So we had heard through other adopting families that you could try to walk into the USCIS office anytime after you have your appointment letter, so we tried it....and it was sucessful. We walked into the building at 11:48 on Friday and we both walked out completed with reciepts in our hands at 12:02pm....
It was simple, and the workers were curtious and didn't really even bat an eye at the fact that our appointments were not until mid March.
So what happens now, we wait! We will get a clearance letter and then we will be assigned a region in Russia. Our agency has notified us that a few regions will not be adopting any children out to Americans until the governments sign an agreement, but others are still operating as planned. Each region has different criteria to meet and so with our assignement we can work on any final paperwork that will be required for that region. Then we are done with the paperwork, and we will wait....and this wait is an undetermined timeframe.
We are getting more and more excited. We are hopeful we will meet our child by the end of the year. With this date in mind we are really needing to push our fundraising efforts out into the community. Here is what we have planned if you would like to join us.
Fundraising:
Applying for a matching grant through a local organization - up to $5000.00 matching funds. Praying we get accepted for this. We know we have faithful family friends that can help us meet this goal.
Puzzle pieces: We are selling puzzle piece for $10.00 each. We are writing your name on the pieces and you will forever be a part of our childs journey home. Refer to a earlier blog for full details.
Garage Sale: We are accepting donations from anyone local and we are hosting a garage sell in April or May during our nieghborhood garage sale..so advertising will be free and we are going to put adoption signs up allowing people to make a donation and take what they want. Our goal from this is to hopefully make enough money to buy a plane ticket to Russia...
We are definately open to other ideas and have considered a few other options but they are yet to be determined.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
USCIS
We have prayed for a smooth trasition of our paperwork...and God has been faithful. We recieved our fingerprinting apointment today in the mail. We are scheduled for mid March, but plan to try to walk in sooner. Once this is done, we will get assigned to a specific region in Russia!
One step closer to bringing our child home!
One step closer to bringing our child home!
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Mora...what?
Yesterday, Jeremy and I sat at our dinner table discussing the adoption update we recieved earlier in the day. Neither of us really understood the verbage that was used and didn't really know what it meant....
Of course I couldn't hardly make it through dinner without knowing what this word "moratorium" meant so I pulled out our IPad and googled it...
Merriam-Webster Dictionary said: a legally authorized period of delay: a suspension of activity.
What? That can't be happening in our adoption timeline. We are just getting settled in this process and we were really hoping that we would at least have some movement by the end of the year. So we had to take a deep breath and do a little research. Here is what I found.
The Russian Foreign Ministry(people responsible for adoptions)have suggested the government employ a suspension on US adoptions of Russina children - It is my understanding this is mostly due to a couple of cases in the US where adopted Russian children have been abused and the Russian officials feel like the US judicial system has not given severe enough concequences.
Luckily the Foreign Ministry is not able to employ this moratorium on their own, this must go through the Russian government and they must sign an addendum to the US/Russian Adoption agreement that was signed into place in the summer of 2011.
So if you are a praying person, we ask that you pray that GOD releases this suggestion or that the Russian government sees that there is a huge need to continue to find the 250,000 orphans a home. The financial cost to keep these children institutionalized must be huge. The percentage of children that grow up in an orphanage and exit at an appropriate age to the "real" world and are actually are sucessful is very low. Most of these kids end up involved with drugs, alcohol, prostitution, in jail or worse commit suicide. These are all children of God that end up lost, and maybe could have been guided and loved by a forever family. We pray that the lack of self control from another adoptive family will not impact our family. I feel like a child right now saying to my mom, that just because someone else did something wrong doesn't mean I should be punished. Funny thing about that is that my mother would gently respond with - sometimes life's just not fair...
We have built a dream around our Snow Princess. We have started getting connected with other Russian adoptive families, familarlized ourselves with the culture and country, prayed for this child daily and even bought winter coats on sale that will keep us warm in tempatures that extend to -9 degrees. We are saddened that the program maybe put on hold, but we are hopeful that this won't happen. We are not interested at this time of switching countries. So we just have a worry in our hearts, but hopefull that things will continue to move as usual.
At this time - Nothing has changed....adoptions are still proceeding as they have.........we will pray it stays this way.
Of course I couldn't hardly make it through dinner without knowing what this word "moratorium" meant so I pulled out our IPad and googled it...
