Adoption Updates

[hucifer]

Thank you for starting this thread.

DH and I have wanted children but were unsuccessful for the past 6 years. We both got tested for fertility and were declared "fine" but it just makes it more frustrating that it hasn't happened. I am SO tired of people saying, "Don't worry, it will happen." Actually, it downright angers me to hear people say it.

I have not really considered adoption until very recently. The more wonderful stories I hear, the more encouraging it is for me. More and more lately, it seems like the path for us to take.

I saw a Caucasian couple on the Epcot monorail last week. They had their Asian daughter in a stroller. She was a happy little girl and had an amazing smile. She kept saying, "Tickle me, Mommy" then she would look up at me and giggle like mad when her mom leaned over to tickle her.

I almost lost it right there on the monorail! Fortunately, DH gently calmed me down when he saw my face turn red and my eyes water. He forced me to look away.

I am almost convinced that we should adopt. Especially after reading this wonderful thread. Thank you.

 

[scarlett873]

Thank you for starting this thread.

DH and I have wanted children but were unsuccessful for the past 6 years. We both got tested for fertility and were declared "fine" but it just makes it more frustrating that it hasn't happened. I am SO tired of people saying, "Don't worry, it will happen." Actually, it downright angers me to hear people say it.

I have not really considered adoption until very recently. The more wonderful stories I hear, the more encouraging it is for me. More and more lately, it seems like the path for us to take.

I saw a Caucasian couple on the Epcot monorail last week. They had their Asian daughter in a stroller. She was a happy little girl and had an amazing smile. She kept saying, "Tickle me, Mommy" then she would look up at me and giggle like mad when her mom leaned over to tickle her.

I almost lost it right there on the monorail! Fortunately, DH gently calmed me down when he saw my face turn red and my eyes water like made. He forced me to look away.

I am almost convinced that we should adopt. Especially after reading this wonderful thread. Thank you.

for you Wendy...

I am right there with you! DH and I have been dealing with infertility ourselves and it's heartbreaking to see pregnant women or little babies. Some days are worse than others...

Adoption was always something that we were interested in. We have always said that we would like to adopt internationally eventually...like after we had our own biological children. But with the infertility issues, we've decided sooner rather than later! I'm scared to death about going to a foreign country where I don't speak the language...scared to death about finding a snag during the paperchase...scared to death about flying over all that water...scared to death about everything! But I know that in the end, it will all be worth it!

Hang in there!!!

 

[ZachnElli]

.



Please pray for us that the God will keep the pace going. We are so
thankful for what He has done thus far.


----------------------


Here's a link to a picture of their future daughter, Lyessa. She is an orphan living with her grandmother, who knows she cannot continue to provide for her, and wants her to have a better life. I can't imagine how much she loves her to be able to let her go...what an incredibly difficult, unselfish thing to do. If you scroll down from the group pic, there's a better one, she's #4.

http://www.childreninukraine.com/default.aspx?id=25

Laurie

What a wonderful story! I'll keep them in my prayers!

 

[ZachnElli]

Thank you for starting this thread.

DH and I have wanted children but were unsuccessful for the past 6 years. We both got tested for fertility and were declared "fine" but it just makes it more frustrating that it hasn't happened. I am SO tired of people saying, "Don't worry, it will happen." Actually, it downright angers me to hear people say it.

Lots of hugs for you! I dealt with recurrent miscarriage for 4 1/2 years, that's what led us to adoption. It's amazing how much faster adoption is when you've been dealing with fertility problems for years!! Good luck to you!

 

[cynsaun]

Lots of hugs for you! I dealt with recurrent miscarriage for 4 1/2 years, that's what led us to adoption. It's amazing how much faster adoption is when you've been dealing with fertility problems for years!! Good luck to you!

How long did the adoption process take for you? We may look at adoption.

Hucifer, I feel for you. We are going through the same thing, and hear the same comments. I get so tired of hearing all the comments, too.

 

[ZachnElli]

How long did the adoption process take for you? We may look at adoption.

Hucifer, I feel for you. We are going through the same thing, and hear the same comments. I get so tired of hearing all the comments, too.

It took about 5 months, domestic adoption, home study and parenting classes included.

 

[skoi]

Brandie: Some countries are easier than others. Some agencies have better connections in country than others. For example, we chose China because the process is fairly well regulated and transparent. There are few surprises once you get in country, because the government, being a tightly locked down type of communist government has more power to insure things move smoothly. In some countries you hear of more difficulties with government officials wanting bribes in country, etc.

