Danna's blog

I leave on Saturday to spend six days visiting Hana in Ethiopia. She knows now that we are adopting her, and she knows that I am coming to visit. Apparently she is disappointed that Daddy isn't coming too. She has a photo album that we sent her, so she knows that she has a sister and a brother, and she knows now that when we visited her last time, we were in Ethiopia to adopt another child.--read more

... at least pyschologically. One of the hardest things about adopting Abrehem was the uncertainty of when everything would happen. When will our dossier go the Ethiopia, when will the Children's Commission approve us, when will we get a court date, when will all the post-adoption paperwork be completed so that we can go get our son? Well, with Hana's adoption, we have all that PLUS the uncertainty of how long it will take the get her visa to enter the United States.--read more

Well, things are really chuggung along on the adoption front. In fact, most of this past week has been devoted to adoption-related issues, and I feel like I'm falling behind in the rest of my life. This week we had doctor appointments for all of us so that we could get our physical forms filled out for the homestudy agency and the placement agency. We had our homestudy visit on Wednesday (combined with Abrehem's 6-month post-placement update visit; same social worker). We received our child abuse clearances and sent them off to the appropiate destinations. I spent almost two weeks trying to chase down the fire inspection guy to get him to come and inspect our home. I finally called the state code enforcement office and complained that he hadn't called me back after 3 messages left for him. They said that they would email him and have him call me. He still hasn't called, but I found out from the director of the homestudy agency that they are going to waive the fire inspection since our last one (for Abrehem's adoption) was so recent. We mailed our application to the placement agency and were accepted. We have started sending them our dossier paperwork (paperwork that will be sent to the Ethiopian government). We have applied to USCIS (Citizenship and Immigration, used to be INS) for permission to adopt a child from another country. Phew! Anything else? Probably, but there's so much going on I can hardly remember it all. Oh, yes, this week we have to go and get our state criminal records checks done. We have to go downtown and get fingerprinted for that.--read more

One week from today, I will meet my son.

One week from today, I will hold my baby boy.

One week from today, this gaping hole in my heart will be filled.

One week from today, our family will be whole.--read more

One week from today, I will meet my son.

One week from today, I will hold my baby boy.

One week from today, this gaping hole in my heart will be filled.

One week from today, our family will be whole.--read more

The executive producer of 7th Heaven is adopting from Ethiopia through the same agency we are. Last night's episode of 7th Heaven was about adoption, and at the end of the show they showed pictures of children who have been adopted. They showed the director of our agency's kids and several families who have adopted through our agency (one of which was the family that was interviewed on the radio program we heard that started this whole journey for us) ... and, they showed Abrehem. I didn't think they would because they wanted pictures of families, but I sent a picture of Abrehem in his crib at the group home, with the blanket and photo album we sent him, and they showed it. Of course I cried.--read more

KID!!!

Rose, your good thoughts must have had the desired effect. At 12:45 EDT, we received an email from the director that informed us it's time to make our travel plans.

We are waiting right now to hear from the two other families who will be traveling to see whether we can coordinate our plans. --read more

Well, it's going on 3 months since the court date and still no kid. Supposedly, our court paperwork will arrive in America by the end of next week and then be submitted to the regional CIS (used to be INS) office for processing, which could take (officially) up to 6 weeks but which is (actually) taking up to 10 weeks in some parts of the country. Since all the kids in Abrehem's group have to be processed before we can go get him, we could potentially be waiting weeks and weeks after Abrehem's ready before we can go get him. I am so discouraged I can hardly talk about it.--read more

It's been over a month since the court date, and still no news on when we'll travel to bring Abrehem home. The frustration is unbearable. One of the waiting moms pretty much lost it all over the agency director on the agency's Yahoo group. I didn't approve of the tone she used, but I could understand where she is coming from. There really has been NO news ... not even an "I don't know when you'll be traveling," until this mom had her say. Then we got a detailed list of ALL the steps the paperwork has to go through before we have all the visa and passport stuff we need to bring Abrehem home. She included estimated time ranges for each step, and it seems like it will take anywhere from 42 to 95 (!!) days.--read more

I can can! My mom bought me a canner for my birthday, and today she helped me put up 10 pints of green beans picked from our very own garden! It was a lot simpler than I thought it would be, and I feel very good that we'll have some home-grown, organic, preservative-free greenie beanies (as Danika calls them) to eat this winter. I expect to can a bunch more, because our bean plants should yield through September. Anybody have any other good canning ideas (like jellies or veggies and fruits they like to can)?--read more

Sorry for shouting in the title, but I just can't contain myself. Today we heard that Abrehem's court date is this coming Friday, 8/6!!!

