Another Angel

We met with our SW yesterday at lunchtime to talk about the difference adopting an older child would mean. She told us she'd have the new home study done by the middle of next week. Well...

She got home and couldn't stop thinking about our KJ and how she's been waiting for a family. So, at a little after 10:00 p.m. last night, we received a completed home study for us to review! We had it going back to her a little before 11:00 p.m.

I have an email from her that she sent early this morning. She's made the edits and the home study is on it's way to our home study agency today!

Our placement agency will have to approve it, then it can be finalized, and then we'll get our precious copies for the dossier.

I'm just hoping that we'll get our new I-171H as quickly as the first one. Last month, the USCIS agent approved us the day she received our home study.

Update: When we got home from the doctor's office, there was a phone message from USCIS! The agent was calling to say she'd received our I-824, but reminding us that we had to submit an updated home study before she could process our request. I do believe I'll be bugging your home study agency shortly to find out how soon they'll get the update mailed to USCIS. Maybe there's a chance we'll get our new I-171H next week!

A Doctor and a Social Worker

Yesterday, we returned to the doctor's office to have a TB tine test. It's a requirement for Kazakhstan, but not for China. We return tomorrow to have the area checked.

Today, we met our social worker at a McDonald's in Griffin. She is going to rewrite our home study to meet the Kazakhstan standards. She said she should be done with it in the middle of next week. We'll need to have that in our dossier.

Afterwards, we paid a visit to the Sock Shoppe and Kids' Shoppe. They have all kinds of clothing items at really good prices. I bought KJ a few pair of socks and a pair of pajamas. It sure is fun shopping for a little girl!!

I also mailed our request to USCIS to have our approval recabled to Almaty. We'll receive a new I-171H, which also has to be included in our dossier. I'm hoping they'll process it as quickly as our initial approval.

An Angel in a Lab Coat

Yesterday we had a wonderful consult with Dr. Bledsoe out of the University of Washington. We just love her! She assured us that "KJ" looks very healthy and that she doesn't see any red flags. She's going to provide us with as much support as possible, including access to helpt from Deborah Gray who specializes in attachment in adoption.

After our phone call with Dr. Bledsoe was over, we called Cindy at our adoption agency and formally committed to bringing "KJ" home. All the paperwork we need to complete our dossier are in the mail, on it's way to us. Cindy said that it was realistic to think we might travel at the end of February or beginning of March. Which will be almost exactly two years from the time we were last there with Cameron.

It's such an amazing thing to see God working in our lives and how His plans for us are almost greater than we ever imagined ourselves.

Life in Overdrive

We've gotten several things accomplished in the last few days. We have a phone appointment with Dr. Bledsoe set for this coming Monday morning. She's looking over "KJ's" medical information and photos. Dr. Bledsoe reviewed Cameron's medical, and we're really looking forward to speaking with her again. She's an incredible person.

We also have an appoinment set with our social worker for next Thursday! The home study agency is going to charge us for an "annual update." I was surprised and pleased how easy it was to set things up. our social worker told me that it should be pretty easy for her to do some rewrites and reformatting to the narrative.

So, things are progressing nicely. I have my fingers crossed that we can have the dossier finished in 3-4 weeks.

As Pretty as a Picture

This last Tuesday, October 19th, we received newer photos of "KJ." She is growing into a beautiful young lady. We know we have to get over there and bring her home.

We also learned that "KJ" knows about her younger brother and that he was adopted and lives in the US. She has asked to see photos of him. She also says that she wants to be adopted and wants a family.

I've now started work on creating a new dossier for Kazakhstan. The most time consuming part is getting our home study rewritten. The rest should be easy.

Cameron is going to be able to travel with us, which we are very happy about. We've been told that it will be 2-3 months after we send in our dossier before we'll travel. It all rest on how fast we can get the new home study and I can assemble the rest of the documents.

A Day We'll Never Forget

September 29, 2004 is a day this family will never forget. We had spent the day in Atlanta getting documents state certified for an adoption in China. When we returned home, their was a phone message from Cindy the director of Cameron's adoption agency, World Partners.

In her message Cindy told us that she had some information from Gulzhan in Kazakhstan that she wanted to share with us. She assured us that it wasn't anything bad. When the message ended, I turned to Tom and said, "Cameron has a bio brother or sister."

Although it was already 5:00 p.m., I took a chance and called World Partners. Cindy was out, but her husband Jim answered the phone. He wasn't sure what was going on, but put us on hold. When he came back he read from an email which Cindy had received from Gulzhan. I was right, Cameron has a bio sibling. She was available for adoption.

But then came the shock. She is 10 years old. The only information they had about her was that her name and her birthday, that she excelled in school and was a good girl. We were shocked, we were stunned. I stuttered, I explained how far along we were with our paperwork for China. I didn't see how we could. But I told Jim we would think about it.

Less than 3 hours later, we were calling World Partners to let them know that we wanted to learn more about "KJ." I talked to Cindy the following day, September 30. I also put out feelers amongst those who had adopted older children in Petropavlovsk, which is where Cameron is from. What is it like to adopt an older child? Is it possible they met her while adopting their child?

In the meantime, days went by and we heard nothing from World Partners. So, the morning of October 6, Tom called to talk to Cindy. When she called back, she told us she had a picture of "KJ!" She emailed it to us and we spoke to her on the phone. The first thing either of us said, was how much Cameron looks like her. It was amazing! Cindy also forwarded the original email from Gulzhan. From reading it we also learned that "KJ" enjoys gymnastics.

It's October 7th now, and we have to wait for more information. We need a video and medical information so that we can make a final decision.

We feel that God has some kind of plan for us, that He is making known. There was a reason we learned of "KJ" before our dossier went to China. We know he has GREAT plans for our lives.