Merriam-Webster Dictionary said: a legally authorized period of delay: a suspension of activity.
What? That can't be happening in our adoption timeline. We are just getting settled in this process and we were really hoping that we would at least have some movement by the end of the year. So we had to take a deep breath and do a little research. Here is what I found.
The Russian Foreign Ministry(people responsible for adoptions)have suggested the government employ a suspension on US adoptions of Russina children - It is my understanding this is mostly due to a couple of cases in the US where adopted Russian children have been abused and the Russian officials feel like the US judicial system has not given severe enough concequences.
Luckily the Foreign Ministry is not able to employ this moratorium on their own, this must go through the Russian government and they must sign an addendum to the US/Russian Adoption agreement that was signed into place in the summer of 2011.
So if you are a praying person, we ask that you pray that GOD releases this suggestion or that the Russian government sees that there is a huge need to continue to find the 250,000 orphans a home. The financial cost to keep these children institutionalized must be huge. The percentage of children that grow up in an orphanage and exit at an appropriate age to the "real" world and are actually are sucessful is very low. Most of these kids end up involved with drugs, alcohol, prostitution, in jail or worse commit suicide. These are all children of God that end up lost, and maybe could have been guided and loved by a forever family. We pray that the lack of self control from another adoptive family will not impact our family. I feel like a child right now saying to my mom, that just because someone else did something wrong doesn't mean I should be punished. Funny thing about that is that my mother would gently respond with - sometimes life's just not fair...
We have built a dream around our Snow Princess. We have started getting connected with other Russian adoptive families, familarlized ourselves with the culture and country, prayed for this child daily and even bought winter coats on sale that will keep us warm in tempatures that extend to -9 degrees. We are saddened that the program maybe put on hold, but we are hopeful that this won't happen. We are not interested at this time of switching countries. So we just have a worry in our hearts, but hopefull that things will continue to move as usual.
At this time - Nothing has changed....adoptions are still proceeding as they have.........we will pray it stays this way.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Russian adoption
I thought I would give a little background on Russian adoptions in general. We have gotten lots of questions in the last few weeks about this process. We are happy to answer any questions, we actually welcome it because it allows us a chance to talk about our future heritage and culture that we will be blending into our lives.
Russia in general has great working relations with the USA. They have signed an adoption agreements and they have paved a clear road for all adoptions coming from Russia to the US. The youngest child that can come out of the Russian adoption program is 8 months old. All children need to be available for domestic Russian adoption for a minimum of 6 months first then they are eligible for international adoption. They do not have a "foster" system like the US does, so every child that has been removed from a home or given up is housed in orphanages. These facilities are less than optimal, but they do provide some basic needs. They are typically underfunded and understaffed. So for every month a child lives in an orphange they are typically 3months behind our developmental standards. There is over 250,000 Russian orphans available for adotpion, and about 2.5 times that number of children living in orphanges for some reason or another.
Russia is great at matching a child to an adopted family...which means they look out our finances, our ages, our biological child's age and they firmly believe in keeping natural birth order and trying to match a child that may look like us if we desire that. This is different from other countries that just match the next available orphan with the next available family.
Most of Russia operates on a "blind referral system". This means we get little or no information about our child until we arrive in Russia to meet the child. We then get access to any information they have on the child. At this time we get there medical file that is filled with a list of medical conditions that may or may not be true. All orphans have some sort of medical condition labeling them, this is how they get them on the registry list to get adopted. Some of these conditions are not eve translatable into to English, because they don't exist. Simple things like, lactose intolerant is label as a GI tract condition but only need proper attention that is not offered living in a standardized environment. After meeting the child, and the Orphanage director and Dr. we can decide if we want to proceed with this adoption. We then return to the US and wait for another invitation to travel for court. This is usually about 2 months later. As of Jan 1, 2012 we have been informed that Russia is implementing a mandatory 30 waiting period after our court date that will allow us to take our child to the US embassy in Moscow and get there birth certificate and passport so they can come home with us. They will be a US citizen upon arrival in the US. So what this means for us. We will both need to travel twice and one of us will have to go back a third time to get our child.
