Thumbs Up!

Nick and I signed an official commitment letter to adopt LB this afternoon.  The investigation into his case has shown that his case is good and he is adoptable.  We were told last Monday that the file was almost complete, but didn't receive any details regarding what that meant or when they anticipated it would be complete.  Thankfully, we received this good news this afternoon.

What's next?  We FedEx'ed some final paperwork to the agency in SC today.  Those papers will arrive on Monday morning.  The agency will then send our dossier (remember that HUGE pile of paperwork?) to our attorney in Uganda.  He will go through our files and compile some legal affidavits petitioning the court for legal guardianship of LB.  That paperwork will come back to us, we sign it, and then that all goes back to the attorney in Uganda.  He will take that paperwork and file for a court date. 

While it is clear that LB will not be home for Christmas, we are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  I am thankful for small blessings. 

Not much....

Not much new to report.  Last week two of the families from our agency had their cases heard in court.  Our attorney feels sure they will receive positive rulings.  This is a big blessing!  It is reassuring to me in many ways. 

Because our attorney has been busy with those cases (as he should have been :), LB's investigation is just beginning this week.  There aren't any major obstacles anticipated, but that doesn't mean they won't crop up.  I am glad to know where we stand, though.

In other news, we have officially been approved for our age adjustment with US Immigration.  We went from a male child ages 5-7 to a male child ages 3-7.  Another piece of official paperwork out of the way!

What If?

I've been battling a case of the "what if's" lately.  LB's orphan investigation has already began or will be beginning within days.  Being at this 'almost there, but not quite' stage is tough. 

What if LB's family can't be located and this takes forever?
What if LB's family is found, but they don't want to agree to his adoption?
What if we invest all this time and emotion into pursuing LB and he's not really meant to be our's?
What if our little guy is really still out there waiting for us to find him?
What if we don't have him home by our desired timeline of Christmas?

The irony with this beckons back to one of my earliest lessons as a first grade teacher.  Little kids love love love to play the "what if" game.  Very early on in my teaching career, I instituted a very simple (but effective) rule.  I.don't.play.the "what if" game.  When kiddos start down that path, I put a stop to it immediately.  It's a bunny trail that will suck you in every.single.time. 

Clearly I need to take a lesson from my own play book....

One of my favorites:  ^{Jeremiah 29:11} For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

He Looks Like Fun

That's what Teagen said when we showed him pictures of Number Four LB. 

Because of confidentiality concerns, we cannot share LB's picture or real name on the blog.  However, we finally have a face and name to go with our prayers for Number 4.  Rest assured, he's absolutely beautiful.  He is the reason we are in the process to change our age.  That paperwork is filed and should be ready in about 2 weeks.  Final t's to cross and i's to dot....

What's next?  Once the next set of paperwork is ready to go, we file for a court date.  We don't know exactly how quick that will happen.  We have some guesses, but nothing for sure.  For now, we'll say there is still hope to be a family of 4 by Christmas. 

Our current prayers are for LB's health, that if LB's biological family returns to the picture that they will be able and willing to parent him, and that if we are intended to be LB's family that paperwork will be gathered efficiently and correctly and the rest of the process will go smoothly.  Many things can still happen at this stage of the game, so we are moving forward with caution and hopeful anticipation!

Changes

First, I've decided that I'm terrible about  and at blogging.  A writer I am not...nor do I enjoy it.  This is more function than frill or fun for me ;)

Nick and I have decided to change our home study and immigration approval from ages 5-7 to ages 3-7 (still a boy).  We've set the wheels of change in motion and should have official immigration approval in a couple of weeks. 

We may have other more official news soon.  I HATE cryptic posts, but I can't say more until we know more.  Just sharing what we know...

Otherwise, our lives have been crazy busy.  After the earthquake last week and the hurricane this past weekend, I'm ready for summer break.  Oh, wait...that just ended :(  Today was our first day back at school after a false start yesterday due to loss of power.  We were without power at our house for 36 hours.  I realized there are many things I can live without, but the internet is not one of them.  I also missed music (more than tv).  T had a great first day in first grade.  I am very happy with his teacher and he seems happy so all is well!

