We are still in the "waiting" part of this adoption. We are waiting on our home study to be approved by Beacon House (the Russian agency that works here in the U.S.). They are located in Iberville Parish in Louisiana and they work with adoption agencies like ours (Building Blocks Adoption Service) here in Ohio. We chose Building Blocks because of their Christian facilitation of adoptions and because they were a "one stop shop," where we could be guided and provided home study services as well as help and guidance through forming the paperwork (called dossiers) for Russia. Two of these packets are required for Russia. One of them is submitted before we meet our little Katie Allison and the second is submitted after our first trip to the region in order to schedule a court date.
We wanted the process to be as simple as possible and though there is A LOT of paperwork, they are awesome at guiding us through it and are always there when we need to talk to them via phone. I even got to visit the agency the other day when I went up to Cleveland (their offices are located in Medina--about 45 minutes outside of Cleveland). I saw a bunch of bulletin boards with babies and children that they have placed in "forever families." We can't wait to add our Katie Allison's photo to that board when all this is final. Well, now on to the actual real purpose of this note.
So, Aaron and I had a wonderful day today! We took a walk around the block near our apartment because it was SUCH a beautiful day today with so much sunshine!!!! As most of you know, we have been living here in Beavercreek for over two years now (going on three) and we did not even know about this little furniture store around the corner called Woodcraft. It is awesome!!! Apparently, a lot of their furniture is made by the Amish and the quality is amazing. Plus, how could it get any better?
The prices are phenomenal and they will stain almost anything to match other items in your furniture. Her furniture is mostly Cherry colored, with her dresser being a darker version of Cherry...but I don't mind so much if there are some variations of the wood colors.
I now have an official wish list of stuff from this place for Katie's room and for her in general. We purchased the rocking chair below, but here are some other things I spied that I want for her room and her little play areas:
1) Armoire (since Katie doesn't have her own dedicated closet, we will need a place to hang all her pretty little dresses). We fully intend on dressing her in cute little dresses as often as possible. Aaron said, "You're going to make her a girly, girl aren't you?" To which I replied, "I certainly am."
2) Wooden Toy Chest (this is nice because it has a safety feature on it where the lid locks into place and won't come down on her little hands or head).
3) Shelving unit (my plan for this is a place to put pretty colored canvas fold-out boxes to store diapers and her personal things...maybe bath stuff, etc.) and then the lower shelves can be used for books and her toys
4) Her own "Katie size" rocking chair!!!
Man, if you had seen this place and you were expecting or adopting, you'd have felt like you were in furniture heaven!!! I can't wait til' we get some more stuff for her room and our house for her arrival. I guess the beauty of it is that we have a few months before she will be our forever baby girl!!!!
Aaron and I have wanted a child for so long and it's amazing to think that she may have already been born! We began the paperwork with our agency in December and are nearing the end of our home study (just waiting on a few pertinent documents from outside sources). We've been thinking about her and praying for her daily....that she's getting some love from her caregivers and that she will attach to us. We've been talking to people who have adopted and who are in the process of adopting from Russia to learn as much information about this as we can!!! We are so incredibly thankful to those who have shared their stories with us as we continue on our journey. (Thank you, Leah)!!! This adoptive process seems very bureaucratic, at times, with all the paperwork we face and what we have already completed. But I remember the phrase my grandmother always told me....that anything worth having is worth working for! My mom has started a scrapbook a...
Please keep Aaron and I in your thoughts and prayers because we were called a couple of weeks ago by our adoption agency and because of what the woman in Tennessee did, referrals have slowed dramatically in Russia. It could be anywhere between now and December to March 2011 time frame before we even get information on a child. With that kind of delay, Aaron and discussed switching to domestic adoption and we've already paid thousands into this program so we've decided to wait it our for now....realizing that our timing is not always God's timing and that HE is never late (though sometimes we feel like he is). The only positive thing we see in all of this is that they haven't shut down the Russian adoption program and we are still in line for a little one. We think some things just have to be worked out and hope it happens soon. Though, in situations like this there is really only one thing we CAN do....and that is trust God....our maker and creator! W...
One day, I shall turn all of this into a book, beginning of when Aaron & I met and going forward. There are not many couples who can say they met on e-harmony, have traveled extensively and that are now adopting a beautiful baby girl from literally the other side of the world! This blog has been very therapeutic for me. I know it has for many other families who have and are adopting as well. I hope we can keep it up once our little girl is home so that other families have the kind of encouragement I have. Aaron spoke to Oksana, our Russian coordinator/translator and she seems very nice! We are thoroughly impressed with the service and the hospitality extended to us through Beacon House and Building Blocks. I've said it before on this, but we would wholeheartedly recommend them to anyone wishing to adopt internationally. They are SO very personable and always available to talk when you need them!!!! We are SOOOO excited because ...
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