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.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Sunday, February 13, 2011
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.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
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....
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....
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
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!!
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!!
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
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....
Sunday, January 23, 2011
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.
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.
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