This is was the result, and it's pretty good if you ask me!
Join me in my adventures in parenting, adoption, marriage, faith, and life in general.
Monday, June 10, 2013
Happy Birthday, Mom!
Patrick told Andrew to write "Happy Birthday, Mom!" on my birthday card and then walked off. Apparently he overestimated Andrew's spelling skills. The child can't really spell . . . like at all. Not that you'd expect him to at his age.
This is was the result, and it's pretty good if you ask me!
This is was the result, and it's pretty good if you ask me!
Sunday, June 9, 2013
Stuff
I thought when school was out I'd have more time to blog. I didn't take into account that I have to pack up a house full of junk just to move around the block. Because, despite what my husband may think, whether you're moving around the block or around the world, some things must be packed. That sentence is a grammatical mess. Sorry . . . Anyway, I'm almost to the point of saying everything goes with the house. We. Have. Too. Much. Stuff.
This afternoon I went to Walmart to see if they had any plants for our flower beds. I know, Walmart??? But my choices are limited (read: nil) here in Lockhart. I was looking for some specific, heat tolerant, drought resistant plants, and surprise, surprise, they had them. And they weren't pathetic. Second big surprise. I just need y'all to know that I was dripping with sweat by the time I loaded everything in the back of my Expedition. Literally, dripping. And I turn around and there is a couple from our church. Them looking all cool and calm and collected. Me with sweat dripping in my eyes. It was a classy moment.
We're closing on our house on the 27th. While the new house is incredibly close to being done, I'm not sure that two weeks is enough time to get it completely finished. It's possible, but everyone has to do their job in a timely manner in order for us to move in on the 24th/25th. I'm praying everything works out. Essentially, I'm praying for a miracle. I need to stop thinking about this. It's stressing me out. Deep breaths . . .
I'm watching The Little Couple right now. Bill and Jen are adopting from China. And right now they're at the Pediatric International Adoption Clinic at Texas Children's. Which is super cool because I think it may the only one in Texas. Okay, that was super random, but it was interesting.
And now I can't focus because I'm watching t.v. so I think I'm going to say, "good night". Have a good Monday y'all.
This afternoon I went to Walmart to see if they had any plants for our flower beds. I know, Walmart??? But my choices are limited (read: nil) here in Lockhart. I was looking for some specific, heat tolerant, drought resistant plants, and surprise, surprise, they had them. And they weren't pathetic. Second big surprise. I just need y'all to know that I was dripping with sweat by the time I loaded everything in the back of my Expedition. Literally, dripping. And I turn around and there is a couple from our church. Them looking all cool and calm and collected. Me with sweat dripping in my eyes. It was a classy moment.
We're closing on our house on the 27th. While the new house is incredibly close to being done, I'm not sure that two weeks is enough time to get it completely finished. It's possible, but everyone has to do their job in a timely manner in order for us to move in on the 24th/25th. I'm praying everything works out. Essentially, I'm praying for a miracle. I need to stop thinking about this. It's stressing me out. Deep breaths . . .
I'm watching The Little Couple right now. Bill and Jen are adopting from China. And right now they're at the Pediatric International Adoption Clinic at Texas Children's. Which is super cool because I think it may the only one in Texas. Okay, that was super random, but it was interesting.
And now I can't focus because I'm watching t.v. so I think I'm going to say, "good night". Have a good Monday y'all.
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Fingerprinting for the Sixth Time
Yes, in just over a two year span, I've done six sets of fingerprints.
Yes, that's crazy.
Since we began this adoption journey, everything with the exception of the FBI approval has gone fairly smoothly. Not all of it perfectly but at least without too many hitches. But the FBI fingerprints make me almost hyperventilate.
In order to adopt from Bulgaria you must receive clearance from the FBI CJIS division in West Virginia. The state headquarters are not adequate. The clearance must originate from West Virginia. And this is not a one time deal, but a yearly ordeal . . . for me anyway. In order to receive that clearance you must send fingerprint cards to WV which, up until today, I believed could only be done in ink. My fingerprints are notoriously hard to get . . . okay maybe not notoriously . . . I mean it's not as if they're talking about it up in Washington, but they're hard to get . . . and not many people (read almost no one in the state of Texas is trained to correctly take ink fingerprints). So I've asked over and over if they could be done electronically, and over and over I was told "no".
After having another set of prints rejected because the quality was too low, I decided to go to APD headquarters in Austin, and get them done by someone who, hopefully, knew what they were doing. When I got there this morning the lady told me they don't do ink fingerprints any longer, but they do livescan which prints on a card just like ink. Cue premature meltdown. I'm good at those . . . premature meltdowns. I was almost certain that wouldn't work. But Patrick was there, and he told me to call the home study agency. I took it one step further, I called both the home study agency and the FBI. If you've been following this adoption journey for any amount of time you know that Patrick hates when I call the FBI. And at this point, the FBI may or may not also hate it when I call them. But call them I did, and both the FBI and the home study agency said that livescan would be fine, and so we did them.
Now, I don't want to jump the gun so to speak, but these fingerprints are done on the computer and then printed on the cards, and I think they turned out substantially better than anything I've done so far. I've already over-nighted them to WV, and I'm praying that I get a positive, timely response. We really need it because, we have to have our home study approved in order to apply to be fingerprinted by USCIS in August. If we don't get our USCIS approval done and sent to Bulgaria on time then we are removed from the waiting list. So, as you can tell, it's kind of important.
So that's where we stand. Our home study isn't approved yet because my we're waiting on my fingerprints. Once we have approval on those we're good to go.
Now, if you'd be so kind as to not tell Patrick how many government agencies I mentioned in this post . . .
Yes, that's crazy.
