Two weeks ago today. . .

Well, it was two weeks ago today that we got our Letter of Invitation (LOI). It has been great to think we are one step closer to bringing home a little one after 2 years of hoop-jumping. The LOI has only drifted out of my consciousness on occasion and has a full hold on my subconscious. I am trying to figure out a way to live with the uncertainty of no travel date.

The good news is, there are some things that are certain.

• We need to get an extension on our I-171H (visa pre-approval for little one). Our current one expires Oct. 31, 2010
  
• We got our homestudy update today (record time!)
  
• We Fed-Ex'ed our I-171H application today with updated homestudy
  
• Current wait times are 8+ weeks for extensions
• We still need to get fingerprints updated, but cannot do that until we get an appointment card sent to us.
  
• Our Agency told us to list our "Travel Date" on the application as Oct. 1, 2010.
• We cannot travel until we have the extension in hand. (You can do that math on that one. . .)
  

As far as the uncertainty. . . (sigh) I am not sure how best to deal with it. The whole. . . we could travel, we could not travel, we could travel but not come home with a little one. . . (deep sigh). And of course my brain's looming favorite. . . A child becomes available for us and they want us to travel ASAP but, no I-171H extension . . . and by the time we get it there would not be a child available for us.

So. . . you can see living in my brain right now is stress on a cracker. I can't stop with just one.

I have devised some ways to deal with the stress and uncertainty. I am looking forward to the fall and making plans. Keeping busy will be one of the only things I can do to keep my head on straight.

This month I am going to Wyoming for a 2-day Leadership Training for Adjuncts. Also the last Saturday of Sept. is Women's Conference. Then October is filled with conference (and priesthood scones), the symphony, the opera with my peeps and of course Spencer's favorite; Halloween. (He has already asked to go trick-or-treating.)

I will keep you all updated. The next big step will be when we get our fingerprint appointment. I think it will be 2-3 weeks before we get it. Keep us in your prayers :)

New Rooms

We (I) have been thinking about switching up the rooms. Spencer has the smallest (and quietest) bedroom. Now that we anticipate a little one coming home soon I have been thinking about moving Spencer from the smallest room to the largest room. I think it would work out well and frankly, I have been nesting. . . big time.

So we are moving Spencer this week! We told him he could pick his own colors to paint. He was also quite insistent that he help paint. Well, it is his room and who am I to deprive him of painting it?

Today we got the paint. One wall will be a deep red, the other three walls will be a dark blue (I want to add a white stripe in the center.) I hope this project doesn't take more then a week. We shall see.

Here is Spencer hard at work. . . He has done a pretty good job painting.

First Day of School

Today was the day. . . Spencer's first day of preschool.

Vacation Post

We spent a wonderful, fun filled (and I mean FILLED) week at grandma's house. Here is a sample of the fun.






(Sorry there is no sound, YouTube removed it.)



Tiffani was there for the first 4 days we were and it was so much fun. We helped finish painting my parents' garage. We knocked it out in one morning. We also went to the pool and had so much fun outside. My personal favorite was sipping diet soda and chatting on the deck. . . I think Spencer was torn between playing ball and playing in their sand box.

We also headed out on the town. All the ladies went shopping one day and we found some great deals. (I have a few bulbs to plant this fall!) We also took the train downtown to have lunch with my dad and take a tour of his office. We also hit Krispy Kreme doughnuts and watch them be made and of course had to sample a few.

Spencer also got to have a special day with just him and grandpa. They took the train down town and did some special things, like ride the escalator and have a Happy Meal and look at trains. When Spencer got home, he was so excited! He said, "Mom, I took 4 trains and 3 buses!" It was hit.

Dave and I also got some quality time and got to attend the temple. It was such a nice afternoon. It always brings peace and adds clarity to life.

There were so shortages of fun times too! One night Dave, Tiff and I reminisced about a favorite movie, "Galaxy Quest." My favorite line in the movie; "By Grabthar's hammer, what a savings." I laughed . . . hard. Dave found it on YouTube.



Ahhh. . . fun. . . relaxation. . . and now back to regular life. Thanks Grandma & Grandpa for a wonderful holiday.

Kaz-centric

Hmm, needless to say Kaz has been on my mind non-stop since we got the news that we finally received our LOI. It has been crazy trying to sort it all out in my mind. We got the LOI. . . but no travel date. I just kept thinking. . . why are we even getting this? It is like getting a wedding invitation, but no date or address.

