Update and Pics

B's room is done: Here is a pic.. you cant really see it but I painted clouds on his wall and took some of the things I bought for him on Trip 1, my aunt made a bunch of afgans some for B and some for the babies in Tokmok. If I dont go soon I will need to check with J to see if I can get them shipped there.

I heard an update from J and the gist is: Nothing signed yet. T (the other agency coordinator that went with her) is still in Kyrgz visiting her family and working hard to get some action going. Priority, of course, is for 3 other families (2 have been waiting 3+ months and 1 is a beautiful special needs girl) I hope T is successful THIS WEEK. After those letters are signed, I think I am on deck along with the other family left in the 'fab 5'. J said that once the letters are signed I can travel a couple of weeks later to get him. This of course is provided that I have had court already. I dont know if I have had court yet, J will ask Tatiana. That trip is about 2 weeks so I will be using all my vacation right off the bat in January. I am going to have to re-evaluate the amount of time I take off.. Initially I was going to take 4 weeks off but that didnt include any vacation time and I wanted to save that for some trips for B to meet family. I may pull out the big gun of FMLA, not sure though.

On another note, mom needs to quit watching segments on 'Easy ways to increase the value of your house'. Last week we got new carpeting in the bedrooms (I want B to come ome to some nice ecofriendly (made of corn) carpeting. I am now having ceiling fans installed in Mom and B's rooms and changing out the ones in the LR and my room. All things I have meant to do.. ... but never had the incentive to do.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. There is lots to be thankful for this year including the knowledge that B will be home soon. He's 5 months old now (on the 25th). I was hoping to begin planning for an upcoming trip but this is not the case. I have comfort and am thankful that B is being taken care of. he looks good in the pics I got from J's visit we cant tell how much he has grown and they werent able to do weights on them since it's so cold there now. She is hoping to get another update from T by week's end. T stayed there this week to visit with her family and is coming home next week. So here's the skinny so far: We dont think the letters were signed on the 25th but J doesnt know for sure. T had a meeting with the Senator that is against American's adopting, but we dont know how that went. Let me tell you, its all in who you know. Not to be too specific, to ensure their privacy but, someone who knew someone that this Senator has known for years and is fond of made the introductions, so needless to say he wasn't in a bad mood from the get-go. I think having the meetings face to face to explain international adoption and its benefits is a great thing for all of us. So now we are waiting to hear what happened with the signing and what happened with the meeting. J is going to try to get us an update Friday, poor thing never a day off!, but thats what makes her so great. She advocating for us and now has had a 'taste' of how wonderful our waiting children are and thats even more incentive to get them home. We are almost done with B's room. The new carpet is in and we painted some clouds on the wall.., his changing table is up and my rocker is placed carefully in the corner waiting for some quality time with Porkchop. I will take some pics when we are done with it. Thank you for all your support during the wait.

Update

I heard from J after I posted on Tuesday and am letting it all sink in. She explained what has initiated the delay. I am not pointing fingers and would probably have done the same thing if I didnt have such a great agency advocating for me. But, to make a long story short an independent potential adoptive parent from another country felt their wait for a referral was unfairly long because of the US agencies were getting all the referrals and complained to the Prime Minister, who initiated an investigation. Prior to that, there was an issue with signatures on the letters for court. There are two signatures required and one of the officials, who has since been fired, signed and sent letters with only his signature. The US agencies for those APs may or may not have known this was wrong but they used those letters to complete adoptions. This, in turn, initiated a new investigation. Craziness.. just craziness. So thats whats been going on. There is a rumor that letters will be signed November 25th. I hope that is true. We will know more when J is able to send another update, while J & T are there they are having meeting after meeting with officials, visiting the orphanages (and B) getting medical donations finalized and advocating to get 'The Fab 5' through court and back to Kyrgyz to pick up our babies. Oh. Who are The Fab 5, you ask? Well thats what I named the 5 families that are anxiously waiting for our return trips. We have all visited our babies.. starting all the way back in July..(OMG) I dont want to think about waiting that long. We are all supporting each other and trying to stay positive...

Thats my story and I'm stickin' to it.

Nothing yet

No news yet. The internet over there is a bit sketchy so I havent heard anything (good or bad) yet from her visit. I hope she is having success and staying safe. I am tossing around the idea of an interim visit if the news comes back that it will be a while. T is going in January and I may try to tag along, we will see. By the end of J's trip I think I will at least have some more pics of Porkchop. I dont know which would make me happier.. not knowing and checking every day, multiple times hoping and being disappointed... or knowing that there is a definite day but that it is a while yet. I am still tossing that around too. Thank you for all your positive thoughts and prayers. Keep em coming...

Home improvements

Thank you A,B, & C for your encouragement and comments. I am confident things will work out its just a matter of when. Work seems to be settling down and there are opportunities coming up that may fit for me. We will see what happens. On the home front we decided to put new carpet in the bedrooms. I was planning on doing it eventually but decided now would be a good time. We are getting some really ecofriendly corn based carpeting installed the week of Thanksgiving. So of course that requires a new vacuum, I have wanted a dyson for a while bu they are pretty spendy and didnt really want to spend the dough when I had such icky carpeting. With porkchop coming home I dont want to run the risk of any icky air in his room. and I have pets. Hence the new carpet and super duper pet vacuum. Mom has also decided she wants to switch rooms with Porkchop. Her room is it the back of the house and, since his is the former office, its in the front. She doesnt want the street noise to wake him up (so sweet of her). I think she just got tired of the baby blue room she was in. Ironic that the room is blue and tan and it will be perfect for a boy that is far far away but will be home soon. It was painted that way when I moved here 2 years ago and I never changed it. For now everything, and I mean everything is in the living room in preparation for the carpetguys. We are also planning a yard sale so most of the stuff wont be going back into the rooms. Ever notice how we buy more stuff but never get rid of the old stuff? hmmm