Now for another cute T story.
We've talked a lot in our family about the fact that it's unlikely we will change our new son's name.  We feel that it is a part of his history and his culture and would only change it if we felt necessary.  A few weeks ago, we asked T what he would name his little brother if he got to pick.  He very quickly responded "LB".  Nick and I were both puzzled until T explained that it should be LB for little brother.  Such cuteness from a 6 year old.  I love that little nickname and it just may stick!

Hope to have more great news to share soon!

Been a while.....Still waiting.

I knew it had been a while since I last posted, but when I logged in to update, I was a bit surprised that it's been a month and a half. Wow! 

School got out near the end of June and we've been enjoying every minute.  We just returned from almost 2 weeks in Missouri.  As they say in the local newspaper there, "a good time was had by all."  We're back home now and I have 3 weeks before returning to work and Teagen has 4 weeks before first grade.  We finished school supply shopping today.  We bought all of Teagen's things and then all the items from the kindergarten list with hopes that Little Man will be home before the end of the school year. 

We've had many folks inquiring about the status of our adoption lately.  The short answer is there is no news.  We are still paper ready and just waiting.  The agency is actively searching for the newest member of our family.  It's been almost 2 weeks now since I heard from them, so I will be checking in with them soon regarding the status of our case.  We could be matched by tomorrow and it could be a couple of months.  Once we are matched, waiting Part 2 begins as we await a court date in Uganda. 

Hopefully we'll have post worthy news sooner than later!

Paper Ready!

Good news! I just received an e-mail from our agency that the paperwork for our dossier appears complete and we're ready to be matched. They said there is only one family in front of us also waiting. Praise God....both for finally being what is known as "paper ready" and for only having one other family in front of us. Our agency is leading a mission trip to the baby's home leaving later this week. A couple of months ago, I was secretly hopeful we would be matched by now so that I could send a personal care package to Little Rausch on that trip. That clearly wasn't in God's timing for us. The agency said that the oldest boy they have in their home right now is 3 1/2 so she will be exploring some other options while they are there (we're approved for ages 5-7).   It is a huge praise that our dossier is complete before she leaves so she can be purposefully seeking out little guy.

I've got a feeling the most difficult part of waiting is just beginning.....

I Love His Heart

One of the most common questions we get when people find out we are adopting is, "What does Teagen think about it?"  My short answer is that he's thrilled and can't wait for his brother to get here.  Time and time again he demonstrates a tender heart toward the situation. 

Today, our school had a cultural arts assembly that was led by a couple of guys from Ghana performing music, drama, and drums.  My heart was breaking for much of the show because all I could think about was our little guy halfway around the world.  I was happy to see the culture being shared and the students enjoying it so much, but it was a painful reminder of a family member yet to be named. 

Despite living in a very culturally diverse area, we are finding it more difficult than we initially thought it would be to find Ugandan cultural groups.  When I spoke with the performers after the show, however, they happily shared that one of their close friends that also does shows is Ugandan and would be able to plug us in locally.  This made my day!

After school, I was discussing the show with Teagen and how much we both enjoyed it.  I told him the nice gentlemen were going to help us meet some Ugandan people.  Teagen's attention turned to his brother and then said, "Mommy, maybe we can keep all the kids in Uganda safe after my brother comes home."  Wow.  Talk about thinking big!  May his heart for the orphan and those struggling never change. 

Dossier Away

 

This is what our dining room table has looked like several times this past week.  All of those documents there are part of what make up our dossier (Dos-yay).  That is the huge file that will go across the ocean and before the courts when we petition for legal guardianship of our Little Man.  

The nice stacks above are what those piles and piles of papers look like after they've each and every one been notarized and compiled in appropriate order.  As you can see on the top of the stack, we also had to include some photos of our home and our family.  I took these pictures as I rushed home to prep the documents and then off to the Jiffy Drop to send them on their way. 

 

The Jiffy Drop guy probably thought I was a little strange while I took a photo of the bulging envelope.  He assured me I'd get a tracking number with my receipt....I guess he thought I was paranoid about the package arriving.  I'd be lying if I didn't admit there were a few butterflies in my stomach as I handed over that precious envelope.  

The package is scheduled to arrive in South Carolina at our agency's office sometime on Monday.  Prayers that all the paperwork is in order and correct would be much appreciated.  As soon as they verify all is squared away, we officially go on THE LIST.

After dropping the package, I rushed back to school to pick Teague up from his after school karate.  I made it just in time to see him sparring with another little boy.  Too cute!!!

Just when....