We are excited about this journey the Lord is taking us on, and we anticipate the day we get a call to travel for the first time. Our prayer today is that we get to travel this year. We don't know if this will happen, it is possible but it is also realistic that it may not happen. So if you are a praying person, we ask that you pray for this journey to happen this year. We are currently at a waiting period for some immigration paperwork and then we can "Register" with a specific region in Russia - from that point they say it can be a 4-12 month wait.
Russia in general has great working relations with the USA. They have signed an adoption agreements and they have paved a clear road for all adoptions coming from Russia to the US. The youngest child that can come out of the Russian adoption program is 8 months old. All children need to be available for domestic Russian adoption for a minimum of 6 months first then they are eligible for international adoption. They do not have a "foster" system like the US does, so every child that has been removed from a home or given up is housed in orphanages. These facilities are less than optimal, but they do provide some basic needs. They are typically underfunded and understaffed. So for every month a child lives in an orphange they are typically 3months behind our developmental standards. There is over 250,000 Russian orphans available for adotpion, and about 2.5 times that number of children living in orphanges for some reason or another.
Russia is great at matching a child to an adopted family...which means they look out our finances, our ages, our biological child's age and they firmly believe in keeping natural birth order and trying to match a child that may look like us if we desire that. This is different from other countries that just match the next available orphan with the next available family.
Most of Russia operates on a "blind referral system". This means we get little or no information about our child until we arrive in Russia to meet the child. We then get access to any information they have on the child. At this time we get there medical file that is filled with a list of medical conditions that may or may not be true. All orphans have some sort of medical condition labeling them, this is how they get them on the registry list to get adopted. Some of these conditions are not eve translatable into to English, because they don't exist. Simple things like, lactose intolerant is label as a GI tract condition but only need proper attention that is not offered living in a standardized environment. After meeting the child, and the Orphanage director and Dr. we can decide if we want to proceed with this adoption. We then return to the US and wait for another invitation to travel for court. This is usually about 2 months later. As of Jan 1, 2012 we have been informed that Russia is implementing a mandatory 30 waiting period after our court date that will allow us to take our child to the US embassy in Moscow and get there birth certificate and passport so they can come home with us. They will be a US citizen upon arrival in the US. So what this means for us. We will both need to travel twice and one of us will have to go back a third time to get our child.
We are excited about this journey the Lord is taking us on, and we anticipate the day we get a call to travel for the first time. Our prayer today is that we get to travel this year. We don't know if this will happen, it is possible but it is also realistic that it may not happen. So if you are a praying person, we ask that you pray for this journey to happen this year. We are currently at a waiting period for some immigration paperwork and then we can "Register" with a specific region in Russia - from that point they say it can be a 4-12 month wait.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Russian Christmas
As we wrap up our Christmas Season here in the US, our Russian Child could be anxiously awaiting a visit from Grandfather Frost. The Russian culture that celebrates the Russian Orthodox religion run on a bit different calender and actually celebrate Christmas on Jan 7th! They Celebrate the New Year first then prepare for their Christmas Celebrations which is richly embedded with Christian heritage.
Here is a few of the traditions we have researched about Russian traditions.
Santa Claus is dressed in a Blue outfit and called Grandfather Frost. He is accompanied by his granddaughter the Snow maiden to deliver gifts to the children on New Years Day, because of the history of the Communist ban on religion. The Russian's found a way to Celebrate the Season. Today they Russians have a large New Years Celebration and then the Holy Christmas Day is celebrated on Jan 7th.
Russian Orthodox fast on Christmas Eve until the first star appears in the sky.
The families celebrate with a HOLY SUPPER - with a white table cloth, a single white candle in the center of the table representing the "light of the world". This meal consist of 12 different food items to represent the 12 Apostles. This is typically a meatless meal.
On Christmas day families visit each other eating, drinking, and singing Christmas Carols all day long.
Many of the same traditions are carried out in the Western world, so we shouldn't have a hard time incorporating some Russian traditions into our home. We are excited to celebrate the heritage of our child and always have some Hatfield family traditions that reflect where she came from.
Our Prayer today is that if our Little Angel is born, that she is warm and safe. We pray that someone is holding her and that she gets to celebrate the season. If she is not born we pray that her mother is taking care of her and that with the Holidays upon them that she restrains from the use of alcohol or drugs, which unfortunately is a large problem in this part of the world.
Here is a few of the traditions we have researched about Russian traditions.
