I've been trying to think of how to best summarize our adoption process so far and that is what comes to mind - lots of hurrying, followed by waiting, then some more hurrying and more waiting! We had a wonderful Christmas, and I'll post more about that later, because I'm long overdue in describing the roller coaster of our adoption journey!
In January, when we made the decision to start the adoption process, I hurried to get our home study application in the mail. We got a quick response from the agency - YAY! After all the paperwork was explained to me, I decided I was going to set a world record in paperwork collection! After all, I knew there would be so many things we had no control over the timing of, I decided right then that anything I had to do would get done - FAST! Scott and I worked together and accomplished almost everything needed for the homestudy paperwork in 6 days! We're talking fire inspection, well-water testing, birth certificates, marriage license, autobiography, etc., etc. The only thing we didn't have was a child abuse clearance letter and that was just a small hint of the waiting to come. We had our official visit with the social worker in early Feb., and then all we could do was wait. We had filed our I-600a, but needed to send in our home study. We were also doing everything backward and wanted to wait until our homestudy was done to commit to an agency. So we waited some more.
In the meantime, we had our finger prints done at the USCIS office (talk about "hurry" - we went to the wrong building, and then had to race across town to make our appt.!). Our appt. went well, but we were then met at the car by a parking ticket! We decided that while we were at it, we should apply for our passports as we had been told we would need them as part of our dossier even though we did not plan to travel. This was a big part of why we thought we could adopt from Uzbekistan. So many countries had extreme travel requirements that we didn't see how we could do that with small children and Scott's job. So anyway, I had been very naive about passports. I thought it was like a driver's license - you go to the right place with the right documents and they take your picture and give you a passport. In retrospect, I realize how silly that notion was! After a little detour (we thought we had Scott's original birth cert., but we didn't and had to run around town to get one), we were told it would be 10-12 weeks before we would receive our passports!
While we were waiting for our passports, our homestudy was finalized, we hurried to get our contract into the agency. We got our I171 (adoption approval notice from the USCIS), within a week of the hometudy agency mailing our homestudy in! This had been a step I had been warned could take a LONG time! I was stunned to find it in the mailbox so quickly! We rushed to gather all of the paperwork for our dossier and to complete the required education of our agency, and then we waited again - this time for the passports. Of course, I had secretly hoped they would come before the 10-12 weeks, but 10 weeks came and went, then 11 - the days crawled by. I tried to call the number for the passport agency, but repeatedly was told that due to the high call volume, I would have to call another time and then they hung up on me.
After 12 weeks with no way to get a hold of anyone to see if the passports would come soon or in a year, I did some research and found out that contacting my congressman might speed things up or at least get us some answers. I nervously called and within a day was told they were being overnighted to us! Praise God! I was so excited! I made an appointment for the evening of the day we were to receive them with a lawyer I had found that would notarize our documents free of charge. It was June 14th. That day dragged by. Afternoon came, and I had the kids in the pool. I started getting nervous and called the congressman's office back. They checked for me and called me back to say that the passports had been delivered to the nearby FedEx station, but had been returned to sender due to having the wrong address! I was hysterical at this point! After some more phone calls, a hold was put on the package. I raced to look up the directions for FedEx, dress the kids, and drive to pick it up before they closed. I cried in FedEx as I opened the package to see our perfect passports with no mistakes! Didn't have a whole lot of time to rejoice, because I had to hurry to meet my husband, drop the kids off at my friend's, color copy the passports at Kinko's, and go to the lawyer's office. We were only 20 minutes late!
After I had all of the documents notarized, I triumphantly drove back to pick up the kids. It had been a whirlwind, soap-opera kind of day, andI had no idea that the day was going to get even better! I decided to call my agency to let them know all of the documents for our dossier would be overnighted the next day. At the end of the call, the director said, "By the way, would you still like to match with Myli?!" Of course we did, and she said she would get the papers ready! I hung up the phone and told the kids. Legoboy threw himself into my arms saying "Oh, Mom! Really?!" His joy just added to my own! What a dramatic, incredible day!