Just when I was thinking I should come post so you'd know we hadn't dropped off the earth, I have something worth posting.....well, even better than that.

The envelope we've been waiting and waiting and waiting for.

On a very rare day,  Nick and I were home together at the mailbox at the same time.  If you know anything about our schedules, you can appreciate that.  As I've been doing for at least the past two weeks, I rifled through the envelopes before they're even out of the box to see if it's what we've been waiting for.  There is was....a letter from the Department of Homeland Security.  Through the address window, I could see the words "Notice of Favorable Determination".  I made him stop and let me take this picture before opening it.  Surprisingly (and for such an important document), the paper was very UNofficial looking.  However, it had the important phrase mentioned above and was labeled "Form 171" at the bottom.  That's all I needed to see.

What's next?  We have 5,000 papers to notarize (at least that's how it feels) and then the dossier is on its way.  We shouldn't have any problem having it on its way by Tuesday morning.  After that?  The waiting list to meet the newest Rausch.

Praise God for his faithfulness.

Not Much New to Report

Since we had our fingerprints done on April 15, there's not much new to report. I called to check on the status of our case on Thursday and was told our case is in the "queue" waiting to be assigned an officer. I'm okay with that because while we're waiting on the I-171, we're compiling our dossier (of which the I-171 is a part). We're told that the current wait time is 75 days, which would be around the middle of June. Many people are reporting getting theirs in about 6 weeks. We'll just wait to see which part of the statistics we are ;)

The dossier is a whole different story. Because of a slight miscommunication with paperwork being sent to us from our agency, we weren't aware of the dossier requirements until I requested them on March 31....we should have had them long before that. Insert the tiniest bit of frustration (which we are mostly over by now) because we have a ton of paperwork to compile for the dossier. We must have 6 notarized copies of many documents. I know that this is to set us up for the greatest likelihood of success when we go before the Ugandan courts so that helps when I stare at the long list of documents that must be compiled and start to feel a bit overwhelmed.

Now, how does this all fit together? Before we can go on the waiting list for Number Four, our dossier must be complete. We won't be finished with our part of the dossier until the end of May because of scheduling difficulties with various documents. This is one time I hope we're not on the quick end of the immigration paperwork because that will just make me more antsy for the other pieces to fall into place.

We're telling more and more people now about the adoption and it feels good.

Mission Accomplished

Final set of fingerprints complete! We were the second and third people called back for prints....in and out in under 30 minutes. What a great way to start our spring break!

Little Dose of Reality

A few nights ago, when I was facing a bit of insomnia, I wrote a great blog post that really captured what's been on my heart and mind lately. Like all my best lesson plans, it was written in my head so I had little recollection of it when morning came.

Last week, we had a bit of a wake-up call regarding how loosely we must remind ourselves to hold our referral once we have one. A family with our agency lost their baby girl to bacterial meningitis after being hospitalized for nearly a week. They hadn't had the referral long before she became ill. She fought hard, but went on to be with our Lord over the weekend. Thankfully, the children and the caregivers at the baby's home are all well and taking antibiotics as a precaution. However, it was a gentle reminder that we are only here for a time. We are simply caretakers of what God has given us....whether those little darlings live in our homes or across the ocean.

This also reaffirmed for me our choice of agency. In the beginning, I wasn't sold on choosing a Christian agency. Too many times I've seen people use that label as a banner, but then conducting business in a manner that is anything but Christian. Nick felt strongly that we should choose a Christian agency and I felt very drawn to the one we chose. I was blessed as the agency sent out updates throughout the week and continued to call for prayer. In the end, their reflection on the little one going Home really showed their true hearts. In such a long, exhausting, emotional and expensive process, it's good to have all the reassurance one can get!!

We received our notice for fingerprints yesterday. They scheduled us for May 2. However, lots of adoptive parents have had great success as walk-ins in advance of their appointment. Since we're leaving town on Friday for spring break, we're going to attempt to be at the Baltimore office when they open at 8 and see if they'll take us. We've heard of others having success at this office and their website states that military can appear without an appointment after 9. Maybe they'll take mercy on me and let me join my darling husband? He's the smooth talker....we'll see how skilled he is on Friday :) Wish us luck!