For China, the trips are generally highly organized. You get a facilitator-- who's basically a translator and go between. The trip is the thing we were least worried about-- we were worried about the homestudy because we're a one income family that lives in a little house, with almost no yard, in a big city. We were afraid we wouldn't "be good enough" because we're not an affluent suburban family. Not to mention that I never know what our kids will say-- they're a little weird, and I was concerned the social worker would go screaming out of the hosue after talking to them.

Let us know what how your meeting went.

 

[skoi]

ZachnEli:

Are the adoption laws in Idaho (ID is Idaho, I hope, if not, please correct me I'm getting senile I think) written to speed up adoptions? Five months is so quick. If we adopt again, we'll be considering domestic adoption after being so put off from it before. The people we know who adopted domestically here, even through social services, have had a much longer wait. Of course, our child protective system is so bad in the city, but that's another issue.

Thanks.

 

[ZachnElli]

ZachnEli:

Are the adoption laws in Idaho (ID is Idaho, I hope, if not, please correct me I'm getting senile I think) written to speed up adoptions? Five months is so quick. If we adopt again, we'll be considering domestic adoption after being so put off from it before. The people we know who adopted domestically here, even through social services, have had a much longer wait. Of course, our child protective system is so bad in the city, but that's another issue.

Thanks.

No, they have the basic laws everyone has, but we got Noah from Texas. We haven't finalized yet, we are told we should be able to before the end of the month! The 5 months is from when we started the home study until he was placed. The wait is about 6-12 months around here. I have a neighbor who is now adopting through the same agency as us and that's what they told her. It all depends on what you put down that you will accept as far as race and health. We just said we wouldn't take terminally ill, but were open to pretty much everything else. I looked the other day at my agecies website and there was once again a note from the infant coordinator that if you are open to biracial or African American races to contact her and that means she has babies to place or she will have shortly with no homes waiting for them. Noah is caucasian btw. This is him: http://www.photoworks.com/servlet/G...CA65?376072321,68x90,90,0,null&cb=PW&svr=web9

 

[skoi]

ZachnElli

The picture wasn't available when I went to look. If you don't mind, maybe you can send me a pm with the name of your agency. We're still in the middle of our Chinese adoption, but as I said, we've already discussed another adoption in the future. Race is no issue to us, though to a lot of people we know it is, but obviously that's something we'll deal with when we have to.

Julie

 

[Micheme]

Good wishes for all those who are in the midst of their adoption journey.

Just wanted to share that our daughter Hannah was adopted from China about 1 1/2 years ago. She is the light of our lives and I feel blessed everyday just to be able to love and share in this child's life. The adoption journey is long and can be filled with many ups and lots of downs but it is all forgotten the moment you hold your child for the first time. Knowing that he or she was born in your heart and you are now together... forever.

 

[hucifer]

Good wishes for all those who are in the midst of their adoption journey.

Just wanted to share that our daughter Hannah was adopted from China about 1 1/2 years ago. She is the light of our lives and I feel blessed everyday just to be able to love and share in this child's life. The adoption journey is long and can be filled with many ups and lots of downs but it is all forgotten the moment you hold your child for the first time. Knowing that he or she was born in your heart and you are now together... forever.

Michelle,

THAT was the little girl I saw on the monorail! She is SO BEAUTIFUL! My husband couldn't stop staring at her either. We could tell that you were a loving and happy little family. It inspired me! It made me want to run out and adopt right away.

What a small world this is! I am so glad that you're DIS people too!

I sent you a PM.

 

[scarlett873]

Well, we attended our first meeting yesterday! I think we've found our agency...now it's no longer a question of if, but when! The folks who would be our regional manager (I think that's his title) just returned last Thursday from their adoption trip! He and his wife brought along their little one and she was certainly adorable! They've had her for 3 weeks now and it was so amazing to see just how much they have bonded as a family. That little girl knows who her mommy and daddy are! She's about a year old and just figured out the crawling thing. She was scootin' all over the place! And then a second family came in who have had their girls for about a few years now. They adopted their first when she was 1 (she'll be 6 in February) and their second when she was also 1 (she'll be 4 in February also!). It was so nice to be able to talk to someone who has gone through this...face to face. We were able to ask questions about the process now as well as what we can look forward to. It was wonderful! It was very reassuring for me to talk to someone who is a scaredy cat like me and how she so enjoyed herself both times in China! They're actually talking about now going back for a special needs little boy.

DH and I are going to sit down and get a timeline together so that we know when we can get the ball rolling on this. I'm so excited!!!