After our agency approved our dossier, we hurried to authenticate the various documents at county, state, and federal levels. That meant various stunts including driving the the state capital (5 hour round trip) on the opening day of our church's Vacation Bible School. Did I mention I'm the director?! I knew it was crazy, but I was on a mission to get Myli home as soon as I possibly could! We worked with a wonderful courrier service in D.C., and I almost kissed the FedEx guy that brought the package containing all of our notarized, authenticated dossier papers to my door! Then I raced to copy everything and send it back to the agency on July 3rd. Suddenly, it was out of my hands. What a weird, nerve wracking waiting place that was! Soon, I learned that it had been sent to Uzbekistan, and I anxiously watched the tracking numbers to see when it would be delivered. It was in the same package as another PAP's that I had been keeping in contact with. I'll never forget her e-mail letting me know that our package had arrived!!!!
It went fairly quickly, but then we waited for it to be delivered to the first level of government that it needed to go through. Finally, on Aug. 9th, it was deposited! We thought it would take up to a month for it to be processed. Early Sept. came, and we still hadn't heard anything. It was nerve wracking, but all along I had been learning to let go of everything and trust that God was in control. I am so glad that God had been strengthening my faith throughout this process, because on Sept. 14th a call came that would change everything. The director of our agency called to tell us that the adoption laws in Uzbekistan had changed. Not only would it not be possible to use an escort, but now 2 trips would be required. It was possible that both of us would have to travel and the length of at least one of the trips could be very long. We really felt like our world had been turned upside down, and we told that all we could do was wait and see what would happen.
In the meantime, everyone we knew started praying about the situation. My aunt in another state explained the situation to her church's congregation one Sunday morning, and the pastor said that maybe he already had an answer, then next hymn to be sung would be, "God Will Make a Way!" We had already been struggling with difficulties outside of our adoption. Our van had been damaged when the wheel came off - while I was driving! We found out that Meatball had to have surgery, and then there was a problem with our health insurance that would have been pretty difficult financially. We clung to hope that somehow this would all work out and prayed for God's will. Slowly, it seemed God was making a way. We found out that only one of us would be required to travel. We struggled with the implications of travel, and Scott told me "I will do whatever it takes to bring her home." It seemed a miracle when our insurance problem was fixed, and then another incredibly bright spot - Scott would travel on his first trip the second week of October and meet Myli! We hurried to plan the trip and scrambled to get his visa. The idea of him meeting her so soon seemed to good to be true - and it was. The trip was pushed back to the end of Oct., and in retrospect that was a VERY good thing!
With all of the ups and downs, we were pretty stressed out. We wondered if this was truly God's will. We wondered how we would pay for 2 trips. We wondered if all of this would work out and we would ever have Myli in our arms. And then on Oct. 7, we received an incredible blessing. I'm going to have to devote a whole other post to that, but it was the answer and confirmation that we needed so badly, and it has inspired us through all of the other difficulties in our adoption since then. A few days later, another miracle - Scott would not have to take 2 trips after all! We will probably never know why they changed their minds about waiving our first trip, but I believe with all of my heart it was prayer!
We were then glad Scott had not gone as scheduled because it ended up not being necessary. Everything seemed to be going so well! Even the finances seemed much more doable since we were now looking at just one trip. His new trip was scheduled for Nov.4th. Myli could be here for Thanksgiving! Everyone was so excited! I hurried to buy her clothes and everything that would be needed for the trip. I finally found some Russian language materials that seemed usefuland had them overnighted so that Scott would have them for his trip. I changed all of the plane tickets for a second time, but still it seemed so unreal, so dreamlike. We still had a ton to do when 3 days before he was scheduled to leave, the agency called with bad news. The paperwork wasn't ready, and Scott couldn't go to complete the adoption. It was a devastating blow, but we were told he could probably go in 3 weeks and that it was good that all of this would get straightened out before he went. And for that we were grateful. I truly believe that God is going before us and smoothing out the way.
It seems now that we have been waiting forever. The 3 week time frame did not work out, and for a while we had little idea of when travel might take place. At first it seemed it might be early Dec. Then we learned that it might be quite a while. The latest we have learned is that Scott will most likely be able to travel in mid. Jan. The election in Uzbekistan this past Sun. and then the holidays in Jan. have slowed things down. We are cautiously hopeful that he will indeed travel then, but until then we WAIT!
It was really nice that Legoboy can help build toys this year! I think he put Meatball's together by himself while we were trying to stay awake!
I tried to tell Woogie that between her barely potty-trained brother and the puppy, we didn't need anything else in the house that peed. It's worth it (although the doll did pee on my aunt's couch...) - she loves her!
Legoboy of course received numerous lego sets for Christmas. The completed one in the picture has over 900 pieces. I think it took him about 2 hours to put together. It would take me about 2 years!