Alpha-Numeric Soup

I've never celebrated seeing an $890 check clear our checking account like I did yesterday. On Thursday, our check to the Department of Homeland Security cleared. Today, we rec'd our I797C, which is a "notice of action"....a really fancy form and name to state that the Department of Homeland Security has rec'd our I-600A (application for advance processing of orphan petition). Our appointments for biometrics should be following in the mail shortly. I'm a little anxious that the appointments they scheduled for us may fall during spring break while we're away in Florida, but Nick keeps telling me to stop worrying and we can deal with that IF it's an issue. He's good like that :)

One step closer....

Paperwork was scheduled to be delivered to the USCIS office in Lewisville TX today.  I miraculously made it until after noon before stalking the UPS tracking site.  The package was delivered about 2 hours ago.  I was surprised at the emotions it stirred in me.  As if all the other pieces of the puzzle haven’t made it real, it seems more so now.  I also know that this part of the process is where things can really slow down and the unknowns become more prevalent.  I don’t have a personal e-mail contact I can use to “check in” on things like I have had with the home study and other parts of the process with our agency.  We just sit and wait.....and pray.  

Specific things we are currently praying for:
1.  That Little Man (#4) has food to eat and a safe place to stay.  
2.  That he has someone to take care of him.
3.  That his heart is being prepared for a family and that attachment will be smooth.
4.  That we have him home by Christmas.
5.  That Teagen adjusts well to the changes we will see this year and that being a big brother doesn’t rock his world too much :)
6.  That we have no major financial catastrophes.  We are so very blessed that, while this adoption is expensive, we are able to do this without fundraising or taking out loans.  However, we are on the lookout for attacks on our family that will discourage us.
7.  That we are home with Little Man before Christmas.  This is not an unreasonable goal, but we know that anything can happen in the process.  
8.  That we are matched before our agency heads to Uganda on a missionary trip in June.  This would allow us to send a package to our Little Guy and hopefully have photos and video of him when they return!

Join us, please.
~A

Home Study Finalized

Deep breath...after taking about 2 weeks longer than we anticipated, the home study was finalized this morning and ready for pickup.  I was able to swing by the office and pick up our notarized copies over my lunch today.  I checked a couple of items before breathing a sigh of relief that this phase is over.  On to the next.

After school, I came straight home and made the necessary copies so we could get the documents on their way to the United State Citizenship and Immigration Service.  By 5pm today, our I600A was on its way to USCIS in Texas.  According to UPS, it will be there by close of business on Thursday.

So, in official language, we are requesting the the United States Immigration allow our family to bring a male orphan from Uganda between the ages of 60 and 84 months into the country for purposes of adoption.  What's next?  I will now stalk the UPS tracking information until the package arrives later this week.  Then, I will stalk the mailbox daily until we receive appointments for fingerprinting.  Then, we will shuffle schedules to make that appointment work (we don't get to select time or date).  Then....more waiting and mailbox stalking.  This time, we'll be waiting on the I-171, which is the approval.  Once we have approval, we will go on the waiting list with our agency. 

In addition to movement in the paperwork front, I've also made connections with two local families going through or having completed Ugandan adoptions.  One is just starting the process to adopt from Uganda and is located right here in Columbia!  Such a blessing to finally find someone close by to share the experience with and hopefully eventually share cultural things with our little Ugandan kiddos.  The second is not in the same town, but close enough to meet up with occasionally at least.  Her family has already completed the adoption of two little Ugandan boys.  Facebook can be used for good after all ;-)

About Uganda

For those of you not receiving blog updates in a reader or are not following, I added a new page at the top called "About Uganda".  I tried to add some basic facts about Uganda for those that are curious...

Draft Rec'd!!

The first draft of our Home Study just arrived in my inbox about 10 minutes ago.  Yippee!!!  While I know I've mentioned some impatience, I know the wait could have been much, much longer and our agency could have been much, much slower at getting this out.  Praise God!!

This weekend (or as soon as Nick gets home from work) we review the study for accuracy and give any feedback to our home study agency for correction.  Then, they pass it along to our adoption agency for review.  Once everyone agrees it's good to go and meets all requirements, we can mail in our immigration form (the I-600A) with a copy of the home study.  It may not seem it, but this is BIG, folks!!  Remember, the approval from the I-600A is what will put us on the wait list.

 Now, go out there and enjoy your weekend!

Waiting and Water

A couple of things rolling around in my heart and mind right now, so forgive the odd combination of topics....