Since we began this adoption journey, everything with the exception of the FBI approval has gone fairly smoothly. Not all of it perfectly but at least without too many hitches. But the FBI fingerprints make me almost hyperventilate.
In order to adopt from Bulgaria you must receive clearance from the FBI CJIS division in West Virginia. The state headquarters are not adequate. The clearance must originate from West Virginia. And this is not a one time deal, but a yearly ordeal . . . for me anyway. In order to receive that clearance you must send fingerprint cards to WV which, up until today, I believed could only be done in ink. My fingerprints are notoriously hard to get . . . okay maybe not notoriously . . . I mean it's not as if they're talking about it up in Washington, but they're hard to get . . . and not many people (read almost no one in the state of Texas is trained to correctly take ink fingerprints). So I've asked over and over if they could be done electronically, and over and over I was told "no".
After having another set of prints rejected because the quality was too low, I decided to go to APD headquarters in Austin, and get them done by someone who, hopefully, knew what they were doing. When I got there this morning the lady told me they don't do ink fingerprints any longer, but they do livescan which prints on a card just like ink. Cue premature meltdown. I'm good at those . . . premature meltdowns. I was almost certain that wouldn't work. But Patrick was there, and he told me to call the home study agency. I took it one step further, I called both the home study agency and the FBI. If you've been following this adoption journey for any amount of time you know that Patrick hates when I call the FBI. And at this point, the FBI may or may not also hate it when I call them. But call them I did, and both the FBI and the home study agency said that livescan would be fine, and so we did them.
Now, I don't want to jump the gun so to speak, but these fingerprints are done on the computer and then printed on the cards, and I think they turned out substantially better than anything I've done so far. I've already over-nighted them to WV, and I'm praying that I get a positive, timely response. We really need it because, we have to have our home study approved in order to apply to be fingerprinted by USCIS in August. If we don't get our USCIS approval done and sent to Bulgaria on time then we are removed from the waiting list. So, as you can tell, it's kind of important.
So that's where we stand. Our home study isn't approved yet because my we're waiting on my fingerprints. Once we have approval on those we're good to go.
Now, if you'd be so kind as to not tell Patrick how many government agencies I mentioned in this post . . .
Saturday, June 1, 2013
Good News . . . Bad News
The Good News? Patrick's FBI approval arrived yesterday!
The Bad News? Mine is still MIA.
We're hoping mine arrives (approved) in the next couple of days.
We also are having some communication issues between our home study agency and our adoption agency which is frustrating. Our home study agency isn't solely a home study agency. They also do domestic adoptions, embryo adoptions, and some other stuff along the same lines. They're really good, but they're growing and constantly adding new employees. We've literally had three different social workers and four different case workers in just over two years. Sometimes there is lack of training and things get lost in translation. Often times one caseworker will ask for something that the previous caseworker didn't need. Even more frustrating, they won't ask for something they do need which delays things. So that's what's going on with our home study right now. Getting both of our FBI approvals in hand would solve the problem.
In the meantime I'll continue to run interference and question everything. Which I do . . . question everything, that is. I know I drive the caseworker nuts with questions, but I've learned questioning now often saves us stress and mistakes in the future.
Have a great weekend everyone!
The Bad News? Mine is still MIA.
We're hoping mine arrives (approved) in the next couple of days.
We also are having some communication issues between our home study agency and our adoption agency which is frustrating. Our home study agency isn't solely a home study agency. They also do domestic adoptions, embryo adoptions, and some other stuff along the same lines. They're really good, but they're growing and constantly adding new employees. We've literally had three different social workers and four different case workers in just over two years. Sometimes there is lack of training and things get lost in translation. Often times one caseworker will ask for something that the previous caseworker didn't need. Even more frustrating, they won't ask for something they do need which delays things. So that's what's going on with our home study right now. Getting both of our FBI approvals in hand would solve the problem.
In the meantime I'll continue to run interference and question everything. Which I do . . . question everything, that is. I know I drive the caseworker nuts with questions, but I've learned questioning now often saves us stress and mistakes in the future.
Have a great weekend everyone!
Thursday, May 30, 2013
House Progress and Home Study Update
So building a house is work, but it's also fun. And I know that sometimes my complaining about packing, and picking things out, and everything else that goes along with it makes me sound ungrateful. But y'all, I promise I'm extremely grateful. We've been so blessed, and the way things haved worked out have been amazing.
We actually have a contract on our current home. The buyers have been awesome to work with, and we're set to close on June 27th. Our new house should be finished right before that, and the timing works out perfectly. So while the next few weeks are guaranteed to be stressful, in the midst of that I know we are extremely blessed.
Here's a couple pics of the latest progress. The cabinets are set to go in and be stained this weekend and early next week. After that it's the countertops and fixtures, and we’re almost done!
We actually have a contract on our current home. The buyers have been awesome to work with, and we're set to close on June 27th. Our new house should be finished right before that, and the timing works out perfectly. So while the next few weeks are guaranteed to be stressful, in the midst of that I know we are extremely blessed.
Here's a couple pics of the latest progress. The cabinets are set to go in and be stained this weekend and early next week. After that it's the countertops and fixtures, and we’re almost done!
Yes, the fireplace is off-center. I have no clue why, but it's not fixable at this point so I'll suppress my OCD and deal.
The bottom of the bar looking into the kitchen.
And that's it for the house today.
Before I go, I have a couple of prayer requests. First, our home study, which should've been done last week at the latest, still isn't done, and our contact at the home study agency isn't very prompt at getting back to me. As of right now our home study is expired, and while that's not a huge issue at the moment, we do need it back. Second, we're right at the six week mark for our FBI fingerprints. We really need them to come back approved very soon. And as always thanks for your prayers.
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