Adoption Updates

[kdibattista]

Tink&SquirtsMom - Congrats on the referral!!! Can't wait to see pics

monami7 and JadenLayne - Hope your referrals come soon

ALittleDisneyFan - Madeline is GORGEOUS!!!!!

Hope everyone else is well

 

[RUDisney]

What wonderful news! Congratulations on the addition of Micah Ambilo to your family! I hope the day that he's safe in your arms comes soon!

 

[skoi]

Congratulations on your referral! You'll be traveling before you know it.

Julie

 

[skoi]

A Little Disney Fan: Madeline is so pretty, makes me think about a little girl, instead of a slightly big boy.

Julie

 

[skoi]

ZPT1022:

We're taking a little hiatus. The agency we were working with wasn't too keen on us taking our present children, and they were being difficult on some other issues.

We're looking into waiting children with medical needs, probably India if at all possible. No room for a sibling group, unfortunately. We'd need a new car, for one thing. We're considering our original plan, which was India or back to China for a little boy, but India is really where our hearts are despite the wait, paperwork, etc.

Julie

 

[scarlett873]

Congrats on your referral!! How very, very exciting!

Madeline is beautiful! I was just thinking about you guys the other day...hope you are PGN soon! Why, may I ask, do people get kicked out of PGN? I know it pretty much happens to everyone, but I've never seen a reason for it...

I was so happy to see a cut off date in November!! I'm so hoping that things speed up...I know it will take China some time to catch up and I am fully prepared to wait for awhile, I just pray that it doesn't go to the three year mark for us. I'm not sure how I would handle that...

Our daughter will be Dorissa Fay. The only question we have will be how to spell Fay...we can't decide on Fay or Fei. We're hoping to incorporate part of her given Chinese name as a second middle name. (I have 2 middle names and I would like for my daughters to carry that on)

ETA: OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Our SW just called......we have our LID!!!! We were logged in 4/15/07!!!! We made the deadline!!!!!!

 

[Emmaline Lola]

Brandie,

Congratulations on your LID! I am LID 4/3/06 and am preparing myself for a 36 month wait, I PRAY that I am surprised and get a referral sooner!!!

Hope the wait moves along quickly for both of us!

Congratulations again!

Catherine

PS: getting ready to renew ALL of our immigration documents and homestudy soon! ugggh!

 

[kdibattista]

Brandie -

 

[RUDisney]

Brandie, that's fantastic!

 

[skoi]

Brandie- Congrats on your LID !

We're still looking at waiting children- older boys. Have decided on an agency (WACAP in Seattle), but not on a country or program.

Julie

 

[monami7]

Brandie- Congrats on your LID !

We're still looking at waiting children- older boys. Have decided on an agency (WACAP in Seattle), but not on a country or program.

Julie

There are little boys available at Lillys Orphanage in Haiti. The website is www.littleangelshaiti.org

You might want to give it a look. You can do independent adoption from there and ave a ton of money. I think it is actually easier that was for haiti adoptions too.
Heidi

 

[Tink&SquirtsMom]

Scarlett Congratulations on your LID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms and moms to be.

My day was just... wierd. I just feel down imagining my little boy whose lived so long without a mom (his mom passed away when he was just 6 months old), and who doesn't yet know he has another mommy who loves him very much. I made him a photo album and he should get it soon, but doesn't have it yet.

On the plus side I got an email earlier in the week from someone who was picking up their child when I got my referral. Because they didn't know beforehand they didn't take pics or anything for me, but did email me after returning to let me know they remembered him for his smile. I find myself always wondering what he is thinking, doing, feeling... I love now having that mental image of him smiling. I know some people over there now, so hopefully I should get more pics and comments about him soon.

 

[RUDisney]

I hate to be a downer today, but kids suck. Not our own, but other people's kids.

My DD was crying last night because she hates that she was adopted. She and my DS are now being teased by their classmates about not having a "real" mother and father. One of DS's cousins keeps telling their class that she and DS are not related since he was adopted. They really aren't family since she was born into the family and he wasn't.

So, I told my kids last night, once again, that they are more special than the other kids in their class. Their parents got "stuck" with their kids and we searched the whole world and found the two best kids to make our family. I told them that I bet a lot of their friends parents would send them back and rechoose their kids if they could, but they can't and we wouldn't choose anyone else.

I also reminded them that they are special because they are citizens of 2 countries and their friends are only US citizens.

So, this made my kids feel better last night. Other suggestions that you might have are welcome. Until now, this hasn't been an issue.

 

[scarlett873]

Awww...mean kids do suck...I don't have any words of advice to help you. From what you posted, it sounds like you did the very same things that I would have done! Just wanted to send some {{{{{hugs}}}}} to you and your children!

 

[kdibattista]

I hate to be a downer today, but kids suck. Not our own, but other people's kids.

My DD was crying last night because she hates that she was adopted. She and my DS are now being teased by their classmates about not having a "real" mother and father. One of DS's cousins keeps telling their class that she and DS are not related since he was adopted. They really aren't family since she was born into the family and he wasn't.

So, I told my kids last night, once again, that they are more special than the other kids in their class. Their parents got "stuck" with their kids and we searched the whole world and found the two best kids to make our family. I told them that I bet a lot of their friends parents would send them back and rechoose their kids if they could, but they can't and we wouldn't choose anyone else.

