A Visit With Friends

Yesterday was such a great day. Peyton, Riley, and I spent most of the morning and early afternoon cleaning their new room and Milana's new room. (There is still so much to be done).

Later in the afternoon we got to meet someone very special. Little Miss Nadia. Isn't she precious??

Look at those beautiful eyes?? She is such a doll!
I just love this face that she makes. I really think she could replace the etrade baby and take his job.
Riley and Peyton were so excited to meet Nadia. They were also thrilled to get to play with their buddy Josi who they just love playing with. They were really bummed when it was time to go home :(
As excited as I was to see Nadia I was also thrilled to get to see her Mom (Kristin). She has been an amazing support to me throughout our adoption process. She even bought Milana her very first outfit. (Which by the way I can't wait to get her home and put her in). Welcome home Kristin. I missed you! I'm so happy that you are home with your precious little angel.
I can't wait to have another visit and hear more about your trip! Looking forward to your travel tips as well :)

Disappointing News

It seems that lately we have had one setback after another. Unfortunately that is the way it goes from time to time in life and especially with international adoptions. We re-did our form twice because they were not happy with how it was worded or how it looked. We have now done it yet again and are thinking it will finally be good enough. We were hoping more than anything that we would finally be submitted on Thursday.

I found out today that that will not happen. For whatever reason the SDA (State Dept. of Adoptions) has decided that they will not be accepting dossiers from 7/1-7/14. Talk about disappointment! Now we have to hope that they will be up and running and ready to accept dossiers on 7/15 and also that ours is submitted that day.

I have heard time and time again and learned that things don't happen in our time. That just stinks!! It is also frustrating because I worked extremely hard to get everything done so that we could make this work during the summer when school was out.

We want more than anything to bring Milana home to us. We just want to get to her as soon as possible so that we can begin the process in her country and get her home. We're not sure how it will all work out with this added delay and having to make two trips. Having to make two trips is bad enough - the delay in getting submitted just makes it worse.

Feeling Defeated

I've been trying really hard to keep busy since last week. We thought that our paperwork would be submitted to the SDA (State Dept. of Adoptions) in Milana's country in Eastern Europe. We were wrong. Early in the week (last week) we found out that we had to re-do a form - which we did. And we sent it off to EE.

So we have been hoping and praying to be submitted now this week. Unfortunately, we just found out we have to re-do the same form. At the moment I am feeling a little defeated. Through the course of this paperwork nightmare we have done forms over and over and over again. I really thought once we got them to Milana's country all would be well. Fortunately it is just the one form. I know it could be so much worse. I really do. I'm just getting tired. I really want to be able to get to my little girl. We all do.

I'm not going to give up hope that we may yet still be submitted. Please pray that we do. The sooner we get submitted the sooner we get a dateto travel to Milana's country and the sooner we get a date the sooner we get to Milana and the sooner we get to Milana the sooner we get her home. So please, please say a prayer it all works out and we get there soon.

A Very Special Day

Today was a very special day for some friends of mine. It was the day they added the newest member of their family. I'd like to introduce Nadia Irina Ferguson. Isn't she beautiful? I just love this picture of Nadia and her Mommy. They are a cute pair. Don't you think?

What is even more exciting about this little girl is that soon she will be best friends with......

this little girl.

Hopefully we can get Milana home soon so that she can not only be with us, but so she can play with her best friend Nadia as well.

Congratulations to Kristin, Jim, Allen, Josi, Michael and Nadia!!! We are all so excited for you and can't wait to meet the newest addition to you family. I think I need to shop for some more matching outfits :)

Keep Your Fingers Crossed

After a couple stressful days of trying to get my form re-done it is finally fixed and on its way to Milana's country. We are hoping that this time the officials will be pleased with the wording of it so that we can be submitted next week.

The bright side of all of this is that it was one of the easier forms to have re-done. So I am thankful for that. It would have been nice to not have to re-do any, but so far that has not been my experience. I have done and re-done so many forms that none of this should really surprise me.

I think the frustrating part is that we really just want to get over there to meet Milana and begin the process of adopting her in country. There is still so much to do and we all want more than anything to get this sweet girl home to us.

Running Around

I dropped the girls off this morning at my MIL's so that they didn't have to run around with me as I got my paperwork fixed. First stop after dropping them off was to the Department of Revenue to get that pesky appraisal date out of the body of the letter. After driving around for about 5-10 minutes looking for a parking space I made it up to the 2nd floor and to the same gentleman who helped me yesterday.

He really was so sweet and helpful. Thankfully he was understanding of how picky they can be with international adoptions and was more than willing to help fix the wording of the letter. I was in and out of there in about 15 minutes.

Then I ran off to the Secretary of State Dept. to get the form apostilled. Finding a parking spot there was a nightmare! I had to have driven around for 15 minutes before FINALLY finding a place to park.

I ran into the Sec. of State Dept and dropped off my form. It will be ready this afternoon between 4:00-4:30. Hopefully the girls 3:15 doctor appt will be a quick one so I can get back downtown and find a parking spot so I can get my form and get it mailed this afternoon.

I would love for that form to be out of my hands and in the mail and on its way to Eastern Europe by 5pm. It may be a long shot, but you never know.

I just have to say. Setbacks stink!!

Aaaggghhhh!!!

I got an email today about our dossier which is in Eastern Europe. I was hoping it was a good email, but it wasn't. It appears that we need to get one of our forms redone. Apparently there is an issue with the notary date.

