what else is done once you get a referral? What about getting your referral information reviewed by a doctor? Someone posted this question on our agency's Yahoo group and here was my response:
"For our first adopted daughter, who was sn, we had a few doctors look over her medical information before and during the process so we could be set up for her when she came home. We were blessed to have a great doctor who looked at her updates (it took 5 months for her adoption to be completed), along with dear friends who helped us understand her updates and keep a close eye on her progress.
At the time we lived in Tampa, FL and knew we had all the major specialist we could need right in our backyard. Actually her first neurologist appointment was at 8am the day after we arrived home from Taiwan as she had 2 seizures when we were there to bring her home.
For our second daughter the information was so minimal there was not much that we could not decipher ourselves. Though not 100 % sure we were pretty certain she would have a cranial issue (we could see it in her photo) BUT as we knew she was ours we just dealt with it once she was home. In the end she had tortocolllis, believed to be from her development in the uterus as her ear on that side is also misshapen. In her case we had no updates as we traveled 6 weeks after referral, so not much for a doctor to keep track of."
This time we also expect very little medical information, with the bulk of it being the blood testing results and measurements.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Friday, November 21, 2008
The REAL waiting has begin...
Today we received an email from our adoption specialist telling us we are now #2 on the list!
After a month or so of quick movement on the baby boy list our time has finally come to really WAIT. What I mean is that since (as we were told) there are no more outstanding or pending baby boy referrals, and of course there can be no way to know when there will be a need for more baby boy families, we have no idea when we will move up the list again. This is the most difficult and bittersweet wait for us. On the one hand we are of course excited, encouraged and filled with hope to parent two more blessings BUT it is now that our hearts are especially heavy thinking of the difficulty, despair and hopelessness that will lead our children into our lives. It is a sobering time as you wait rejoicing at the possibility of adding to your family yet faced with the reality that our joy comes from someone else's devastating loss.
Looking at our two adopted daughters I often think of and pray for their birthmothers, thanking God their birthmothers chose to give them life and praying they will somehow be comforted in their decision to have someone else parent them...
After a month or so of quick movement on the baby boy list our time has finally come to really WAIT. What I mean is that since (as we were told) there are no more outstanding or pending baby boy referrals, and of course there can be no way to know when there will be a need for more baby boy families, we have no idea when we will move up the list again. This is the most difficult and bittersweet wait for us. On the one hand we are of course excited, encouraged and filled with hope to parent two more blessings BUT it is now that our hearts are especially heavy thinking of the difficulty, despair and hopelessness that will lead our children into our lives. It is a sobering time as you wait rejoicing at the possibility of adding to your family yet faced with the reality that our joy comes from someone else's devastating loss.
Looking at our two adopted daughters I often think of and pray for their birthmothers, thanking God their birthmothers chose to give them life and praying they will somehow be comforted in their decision to have someone else parent them...
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Surprise email
We just got a unsolicited (I would have emailed for information tomorrow, LOL!) email telling us we are now #3 on the baby boy list! She also told us that there was one outstanding baby boy with no more pending referrals (meaning there are no more baby boys waiting for medicals or other paperwork to be official referrals).
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Perspective....
With our first adoption I just KNEW that getting our HS done and getting on the waiting list would greatly relieve my desire to have my baby home...boy was I WRONG!
We were on the waiting list a few weeks before changing agencies (due to their inexperience with the country) and amazingly ended up at the same number in our new agency! We knew the other families on the list and it was fun to see us all move up the list, until the moving stopped, that is. What was originally meant to be a couple of months stretched to, 3, 4, 5, 6... and we never did make it to #1. I think we were 5 when we chose to adopt our princess who was a special needs waiting baby. I never imagined I'd be happy that the list had gone slow (she had just been placed for adoption internationally) and that we never had made it to #1 since that meant adopting our daughter.
For our second adoption we seemed to fly up the list, hitting the single digits in just a few months, until the list all but stopped moving. Remembering our first adoption and the miracle we had experienced to bring OUR daughter home made the situation easier, though not easy! Over the next several months knowing those "ahead" of us on the list was exciting as one by one we knew we were finally making it to the "top". I remember the day we knew we were #1 on the list as the family ahead of us had accepted their referral. We were over joyed and excitedly awaiting official word from the agency. What should have been a joyful email telling us we were #1 on the list was actually news that the doors to our adoption had been closed along with our dreams of adopting from the country. Though our hearts were broken we knew God had called us to adopt so we prayed. Within a few hours we had a renewed vision and the doors began opening to bring our now 2 yo daughter home to be ours.
At the beginning of this adoption we faced many hurdles, including the closing of the Viet Nam program. Our hearts were saddened but remembering God's faithfulness to us in the past we prayed once again. In HIS goodness HE lead us to Ethiopia. Our road was filled with bumps until we understood the hold up (we were to adopt 2, not1!) and as soon as we changed that things went much better. I just checked with our previous agency and we would have been #320 now! With that in mind being 4 is, well, GREAT!!! Perspective in everything...Please feel free to remind me of this when I am going crazy waiting!!!
