17 months. I guess I do have patience.

And on and on and on

We have been waiting for 16 months! Wow! That is a long time. We just recently updated our photo album per Taz's suggestion. It will make its way to Japan either this week or next. We are also supposed to decorate the nursery and send pictures of it. At first I was all over that, but now I feel lost as to how to do it being that we do not know the gender and I have specific ideas for both genders, just no ideas for gender neutral. I need to get working on that soon though. I put up our Christmas stuff and when I was hanging the stockings, I found a stocking holder that I purchased last year for baby 2. That was kinda sad leaving it in the box. Well, chin up! Our time will come and we are patiently waiting and praying.

New Photo Album

Our agency suggested that we create a new photo album. Seems as though the mothers have been wanting to see more pictures of our wedding. So, I just finished a new photo album that I am sending off to L this week. Hopefully it will make it to Japan this month. Here are a few pictures that we included. Lots of pictures of just Dave and I together. It is weird to not include Kaori as much, being that she is such a HUGE part of our family, but I understand that it can be a bit intimidating to the moms. Enjoy a few blast from the past photos.

Done!

Today we received our final copy of our updated home study! So, that is complete. We have successfully accomplished all that needed to be taken care of upon our move to GA. I am very proud. We were even able to get our fingerprints done early yesterday, so we are officially back in the waiting game. We are praying for our baby and the mother, wherever they may be.

Finger Print Appointment

We received our renewal fingerprint appointment. It is November 4 at noon. Yay!!

Home Visit- Check

Our visit on Sunday went well. Our house was perfectly in order, we had all the necessary things installed, smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, outlet plugs and covered all open electrical outlets. Much thanks to Doug for all of his help getting the house ready. We turned in all kinds of documents. Tax returns, birth certificates, marriage certificates, Citizenship, passport copies, medical forms, employment verification, financial statement, monthly expenses, water bill, sewage bill, letter stating Kaori is free of communicable disease, PAP Smear results, local law enforcement background check and 911 emergency call history, GBI criminal background check, letters of reference and various forms stating we won't abuse our children. It was a lot to organize and we still have a few outstanding documents, but hope to get those turned in very soon! It was a successful day, but I was pretty tired once it was all done, just a lot of mental preparation went into it and I was relived it was over with. Now we wait for the update to be complete and then we send it off for approval. Yay!

Home Study Visit is Almost Here

This week will be super busy for me, completing paperwork and getting things ready for our homestudy visit on Sunday! I am so happy to have this visit and get so much closer to having our update complete. I am thrilled with how we are getting things accomplished and making some positive steps towards our baby. We both have our medical visits this week and hopefully Dave will get his GBI fingerprints complete. I did mine last week. We still have to be fingerprinted for the FBI and USCIS as well, so hopefully that will all go smoothly and in in a timely manner. Thankfully Kaori does not have to see a doctor, as I took care of that before we left TN. Go me!

Anyway, I am feeling good as we approach this new week!

New Pictures for our Album

This post is intended for the future when we convert this blog into Baby 2's Adoption Story book. Because we moved, we had to send in new photos of our house for the birthmother to look at. We did not have to make an entire new book, just update our house photos. I want baby 2 to be able to look back and see what his/her birthmother saw when she selected us to be the adoptive family. So, these photos are for you baby 2.

Front of house

Back of house

Living/Dining Room

Formal Living Room

Sunroom

Master Bedroom

Master Bath

Kaori's Room


New Baby Room (not decorated)

Guest Bath

Family Room

Georgia is Just Peachy

I had a nice long conversation with our new social worker and man does Georgia require A LOT. Here is a breakdown of what is in our future:

Copies of recent tax returns
Copy of our water bill
Copy of most recent PAP Smear
Physicals including bloodwork for drugs, TB and communicable diseases for all three of us.
Letter from local law enforcement stating our emergency call history.
GBI criminal check
FBI criminal check
Child Abuse check
If we had a pool or lived on water we would have to be certified as a lifeguard

And then the regular stuff for proof of identification and marriage and employment and financial records.

Wow!!!

All for YOU Baby TWO!!!

And it begins....

Yesterday I began our updating process. I mailed off our form of request to be re-fingerprinted by the FBI. Our current prints expire in December and this process should take about 2 months, so we will hopefully get them done before our current ones expire. Hard to believe that we have made it to this point, having to do most things over again. But, we are excited to get started and of course be finished. Next thing will be to send in new pictures of our new home. We have finally unpacked all but 4 boxes, so we are ready to take some pictures and show off our new place. After that we will begin our home study. We have a few things to do around the house to get the house ready to be inspected, but nothing to big.

We are thankful to be past the moving stage and onto the settling stage of things. We of course cannot wait to get that phone call! We asked Kaori over the weekend if she wanted to be a big sister and she said yes. She said she wanted a little boy! Hummmmm? I have had one dream and in my dream it was a baby girl. So, we shall see!

Lots To Do

We are in Georgia now. We have been here for 2 weeks and are getting ready to start updating all of our paperwork. We received this email from our agency listing all that we need to do in the near future. Wow! Time to get busy. Back on the paperchase!

