Slowly...moving Slowly

Hello everyone. Can't believe it was about 1 year ago this month we completed our home study! The first step in this amazing journey. Word has it now that because we are open to either gender, our dossier will move to NY and then to Kaz very quickly in February. The great news is that they are not 'sitting' on dossiers in NY - rather, moving them to Kaz quickly. From there - perhaps 4 months more? Who knows. Happy holiday's to all, and I think we can say that by NEXT year at this time, our little wonder will be here in the Moss house!

The Two that Keep Us GOING!

Turtle's Pace!

Trying to think of a way to describe the feelings that this whole adoption pace stirs. Seems like it will never happen, and not a reality at all. At times we don't even talk about it, as it's just 'in process.' What else is there to say?

It's hard to stay excited and anticipate the amazing journey to our child. Wonder how folks stay on track and not loose hope? Keep praying for us...it's all we can do at this point. Perhaps the timing thing is a part of the divine plan? Maybe we have more preparation to do that we think - and the time frame will enable us to be even more ready? As we all know, truth is revealed when we least expect it...and often out of no where.

No more than 2 dossiers per month are being sent to NY. So, now, if we are lucky, ours will go in March - and perhaps actual travel the end of August sometime. Hah...all best guesses.

Stay with us....

11-3= ?

Eight! Our new number 'in line.' This isn't the greatest news, in that the dossiers are being requested by the NY Consulate at a snail's pace. If I do the math, and 3 is the average per month...that put's us in January for our dossier to head to NY. From there, the anticipated time for approval is 4-5 months. At least we will travel in good weather....keep your fingers crossed!

Completed...

We have mailed the Hague approved Home Study today. It is on it's way to complete our dossier 'package.' For now, we are on target to send the dossier to the NY Consulate in late November, early December, due to yet another new requirement. The consulate will only accept dossiers one at a time, so while we are really close...little things like this new request creep up. Additionally, we must now plan on being in Kaz 4 weeks for the initial trip. Needless to say, this isn't great news. We are talking through our options and will formulate a plan. Leaving a 5 year old behind is now even more something to pray about. Not sure we could do this. We have faith that all will work out! One step at a time!

Lily or Paul?

What fun we are having! While each day is one step closer to our new baby, things pop up that cause us to stop and think. The recommendation at this point in our adoption is not to be gender specific. While our preference is an infant female, we are now open to either! We received advice that not only is the wait longer, but our dossier may indeed be sent back if a certain amount of time passes and no match for a female is found.

Lucky for us, we have the little boy thing down to a science! As with some things, it is out of our control, and no matter what we will be truly blessed. Our little boy will have the name of my father - Paul Jason. We may indeed call him PJ. I can't think of a better way to remember my dad who passed away three years ago this Christmas.

Learning More....

As expected, each day Craig and I learn more about this process. As our dossier moves through the next three layers of approval - we have been told it should be 4-5 months in total. WOW. We thought it was 4-5 months for each of the three layers. With that, we will have a better idea of 'travel to Kaz' with in the next month or so, as soon as some of new changes with the Kaz Embassy shake out. Our agency is amazing and has such a firm grasp on the details and all that is required. Each day is one day closer.

We enjoy reading and seeing pictures from all the families who are in Kaz now, who have recently returned, or are raising happy, well adjusted toddlers! The babies are beautiful and so healthy. Hard to imagine that will be us some day. Take care.

Moving On...

Well, we received news today, that once our 'revised and Hague accredited' home study is complete (next week), we will be sent to the next step on October 31st! This is great news, in that our dossier will be sent to the NY Consulate for the next step in our journey. ETA in NY is about 4 months before we move to the ministry of education in Kaz. This is much better time wise than we have been anticipating. Maybe things are moving along...just as intended. Take care and I will keep you all posted!

Hurdle Perhaps Cleared....

Good news perhaps - that we can get the home study transfered to the letterhead of the partner agency - the one that IS Hague accredited and attach their accreditation information. In total, we are told to tack on an additional 4-5 months to travel (now, I would say late fall 2009) with all the changes and the slow down in processing dossiers.

Keep sending positive thoughts....

Hurdle or Road Block?

I guess it's the way we look at the latest news. We choose hurdle. What other choice do we have? In a nutshell - the very first step of any adoption process is the Home Study. A long process that is done by an agency. Now, the Kazakhstan embassy is stating that all Kaz home study's must be completed by a 'Hague Accredited' agency. This requirement is a huge issue, in that our agency is not Hague accredited. With that, the agency that is partners with our Home Study agency IS Hague accredited. We will need to see if we can simply 'transfer' our Home Study - in lieu of going through this all over again. We are heavy hearted, and need to keep focused. I suspect this is one of many 'hurdles' that will be thrown our way.

We are now in week 6 of translation. It is my hope to get this home study issue resolved and keep things moving.

Kaz has clearly stated that they want to slow international adoptions down significantly. Please pray this isn't a future forecast of 'closing.'

In Translation

I thought we went right to translation two weeks ago - but unfortunately not. Today however is the day our dossier was sent to Kaz for the official start to the process!

The Holly Springs 'ShipOnSite' Friends and THE Dossier Box!

Who knew....

A box full of documents could be so exciting and filled with such emotion! The dossier was sent this morning to our agency! The process is as follows with no real expectation of a timeline.

1) Dossier is sent from our agency to the Ministry of Education in Astana for translation.

2) Once translations are completed, the translated dossier goes back to our agency and is then sent to the New York Kazakh Consulate.

3) Then the dossier goes to Kazakhstan

4) Then to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Education for approval.

Then....we keep waiting!

Pick Up!

Picked up 27 documents today from the NC Secretary of State's office. Done in less than a day!

Closer than I thought....

Well, this morning we received the last document we needed to complete our dossier! So, down to the NC Secretary of State's office for Apostille's. I will have them back tomorrow afternoon. In time I hope, to make our copy sets and mail them off to our agency. Then....it is basically in the system and out of our hands until we hear other wise. Keep us in your prayers.

Not so fast....

I missed my self imposed deadline of getting our dossier completed by the end of June 2008! Just when we thought we were ready to go! Those 6 docs I referred to earlier got a little confusing with what we already completed. Anyway, my new goal is July 6 - our 6 year wedding anniversary! More to come....

June 24 - On Target for Dossier Submission!

After nearly 7 months (starting with the home study in December 2007) and a 3 month delay (started in Vietnam program which closed), we are finally ready to submit our dossier to Kazakhstan. From here, we wait. Multiple layers of hand off's amid different departments with in Kazakhstan etc. will need to take place before we receive our referral. In deciding to wait for an infant girl between the ages of 0-12 months, our wait will be longer.

The two cuties above are waiting for their little sister! After I return from from the NC secretary of state office to have our dossier Apostilled, I will return and update our blog, as the clock will officially begin ticking! Just today, we received an additional 6 more documents from the Kazakh Consulate in NY that need to be completed for the dossier. Lucky for us we haven't submitted yet!