Of course this is one of the few forms I don't have a copy of so I can't look at it myself. (Isn't that always the way)? So I ran downtown to the Department of Revenue as soon as I got the email and went to get a new Proof of Home Ownership Form. I made sure the notary date wasn't expiring any time soon. Then as I started to walk away it hit me. The date that I saw in the body of the letter was the same date they said our paperwork was notarized with. Now I'm wondering if this will be an issue.

The notary date on the new form appears to be ok. It is just the appraisal date in the body of the letter which I am now wondering about. It is just ironic that this date (the appraisal date) is the same date that was an issue on the original form which was said to be the date it was notarized with.

So please say a prayer or two that once we get this form apostilled and over to Eastern Europe that it will be okay. We were so hoping to be submitted this week and now that isn't going to happen. We really want to get to Milana so that we can begin the process in her country and get her home as soon as possible.

Riley and Peyton are so excited to be big sisters and have Milana home with them. They want to play with her and read to her. Karissa can't wait to come home to meet her newest little sister. And Chris and I just can't wait to hold her and just hug her like crazy. So please pray that all goes well from here.

Fundraisers & Friends

We had our fundraiser last week at a Carolina Mudcats game. It was really neat. Some friends, parents, and students from my school came to support us and to have a great time at the ball game. We also had some new friends attend the game. Some Reece's Rainbow families came out as well. It was great talking with everyone and meeting their children. It was also neat to hear their stories of their time in Eastern Europe.

I also had the opportunity to set up a table with information about Reece's Rainbow. I had brochures, magnets, and a really cool banner. A few people came over to talk with us and find out more information about Reece's Rainbow. Some took brochures, some magnets.

We had a couple come that night who had heard me on the radio and were interested in coming and helping us out. They were such a nice couple and just so sweet to come out to the game especially since they didn't know us.

Thank you to everyone who came. I hope you had a great time!

Waiting

When Chris and I initially began our journey to adopt Milana there was pretty much always something to do. Forms to fill out and get notarized. Forms to bring downtown to get apostilled. Well now all of our forms are complete and we are just sort of waiting.

We are waiting for our dossier (or adoption paperwork) to get submitted to the SDA (State Dept. of Adoptions). After going missing for awhile our dossier finally made it to Eastern Europe and to Milana's country Friday June 4.

I have been praying that that would be enough time for them to translate our documents and get them submitted by today. I know its a long shot, but you never know. So now here it is Thursday and I am still praying that we get submitted. If we don't get submitted today then we are looking at possibly NEXT Thursday.

Waiting is so hard to do. Especially when you are trying to save a child!

Fundraisers, Fundraisers, and MORE Fundraisers!!!

We had our yard sale on Saturday and it was such a HUGE success! We truly are blessed to have met the people we have through this amazing adoption journey. It has brought so many wonderful people into our lives. Without all of these people our fundraising efforts would truly not have been possible.

For our yardsale we were fortunate enough to have had it at a friend's house and so many of my friend's friends donated items to the sale. They also helped set up the yard sale, they helped at the yardsale, and they helped bring a ton of stuff to good will after the yard sale. These were all people who didn't know me or my family, but they were there helping us none the less. Thank you so much!!

We also had several friends of ours donate their things to us for our yardsale and we are so thankful to you as well. It is just amazing how everyone just helped out in so many ways!

Now with that yardsale over we are focusing on our last efforts to sell tickets to the Carolina Mudcats Game this Thursday June 10th. The game is at 7:15pm and tickets are just $5 each. We are hoping in the next two days we are able to sell some more tickets. As of right now its not looking very promising. We will see what the next couple of days holds for us. Maybe there are some last minute "shoppers" out there ready to buy up some tickets. I guess we will just have to wait and see.

We are also going to have one last yard sale in a couple of weeks. We just have to get through this next fundraiser on Thursday before we can figure out all the details of the next yard sale. (So much to do)!!

A Little Scare

Last Friday was so amazing! We got that HUGE grant which is truly amazing. I still can't talk about it with out getting emotional and my eyes filling with tears.

That grant was my sign to go and send my dossier Friday after work. Which I did. It was supposed to make it to Eastern Europe by Monday. I checked and checked the UPS tracking ALL weekend. Nothing. Not one update all weekend.

Then Tuesday rolls along. STILL NOTHING! Not one update. I call and call and call some more to try to find out what is happening. No one can tell me anything. Talk about frustrating!!! I went to the UPS Center on Tuesday at about 6:00-6:05 pm after I got out of work and asked them if they can tell me why my documents are missing. Well they couldn't. No one could tell me a darn thing. Not where they are. Not if they left. Nothing!

Then FINALLY Wednesday morning I check the tracking number and there it is. Our adoption paperwork had made it to Kentucky by 5:30 Wednesday morning. It never left Raleigh until 6:21pm Tuesday. (About 10 minutes or so AFTER I left UPS to see where my package was).

At least it has been found! I was ready to have a breakdown, but did manage to not shed one single tear. Impressive on my part.

Our dossier is now across the Atlantic and is in Eastern Europe. It arrived there at about 6:07am my time - 1:07pm Milana's time. I would have hoped that long before now it would have made it into the hands of the individual it was addressed to, but it still hasn't. Fortunately it is in Milana's country and will hopefully be in the right hands by the time I wake up tomorrow morning.

What a relief that it showed up!!