They will then file for his new birth certificate, his exit visa, and his American visa. We should be able to go get him late September/early October!!!--read more

We found out over the weekend that there has been a bit of a snag in processing the paperwork. There are three Ethiopian gov't ministries involved in the adoption process, and apparently they couldn't all agree on the wording of some powers of attorney that the agency director redid THREE times trying to get their ok. Finally (supposedly) the correct, accepted POAs will arrive in Ethiopia on July 16th. The courts close for their summer recess on August 8th. There are about 25 cases pending through our adoption agency. The director is hopeful but can't guarantee that we'll all get in before the court closes.--read more

Long, convoluted story that probably has no point:

Recently I started emailing a lot with the wife of the boy I grew up next door to. I found out from my mom that they are adopting, too, from Ukraine. They're at about the same point in the process that we are, although their process is different from ours. Even though the wife and I have never met, we've emailed up a storm and become friends. I haven't seen the boy I grew up next door to in about 8 years, and that was just a chance, one-time meeting. Before that we hadn't seen each other in about 6 or so years. Anyway, today I was looking at the website they have put up about their adoption, and they have a link to the website of their friend who created the site for them. I click on it and ... it's my first love! The boy I dated in high school and whom I cried over until I was in my 20's! He had been my neighbor's best friend, but I had no idea they'd remained in touch. Wow! So, I click on the guy's email address and email him a brief, hey-this-is-what's-up blurb. We haven't talked in 8 years and I had no idea how he'd feel about hearing from me. It turns out he's thrilled to hear from me, and ... he apologized to me for how things ended when we had our very nasty breakup. Ok, I'm going to be 30 years old this month ... we broke up when I was 16. I am happily married and living the life I've always dreamed of, but it feels *really good* to have him apologize for the hurt I went through. Not that I was completely innocent in the matter ... we were teenagers, for goodness sake, and we certainly created our own little hormonal dramas. But the pain was real, and the apology felt good.--read more

Here's the link to the article that ran in Sunday's paper. I thought it was a good article, although I don't know where the line about not appreciating the impact of one person's decisions came from. That's not what I said at all.--read more

Well, we actually enjoyed talking to the newpaper reporter. She was recently in Ethiopia covering our former Congressperson's trip there (he's now the US Ambassador the UN World Food Program), and I could tell that being there had an impact on here.--read more

Tonight Frank and I are meeting with a reporter from our local paper to talk about adopting Abrehem. Last month the paper ran a weeklong series about our former Congressperson, Tony Hall, visiting Ethiopia in his new capacity as US ambassador to the UN Wold Food Program. I thought that our adopting from Ethiopia might make a good follow-up to the story, but Frank and I weren't sure we were comfortable parading our personal lives like that. I talked to the director of our agency about it and she encouraged us to go ahead and do it. She said that every time they get publicity like that, they get at least one new family. And, it's true that Frank and I decided to do this because we heard a radio program about adopting from Ethiopia, and they interviewed a family and gave information about our agency. So although I'm not entirely sure I like it, and I'm scared that it could blow up like the 20/20 program did recently, we're doing it. I never understood what people really meant when they said, "If my doing this means that just one person ...", but I do now. If just one family decides that they can adopt after they read about us, then I'll know it was worth giving up some of our privacy (not to mention Abrehem's, who can't consent to this). Also, the director asked us to specifically mention a 10-year-old boy they've had for two years that they haven't yet been able to find a home for.--read more

The director of the adoption agency is in Ethiopia right now. She sends us almost daily updates on Abrehem. He weighs 25 pounds and is 30 inches tall. He *loves* to be held and will protest quite loudly if you don't hold him. Apparently he is a very messy eater. Cheryl (director) says he's very snuggly and very sweet.--read more

One small step for Massachusetts, one giant leap for civil rights.

We got our pictures of Abrehem last week. He's simply gorgeous. I can't stop staring at him. We got these grainy, not-very-focused photocopied referral pictures of him in which he's crying or been crying in all of them ... and we totally fell in love with him! Now we have crisp, clear, lovely pictures of him being cuddled by our friends and holding the photo album and blanket we sent him and SMILING! How could he possibly be this gorgeous? Our referral pictures SUCK in comparison. I'm in love with him all over again.--read more

A family who lives about 35 minutes from me and is adopting through the agency we are using left last Saturday to pick up their children in Ethiopia. We sent a homemade blanket for Abrehem, a photo album with pictures of us and our house, and a disposable camera with them. They said they would use the camera to take pictures of Abrehem and then give it to us to get the film developed. The family was to return yesterday afternoon! That means our camera is here, just 35 minutes away, with 27 pictures of our son on it! Frank says I have to wait two weeks before I am allowed to email them about getting the camera. =)--read more

"They would be better off in school than spending another year at home doing nothing."

Playing is nothing? I always thought it was the developmental work of children. At least some of the school districts around here seem to get it.--read more

On Friday Frank and I joined the Yahoo group for people adopting through our international agency. I spent a good part of the weekend reading the archives and posting questions. It's already been so helpful! First, it's been great to see that so many of the kids on the waiting child list I got last July and kids on the video taken in January now have families. Second, it's been really helpful to have some of my questions about timeframes and "what comes next" answered without having to bother the (extremely busy) director of the agency. And lastly, some of the families who will be traveling in April and May have offered to take pictures and videos of Abrehem for us!!!! I can't wait to see how he's grown and see him walking!--read more

Well, I decided to give this journal thing a try so that I don't have to keep making new topics in the Adoption forum.

Today I got a call from the director of the international agency. She said that she does not do the official approving of families, that the Master's level social worker she employs does that, and that our paperwork is with the MSW now, but she (the director) doesn't foresee any difficulties getting approved. She is adding us to the private email list for families adopting through AFAA; I have been told repeatedly that only approved families can participate in that list, so I take it as a good sign.--read more