Well, I decided I will take it! This is one step closer. Our agency feels confident that we will travel in Oct./Nov. time frame. They are the experts and all I can do is trust their best instincts. Nothing is set, nothing is "for sure" in International adoption, but I trust them to do the best they can. We are pressing forward and preparing in every way to be ready to travel this fall.

Our homestudy agency is another story. . . they have been frustrating to work with. As a matter of fact when we called to get things set for a homestudy update they said, "Well, that doesn't sound too promising. I wouldn't get your hopes up." (Sigh). . . But we did hear back from the social worker and she was very positive and says she will work us in this week! Yippy! The sooner the better.

We need a new homestudy so we can apply for a new visa for our child. Our current application expires Oct. 31, 2010. That is not enough time for us to complete an adoption. I will keep you posted on our new time line.

Overall, I am getting excited about this and am praying for the best. We are picking out names for a boy or a girl and starting to get organized.

Hang on. . . this fall promises to be . . . emotionally charged.

Look out western Kazakhstan!

NEWS

This is Dave's post:

Hello all,

We got an email this evening from our adoption agency re: Kazakhstan and the news is (cautiously) optimistic.

The bottom line: we are on the short list to go to Kazakhstan sometime before December 1st. There is no guarantee and no firm invitation yet, but we are moving along.

The details: last May, Kazakhstan indicated their intention to transition to the new international standard for inter-country adoptions, called the Hague convention. In order to move forward with their accreditation for Hague certification, they need to "clear the decks" of any existing adoptions in-process under the old system (i.e., us), before December 1st. The catch is that as of now, there are no children available at the orphanage. So, if a child does become available for us before December 1st, we will be invited to complete the adoption. If there is no child available before then, they will likely close our case and invite us to re-apply under the new Hague convention rules when they take effect.

Our agency thinks this is good news, because children become available all the time as they move off the national register to become available for international placement (Kazakh law requires children to be available for six+ months domestically before being placed for adoption). Reading between the lines, it seems our coordinator may know of some children coming available in the October-November timeframe. It is unlikely anything will happen in September. It would obviously be better if we had an confirmed invitation right away, but this is still positive news.

We'll let you know more once we learn of it. We're still digesting this news and figuring out what paperwork we need to complete before we are eligible for the invitation. We appreciate your prayers and faith as we await the firm news of an invitation to complete the adoption.

We are enjoying Denver (beautiful weather!) and our time with Karla's family. We are going downtown tomorrow to see some sights and meet Carl for lunch. We'll be back in SLC on Sunday. Hope you all are having a great week!

Love,

Dave

Rumor

Well, I am always checking the boards and Kaz groups for any hint of action on our adoption. Today I read this post on the Uralsk board:

We received our LOI for Uralsk about a month ago - we're having trouble getting our visa, but hope to travel this week.

All the new applications were put on hold, but the ones that had already been processed in Kaz are still a "go". I've heard that there is pressure to process all the existing applications before the new Hague rules come into effect in November. I've also heard, but don't quote me on this, that there are about 20 LOIs in Uralsk that are due to be processed in the next month or so.

This looks promising that our adoption may actually happen. Still, it is just one person saying they "think" that something "might" happen. We are certainly praying for movement on our dossier.

Vietnamese

I am so pleased. . .

I was speaking with a friend today about Mango Languages (they provide online language lessons.) Well, I was telling her how great it was and told her I would send her a link. So I fired it up to get the link for her. (It is FREE through our county library system.) When I went to log in it has been updated. WOW! The interface is even more smooth. . . AND they added Vietnamese to the languages they offer! They have 22 languages altogther.

I am so excited. I plan on taking some Vietnamese lessons. How great is that?!

Kaz update

We got a little note from our KAz agency:


. . .we do have a little good news; one of our clients is to be invited in September(we are told). I don't know the time difference between when your dossier went over and this families but I might be able to ask.....

I feel sick and happy at the same time. I feel sick that we still are not going and happy that a waiting family, just like us, finally gets to bring their child home.

Hee Hee

So, Spencer was sitting on my lap and we were watching Stravinsky's Pulcinella symphony on YouTube (see previous post for the link.) As we were watching it and listening to the music Spencer busts out with, "Mom, he looks like President Eyring."

Violinist



President Eyring