The End Of Another Year In Our Journey - 2006

This has certainly been the roughest year since we started in 2004. We have gone from waiting to adopt to adoption cancelled, back to waiting to meet a referral, back to adoption cancelled, to time to start again! So, here we are, looking ahead at 2007 and thinking is this the road that is going to lead us to our daughter?

We have had some great events to celebrate in 2006. All of our friends at AIA have brought their children home and we are thrilled for all of you. May you have many years of happiness with your precious children! I was promoted this year at work. SoFlaKid graduated from 6th grade and learned to play the bassoon. (HINT: this is not a instrument for the faint at heart. If your child ever selects the bassoon, buy ear plugs - a necessity for the 1st year student's parents) SoFlaDad got anew job only 10 minutes from the house.

SoFlaGpa will certainly be missed. He was such a big part of this journey, supportive in every way. He will be in our hearts as we continue our journey in 2007.

So, now that everything has expired (police clearance, I-171, Home Study, etc.) we need to go back to beginning. How appropriate is that? Happy Beginnings! We have nothing but time so here we go again. We start off the new year with an approval from an agency and love in our hearts.

Happy New Year Blogland!

SoFlaMom

In Loving Memory...
SoFlaGpa
1942 - 2006

THE LONGEST MONTH

Yes, I have dropped off the face of the earth. On Nov. 6th, my last post, everything was going fine. On Nov. 7th, the world kind of stopped for me. My father was admitted to the hospital for a massive heart attack. He survived thankfully, but barely. Since 11/7, he has gone through 1 bi-pass surgery, 2 stents, 3 balloon pumps, and many more procedures that it's all a blur. Right now, I type this from Gainesville, FL which is about a 6 hour drive from SoFla. The hospital in Gainesville has an excellent heart transplant unit. The Dr.'s want to try one more procedure (open heart surgery) before he becomes a heart transplant candidate. He are hoping and praying that this procedure will be the one that works. I never imagined that I would ever be in this position at this stage in my life. However, here I am, day by day, being the rock to see my father through this.

I got to see SoFlaDad and SoFlaKid over the weekend and it made me miss them more. SoFlaKid wants me to come home and I am hoping a family member will relieve me this week. He is really missing his mother. SoFlaDad is such a trooper, taking on the role of mom, dad, maid, cook, chauffeur, and dog walker.

During all this, we received a message from our agency that we were approved and can proceed with our adoption. Once all this madness calms down, we will work on the contract and continue the paperchase. I was hoping to get going on this and complete all the paperwork by the end of the year, but 2007 is looking a bit better right now. I am ready for a new year with a new start.

Keep my dad in your prayers.
SoFlaMom

Great Proverb - Red Thread

Really catches the essence of our journey.

An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place, or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle, but will never break.- Chinese proverb

So What's happening in SoFla?

We have been keeping busy with work, school, and life. As many of you know, we had roof damage during hurricane Wilma. Well, it only took 1 year to get the roofers out here. We now have a nice black tar roof with no roof tiles! With so many houses damaged, there is a short supply of roof tiles. The good news is we is we don't need to worry anymore about roof tiles being blown away during a storm but the bad news is we don't know when the new tiles will be delivered. So, as our house sticks out like a sore thumb, we wait patiently. And we have lots of experience in waiting patiently!

We submitted our application to our agency last month but have not been approved yet. Not that we are not approved, but rather, the references from our friends have not be submitted/received. Not to blame them at all, but the China references required are much different than the requirements for Russia. Our friends, like us, are are 2 parent working families with precious spare time. The questionnaire that the agency needs completed is quite extensive and takes some time to complete. So, like waiting for our roof tiles, we patiently await for our friends to find the time to complete the required paperwork. The good news is 1 out of 3 are completed; that puts us 1/3 of the way to approval. (glass is half full attitude is the only way to live through an adoption!)

Great News to C&D who have a court date very soon. Suzanne/Jaime and Lisa/Derek are settling into parenthood nicely.

As soon as we have approval from our agency, we will let you know. Thanks for all the encouraging comments. Keep them coming!

SoFlaMom

The Next Phase....

You might think that we have dropped off the face of the earth, and in a way we did. Between birthdays, holidays, soccer games, work, and school, we kind of put adoption on the back burner for the last month. The good news is we made a decision!

We are changing course and navigating to a new country, China! Funny thing is when we were in Russia, we were on the China border so we can say that we have "seen" China but have not stepped onto China soil LOL! We decided that the Eastern European countries are too risky right now and based on our adoption history, we are not willing to have our hearts broken again. China is a bit more stable however, we know there are no guarantees. This is just the less risky path for us.

We applied to a well known agency this week and are awaiting word of approval. Once approved, we will get our SW to list China in our HS and we are back in the game. Our I-171 has expired so we need to complete another I-600A. However, we have been down this path before and know our way around so this should go quickly. But for those of us in this journey, we all know what "quickly" means.

SoFlaMom

Here's the Deal....

Interesting as lawyers are, I felt like I was on "Let's Make a Deal" (Am I dating myself??). The countries that the agency would like to do business in are not exactly the countries we would like to adopt from. Ukraine is too unstable, Kazakhstan is too long (2 trips, 1 for 5 weeks!), and the "A" country next to Iran and Turkey. Based on the uncertainty in the Middle East and our ethnic background, I don't feel safe over there.

So, my curiosity is satisfied we decided we don't want to go to any of these countries unless the fees were reduced to $0.00 (which they are not). So back to the drawing board. SoFlaDad and I are pretty sure which way we would like to go but we will save that for another time when we actually send the check. Interestingly, the CCAU, read posts in July, are interested in adopting a child. I guess SoFlaKid had a great impact on them. So, maybe, with 2 families adopting, we can get a family discount???

SoFlaMom