Our Journey to 5: An Adoption Story: August 2009

Leap of Faith

This is a blog that was originally intended as an outlet to help me make sense of my strong desire to expand to our family of four through international adoption and the educating of my husband in the process. Now, so many months later, decisions made and hearts full, I can happily say that this blog chronicles our actual adoption process -- our journey to become a family of five. Please read my initial entry from October 19, 2007 as an introduction to our adoption thoughts. Welcome!

"Occasionally in life, God presents a path that requires a leap of faith to travel. The trailhead looks very promising, but the trail further on is certain to be arduous and long. Those of us on the trail together are going to have to make it up as we go. Yet the vision toward which we travel is life-giving, and the journey will stretch the soul." -- Neil Hamilton

Our Adoption Timeline

April 2007 -- Vision Board features My Wildly Impossible Dream to Adopt

September 2007 -- Actively Began Researching Adoption -- Stepped Into the Dream. Everything is possible!

September 2007 -- June 2008 -- Our Very Long Decision Making Process. Education! Education! Education! Meeting friends, reading blogs, educating family and hubby, reading, learning, begin my own blog about the decision to adopt. A little boy is in my heart and I won't turn back now.

July 3, 2008 -- First Home Study Visit

August 15, 2008 -- Application and Contract Approved

September 2008 -- Begin Dossier Collection, Continue collection of paperwork for Home Study

September 9, 2008 -- File my I600A Form on my 36th Birthday (Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition) with the office of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Early October 2008 -- *Final* collected documents submitted by me to Social Worker and Home Study agency towards completion of Home Study.

October 8, 2008 -- Read draft of Home Study. We're almost there!

March 3, 2009 -- Home Study officially complete and in my hands with final edits and changes done. This is after an enormous period of delays that made my Home Study process months longer than is customary.

March 9, 2009 -- I600A application filing finally complete with me having sent in our Home Study to the office of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. I171H should come in about 4-6 weks.

March 13, 2009 -- Re-did FBI fingerprints today for dossier (originally taken in October 2008) as, due to many delays with Home Study fingerprints, the stamped date is now considered "old" for our paperwork collection. Sent off to West Virginia to await our FBI records which hopefully should take about 3 weeks, like last time.

March 27, 2009 -- Received fingerprint appointment date from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services in regards to receiving my I171H. Appointment is set for April 7, 2009.

April 7, 2009 -- 9am. We take our fingerprints at the Brooklyn Immigration office -- and now should be 2-3 weeks away from the long awaited I171H.

April 13, 2009 -- Re-did two more sets each of FBI fingerprints again as last week we received notice that two sets of both of our prints were rejected due to illegibility. Have lost track of how many times we have redone fingerprints for various reasons. Hopefully, in another three weeks, by early May, we will receive a positive outcome and can move forward.

April 23, 2009 -- Receive long awaited I171H form seven months after I first applied for it. Great things come to those who are patient and persevere! Our advance processing application has officially been forwarded to the American Consulate/Embassy in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Woohoo!!!

May 13, 2009 -- Received Apostilles back from West Virginia for our FBI fingerprints. I now have the first official documents ready for my dossier. This was unbelievably quick -- I sent them in on a Saturday and received them back ready for my dossier the following Wednesday. Go Fed-Ex!!

June 12, 2009 -- Dossier Complete and Sent to With Hope and Love Adoption Agency for Legal Review. The day I have strived for -- So many months of dedication and commitment culminated in me praying over and kissing a FedEx package this evening. And off it goes!

Late June -- July 2009 -- Dossier in Translation and Legal Review

Late July 2009 -- Dossier at the Consulate in Washington, DC for approval. It all seems to be moving so fast!

August 20, 2009 -- Dossier leaves the Kazakhstan Consulate in DC for its' journey to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in KZ. I am in awe at how far down I am on the timeline as I write this now. Home stretch!

August 25, 2009 -- Dossier arrives at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Astana, KZ.

September 17, 2009 -- Dossier arrives at the Ministry of Education. Very soon, we will find out the region where our child lives and ultimately, where we will travel and bring him home.

October 7, 2009 -- Officially tell Emma and Eden that they will be Big Sisters! Excitement all around!

October 11, 2009 -- Assigned a Region where our son waits for us .... Baby Boy Karp is in Almaty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

October 29, 2009 -- Letter of Invitation to Travel. We are expected to travel in 7-10 days! Our eye is on the prize!!

November 4, 2009 -- Visas arrive! Still no definitive date yet.

November 10, 2009 -- Original date set to travel. Status: Cancelled.

November 13, 2009 -- Second date set to travel. Status: Cancelled.

December 8, 2009 -- Last minute dates to travel. Get re-packed ASAP!

December 11, 2009 -- Leave for Almaty, Kazakhstan with a stopover in Amsterdam. Total door to door travel time is 25 hours.

December 13, 2009 -- arrive in Almaty, KZ

December 14, 2009 approx. 10:05 am -- We meet our soon-to-be son for the very first time! Hello Batyrhan! Your Kazakh name means Hero, Leader, Warrior and Dashing Equestrian.

December 15-29, 2009 -- Bonding Period

February 3, 2010 -- Court Date -- We are officially a family of 5! We travel door to door almost 40 hours to get to Almaty and 26 hours home. We are in country shorter than the time we traveled -- just two days and, with a new twist, without being able to visit our son.

February 18, 2010 -- 15 day appeal period is over. We are officially officially a family of 5!

March 11, 2010 -- Depart for Kazakhstan

March 13, 2010 -- Arrive in Almaty, Kazakhstan

March 14, 2010 -- See Major for the first time in 74 days!!

March 15, 2010 -- Depart Baby House forever with our bundle of joy!

March 23, 2010 -- We're Coming Home! Our son touches American soil for the first time and becomes a United States citizen. Major meets his two big sisters for the first time as well as his grandparents! Dreams come true for so many of us! And the journey continues ...

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Home Stretch!

I just got wonderful news today that our dossier has left the Kazakhstan Consulate in Washington, DC and is on its way to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Almaty, Kazakhstan! This means that our paperwork is finally heading to the country, and eventually the region, where our little boy waits. As I filled in the timeline on the side bar just minutes ago, I was amazed at how far down I am on the timeline from where I was a year or more ago. I have emotions that run the gamut from joy to fear to, after Eden's tantrum this morning, what have I gotten myself into, to satisfaction to pride to contentedness to excitement and back to joy. When my mother found out the news from my email earlier, she told me she cried. I was surprised by her reaction as I still hold myself guarded a bit with my news (even though my eyes also filled with tears) but my mother said "Why shouldn't I cry? I'm getting so excited ... I'm going to be a Grandma again!!" I love my supportive family!!!

If I have ever ever ever in my life doubted my ability to make things happen, to stick to a plan, to change the world in some small way, to affect the life of a child (including Emma and Eden), to persevere against self-doubt and outside opposition, to stick to it, I take it all back. I am building my family in exactly the way I dreamed of long ago and I couldn't be more proud.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Family of Four photos

When I look at these photos from our recent August trip to Beaches Turks and Caicos, I can't help but imagine images of a little boy filling in the empty spaces. Next year .... G-d willing, next year.