More paperwork

I started on the update to our homestudy today. Well, actually I just looked at it. I will start on it tomorrow. Tony and I both need to go get fingerprinted again. This will mark the 5th time in 12 months we will have been fingerprinted, one of those times we fingerprinted ourselves because the lady said we probably could do it better than her. It's good to know that you're decent at something. Maybe if my job doesn't work out I can start fingerprinting people...

We heard from our agency that Tony will only need to travel once to sign the Act of Adoption and then he'll be able to leave. That's fantastic news for us since we'll be leaving Gai at home. The Ministry has stated we should plan on at least 2 weeks to be in Rwanda, up to 4 weeks. That will be ok since Tony will be able to go back home. My mom is planning on traveling with me (yeah!!) so I won't be alone with a new baby/toddler and lots of stress.

In other news, the appointment with my neuropthomologist is one week from today. The meds didn't work as far as I can tell although they did make me lose about 5 lbs. It's not such a good thing, Tony keeps telling me to eat more. I can't eat more if I'm not hungry. Medication is wonderful and annoying at the same time. I'll gain it back eventually. I'm stoked at the thought of having surgery and being able to see straight when I wake up in the morning. I won't have to put on an eye patch or wear a contact. Woo-Hoo!!

Funny conversation I had with my son (3 y/o) before he went to bed.

Gai- Is heaven far away?
Me- Yes.
Gai- We can't drive there?
Me- No. When we die we go to heaven.
Gai- What happens if you die?
Me- I don't think you need to worry about that. This is a morbid conversation.
Gai- What happens if you and Poppy die?
Me- We'll go to heaven.
Gai- And I won't have any Mommy or Poppy?
Me- We will still be your Mommy and Poppy but we would be in heaven. You would live with Auntie
        and Uncle.
Gai- Oh, so they would live here?
Me- Maybe, but you don't need to worry because you'll never be alone and we're not going to die
       anytime soon.
Gai- But if you die, Auntie could turn my game on for me?

That's what my son really care's about. He wanted to make sure someone would be around to turn on the gaming console so he could play his games. I feel so loved.

Crazy things, adoptions...

We just got the new today that Rwanda has changed it's requirements. For any adoptions that haven't finalized, adoptive families now have to travel twice. Once for the Act of Adoption and then again to finalize. You can stay in between the 2, looks like it takes about 3 weeks for finalization after the Act of Adoption. Certainly adds stress to the finances! I don't know what we'll do yet but I do know that once I see my child I won't be leaving Rwanda...

Things really are moving!

So following blogs is an obsession when you're adopting. I know of at least one family whose dossier is in the 70's and they are being reviewed right now. Amazing. Awesome. The ministry is moving at a lightening fast pace. I love it!

DTR 5 Months

So our dossier has been in Rwanda for 5 months now. Nothing exciting happening (that I know of) in the Ministry. We should hear from our agency next month about any updates they have. They have someone there now and someone going in March as well. I did see on another blog that the Ministry is up to #55 on dossiers. It's good news that everything is still moving.

In other news, I had an appointment with my neuropthomologist today and I only have one more drug to try (Namenda) before I can have surgery on my left eye. Yeah! I will start the medication tomorrow and be on it for 4 weeks (if I tolerate it which I probably won't) and then, since everyone knows it won't work (EVERYONE KNOWS THIS), I have a f/u scheduled with Dr. Wallace on 4/4 for a pre-op exam. I'm so excited. I've never been so excited to have surgery before but this is HUGE! It's a possibility the surgery won't work but it's a better possibility it will work and I will be eye patch/blacked out contact free and when we travel to Rwanda I won't be questioned by every person why I wear an eye patch, what's under the eye patch, etc. I'm so excited. SO EXCITED. I just have to get through this one last medication and whatever side effect(s) it throws my way. yeah!

Up to #40 on dossier approvals

In the monthly conference call with our agency on Tuesday there wasn't any news for our agency to report. Fairly depressing call. Adoption in Rwanda has picked up slightly but not much. There have been a few approvals that have gone out in the past couple weeks. One of the other prospective adoptive parents stated she knew a family whose dossier was #40 that received approval from Rwanda recently. #40 is the highest number anyone has heard of that's been approved. That's good news but unfortunately it doesn't sound as if anyone who has gotten a recent (within the past few months) approval has received a referral. So we will wait and pray. I don't know if there's any hope we will be adopting this year or not but that, of course, is up to God.  

Adoption

So I'm really not a blogger but this seems the easiest way to keep all our family and friends updated on adoption goings on. With that said, nothing is going on right now and probably won't be for a long while. We found out in October that we are #144 in line for our dossier to be approved by the Rwandan government. We appreciate that the government is looking at every dossier closely but it's very slow going for those of us that are waiting to be approved. We heard from our agency that they were in the 30's the 3rd week of December. No one knows how quickly they will be going through the dossiers yet, we'll just have to wait and see. Lots and lots of waiting with adoption.