"Attached is the form you will use to fill out for the request for re-fingerprinting (check the 2nd box) (one time no charge). As stated, fill out your names at the top, petitioner first- probably David?, then you, your I-600A approval date which is 10/2/2009. If you can find your SIM # on your approval notice, then enter it on that line. You would not fill out the line to the right as you have not yet had an extension approval date. Then they ask you to attach a letter with David’s name and your name and your dates of birth. I assumed you don’t have any other adults in the home? And include a copy of your current valid approval notice (I-171H or I-797). Don’t forget to sign and fill out the bottom too. Since this is a “No Fee” request, US mail to the PO Box in Lee’s Summit or Express mail to the street address in Lee’s Summit if you want proof of receipt. Don’t forget that you are supposed to wait until 90 days before expiration, so you should request on 9/11/10 or after. I would EXPECT the process to take about 2 months – 1 month to get your request and assign you a fingerprinting date and then another month to get the results, issue a new approval with the updated print results and then go from the immigration office to the National Visa Center (NVC) and from there to US embassy Tokyo.

Please send us your new address and phone number in GA for our records. Please check with your home study agency and let us know:
1. Does GA have pre-adoption requirements for adoptions that will be completed in GA? (as opposed to those completed abroad). If so, what are they?
2. Does GA allow direct relinquishment adoptions? Remember, the birthmother will relinquish directly to you and David and there is no intermediary agency, not in Japan and not ATWA since we do not take legal custody of the child.
3. Would GA consider this an adoption that requires ICPC (Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children) involving 2 states – CA and GA? California would not consider it to be an ICPC case as there is no connection with CA since the child will not be in CA before going to GA and a CA agency does not have legal custody. But, best to get GA’s opinion on this too. We will address as needed.

We also need you to update your file with CIS for the address change. As we discussed, at this stage, I am hoping that a GA agency can do a sort of quick update to just reflect the move probably by seeing your new house, getting new employment and income info and new GA criminal record clearances. GA may have other requirements to update due to a move into another state. Please let me know what agency you choose in GA (and it must be a licensed agency, although not necessarily a Hague accredited agency). However, it cannot be an independent social worker, even if that is permitted under GA law.

If the update required for the move is almost as much money or as much work as an update for your whole CIS approval, you may as well ask for whatever is needed for the CIS approval as well. As we discussed, that approval expires on 4/1/11. Around Jan 2011, if you don’t have a referral, you should send in the same request form for the one free I-600A extension (the first box). You may include a new home study update (as long as it is dated within 6 months (which it would be). That is why I am thinking you might want to ask the GA home study agency for an update, both for the address and for CIS approval unless there is vast fee difference."

Bye Bye Tennessee

We are on the final countdown. We leave for Georgia on Friday the 20th. We are busy getting things ready to pack and excited to be moving in to our new house. All in all, Tennessee has been good to us. We have enjoyed many things while we have lived here. But, really we are more excited to be living in Georgia because of the cultural diversity it has to offer. In just a few more years we hope to be moving into the city and leave our suburban life behind. But, as we have learned, things don't always go as planned! Here is a list of what we will miss the most once we move:

1. The Griner Family
2. Our garage
3. Our dishwasher disposal
4. Our church
5. The Oak Ridge Playhouse
6. No traffic to deal with

Good bye TN!

We Are Moving

The date is set. We are moving into our new place on August 23, 2010. Our new place is actually not so new, it is my childhood home in Palmetto, GA. My generous Mama is renting it out to us so that we can save money faster to buy a place of our own. Thanks Mama. Currently, we are having it updated a bit with new paint and Mom is have some repairs made. Although my pride is ready to have our "own" home, my mind knows that this is the wisest decision for our family's future. I am very excited to have my husband back! He is excited too. We have lived apart for over a year and we are looking forward to family meals and play time with Kaori. It will be a blessing, that is for sure. So, once we get settled we will get to to work on the homestudy and paper work that needs to be updated. We are praying that our baby is growing healthy and strong. We cannot wait to meet him/her! Just a few more weeks in Tennessee. I am sure time will fly.

Overwhelmed

When we first began this process for adopting our second baby, I never imagined that we would still be waiting. That is not the picture that was painted for us when we first learned that we would be allowed to adopt a 2nd time from Japan. Nevertheless, here we are. Waiting.I understand that it is by no fault of any one person, it is simply the nature of the program that we have not yet be chosen. With 14 waiting families and no birthmothers right now, we are at a crossroads. Our time of living apart has come to an end. I am thankful and excited for that. But, I must admit that I always dreamed of moving to Atlanta as a family of four. Plans hardly ever work out the way you plan them. I know. We have been tossing around all different scenario's trying to figure out the best way to move forward. We have decided to basically start over. A new homestudy and fingerprints, 171-H and photo book are in our very near future. I am trying to not be angry, but have little bouts of it at times. That is the truth. The stress of waiting and finances don't ever go away. I wish I could leave them in TN and begin anew in GA. Naturally, we are excited to get all this paper work complete so that we can be right back where we are. Just keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we hunt for a new social worker, a new home, a new church, new friends and so on. Our hearts are still focused on our precious child. We do this for you.

