Monday, September 29, 2008

The rollercoaster ride continues

Ok, so it appears that we're back to the waiting game. The referral that was being filed in Tula wasn't for us. ;<

Tula currently doesn't have any children that meets our profile for a child. Apparently there are some that will eventually, but that will be 3 months from now. The children have to be 'in the system' for so many months before they can be adopted out.

We're also being told that Kaluga (pronounced Ka-lu-ga) has no referrals for us either.

So, we're back to Moscow.

The big Russian Federal Audit we've been hearing about is actually happening this week, so CSS staff in Moscow are focusing on that. That's on Thursday of this week (10/2/2008), so it will be early next week before they get back to working on finding referrals for waiting families.

What a ride!!!! ;>

G, M and K

Sunday, September 28, 2008

This could be the week for a referral!!!

Things have been quiet for a while. I spoke with Carol of CSS week before last and she indicated that things may start moving this week. Here's what we know:

1. Carol with CSS has been checking the Tula region for us for a referral. She knows that a family recently tried finding a child similar to one we're desiring from Moscow and they had no luck.

2. Carol informed me that Svetlana of their Moscow office was going to Tula on business and that she would check with their orphanages for a child that matches our desired profile.

3. We have been in touch with a family who was in Tula last week with Svetlana. They know that Svetlana registered a dossier in that region for a family who was 'near the top of the list'. THAT COULD BE US!!!!

So, we may be putting too many stories/clues together and arriving at an incorrect assumption...but...this could be the week!

We will update everyone as we get information.

Greg, Mary and Katie.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

The calm before the storm...

We've gone about a week and a half and no news. We know that the CSS staff in Moscow were both enjoying a few days of vacation and were also preparing for a mandatory audit. Once both of these activities are done, things should swing into 'ulta-high gear'!

There are a number of scenarios of how trip #1 could play out:

1. Our dossier gets registered with the Ministry of Education (MOE), we wait a few weeks more and then we get our phone call indicating they have a referral for us.

2. Our dossier gets registered with the Ministry of Education and we almost immediately get a phone call indicating they have a referral for us.

3. We could even possibly get a phone call with information regarding a referral before our dossier is registered with the MOE. This scenario involves MOE staff giving CSS staff in Moscow information ahead of time regarding a child up for adoption and the CSS staff, knowing our desired profile for a child, would then call us immediately and ask us if we're interested in pursing the referral. If we accepted it, they would register our dossier immediately and take that referral.

Once we get the referral, we would most likely have 7-10 days advanced notice before we would be required to fly to Russia for trip #1.

But...until then...we wait.

Regards,
Greg, Mary and Katie

Monday, September 1, 2008

Offers of help

We've had several people inquire about how they can help us accomplish our goal of adoption. Mary and I have decided to not 'solicit' for monetary donations...but...since we have to make a total of 3 trips to Russia in order to complete the adoption, we would certainly not turn down offers of Delta Skymiles or Hilton Honors Points.

Update

So here's the latest update:

Our I-171H, FBI background checks and updated license for the home study agency have been apostilled in Nashville and are enroute to CSS (the adoption agency - Catholic Social Services) in Asheville, NC via UPS. Currently our tracking number shows that the documents will make it to Carol and her staff at CSS sometimes Wednesday. They will go over to Moscow this week to be translated and combined with the rest of our dossier.

CSS staff in Moscow are busy this month. Not only is September is busy month for vacations, they have been told to expect a audit from the Russian government regarding all of the adoptions they have executed since 2001. This isn't a 'surprise' audit or anything like that...just a normal procedure.

So between the vacations and the government audit, it's probably going to delay us just a bit for our first trip to Moscow. We're still hopeful that we'll be able to complete the adoption by end of year, but it appears that completing the adoption January of 2009 may be in the cards.

Regards,
Greg, Mary and Katie