt to look at her. If she's not my daughter, then she's not my daughter and I wait some more. The email came across and the minute I looked at her smiling face, I knew she was the one. I immediately fell in love. I asked them to send the video.
Week of August 13th- I got the video on Thursday and almost cried when I saw that cute little girl smiling. She holds her head up great and cried when they put her down. She is beautiful. I took the video to Dr. Stegman in Concord. He looked at it and called me first thing Friday morning. He said she looks great and appears to be healthy. I signed the Referral Acceptance Form and sent it back to World Partners and emailed Cindy to tell her. She said that they will try to get me to Kazakstan as close to Grace's 6 month birthday as possible. I'm praying for that. I keep looking at her picture and dreaming of the day I'll hold her in my arms and whisper in her ear, "Mommy loves you." I'M A MOMMY.
Week of August 27th- I heard from Mona this week that my dossier is translated and is on it's way to Kazakstan. Once it gets there, they will assign me a court date. We will travel two weeks before the court date and Mona estimates that we will travel in about six weeks (mid-October). If I thought that the paperwork and procedures were stressful before, boy are they now. I am shopping for gifts for the staff at Grace's babyhouse and trying to get everything together to travel. Aunt Mary is going with me (THANK GOD) and we are trying to coordinate what we will take with us. The hardest part right now is not having a definite date. We can't make plane reservations and I don't have a target date to get all this stuff done. In some ways, it seems like forever before I can go get my sweet Grace and in other ways, I don't know how on earth I'll be ready. I'm still on my cloud and I can't wait to be Grace's mommy. If we travel when they estimate, we will be home in early November and Grace will have her first Thanksgiving with us. I have talked to the Superintendent and he has agreed to hire an interiem principal for me while I'm out. I will be able to take five or six weeks off to travel and then spend time with Grace. She has a spot at Trading Ford Baptist Church Daycare and it is about six minutes from the school. All I am missing is one cute little girl!
Week of September 10th- What a sad, sad week. I've been so upset since Wednesday. I guess Tuesday's events really didn't sink in until then. The adoption agency is very positive about families traveling to get their children, but the feeling of joy is now a feeling of desperation. I am desperate to get to Grace and bring her home. She is safe and all indications are that Kazakstan is being very sympathetic towards the United States at this time. I am just worried about the uncertainty that we all face right now. Mona called Thursday night and was very reassuring and I told her that I would do anything to go get my little girl. I can't imagine not having her in my life and the thought of missing any part of her life really hurts. We still don't have a definite travel date, but Mona is still saying mid-October. Please pray that we will get the date soon and can travel to get Annalee Grace.
Week of September 17th- Waiting for travel dates. Some of the other families got theirs this week, so that is good news. It's just not us.
Week of September 24th- No travel dates yet.
Week of October 1st- Mona called and left a message on my answering machine Tuesday night. Patty and I were in Chapel Hill (oh, blessed place) for a workshop and I called home to check messages. I just about died when I heard the words I'd been praying for TRAVEL DATES! I called Aunt Mary, Cara, and Mom & Dad to let them know that Annalee Grace will be home in time for Thanksgiving! I'm so relieved to finally have dates to work towards and I dream of the day I'll hold my amazing Grace for the first time. I'm back on my cloud!
Week of October 8th- Monday was a teacher workday at school and I suspected something was up since my secretary wouldn't let me out of her sight. They were too excited when I told them I was going to send off the paperwork for the visas and have photocopies made for the photo albums I'll leave at the babyhouse and court. I should know not to trust these people; they had a suprise baby shower for me. There was even a stork on the front lawn. Grace got lots of nice things and I couldn't believe how wonderful all these folks were. She has become the North Rowan Elementary baby. The staff got a port-a-crib to leave here at school for her and they have talked about who will take care of her when she's here. It's wonderful to know so many people are supporting us in thoughts and prayers. They are nervous about me leaving, but they only say positive things to me. Aunt Mary and I are busy packing and trying to get last minute things done. I have Grace's first doctor's appointment scheduled and all of her things are packed and ready to go. I can't wait to get my hands on that sweet little girl!
Week of October 15th- Another busy week trying to get ready to go. We received our letter of invitation from Kazakstan. Once you get that, you have to apply for your Kaz visas. I got the vouchers for our Russian visas last week, so things are right on track. We had a little scare with the airline arrangements- Lufthansa told our travel agent that the flight from Frankfurt to Almaty was cancelled. It turns out that this is not the case, but it was a little scarey to say the least. The bags are packed with the exception of my clothes. I'm so ready to go. This next week I'll go to the bank to wire the money we need to wire. I'll pick up all the "cash" the next week. I've almost got everything ready to go and everything ready at home. Only one more weekend to get things done and we're off.