Waiting
Such a simple word that brings about so many emotions.  The climax of the end of our interviews has resulted in exactly what I guessed it would....much waiting.  I was hopeful we would have a draft for review by Wednesday.  Now it's Thursday and no draft.  That either means she's still writing it or that it's somewhere in the chop being reviewed by either our home study agency or our adoption agency.  Either way, it's difficult not knowing and waiting.  I'm certain this is just preparation for the vast quantity of waiting that lies ahead of us.  Prayers for patience and graciousness as we wait are appreciated.

Water
Lately, I have found myself so incredibly emotional.....a dear friend was sharing with me recently about her prayers for the newest Rausch and there I was with tears flowing down my cheeks.  I've never seen myself as a sensitive person, but my heart is hangin' out on my sleeve right now.  The funny thing is that I find myself welcoming it.  Welcoming the shaping, the molding, the changing going on inside our little family. 

Photo from Moments With Love blog 

I first saw the picture above while reading the blog of another adoptive family.  She was sharing the picture of one of her visits to Uganda and how she saw people collecting water from streams like the one pictured above. The image is more than I can take at times.  Let's just say I've shed my share of tears over this picture.  It's branded on my heart and mind and is a difficult image for me to shake.  I've not shared it here; only with Nick.  But, tonight we were at a bookstore while Nick was shopping for a new Bible.  They had a display of children available for sponsorship.  In front of the display were two small bottles of water.  One was filtered and pure; the kind of water we as Americans take for granted and don't hesitate to pour on the ground before tossing its container into the recycling bin.  The other bottle was murky (at best), had things floating on the top, and plenty of silt settled on the bottom.  As I stood at the counter thinking about the simple things we take for granted, I shook the bottle.  It was dirty filthy and not something I would ever dream of drinking.  But, millions of people around the world do just that every day - and are thankful for it! 

This is by no means means to be a guilt trip....just some things I need to share.  I swear I must have been living my life under a rock OR I was just really good at ignoring such conditions.  I know in my mind that I've seen the pictures before and heard the stories before, but they are so incredibly real to me now.  For that I am thankful and forever changed.

Children of God

Maybe I'm slow to the game, but before we began the adoption process, I had never made the connection between our relationship as children of God and that of adoptive children. In multiple places, the bible mentions our adoption to sonship. It is a beautiful way to envision our father's love for us...

Just saw this video today and thought it was worth sharing. This is a video of Third Day's Children of God.  I love the way the video brings the message home. 

Interviews - COMPLETE!

I finished my individual interview after school today.  It was pretty painless so I can't complain.  When Nick got home, I was relaying the timeline as I currently see it based on the information our social worker gave us.  Um, wow....we are this close to being on the waiting list for our little guy.  Our home study will be complete by Monday or Tuesday, will be checked by the home study agency first, then us to correct errors, and then on to our adoption agency for final check.  Once it has officially been approved by all parties, we'll get notarized copies that we will use to file our i600A (the immigration paperwork).....another set of fingerprints, immigration approval and then the waiting list.  It's hard to believe we've already been at this almost two months.  God has been good in moving things along!

Happy Birthday, T Man!!

6 years ago Wednesday, the world welcomed TWR.  It's been a great 6 years - better than his daddy or I deserve.  He's healthy, happy, handsome, smart, charming....the list goes on and on and on.

T-Man has always been full of personality!!

 Before his birthday, T suggested that we have T Appreciation Month in honor of his birthday.  Really...could he be any funnier?  Tomorrow's the big tiki pool party.  Here's to splashing, 6 year olds and birthday cake!  We love you, T-Dog...

Number 3

One doesn't have to spend much time around Teagen to determine he's ALL BOY.  In true all boy fashion, we have our first fracture (just the index finger).  It hasn't been a big deal to him and hasn't impacted his life much.  In fact, he's functioned normally for 2 days now (including soccer about 2 hours after the "accident") and only mentions a slight pain when asked.  He apparently slammed his finger into a wall at a birthday party he attended on Sunday.  Lesson learned here:  go straight to urgent care with bones, sprains, jams, etc.  The pediatrician's office has been less than efficient at dealing with this.  We're heading in this evening for a splint and then life continues as normal.

Everyone just shakes their head and says "welcome to having a boy".  I smile a bit inside as many of these people don't realize we're planning to add to the boy factor in our house.  With the injury prone week we've had with just one active little boy, I can just imagine what our future holds with two!! 