I also reminded them that they are special because they are citizens of 2 countries and their friends are only US citizens.

So, this made my kids feel better last night. Other suggestions that you might have are welcome. Until now, this hasn't been an issue.

OMG... how heartbreaking. Kids can be so cruel . It sounds like you handled it beautifully.

The only thing I might suggest is asking the teacher to come in and "talk" to the class. Kids will make fun of something when they don't understand it and it's different. My sister was born with Down Syndrome. When my other sister was in 2nd grade, the kids would make fun of her and our "retard" sister. My mom was furious and heartbroken at the same time. She talked to the teacher and my mom came in and talked to the kids. It was more of an education then a lecture. She brought my sister in for show and tell ( )and explained what Downs was, what it means, how hurtful those words are and she let them ask questions. Those kids never said another mean thing about her again. They embraced both of my sisters and to this day when we run in to them as adults, they always ask how Tina is.

Now is a wonderful opportunity for you and your children to embrace who you are and teach others...

 

[skoi]

RUDisney:
You handled it much better than I would have.

We haven't had issues like that, thankfully.

Tink&Squirts Mom-

It's so much harder when you know your child. When we had Madalyn's referral we thought of her all the time, and worried, etc. With Kazakhstan, since we had no referral, no idea about who was there, it was an easier wait.
I hope you'll be travelling soon!

 

[laurie31]

My DD was crying last night because she hates that she was adopted. She and my DS are now being teased by their classmates about not having a "real" mother and father. One of DS's cousins keeps telling their class that she and DS are not related since he was adopted. They really aren't family since she was born into the family and he wasn't.

That breaks my heart!

I think you handled it well. I think the idea of going in and explaining adoption to the class is a great idea, too. The thing with the cousin concerns me though. Has she heard that from her parents? Hopefully not, but she REALLY needs to understand that your kids are just as REAL as she is!!

When I was a teen, I had friends who found out they were "accidents" and were very upset about it and feared their parents resented them. I knew, no matter how much Mom and I got on each other's nerves, that she and Dad waded through all kinds of paperwork and then waited forever by the phone to get me, and that I was deeply cherished.

And you can tell your kids (if you want) about my parents. There're my birthparents, two young teens who got carried away one night in the 60's and then made a loving mature choice. They later grew up and had families of their own. Then there are my real (by which I mean my adoptive)parents. They are the ones who took care of me when I was sick, bought my clothes, taught me to ride a bike, drive a car, bake a cake, and change a tire. They took me to church and taught me about God. They drove me to piano lessons, took care of the dog I promised to feed, hosted birthday parties, made my Halloween costumes, and sacrificed so I could go to college. And let's not forget - they took me to Disney World! Which ones are more real?

 

[scarlett873]

Just wanted to check in to see if anyone had any news on anything...

Nothing here, obviously...lol...it's gonna be awhile...

 

[ALittleDisneyFan]

Brandie~ Is China doing something to speed up the wait? What are the cut offs you are talking about?? CONGRATS!

PGN kicks people out for anything they feel like! It has been reported that last year only 9% of cases got kick outs, and this year they boastfully tell the media that they kick out 79% of cases! A date could be wrong, ink smudged, sloppy signatures, not having bmom's GRADES from school, etc! Frivolous things. We have now been kicked out for 15 weeks - just kills me that this has gone on this long!

 

[scarlett873]

Brandie~ Is China doing something to speed up the wait? What are the cut offs you are talking about?? CONGRATS!

PGN kicks people out for anything they feel like! It has been reported that last year only 9% of cases got kick outs, and this year they boastfully tell the media that they kick out 79% of cases! A date could be wrong, ink smudged, sloppy signatures, not having bmom's GRADES from school, etc! Frivolous things. We have now been kicked out for 15 weeks - just kills me that this has gone on this long!

The cut off date was May 1st...China implemented some new regulations for families to qualify for a China adoption. Things like minimum income, previous divorces, and health requirements of adoptive parents. We qualify under everything except possibly the previous marriage/divorce regulation. I've been divorced once and DH has been divorced twice. No one is particularly clear on the rule...the rule stated originally that no more than two divorces. Well...some agencies say no more than two divorces total between mom and dad while some say no more than two per person. Our agency seemed to think that we wouldn't have had a problem with it at all...but we didn't want to chance it. China also says that if this is a second marriage, that we have to be married 5 years before we can submit our dossier. Our 5 year anniversay is in September...lol...so we rushed through and got our dossier off to China and beat that May 1st deadline! We've been told that those new rules went into effect for dossiers received after May 1st. Ours was logged in April 15, 2007! We beat it with two weeks to spare!

And that's silly for them to kick you out of PGN for any reason at all...but then again, China would do it too! But unless you just don't qualify, I think that China would just ask for clarification...maybe an updated homestudy or medical forms or something like that. I hope that you get to bring your DD home soon!

Hey...families who are having to renew their I-600A's...did you hear the news?? If I understand it correctly, you will get one free renewal of your I-600A!! Here's the link to the pdf that I saw... I-600A Renewal Info Woo hoo!!! Since the cost on that is going up, that saves us some money! It's inevitable that we will have to renew ours at least once, if not twice, with our wait lengthening as each day progresses!