 

[kdibattista]

Congrats Brandie... that's so exciting!!!! I know exactly how it feels to get the process started!!!!

 

[RUDisney]

Saturday, October 22nd will be our 4th Gotcha Day. The time has flown by since we spent those 3-weeks in Bryansk and Moscow, Russia. Ivan still talks about returning to Russia for a vacation. We have promised to take him when he is older. We have remained friends with our translator from Moscow. We have invited him to stay at our house when he has been here with new children in the summer who are looking for parents and he has given us an open-ended invitation to stay with him when we return to Moscow.

Our kids were 5 and 6 when we adopted them. They are natural brother and sister. I tell them each night when they are going to bed that I can't believe that I am so lucky to have searched the world and found the two best kids in it to be mine.

I'm happy to address any questions people have about Russia. I have a list of things that I'd recommend that a family take with them to Russia that I will email to anyone who sends me a PM. We also had a 4-day stay at the American Medical Center in Moscow, when Ivan came down with a staph infection in his nose. My insurance company had told me to go there if we needed to see a doctor. It told me that they had an agreement with that hospital, so all I would have to do is show them my insurance card. HA! The hospital told me to fight with my insurance carrier when I returned home. They wanted my credit card. $4,400 and 4-days later, we hadn't seen the Kremlin yet, but at least Ivan was better. It took a year to get $1,800 back from the insurance company because they didn't want to pay since he had a private room. I needed to get a letter from the hospital that said it was medically necessary for him to have his own room since he had an infectious disease... but I digress.

So far, we have taken the kids to WDW for our first and third Gotcha Days. We wore buttons and the CMs were so nice to the kids both times.

Remember to video your foreign adoptions. We enjoy watching our tapes over and over again. Plus, it's interesting to see how their accents went away over time.

Brandie, don't be worried about not knowing the language. If languages come easy to you, you can always study common phrases like, please, thank you and the most important, "I love you."

Lyessa is just plain beautiful! I hope things go very smoothly for your cousin! She will have a wonderful rememberence of her grandmother in the tea set that she gave her new parents. We bought bottles of Russian wine to store until our kids get married. We'll store them until their wedding day in our wine cellar. Other parents that traveled with us bought something during their trip to keep for their children's wedding days, too, so they'd have a piece of their mother-country.

Best of luck to all of you in the process of your adoptions and to those who are just starting.

 

[Micheme]

Michelle,

THAT was the little girl I saw on the monorail! She is SO BEAUTIFUL! My husband couldn't stop staring at her either. We could tell that you were a loving and happy little family. It inspired me! It made me want to run out and adopt right away.

What a small world this is! I am so glad that you're DIS people too!

I sent you a PM.

I just wanted to share that i was pretty sure Wendy was talking about us... I was BAWLING when i read her post. What are the chances of that?

I still get shivers thinking about it.

 

[ZachnElli]

We have a court date!!!! Oct 28th we will finalize Noah's adoption!!!

 

[Snoopymom]

We have a court date!!!! Oct 28th we will finalize Noah's adoption!!!

Congratulations!!!! I'm so happy for you! Have fun celebrating!

 

[DisneyCP2002]

It is so wonderful to read these stories. I plan on adopting as soon as I finish school and ge settled into a job. My heart has always been for adoption as I am an adopted child myself. I am so glad that there are such wonderful people out there that want to adopt children, there are so many out there in need of a wonderful home. I long for the day I can finally fulfill my dream. I know it will come in God's time, I just need to be patient.

 

[Snoopymom]

That picture is adorable!!

Infertility...that's what has led us to this point! We haven't completely given up hope of having our own though! We've just both realized that we want to be parents and while we can dump tons of money into fertility treatments, there is no guarantee that we will have a child in our arms in the end. We talked a lot about it and decided that we would still try for our own, but that the money would be better spent adopting a child of our own. I just want to be a mommy! And it's heartbreaking every time I get a negative test...Adoption is where our hearts are leading us.

Hugs to you as well!! I hope that the adoption is final soon!!

Thank you so much!

The picture is of one of my happiest mommy moments at Disney...It was a beautiful misty uncrowded January morning at AK and Baloo was just walking through the park when ds spotted him. Ds took off running towards him and Baloo knelt down and caught him into a big bear hug. It was so sweet!

I haven't been there in awhile, but tryingtoconceive.com is a great site for some info and support. They also have an adoption board for those who are thinking about the next step.

Lots of hugs and baby dust to ya!