I just got an e-mail stating that we now have our approval from the State of Arizona to be adoptive parents...again! Now we will wait for our 1-171H (INS approval) and then we will have all the things we need to make our first trip to Russia!! YEAH! A great way to start a Monday!
Hope to see you at our upcoming Casino Night!!
Monday, October 13, 2008
Thursday, October 9, 2008
CASINO NIGHT!!
Ok, we are on for Casino Night for SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 15!! It will be at the Chandler Elk's Lodge...cross streets are Dobson and Chandler Blvd., it is on Chandler Blvd. I will put up the exact address when I have it. It will be from 6-10 pm, $30 per person and that will get you $500 in chips and food to snack on. Drinks will also be available and you can buy more chips if you run out!! At the end of the evening chips will be cashed in for raffle tickets and we will have a raffle. We are looking for any and all donations to raffle off at the end of the evening, so if you have something to donate or if you have any contacts let me know. Look for more info to come soon, just wanted you to put the date on your calendars. We will be preselling tickets too!! Any questions please call or e-mail me. Hope to see you there!!
Saturday, October 4, 2008
WANTED: RECIPES!!
Ok, as many of you know the cost of a Russian adoption is quite costly. We were told to figure around $40,000 by the time everything is said and done. (This is almost $10,000 more than just 4 years ago!) You may wonder, "Where does all that money go?" Well, it goes to the agencies both in the US and Russia because they have to do so much with our paperwork you would be shocked, appostilling, notarizing, mailing expenses, homestudy expenses, psychological exams, Russian representatives who are doing mountains of paperwork in Russia, lawyers, legal fees, doctors fees for physicals, donations to the orphanage and the caretakers, travel expenses, etc, etc, etc. The list goes on and on. Not to mention we will more than likely be making three trips this time. (With Travis we were quite fortunate to only make one trip!)
So, with that being said, Daryle and I have decided to do a couple of fundraisers. The first one we are going to do is another cookbook. We did a cookbook to raise money when we were adopting Travis and it was quite a success. So, if you have a recipe ( or a couple) that you really love and want to share I would appreciate it if you could e-mail it/them to me by OCTOBER 18...that would be AWESOME!! That gives you all two whole weeks!! I am hoping to get it to print by the end of the month and have them ready to sell by mid-November. Thanks in advance for anybody who wants to help out. My e-mail is listed on the sidebar of this blog in case you don't have it already. Thanks again to all who want to participate!!
Our second fundraiser we are working on is hopefully going to be some type of Casino Night. We have a tentative date for November 15, but I will post more when I know for sure if that date will work out or not. If you live around here keep that date in mind for now!
There are hundreds of thousands of orphans in Russia alone, not to mention all the many other countries (including our own) that also have children who are needing forever families. Our hearts have been drawn to the children of Russia for some reason and we feel this is where God is leading us at this time. We deeply appreciate the love and support from all of our family and friends as we embark on another journey to find our child. Many of you know Travis and you are well aware of the love and joy he has brought to our family. We are anxious to be able to share that same love and joy with another child. It will make our family feel more complete. Thanks so much for all the love and prayers, they are appreciated more than you will ever know!
So, with that being said, Daryle and I have decided to do a couple of fundraisers. The first one we are going to do is another cookbook. We did a cookbook to raise money when we were adopting Travis and it was quite a success. So, if you have a recipe ( or a couple) that you really love and want to share I would appreciate it if you could e-mail it/them to me by OCTOBER 18...that would be AWESOME!! That gives you all two whole weeks!! I am hoping to get it to print by the end of the month and have them ready to sell by mid-November. Thanks in advance for anybody who wants to help out. My e-mail is listed on the sidebar of this blog in case you don't have it already. Thanks again to all who want to participate!!
Our second fundraiser we are working on is hopefully going to be some type of Casino Night. We have a tentative date for November 15, but I will post more when I know for sure if that date will work out or not. If you live around here keep that date in mind for now!
There are hundreds of thousands of orphans in Russia alone, not to mention all the many other countries (including our own) that also have children who are needing forever families. Our hearts have been drawn to the children of Russia for some reason and we feel this is where God is leading us at this time. We deeply appreciate the love and support from all of our family and friends as we embark on another journey to find our child. Many of you know Travis and you are well aware of the love and joy he has brought to our family. We are anxious to be able to share that same love and joy with another child. It will make our family feel more complete. Thanks so much for all the love and prayers, they are appreciated more than you will ever know!
