Entry 1 - 6/22/2000 - The start of our Journey
Entry 2 - 6/24/2000 - Agency application approval
Entry 3 - 6/28/2000 - 2nd Home Study Visit
Entry 4 - 7/4/2000 - Waiting
Entry 5 - 7/10/2000 - The FINGERPRINT LETTER, Yeah!
Entry 6 - 7/12/2000 - Our fingerprint experience.
Entry 7 - 7/17/2000 - Trouble in Kazakhstan : - (
Entry 8 - 7/23/2000 - A visit with our agency & Kaz. officials
Entry 9 - 8/9/2000 - Home Study complete
Entry 10 - 8/14/2000 - Another Step - State Authentication
Entry 11 - 8/20/2000 - Love at First Sight - We meet Baby Mac
Entry 12 - 9/23/2000 - Looking into the eyes of Alina
After facing 2 years of infertility Ken and I have decided to adopt. We have recieved so much support from you, our friends and family. We have been asked many times how things are going. We decided to put together this web page so that you can check our status when you have time. The first entry is rather lenghthy as we want everyone to be up-to-speed.
After several phone calls, extensive research, many prayers, and hours of discussion we have decided to adopt internationally. We have chosen the country of Kazakhstan. There are infants available and the time frame to adopt is relatively short (6-8 months). The only downfall is that we will have to stay in the country 3-4 weeks (it is absolutly worth it).
To date we have filed all of our immigration paperwork, we've had one visit from our home study representative, and we've applied to an agency in Atlanta, GA (check out their very informative web site http://www.worldpartnersadoption.org). Due to the amount of information that our agency has on their web page I won't go into too much detail about Kazakhstan. Please visit their site if you are interested. So far they have been wonderful to work with. We have talked to numerous couples who went through this agency and are now home with their new babies.
At this time we are waiting on the INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) to send us our appointment to be fingerprinted (in Atlanta). It usually takes 3-4 weeks from the time they receive our application before we will get an appointment. We mailed the application a week ago. After we are fingerprinted it takes 6-8 weeks to receive approval (or clearance) from the INS. They also have to have a completed home study prior to issuing clearance.
We have had one visit from our Home Study rep. and she is returning Tuesday June 27th. It makes us so nervous to have someone come and basically evaluate everything about us and our home. The first visit went very well. The Home Study people have to do three in-home visits. After Tuesday we will be over half way through the process. After the three visits the Home Study rep. writes up a report that is submitted to the INS.
We think we are getting close to the end of the dreaded paperwork. Now it is time to do a lot of waiting. After all the paperwork is complete and approved (which usually takes 3-4 months from beginning to end) we will wait on a referral from our agency. The referral is basically a baby that is up for adoption and meets the criteria that we specify regarding age, ethnicity, etc. This can take anywhere from 1 week (after approved paperwork) to 1 year.
Upon receiving a referral we will get a medical file on the child. There are specialists in the US who can evaluate these medical files and give an educated opinion of the overall health of the child. We will have approx. a week to decide whether to accept the referral or not. I'm sure this will be the hardest part.
This is where we are at this point in time. Please visit again. I will update important milestones in the process.
We appreciate all of the thoughts and prayers. Please pray for this new baby which may already be born or due to be born any day.
When I checked the mail today we had a letter from our agency stating our application had been approved! We now officially have an agency. How exciting!!! I guess checking the mail will become the highlight of each day until we are through with the paperwork process.
We had our 2nd home study visit last night. Everything went really well. Two down one to go. Due to the Holiday week it will probably be the week after next before we have our last visit. We signed all our agency contracts and mailed them in on Monday. Still waiting on the fingerprint appointment...
I got a piece of mail from the INS. I was so excited I couldn't open it fast enough. It wasn't the fingerprint appointment I had hoped. It was only a letter stating they had received our application. I was satisfied with that. At least we know the process has started. Our agency seems confident that we will get our appointment in the next week. We are wating to hear from our home study rep. regarding our 3rd and last visit. Due to the holiday it will probably be next week (I hope). We just returned Sunday from a trip to NYC. It was nice to get away and relax. I've included some pictures from our trip on the Other Photos page. We braved the "Number 7 train" to the Braves/Mets game. It was very interesting since Ken insisted on wearing his Braves t-shirt. We made it back in one piece, the Braves got killed!!! More to come....
The FINGERPRINT LETTER - YEAH!!!
After 3 long days without any air conditioner (it's being replaced today) I stumbled to the mailbox. And guess what... THE FINGERPRINT LETTER IS HERE! We can go anytime this week to be fingerprinted in Atlanta. This is another huge step. When dealing with the INS you are pretty much held to THEIR schedule. Our 3rd home visit is tonight and we should have our completed Home Study at the end of next week. Things are rolling. We visited a lady on Sunday who adopted from Kaz. 6 months ago. She lives in Atlanta but is from Dalton. Anara was a beauty! We learned a lot from her new mom's experiences. Visiting with Anara made us realize that this dream will become a reality!
