Can you believe it????
Just got the letter -- our homestudy is done and the I-600A application was submitted to US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on February 25, 2010. Wow. For anyone who's never adopted, this is a really big deal. :)
And to make things even more splendid, we're basically done with the dossier. Just waiting on a couple of forms and then we're taking all the dossier paperwork to Ryan's work to get notarized. Then we send everything to the agency, and wait for the call from USCIS to get fingerprinted. Once the dossier is deemed "cool" by the Ethiopian government, we're officially on the waitlist for two siblings. Wow wow wow.
What still blows me away about this whole process is that our older child may already be alive now. He or she may even be up to 2 or 3 years old at this point. That creates a confusing mix of being excited knowing they already exist and fear of what they might be going through right now, which would be our concern with any adoption, international or domestic. I wish there were some way I could protect him or her with a magic safety bubble of love.
On a lighter note, we went out to Addis Red Sea the day before my birthday last week. It's a fantastic Ethiopian restaurant in the South End of Boston. http://www.addisredsea.com/ The smell of the spices wafting throughout the restaurant was, for lack of a more original word, intoxicating. It was a marvelous aroma that I enjoyed for the whole two hours we were there. It wasn't a scent that you "got used to" and then didn't notice. It lingered in a wonderful way that made me breathe deeper just to absorb more of it. Which, of course, got me thinking more about Ethiopian cooking. I'll be trying my hand at a couple of recipes tomorrow night... Luckily, we already are well stocked with Indian spices and have all the spices we need. (Indian grocery stores, by the way, are THE place to get spices. VERY inexpensive and you get a big bag. If you don't want a lot, you can always share with others and everyone saves money.)
So that's the news from here. Our latest "Adoptive Families" magazine (thanks Caitlin!) just arrived this morning too, so I'm going to go enjoy that now...
Woo-hoo!
~Katrina
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Friday, February 19, 2010
Homestudy Paperwork Done!!
YEEESSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!! I dropped of the last of the homestudy paperwork today off at the Waltham office!! This is such a big hurdle we've crossed. There are more to come, of course, but a hurdle's a hurdle! Any excuse to break out the champagne!
Our 1-600 paperwork should be leaving Wide Horizons soon and then we wait (10 days? 3 months?) for the call from the government to get our fingerprints taken.
So now we're attacking the dossier. As I mentioned earlier, it's really not that bad. Having had to deal with over 400 Argentinian student visas per year during my study abroad days, I can say that this is really nothing. Those things were insane, written by someone who desperately hated people. This stuff is a piece of cake. We'll hopefully have all the paperwork collected by late next week.
It's been an odd process trying to get people to hustle for you. Some people melt when they find out we're adopting, and do everything they can to help. They are good. You can hear the goodwill and kindness in their voices. Then there are the people who look at you with a blank "so?" look on their face when you say that this thing you need help with is for the two children you will be adopting from Ethiopia. These people are bad. :) Well, there's good in there somewhere, but the challenge is coaxing it out. One kind facebooker suggested baking cookies for the meanies, which I may resort to. I don't know a soul who could resist Gramma's Cowboy Cookies. I think even Satan would melt. (Why does the name Satan always make me giggle?)
So that's where we are as of today. I think I may try my hand at an Ethiopian dish today...more soon!
~Katrina
Our 1-600 paperwork should be leaving Wide Horizons soon and then we wait (10 days? 3 months?) for the call from the government to get our fingerprints taken.
So now we're attacking the dossier. As I mentioned earlier, it's really not that bad. Having had to deal with over 400 Argentinian student visas per year during my study abroad days, I can say that this is really nothing. Those things were insane, written by someone who desperately hated people. This stuff is a piece of cake. We'll hopefully have all the paperwork collected by late next week.
It's been an odd process trying to get people to hustle for you. Some people melt when they find out we're adopting, and do everything they can to help. They are good. You can hear the goodwill and kindness in their voices. Then there are the people who look at you with a blank "so?" look on their face when you say that this thing you need help with is for the two children you will be adopting from Ethiopia. These people are bad. :) Well, there's good in there somewhere, but the challenge is coaxing it out. One kind facebooker suggested baking cookies for the meanies, which I may resort to. I don't know a soul who could resist Gramma's Cowboy Cookies. I think even Satan would melt. (Why does the name Satan always make me giggle?)
So that's where we are as of today. I think I may try my hand at an Ethiopian dish today...more soon!
~Katrina
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
February 10, 2010
I'm hoping for a snow day tomorrow so I can catch up on some work around the house. Things are very busy - in both adoptionland and otherwise. We got together for dinner last weekend with a couple of friends who are adopting, we had an awesome dinner at a local Ethiopian restaurant. (Thanks to both of them for the recipes, which I can't wait to try.) I'm not sure I have the kitchen equipment to make the bread - I'll have to check the recipes . . .
Concerning adoption: it feels perhaps not like a sea of adoption papers, but perhaps a nice, healthy stream, that flows through our house and finds its way into little piles (or perhaps "pools" is more accurate since I'm going with the water analogy). I don't feel like I'm going to be at a loss for paperwork this month. I am eternally grateful to my workplace for the numerous notary publics who have offices throughout our campus. I probably owe them a lunch or two. Maybe a nice fruitbasket or jelly-of-the-month club, the latter of which is the gift that keeps on giving - the whole year. I'm also indebted to my workplace for after-hours use of its fax machine and scanner. Otherwise I'd rent out workspace at the local Kinkos, or I would be hiring a private Milton for the home, red stapler, flair and all.
Concerning adoption: it feels perhaps not like a sea of adoption papers, but perhaps a nice, healthy stream, that flows through our house and finds its way into little piles (or perhaps "pools" is more accurate since I'm going with the water analogy). I don't feel like I'm going to be at a loss for paperwork this month. I am eternally grateful to my workplace for the numerous notary publics who have offices throughout our campus. I probably owe them a lunch or two. Maybe a nice fruitbasket or jelly-of-the-month club, the latter of which is the gift that keeps on giving - the whole year. I'm also indebted to my workplace for after-hours use of its fax machine and scanner. Otherwise I'd rent out workspace at the local Kinkos, or I would be hiring a private Milton for the home, red stapler, flair and all.
Monday, February 1, 2010
I need me-birthday ideas!
So this is the year of my 39th birthday. (I think...I always have to check with Ry, as he can remember my age better than I. I could never understand how my Dad could forget his age, and after I hit 30, I turned into him. Without the plaid shirts.)
I love getting together with folks, but I really want to do something different this year for my big day, but don't know what that is. 40 is approaching and peering around the corner, and my plan is to show it I'm boss. I'm wracking my brains for ideas on what to do. Any thoughts or suggestions? Ry said, "What would you like to do?" and I just sat there empty-headed and finally said, "I don't know. But it's gotta be something great!" Note that it will be on the last day of my school break, and I can't stay out late due to school the next day. Also, as most of you probably know, I'm not a huge drinker.
As Winnie the Pooh said once while deep in thought, "Think...think..think, think, think...."
Speaking of Winnie the Pooh, here's a great New Yorker cartoon...
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