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Decisions
Well, yesterday I officially told our agency that we were not going to be able to accept that little baby boy they told us about. That was a little harder to do than I thought. It is very hard to have to say no to a child, but on the other hand we have to do what is best for our family. Anyway, that is now behind us and we are moving on!
So with that being said, next we had to decide which region we want to send our information to in Russia. After a lenghty discussion weighing the ins and outs of the regions they work in we have decided on Moscow City! When we went over for Travis we got to enjoy Moscow twice, but both times were extremely rushed. There is a lot we didn't have time to see. This time around with three trips I am sure we will get a much wider experience of Moscow. It is a beautiful city and we are excited to have a chance to go back. I was told the program in Moscow is a good one and seems to move along nicely. We are excited about this region and are keeping our fingers crossed that we will find our child there!!
Even happier news, I finished my first class last night!! YEAH! Now only 11 more to go....let's hope I make it with all of this other stuff going on lately! I guess it is good they will give me 6 years to complete a 2 year program!!
Also, we have decided to make volume 2 of the cookbook that we made to raise money for Travis' adoption. We also want to have a casino night, I am just having trouble finding a location for that. We REALLY want to do that one too, especially since we have had so many people express interest in wanting to participate. Now that my class is done for two weeks and I still have one more week off from work, hopefully I will make progress on my fundraising efforts.
Thanks for all the prayers and encouraging thoughts over the last few weeks, we have appreciated them all!!
PS-Can you believe it was 5 years ago today that we first saw a picture of Travis and found out about him?? Boy, how time flies!!
So with that being said, next we had to decide which region we want to send our information to in Russia. After a lenghty discussion weighing the ins and outs of the regions they work in we have decided on Moscow City! When we went over for Travis we got to enjoy Moscow twice, but both times were extremely rushed. There is a lot we didn't have time to see. This time around with three trips I am sure we will get a much wider experience of Moscow. It is a beautiful city and we are excited to have a chance to go back. I was told the program in Moscow is a good one and seems to move along nicely. We are excited about this region and are keeping our fingers crossed that we will find our child there!!
Even happier news, I finished my first class last night!! YEAH! Now only 11 more to go....let's hope I make it with all of this other stuff going on lately! I guess it is good they will give me 6 years to complete a 2 year program!!
Also, we have decided to make volume 2 of the cookbook that we made to raise money for Travis' adoption. We also want to have a casino night, I am just having trouble finding a location for that. We REALLY want to do that one too, especially since we have had so many people express interest in wanting to participate. Now that my class is done for two weeks and I still have one more week off from work, hopefully I will make progress on my fundraising efforts.
Thanks for all the prayers and encouraging thoughts over the last few weeks, we have appreciated them all!!
PS-Can you believe it was 5 years ago today that we first saw a picture of Travis and found out about him?? Boy, how time flies!!
Friday, September 26, 2008
This one's for you Uncle Rob...
Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books
Monday, September 22, 2008
Friday, September 19, 2008
Stressful Times
Hello Everybody!!
I know you are thinking, "Gee, where has Lisa been??" Well, I have been keeping busy, that's for sure. Next week we have parent/teacher conferences for most of the week, this weekend I need to do report cards, not to mention I have a research paper and presentation to get ready for my Master's class. But don't worry, I have been up to other things as well!
I did want to let you know we have had some developments with the adoption recently. I can't reveal too much information on this blog due to privacy issues, but I can give you a sense of what is happening.