Summer Waiting

I know in the adoption world we have not been waiting that long, but it sure feels like it.

Lots Going on, Just Does Not Involve Us...

I heard from our agency today the latest news on new babies.

"Two families traveled in May and have their baby boys. Another family is leaving in a couple days for our first and only set of twins (girls). The next family will travel at the end of June. We have one more birthmom at the moment and we are awaiting her decision about domestic or overseas adoption and if so, who she may select."

So once again, the odds are not looking that great for us. But, that is okay. We are plenty busy and know our time will come. Just can't wait for that phone call! What a joyous day it will be. We pray for our baby and for the birth parents everyday.

News

This week we learned of two recent placements. One family is traveling in May and the other in June. Neither one is us. So, that means that we will at least be here thru June. We are bummed. There are two potential birthmothers due soon but neither have decided on a family or even if international adoption is what they want to do. So, once again we wait.

Still Waiting

Well, we have heard absolutely nothing. We are so ready to get that phone call. Seems like lately our home phone has been ringing in the evenings and every time it does, my heart skips a beat or two or three. I run to the phone as fast as I can and I answer it with much anticipation only to hear some annoying recorded voice or a person conducting a survey or the bank trying to sell me on some credit card. Even at 9:20 pm last night, my phone rings. Some dumb recording. I want to cry every time I slam that phone down! Those poor people who have to deal with my wrath when they continue to call night after night and I finally lay into them telling them how each time they call I say I am not interested and they continue to call back. It is shocking. No one ever calls my home phone except these people, so every time the phone rings, I fully expect it to be news about our baby. When we received the call about Kaori, it came on our home phone, so that is why I am thinking it will happen that way again. We pray every day for patience and endurance as we wait on the news. We are going on 10 months of living apart and it is wearing on us. All of us. Keep us in your prayers as we WAIT.

I Need You Now

"I need you now. More than words can say, I need you now. I gotta find a way, I need you now! Before I loose my mind, I need you now. " Firehouse

This song was stuck in my head today and I thought it was kinda appropriate! Do you think baby #2 would be mad if we used this song for his/her video? Too cheesy? Thoughts? I hope you know I am kidding!

Love you baby!

Spring Is Coming

No news this week. For some reason, I had this feeling we were going to hear something. Don't know why. But, tonight we turn our clocks up and hour and I guess that means that Spring is here. Which also means that new babies are going to be born! We are hoping with all our hearts that one of these babies is ours. We have been talking to Kaori about the new baby and trying to help her understand that she is going to be a big sister soon. We'll see how that goes! She is pretty smart, so hopefully she will catch on rather quickly. Next week we are going to visit friends in VA, so that will help keep my mind occupied. A change of scenery will be quite nice. Plus, Kaori will have a blast playing with Kumi who is 17 months old. So, here's to spring and new babies!!

A Non-Encouraging Update

I learned from Lesley this week that there are 13 albums available for birthmothers to look at. That news compared with the recent news of 2-3 birthmothers due in the spring is not very encouraging. Looks like we just might be waiting a long time. On February 25th, we remembered when we received the news about Kaori. With the passing of that day, we are officially waiting longer for baby #2 than we did for Kaori. Crazy. We were of course told that the second process would not take as long as the first one did. Well, it is taking longer. I know though that is impossible to put an exact wait time on it. So, we hurry up and wait.

Dear Baby

It is the beginning of February and our life is on hold until you come home. Daddy goes to Atlanta to work every week and Kaori and I stay here. Sometimes we go to be with him, but for the most part we are here. You are thought of every day, almost every moment of every day. We pray for you. We pray for your birthmother and birthfather. Even little Kaori has begun to pray for you before she goes to bed each night. We long for our family to be complete and in order. But, I guess it makes sense for our lives to be somewhat chaotic and unsettled since we don't have you yet. When we receive that phone call, we will be overjoyed! I know my heart will pound with love for you. Prayers for your safety while we are apart will dominate my mind. When we prepare our home for you, it will be done with love and excitement to meet you, longing to hold you in my arms. As I wait, my heart is unsettled. It is missing you sweet baby. I cannot wait to hear that you are mine.

Love,
Mama

News

There is no news. Boo Hoo!

Update

We learned this week that there are currently 2-3 birthmothers who are due in the spring. So, of course we are very hopeful that we will be selected as the adoptive family. We pray for baby #2 everyday and every night and even Kaori is beginning to repeat the prayers. It is very sweet. I am so excited to receive our long awaited phone call. I know that most people wait years and years, so I am just trying to be patient. Trying to stay busy! So, anyway, that is the latest news that we hear from Japan.

Helping Kaori Understand

I recently purchased this book that I found online. It is great for Kaori because it teaches her how she will be a big sister very soon. Of course, we tell her about having another baby, but she does not get it AT ALL. But, she loves to look at books and ready books with us so I think that this is going to be our best bet as far as getting her to understand that we are adopting a new baby. She has really taken to it and selects it often as her toy of choice. Hopefully she will be ready to be a big sister!!!