Santa Claus is dressed in a Blue outfit and called Grandfather Frost. He is accompanied by his granddaughter the Snow maiden to deliver gifts to the children on New Years Day, because of the history of the Communist ban on religion. The Russian's found a way to Celebrate the Season. Today they Russians have a large New Years Celebration and then the Holy Christmas Day is celebrated on Jan 7th.
Russian Orthodox fast on Christmas Eve until the first star appears in the sky.
The families celebrate with a HOLY SUPPER - with a white table cloth, a single white candle in the center of the table representing the "light of the world". This meal consist of 12 different food items to represent the 12 Apostles. This is typically a meatless meal.
On Christmas day families visit each other eating, drinking, and singing Christmas Carols all day long.
Many of the same traditions are carried out in the Western world, so we shouldn't have a hard time incorporating some Russian traditions into our home. We are excited to celebrate the heritage of our child and always have some Hatfield family traditions that reflect where she came from.
Our Prayer today is that if our Little Angel is born, that she is warm and safe. We pray that someone is holding her and that she gets to celebrate the season. If she is not born we pray that her mother is taking care of her and that with the Holidays upon them that she restrains from the use of alcohol or drugs, which unfortunately is a large problem in this part of the world.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Mommyhood
Today it is sunny and 42 in Kansas City and today it is a rain/snow mix and 33 in Moscow, Russia. It seems weird to most but we check the weather in both places everyday. Not only because it gives us something to do, but it gives us a sense of what we should be praying about for our little "snow princess". You see we don't know anythng about this little girl. We don't know if she is even born yet. She maybe living in extreme poverty, or on the streets or she might be well taken care of in a baby home. I use the weather to guide me, if it is snowing I almost always pray for warmth and not just physical warmth, but that she can feel a warmth in her soul because someone loves her. Someone like me from far away. What I do know is that I feel the exact way about her as I did with my son when I was pregnant. The incredible love i already feel for this human I have never met. I wonder who she is, what she looks like, will she be traditional Russian heritage or will she have some asian features? It really is crazy to love someone so much that you don't even know and better yet I don't know when I will meet her.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Overwhelming sense of calmness
For most people pulling up to a local coffee shop to meet a complete stranger sends a surge of nervousness through them. Well for me it was different. I wasn't worried about the fact that I didn't even know what the face looked like I was supposed to be meeting to start our home study process. I was calm, collected and excited to meet my new friend! Even though I had never met our social worker, I felt like knew her because of all the wonderful things other people had said about her. She was just as great as they had said.
I prayed on my way to our meeting that this would be the start of a wonderful working relationship and that it would be a smooth process that brings us one step closer to our Russian Princess. Really, we just talked about my family and the process. Thankfully I am blessed and have a normal family, and we all have pretty good relationships with eachother so that made it easy to talk about and I didn't have to explain anything weird. Jeremy gets his chance to meet alone with her Tuesday, so he will be the real test of how easy this is. I am a bit bias, because I like to talk!
We are praying for our child daily and we know that God has chosen just the right baby out there for us to love and call our own. I had a personal experience this weekend that really struck me deep with adoption. I am not a real emotional person but situation brought a moment of fear and tears that made me wonder if I am equipped to emotionally handle all aspects of adoption. I just have to be thankful for those mothers that are so selfless and know they need to provide a better life for their child, even when it seems hard to comprehend why God would even let them concieve a child if we can't. I know that is a bit deep for some, but it is sitting heavy on my heart.
I prayed on my way to our meeting that this would be the start of a wonderful working relationship and that it would be a smooth process that brings us one step closer to our Russian Princess. Really, we just talked about my family and the process. Thankfully I am blessed and have a normal family, and we all have pretty good relationships with eachother so that made it easy to talk about and I didn't have to explain anything weird. Jeremy gets his chance to meet alone with her Tuesday, so he will be the real test of how easy this is. I am a bit bias, because I like to talk!
We are praying for our child daily and we know that God has chosen just the right baby out there for us to love and call our own. I had a personal experience this weekend that really struck me deep with adoption. I am not a real emotional person but situation brought a moment of fear and tears that made me wonder if I am equipped to emotionally handle all aspects of adoption. I just have to be thankful for those mothers that are so selfless and know they need to provide a better life for their child, even when it seems hard to comprehend why God would even let them concieve a child if we can't. I know that is a bit deep for some, but it is sitting heavy on my heart.
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