We had heard nothing but negative comments when is came to the dreaded fingerprinting. Ken and I left Ringgold at 2:00 yesterday. We had several errands to run one of which was to go to the INS office to be fingerprinted. Seeing that the office closed at 4:00 I wasn't very optimistic that this errand would be accomplished. We didn't even know where their office was located. I read the letter and found the sentence ...If you need directions to any of the fingerprint locations dial 1-800... So that's what I did. I was on the phone for at least 5 minutes pressing buttons, going through 20 automated menus, listening closely for the correct numbers to press. I finally heard the much anticipated selection for the Atlanta office. After all this, with pen and paper in hand, the recorded message states "There are no directions currently available for this location"! As you can imagine I was very irritated. I invisioned that this was going to set the tone for the whole experience.
Was I ever wrong. Through Ken's knowledge of Atlanta we called around and narrowed down a strip of road on Buford Hwy. where the office was located. We pulled in the parking lot at 3:45. We had been told that you usually have to wait in a long line because they will not take appointments. Also, we were told that at 4:00 no matter who was left the office would close. Everything is done on a first come, first serve basis. When we were getting out of the car I thought we would walk in and there would be a line a mile long. Nope! We were the only 2. The office had fingerprinted 189 people that day. Luckily we didn't plan to go to the office first thing in the morning. We would have waited for hours. Anyway, they asked us to complete a short form and then we were fingerprinted on brand new computers/scanners. No ink on the fingertips and the prints go straight into the computer. We were done in 15 minutes. They even asked us to fill out a comment card before leaving. As you can imagine they probably got the best comments ever from Ken and myself.
One more chapter of the process behind us. What a painless experience. Our 3rd (and final) home study visit also went really well (even though we had to sit in the house with no air conditioning - she was very understanding). The report will be completed by the end of July. Then the INS will have everything they need. We hope for approval by the end of August.
I can't help but feel that we are on the path intended for us. Everything has gone so smoothly and effortlessly. I feel blessed with each new step. I truly feel God is with us in this process. I know we still have a long way to go.
We received an e-mail from our agency last Friday the 14th. According to them there is a possibility that Kaz is about to temporarily cease their adoption programs. Basically the problem is that since Russia has halted all their foreign adoption programs a lot of U.S. adoption agencies are trying to enter Kaz. A lot of these agencies aren't reputable and have been trying to change the procedures (especially the 4 week in-country stay which Kaz requires). There are many other speculated reasons for the cease in adoptions but it would be too lengthy to include.
At this point we are not really sure what is going to happen. The estimate is that the adoptions will only stop for 2 months or so. Our agency has been great about keeping us informed as soon as they have any information. There are currently couples in Kaz from our agency and their adoptions are going forward. Our agency has couples that are leaving in the next few weeks and their trips have yet to be cancelled. It turns out that our agency has placed more children from Kaz with U.S. parents than any other agency in the country. They are even recognized by the Kaz government as a reputable agency. We hope all of this will mean that World Partners will continue to be able to place children with U.S. families.
We knew this process would have ups and downs. Of course I was upset when I first heard the news but I have to realize that it is out of our control. I know things will work out in the end. The agency has told us to continue moving forward as if nothing has changed. As always we appreciate your prayers. It's hard struggling with the culture of another country. I am always asking myself why a country would rather have their children living in orphanages rather than with couples who want them so badly.
As soon as I hear any definite news I will post an update. I know one thing - it is much more fun to post positive news than negative. Thanks for your interest.
A visit with our agency & Kaz. officials
Ken and I traveled to Atlanta on Saturday to visit with the folks at our adoption agency. They invited all their clients to come visit because they have 3 people from Kaz. visiting for a week. We were very anxious to meet them. We arrived at their home around noon. The people from Kaz were sleeping due to severe jet lag.
When they awoke from their naps we had a very nice visit (via an interpreter). Out of a conversation Ken realized that Marat was dying to drive a car here on our "smooth" roads. Apparently their roads are really bad with potholes. So of course Ken offers up our new, week old, Volvo. They all loaded up and took off. Ken came back very pale faced but he has definitely made a friend for life. Marat works with the ministry of education in Kaz. His position is very important to the adoption process.
It was really neat to see two people who can't communicate verbally get along as well as Ken and He. Ken said as Marat was driving he was asking Asel, the interpreter (who was in the back seat) to take his photograph (while driving). He would turn around and look in the back seat and pose (while accelerating). It was a very fun day. We will see these folks when we travel to Kaz. It will be a welcome sight to see a familiar face while in another country.