We were on the waiting list a few weeks before changing agencies (due to their inexperience with the country) and amazingly ended up at the same number in our new agency! We knew the other families on the list and it was fun to see us all move up the list, until the moving stopped, that is. What was originally meant to be a couple of months stretched to, 3, 4, 5, 6... and we never did make it to #1. I think we were 5 when we chose to adopt our princess who was a special needs waiting baby. I never imagined I'd be happy that the list had gone slow (she had just been placed for adoption internationally) and that we never had made it to #1 since that meant adopting our daughter.
For our second adoption we seemed to fly up the list, hitting the single digits in just a few months, until the list all but stopped moving. Remembering our first adoption and the miracle we had experienced to bring OUR daughter home made the situation easier, though not easy! Over the next several months knowing those "ahead" of us on the list was exciting as one by one we knew we were finally making it to the "top". I remember the day we knew we were #1 on the list as the family ahead of us had accepted their referral. We were over joyed and excitedly awaiting official word from the agency. What should have been a joyful email telling us we were #1 on the list was actually news that the doors to our adoption had been closed along with our dreams of adopting from the country. Though our hearts were broken we knew God had called us to adopt so we prayed. Within a few hours we had a renewed vision and the doors began opening to bring our now 2 yo daughter home to be ours.
At the beginning of this adoption we faced many hurdles, including the closing of the Viet Nam program. Our hearts were saddened but remembering God's faithfulness to us in the past we prayed once again. In HIS goodness HE lead us to Ethiopia. Our road was filled with bumps until we understood the hold up (we were to adopt 2, not1!) and as soon as we changed that things went much better. I just checked with our previous agency and we would have been #320 now! With that in mind being 4 is, well, GREAT!!! Perspective in everything...Please feel free to remind me of this when I am going crazy waiting!!!
Friday, November 7, 2008
Nothing new, but confirming clues
Samuel asked our adoption specialist for an update and was told we were still officially # 4 on the wait list for two baby boys. She also mentioned that there were still outstanding baby boy referrals they were waiting to receive formal acceptance paperwork for and that when that happened the list would be updated.
Did you see my red letter notations, LOL? Still looks like she is saying there is more than one referral they are waiting on to update the list, but the latest clue is that the outstanding referrals are for baby boys!!! Are you following my thoughts, here? I'm no Nancy Drew and we'll see how it pans out in the next couple of weeks to see what number we are but this is getting sooooo exciting!!!
Did you see my red letter notations, LOL? Still looks like she is saying there is more than one referral they are waiting on to update the list, but the latest clue is that the outstanding referrals are for baby boys!!! Are you following my thoughts, here? I'm no Nancy Drew and we'll see how it pans out in the next couple of weeks to see what number we are but this is getting sooooo exciting!!!
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
JUST Waiting...
It hit me yesterday that we are JUST waiting. What exactly does that mean? Well after months of calling near and far to get things done, filling out STACKS of paperwork, chasing down documents, marking our "X" until our hands dropped off and waiting for this and that to get here and there, we now have NOTHING to do but W-A-I-T!!!
On one hand it is a GIANT relief that our dossier is now complete, in Ethiopia and all we have to do it wait to meet our babies. On the other hand waiting with nothing to do makes the process somehow feel less real. Well at least we have NO LACK of things to do at home. In fact we are using a new "family style" unit study curriculum and having that foundation set before the boys are home will be wonderful. I am already re-working our schedule so I get my "heavy" time with the older girls from 5-8 am (we did not change our schedule with the time change) and again at nap time and some in the evening. With Amelia now an active 2 year old the new schedule will give her more mama time not to mention extra time for Annelise who is chomping at the bit for learning time.
Hmmm, all this sounds really good and the time a gift from God...remind me of this when I am going crazy with the wait, LOL!!!
On one hand it is a GIANT relief that our dossier is now complete, in Ethiopia and all we have to do it wait to meet our babies. On the other hand waiting with nothing to do makes the process somehow feel less real. Well at least we have NO LACK of things to do at home. In fact we are using a new "family style" unit study curriculum and having that foundation set before the boys are home will be wonderful. I am already re-working our schedule so I get my "heavy" time with the older girls from 5-8 am (we did not change our schedule with the time change) and again at nap time and some in the evening. With Amelia now an active 2 year old the new schedule will give her more mama time not to mention extra time for Annelise who is chomping at the bit for learning time.
Hmmm, all this sounds really good and the time a gift from God...remind me of this when I am going crazy with the wait, LOL!!!
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
They got it!
We finally heard a bit ago that our dossier had been picked up at DHL and it now at IAN Ethiopia!! WHEW!!! Praise God!!
The next step you ask??? It is now going to be translated, which will take 3-4 weeks, so it can be ready to submit for approval once we get our referrals!
The next step you ask??? It is now going to be translated, which will take 3-4 weeks, so it can be ready to submit for approval once we get our referrals!
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