It all began last Thursday (Sept.11th). I was playing phone tag with our agency and so that evening I finally got in touch with our new office. I just thought she was wanting to chit-chat, get to know us, etc. Well, about 30 minutes into our conversation she proceeds to tell me that she has a referral for a baby boy and were we interested in finding out more about him!! Well, we were ECSTATIC to say the least. We did have a few concerns with his medical, so of course right away I contacted a dr in Memphis (she helped us interpret all the mumbo jumbo on Travis' medicals) to get her take on this little guy. Of course the pictures of him are PRECIOUS beyond words. We were falling in love with him all last weekend. (I couldn't even concentrate and discovered on Tuesday that I had graded a whole set of Reading tests on Sunday and forgot to record them in my gradebook!! I have never done that before! My mind was just somewhere else!!) Anyway, we finally heard back from the doctor on Monday evening and she didn't have very consoling words. She was very concerned with two things on his medical. Daryle and I just looked at each other and said, "Well, maybe he isn't the one after all." Finally yesterday I heard back from our agency with more info that our dr requested and I heard back from our doctor with answers to some of the questions we had. It doesn't look that great that we will be able to adopt this little guy. We are very sad and disappointed. With Travis, he was the first referral we got and we were able to move forward with his adoption. We have never had to deal with this, although we have talked about how we would handle it if we had to. We know our limitations and we also have Travis to think about this time around. What ever type of child that comes into our family, they will have an impact on Travis' life as well. There are just certain types of issues that we don't feel would be in the best interest of our family. I am sorry I can' t post more information publicly, I hope you understand we are under obligation to protect this child's privacy.
We do know that our child is out there. Some children are just harder to find!! We are keeping this little baby in our prayers that the right family will come along for him. We haven't told our agency "no" yet, we are waiting to hear back from two specialists who are evaluating him on Sept. 18 and then again on Sept. 23. This has been a very stressful and anxious time for us as we have had to go through this huge decision for our family.
The good news is that after next week Travis and I have TWO WEEKS OFF!!! HIP, HIP HOORAY!! (Starting school the end of July doesn't look so bad when you get a nice vacation in October!!)
PS- For those of you who know how to find me by phone, feel free to call or e-mail me and I can give you more information. I promise, I am not sitting around crying about this....I am ok, really I am!! All things happen for a reason and the whole thing is in God's hands!!
I know you are thinking, "Gee, where has Lisa been??" Well, I have been keeping busy, that's for sure. Next week we have parent/teacher conferences for most of the week, this weekend I need to do report cards, not to mention I have a research paper and presentation to get ready for my Master's class. But don't worry, I have been up to other things as well!
I did want to let you know we have had some developments with the adoption recently. I can't reveal too much information on this blog due to privacy issues, but I can give you a sense of what is happening.
It all began last Thursday (Sept.11th). I was playing phone tag with our agency and so that evening I finally got in touch with our new office. I just thought she was wanting to chit-chat, get to know us, etc. Well, about 30 minutes into our conversation she proceeds to tell me that she has a referral for a baby boy and were we interested in finding out more about him!! Well, we were ECSTATIC to say the least. We did have a few concerns with his medical, so of course right away I contacted a dr in Memphis (she helped us interpret all the mumbo jumbo on Travis' medicals) to get her take on this little guy. Of course the pictures of him are PRECIOUS beyond words. We were falling in love with him all last weekend. (I couldn't even concentrate and discovered on Tuesday that I had graded a whole set of Reading tests on Sunday and forgot to record them in my gradebook!! I have never done that before! My mind was just somewhere else!!) Anyway, we finally heard back from the doctor on Monday evening and she didn't have very consoling words. She was very concerned with two things on his medical. Daryle and I just looked at each other and said, "Well, maybe he isn't the one after all." Finally yesterday I heard back from our agency with more info that our dr requested and I heard back from our doctor with answers to some of the questions we had. It doesn't look that great that we will be able to adopt this little guy. We are very sad and disappointed. With Travis, he was the first referral we got and we were able to move forward with his adoption. We have never had to deal with this, although we have talked about how we would handle it if we had to. We know our limitations and we also have Travis to think about this time around. What ever type of child that comes into our family, they will have an impact on Travis' life as well. There are just certain types of issues that we don't feel would be in the best interest of our family. I am sorry I can' t post more information publicly, I hope you understand we are under obligation to protect this child's privacy.
We do know that our child is out there. Some children are just harder to find!! We are keeping this little baby in our prayers that the right family will come along for him. We haven't told our agency "no" yet, we are waiting to hear back from two specialists who are evaluating him on Sept. 18 and then again on Sept. 23. This has been a very stressful and anxious time for us as we have had to go through this huge decision for our family.
The good news is that after next week Travis and I have TWO WEEKS OFF!!! HIP, HIP HOORAY!! (Starting school the end of July doesn't look so bad when you get a nice vacation in October!!)
PS- For those of you who know how to find me by phone, feel free to call or e-mail me and I can give you more information. I promise, I am not sitting around crying about this....I am ok, really I am!! All things happen for a reason and the whole thing is in God's hands!!
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