An Emotional Week

This week has been so full of emotions... fear, sadness, confusion, anger, relief, hope and many more. 

Receiving an e-mail that your agency is going out of business and not having a way to get immediate answers is a very scary thing, especially when your future child is involved.  For nearly 24 hours after receiving that e-mail on Monday evening, we were confused and worried about what was going to happen.  On Tuesday evening we received an e-mail letting us know which agency had agreed to take our case.  Friends on the Buglaria adoption board on FaceBook who had used the agency were very supportive and had many good things to say about the agency, so we felt very comfortable with the change.  We filled out the transfer form and sent it over on Wednesday morning, and we heard from the new agency later that same day. 

On Thursday morning I woke up to an e-mail from our travel coordinator in Bulgaria.  Although she was contacting me about something else, hearing from her was still comforting.  We're so happy that we'll still be working with the same NGO in Bulgaria because I really can't imagine anyone else greeting us when we arrive in Sofia.  On Thursday afternoon I received an unexpected phone call from our former caseworker.  I hate having to use the word "former" when talking about that relationship.  We've been working together for almost five years.  She helped us bring our first son home and has done so much to help with our second adoption.  For that, we are so grateful and I'm so glad I got that chance to talk to her one last time.

I was also able to speak with our new caseworker on Thursday evening.  She's very personable and gave me such a positive feeling.  We aren't going to lose any money (from this adoption) and are able to keep the same fee schedule.  The new agency does a lot of waiting children adoptions, so it sounds like we'll fit right in.  I've been working my way through the new contract and other paperwork and hope to finish it up this weekend.

I've also been in touch with my social worker at our home study agency.  She'll be printing us a batch of new home studies with the new agency's name in place of the old one and also taking care of the inter-agency paperwork that needs to be filed. 

I still need to figure out a few details about dossier and immigration paperwork, but it sounds like this transition shouldn't be too difficult.  Although it's very sad that the agency had to close due to the ban on adoptions from Russia, everyone has come together to make this transition as smooth as possible.  We will most likely lose our last post-placement deposit, but at least we have Nikolas.  Some parents lost their future children, Russian orphans lost their chance to have a family and a great group of people lost their jobs.  Compared to their losses, we don't have anything to complain about.

Thanks to everyone for your prayers this week.  Now it's time to move forward...     

A Tough Day... UPDATED!!

We found out last night that our agency (Adoption Ark) had to make the decision to go out of business.  Due to the ban on adoptions from Russia, they just weren't able to stay open any longer.  Our case will be transferred to another agency (with their help) and we should be able to proceed as planned, hopefully without too many delays.  Because our home study was completed by Bethany, that part of our adoption won't be affected.  As you know, we have requested a little boy from the waiting child list and the MOJ will issue the official referral as soon as we submit our dossier.  Happy Family in Bulgaria is the agency who has the file, so we should still be able to receive the referral as planned.  He's still on hold for us, so changing our US placing agency shouldn't change that.  The problem is that things may be delayed a bit because we'll have to get set up with the new US placing agency and most likely redo a lot of our dossier documents.  We'll also have to learn how to make the necessary adjustments to our USCIS approval, which we don't even have yet.  Right now we don't have a lot of information.  We've been told that we'll know something by the end of the week, but until then, it's hard to just sit and wait.   

UPDATE:  We received an e-mail from Adoption Ark this evening.  Our case will be transferred to CHI, and we've heard great things about the agency and our new caseworker.  We'll still be working with Happy Family in Bulgaria, and for that we are extremely grateful!! 

A Little Bit of Everything

As of Thursday, Nikolas has been home for a full year and a half.  He continues to thrive and is a happy, well-adjusted little boy who loves life.  He loves preschool and is learning so much.  A few weeks ago I started picking him up after school instead of having him ride the bus home.  Even though the school is less than 2 miles away, it was taking at least an hour for him to get home each day.  That cut into his nap time, and he was sluggish and difficult during his afternoon therapy sessions.  With the extra hour of sleep each day, his performance at therapy is so much better.

He's starting to speak more and adds a couple of new words to his vocabulary every week.  He's now able to tell us what he wants instead of always grunting and pointing.  His motor skills are also improving and he's catching up to his peers.  We're working on increasing his muscle tone in both his upper and lower body, and it's definitely paying off.  A couple of months ago he could only pedal the tricycle a few rotations.  Now he easily rides it everywhere and has a fun time doing so.

He's starting to get past his sensory issues.  The other day his preschool class took off their shoes and went "ice skating" in shaving cream.  His teacher said he did well and didn't cry at all.  In the past he would freak out if he got anything on his hands or feet.  Definite progress!!  We have been having issues with him getting mad when asked to do undesirable tasks, like picking up his toys.  Both at home and school he uses the word "no" a little too often.  We're working with him on showing respect to those who are in charge and doing what he is asked without getting angry.  Now that I pick him up from school each day, I'm able to get  frequent updates from his teacher.

We've been talking with him about becoming a big brother.  I'm not sure how much he understands, but we are trying to prepare him for having a little brother join our family.

The adoption is moving along nicely.  We now have our official home study in our possession and have submitted our I800A application to USCIS.  We've gathered a lot of our dossier documents and are trying to get everything completed as quickly as possible.  Even though we are a little behind the schedule that we had originally hoped for, we still anticipate being able to make our first trip in May.  It feels easier this time, perhaps because we've been through it all before.

Our Tastefully Simple fundraiser has been going well.  It runs through the 8th, so there's still time to order for those who are interested.  Last Saturday we hosted a Taste-Testing Open House for everyone to sample some of the goodies.  Our guests had a nice time and we enjoyed hosting it.  The orders are in and we spent some time this afternoon getting everything ready to deliver.

Here's the link to our online party: https://www.tastefullysimple.com/secure/pomm/SpecialInvitation.aspx?pxid=3279590&key=cd7b1d51-15a8-4...192-930f-efe1acaf2602.

All proceeds will go directly to our adoption fund.  Adoption is very expensive, and we appreciate the help we are receiving.  We are so thankful to everyone who has supported us as we go through the adventure of adopting another little boy.  It's definitely comforting to know that so many people are behind us as we take this amazing journey.