Interview Time

Those who know me very well know that interviewing is right up there with going to the dentist on the list of things I could go the rest of my life without and be happy.  Part of the home study process includes not only interviewing our friends, but also interviewing our family.  Not one, not two, but FOUR interviews it takes to be complete.  Nick scheduled the first part of the interviews for 8:30am yesterday.  Now, you don't have to know me well at all to know that mornings are not my thing.  In fairness to my sweet husband, he 1) knew how important this was to me to move things along expeditiously, and 2) knew I had a hair appt at 11 that I didn't want to miss.  That left us with 8:30.  Here we go....

We started with Interview #1, which was Nick and me together.  Lots of questions about how we met, fell in love, got married and so on.  Interview #2 was just Teagen.  In typical Teagen fashion, he charmed the social worker and had no qualms about telling her how excited he is for a new brother. He told her he's been waiting a long time.  Interview #3 was Nick by himself.  I went upstairs and surfed the net until time for me to leave for my appointment.  An additional requirement is that she can't complete all the interviews at the same time so she's scheduled to come back on Friday after school to finish me.  She also got to take a tour of our humble abode. (that would be tour/walk-through #3 for this adoption for those keeping count).

After my interview, the social worker will complete a 9 page report of our family, our family situation, and our readiness for adoption..... along with all the other paperwork and clearances we've submitted, this is what makes up the Home Study.

Once the home study is complete, we file the infamous (in the adoption process anyway) I600A with the USCIS (US Citizenship and Immigration Services) and wait for another fingerprint appointment.  Then, we wait (patiently I hope) for our I171 from USCIS which is our approval to bring an orphan into the United States.  When we have that in our hands, we finally go on the list to be matched with Number Four (our current name for the 4th member of our family waiting to be identified). 

Current things on our hearts include clarity for the social worker to complete her report expeditiously, prayers for the speed with which our I600A is processed, and a short wait to identify Number Four and BRING HIM HOME.

Praise God!

Just when my patience was waning, great news comes along.  The list of things to accomplish is long, but as long as things are happening, I'm okay with that long list.  It's when nothing is happening that I get antsy. 

Today we got word that our social worker had been officially assigned and would be contacting our references within 24 hours.  I gave our dear friends a heads up and they both confirmed they would be at the ready (thank you...you know who you are :)  I've received word that they've both had their phone calls and the follow up interview is already scheduled for tomorrow night. 

So exciting!!!!  Our turn will be soon....

Adoption Education

One of the pieces of our home study includes 10 hours of adoption education.  We chose to do an online package of education courses.  Our adoption agency includes that plus a few other items.  The courses are complete and we're just currently waiting on certificate approval - our proof that we completed the work.  One more check in the box....

I'm currently personally struggling with patience.  We are inching toward the point where we will have ZERO control over the speed with which this adoption will proceed.  Right now, some of the timeline depends on how quickly we complete the tasks assigned to us.  Once all of those pieces are in place, we are just waiting.  I checked in with our agency this weekend to see where things stand and she indicated that while there isn't much of a pattern on which to base the timeline (as Ugandan adoptions are still new to the agency), they are still anticipating completion in a year. 

He's out there...

Somewhere in Uganda right now, our little guy's day will be beginning as the sun rises soon.

I just finished watching a video on YouTube of a baby's home in Uganda.  It's pretty recent footage as they haven't been home with their little one for long.  There were so many adorable little boys trying to play Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes with the Americans there.  As I looked at their adorable, smiling faces, I couldn't help but wonder about our little guy.  Nick asked me what I was looking at and I told him what I was thinking...that our little one could be in any one of these crowds.  He reminded me that he hopes our little one is lucky enough to be in an orphanage right now....and not living in the slums of Uganda.  Please pray with us that little man is being loved, fed, and taken care of right now while he waits to come home. 

From Hope to Reality

• The Asst. Director of the agency we are using just returned form a trip to Uganda. She is our contact person for the Uganda program. If you care to read about her trip and see a few pics of some adorable kiddos from the baby's home they use there, the blog is called From Hope to Reality. Many orphanages in Uganda are referred to as baby's homes; even though they have children many years older than what we'd consider a "baby".