Rants and Hopes

J and T are on their way to Kyrgz. No news this week, but we are hoping that their presence will get things moving for our families. I am so fortunate to be working with a small agency that really has a consistent track record in Kyrgyz. I think that our agency is seen in a positive light, and that is good. There are comments all over the adoption groups about closing down and corruption and some agencies getting too greedy..taking on too many families... not giving back... pretty negative stuff. I dont like it much so I think I will stay away from them for a while. I know J watches the boards too and usually mentions the important stuff on our weekly update or in an email directly to us. Its bad enough that we are saddened by the extended waiting, I dont think its in my heart's best interest to get caught up in all that speculation and attitude. Even the blogs I read are affected, everyone is feeling the strain and are either very quiet or venting. So this is my blog and my venting...Supportive comments are what is needed now on all blogs and groups. Stop the bickering, stop the blaming, stop the fingerpointing,.... there were comments on the singles group that were perceived by me (and others) as a, sort-of, 'scolding' for us choosing IA rather than domestic. We all have our reasons and those are our personal choices. Respect those personal choices. I went into this with my eyes WIDE open and knew what I was getting in to. Those are my rants. I am holding onto hope, and will continue to do so until Porkchop comes home. Remember, if it were easy ....everyone would do it. lol

Shower Gifts

I finally had time to download the pics of the baby gifts Porkchop got at the shower 2 weeks ago. He got alot of great things and I cant wait to see him in the outfits and playing with the toys. Here's some pics:

The kitchen is red

We finished up painting today in the Kitchen and it is red. M has always had at least 1 red wall in her house and now she has a red kitchen. It took 2 coats and more up and down the ladder but its done and looks pretty good I cant wait to see it all decorated.

We got our weekly update from the agency and nothing new. They are still hoping to hear some news before they leave and will let us know. They leave on Friday keep those prayers coming. Here's part of a pic as a little teaser.

Distraction

Painting this weekend again. My friend M bought a new house and we spent part of last weekend painting rooms in a very white house. I have a Gor#$$a ladder. It turns out I am the only one not afraid of heights so I had to climb the ladder, cut in the ceiling, climb down the ladder, get more paint, and do it all again...and again...and again.. by 7pm my butt and thighs hurt and I couldnt get up off the sofa without wincing. In the midst of our pain from painting all day (note the pun.. pain - painting) I asked mom if my butt looked 'lifted' since I had such a workout.. we had a laugh but we were both sore. It took a couple of days to recover and be able to go up and down stairs without holding my newly muscled butt.

The only new thing I have heard so far is that my name was added to the Ambassador's letter requesting processing through before any changes happen in Bishkek. T was also added so that makes 5 of us ready to 'launch' at any moment. J & T (the agency coordinators) will be going to Kyrgz the end of next week. We still dont know when anything will happen, but I am glad I was added to the list. I know all 5 of us cant go at the same time so even if we all get approval letters next week, we will have to space out our visits. I say the 5 familes rent a jet and go get our kids. The agency gives all of the familes a weekly update, maybe we will get some news then. I miss this little face... you can only see part of it though.

A little news

Its not the greatest news but I know J is doing everything she can to get Porkchop home. I got an email tonight from her letting me(us) know that the Kyrgz government is looking to shift some responsibilities around concerning adoption. ICF has 3 families that are through court and are only waiting on this last step to bring their children home. J is going to Kyrgz next week with T(the coordinator of our sister agency) to see what she can do to get them completed and meet with the new ministers. There is always hope that they will be completed before J goes, moving the families along faster. I found out that my dossier is not completely through the MOE and one of her goals for her visit is to try to get it moving through. T(another AP) and I are really close to getting through and hopefully their presence will keep us in their thoughts and allay any fears they have with the changes. They will be visiting the orphanage in Tokmok, (I'm sure checking on babies) and a couple more goodwill visits. I will keep you posted as I find out info. I am still hopeful but it is looking like later in Dec for him to come home. Keep me & my ICF family in your prayers as they travel and wait for news.

Anxious

I havent heard any news.. but dont expect to hear anything until sometime next week. As far as I know once the letters have been signed we have a green light to book trip two. That involves a bit more of prep. We have send our passports away to get the visa for our short visit to Kazakstan. I am not sure how long that takes to come back but hopefully not more than 3 weeks. I will more accurate info on 'what to do' as soon as the letters are signed and I hear from J that I can book my trip. In the mean time, a little pic for you... its just his hand but trying to get another pic of a face that doesnt look like a face is hard. Off to Colorado this week then Los Angeles next week. Still plugging away at work. Still no solid decision on whats going to happen with my position.

Hoping for good news

We've been keeping up to date from the agency and things are looking up for next week. Nothing solid yet but we are all hoping and crossing fingers, lighting candles (remember Sunday 6pm) to try to get things moving again. There is so much sadness with all of us that are waiting to go back and get our children. I have been told ups and downs are 'normal' for international adoption but didnt realize the 'ups' were so wonderful that the 'downs' seem horribly wrong. To quote one of the other blog comments 'sign the stinkin' papers' already. If you know me at all, I am a half full type of gal, keeping positive is how I like to be. I am still thinking it will happen when its supposed to but, of course want things to happen faster.

(For Jackie S) I got the Yurt Nativity set at 'the mall' in Bishkek. It was at a little 'shop' right by the down escalator I think it was on the 4th floor. It was 1500 som. I dont know when I am going back, or if the mall will be on the agenda.