Things seem to be going fine regarding my previous update. Some agencies have been shut down due to not following the rules. Our agency received letters of invitation from Kaz. for six of their clients (couples) on Friday. This is a necessity prior to traveling.
One other positive thing that happened Sat...... We have been hesitant to start asking the agency when they expect us to travel. We are nearing the end of the paper work phase. While visiting on Saturday Cindy told the Kaz. officials that we would more than likely be traveling in Oct/Nov 2000. This was certainly music to our ears. It is not a definite but it gave us hope that we will travel before Christmas which would be wonderful. There were two other couples there on Saturday. One couple from Greenville, SC is leaving TOMORROW to pick up their 3 month old daughter. Bless her heart; she couldn't talk without tearing up. The other couple lives in Athens, GA and is leaving in late Aug. Their little girl will be 3 months when they go get her.
It was a great day full of hope and happiness. We feel as though God lead us to the right people to work with. Picking an agency was hard. You are basically putting all your trust in them. We feel so fortunate to have found Cindy and Jim Harding.
More to come!!!
Addition 7/24 - Jim brought the 3 Kaz. people to Chattanooga today. Ken treated them to the Aquarium then we all met for lunch at Big River Grill. Marat started teaching Ken and I Kaz. etiquette (while eating). This is the kind of stuff you could never learn reading a book. We had a really great time and can't wait to travel to their country. Knowing these people adds a new deminsion to our trip. Now not only are we taking a journey to bring home our baby but we will also be learning a whole new culture and making life long friends.
We finally received the final draft of our completed home study (on Friday). We are now waiting for the certified copies to come in the mail. After we receive these I will drive to Atlanta to have our complete dossier State level authenticated. This can be done in a day. Then the complete dossier will be sent to Washington to be authenticated at the Federal level. This will take approx. 1-2 weeks. After this is done the dossier will be sent to the Kazak. consulate in New York and then on to Kazakhstan to be translated into Russian. This is what Kaz. needs in order to approve us for adoption.
A certified copy of the Home Study has now been sent to the INS. This was the last piece of information they needed to be able to give us clearance. We are hopeful that we will receive official INS clearance in the next 3-4 weeks. We will be notified by mail.
We are about 4 weeks away from being completely "paper ready". This is a good feeling but it's only the beginning. We received an update yesterday from the agency regarding the situation in Kaz. This is no news regarding the changes that are taking place. Apparently there are quite a few couples who have received their referral and are now waiting for travel dates. Cindy wrote that her best guess on their travel dates would be late October. This is only a guess but I feel she is in tune with the way this country works. After things get started back up in Kaz. there will be a back-log. We will be part of the folks in the back-log since we don't have a referral yet. All of the people with referrals will have to travel first. August is just a time in Kazakhstan when everything shuts down. There are also proposed changes in the adoption procedures and apparantly it takes forever to get something passed through their courts.
We are now in definite wait mode. Jim and Cindy are still very optimistic that adoptions will continue moving forward but that there will be delays.
We've actually started making steps to get ready for the new addition. It hard though to do too much because it only makes the waiting that much harder. I will update the site with any new information, especially when receive INS clearance. That is a big deal that has taken forever. Thanks to everyone for the support!! Without the words of encouragement this process would be so much harder.
Another Step State Authentication
I made the trip to Atlanta on Friday to have our dossier State Level Authenticated by the Secretary of State's office. Today I spent several hours getting the packet together to send to the US Department of State in Washington D.C. From there the documents will be sent to New York to the Kazakstan Consulate.
We should get the documents back by Friday. Once we have the documents back they will be ready to go to Kazakhstan. FINALLY. When they are received in Kaz they will be translated into Russian. I can't believe how close we are to being totally "paper ready.
We are still waiting for INS approval. I anxiously check the mail each day looking for the letter. I will let everyone know as soon as I receive it. WHAT A PROCESS! I know it is going to be so worth it. Jim Harding (from our agency) told me again today that he thinks we are still looking at the same time frame as originally stated (Oct/Nov). We are still waiting for all the Kaz officials to return from vacation. I'm hopeful that we will receive our referral soon. Thanks again for all the words of encouragement and prayers.
Love at First Sight - We meet Baby Mac
The moment Ken and I have been waiting for for 2 years. I received a phone call on Wednesday, August 16th. Cindy (from our agency) called and told me that she had a little boy that she wanted us to look at. I couldn't believe it. We thought that we still had a few weeks or even months before we would receive a referral.
To read the rest of the details of that wonderful day go to Mac's Journey.
Looking into the eyes of Alina
We knew we had found our little girl as soon as we looked into the eyes of Alina. She just stole our heart. She is in Almaty. We will meet her and she meet her new brother in just 6 weeks. To read on go to Alina's journey.
Home | Current Family Photos | Guest Book
Please let me know you visited by emailing aliposton@yahoo.com. Come back and visit, we will be updating weekly.