• Not much new here other than waiting for appointments later this week to get our physicals. After our physicals are turned in, our home study will be assigned a social worker and she will begin our interviews. They are very in depth....she will interview Nick and me separately for about an hour and a half each and then the following day or two, she will interview us together for another hour and a half. She will also interview one of the families that wrote us a letter of recommendation. At our intake interview, we were told that once we have a social worker assigned, we are near the end of the home study.

• We began working on our adoption education a few days ago. The state of Maryland requires 10 hours at a minimum before our home study can be released. We are using an e-learning program from Adoption Learning. I think I started with the most depressing module of all 5....It was called Adopting the Older Child and it pretty much pointed out every possible issue we could have in doing so and failed to mention many of the negatives. While I know this is the right thing for us, I've had to do some reading about fear and overcoming that today.

I Refuse

Not much else to say...

Another check in the box

Fire inspection was easy peasy.  We had a delayed opening due to ice so Teagen and I just waited at home for the inspector.  He came the last 10 minutes of his 2 hour window - literally.  The best part, though, was that he only stayed maybe 10...including filling out his paper work.  We were "Approved for Adoption"!!! 

We also rec'd 3 different e-mails from OUR agency today welcoming us to their Uganda program.  We rec'd an unofficial nod last week, but it was still nice to get the official one.  Those 3 messages had twenty-two attachments - yes, you read that right - 22!  I was a little overwhelmed at first, but as with all things adoption related, taking one paper at a time is best for maintaining sanity.  What's the best way to eat an elephant?  One bite at a time....

Check

Health and Safety Inspection - check
Initial Home Study Interview complete - check
Verbal acceptance from the Adoption Agency - check

A very productive day - even with the ice and snow.

We had a busy day planned and then school was cancelled for weather.  Nick tried to go to work, but came back home when a few roads were closed with accidents.  He planned to come home, give the roads time to clear, and then try again.  Our interview was initially postponed due to weather, so Nick headed to work.  He got to the Metro station and one of his workmates called to tell him they were sending everyone home early due to weather....caught him just in time so he came right back home.  There was a break in the weather during the daytime so we were able to go ahead with the interview and complete our safety inspection.  Yay for accomplishing things!!

It's certainly a good thing we have nothing to hide because our little darling Teagen would certainly spill the beans if we did!  We were preparing him for the "safety inspection" and he said, "Mommy, you and daddy are safe enough for one me, so you should be safe enough for one more."  (isn't he funny?)  So, I explained they were also here to check sanitation kinds of things...like whether we're hoarding 15 rabbits in our home.  Fast forward to the inspection....nice inspection lady here doing her job and asking lots of questions.  Teagen pipes up from the dining room table, "I can tell you we don't have 15 rabbits here!"  She laughed a bit uncomfortably so I had to fill her in on our conversation.  It was even funnier considering she had just dealt with a home (condo to be exact) in our area that was housing over 80 rabbits.  Crazy, huh?

Our biggest wait right now is for my physical.  We have to have health forms completed before we can move forward with our home study.  The earliest my doc could see me is the middle of February. 

That's all for now, folks.....enjoy the snow!!

Busy Busy Busy

The great Paperchase began this weekend and Wow!  are we off to a flying start.  I have a county health and safety inspection scheduled tomorrow afternoon, our first interview with the Home Study agency right after that and then our first safety inspection scheduled for early next week.  We're also heading to Baltimore next Saturday for several fingerprinting cards; including for the FBI.  I would have never guessed these pieces would move so quickly.  I'm sure things will slow to a standstill soon enough....

Paperwork....and More Paperwork

We've sent off our applications to both the Home Study Agency and the Adoption Agency we hope to use to find and bring home the newest member of Team Rausch.  We already received a return packet from the Home Study Agency (it's local) and I spent yesterday under the weather, curled up on the couch filling out forms.  Nick commented that it seems we've purchased 3 homes with less paperwork.  I have to say I must agree.  While I understand the need for fully vetting potential adoptive parents (PAP's they call us), it can sometimes feel like a deterrent even for the committed.

The first round of return paperwork will go in the mail tomorrow.  I'm hoping we'll hear something in the next week from our adoption agency as to the paperwork we'll need to get started for them. 


Besides being totally occupied with the next stack of paperwork and how quickly we can get 3 sets (for each of us) of fingerprints done, I spend time every day wondering what our new little guy is doing right now, what he looks like, and praying that he has someone to love and take care of him while we wait to find each other.