Firstly, for the life of me (meaning: in the 5 minutes I spent trying), I cannot figure out how to post pictures properly. In the last post, the picture ended up in a super weird spot. This time, all I can do is load them all at the top of the post! And even more annoying, for some reason only known to blogspot, I cannot separate these first 2 paragraphs in this post with a space! And there seems to be a large blank area at the end of the post that I cannot make disappear! So, I realize these posts are not aesthetically pleasing and am offering my apologies. Hopefully I am the only one losing sleep over this.
So, more importantly, it’s done. It took about long 4 months, several thousand hard earned dollars, lots of unpleasant sweat, many vials of blood drawn at labs, and the untimely death of a few trees to produce this large stack of super duper important papers you see before you. But it’s done. The dossier (fancy name for stack of super duper important papers) has now gone onto to a better (or at least final) resting place….Kazakhstan.
All the documents were pretty similar to the one we did for Camille, but there were a few extra things we had to add this time. We had to include a few more financial things. Both Nathan and I had to undergo several more medical tests/procedures than last time because you know, it is vital that adoptive parents be much healthier than your average human specimen. And we also had to submit to psychiatric testing this time around. I think the fact that we are intentionally pursuing a third child and going to Kazakhstan to do so might have tipped off our agency to the fact that we *might* be just a little cuckoo. So after paying the lowlow price of $800, having an interview with a psychologist, and answering a very bizarre set of psychiatric questions, (“How often do you look at a mirror and want to smash it?” A) Often B) Sometimes C) Never), it has been proven that we are probably sane enough to raise children. I want this to go down in the history books because I fear that the proven sanity we possess today will quickly disappear once we’ve got 3 kids under 6 living in our house.
And in other marginally interesting news, at the advice of our agency, we broadened the age range of the child we would like to adopt. They recommended we put 24 months and younger, so we did. So we could come home with a 6 month old baby or a 2 year old! There are pros and cons to both scenarios, so I actually don’t have a preference. But it just kills me not knowing! Baby or toddler? Blue or pink?? Crispy or Original? It’s so hard to prepare when you don’t know what you are preparing for! And darn it, I like to prepare.
So, that’s it. From here on out, we just wait for every official in Kazakhstan to read through our dossier, decide we are fit parents and then assign us to a region. Our agency told us that we should expect to travel 9-12 months after we submit the paperwork. I told them we are willing to wait longer to get assigned to Almaty (or an equally easy, urban region) because we have pretty much decided we are taking the girls with us. (Not so coincidentally, I’m certain that making that trip with the 2 girls will be the start of the not-so-slow death of aforementioned proven sanity). While our agency, Adoption ARK, cannot guarantee any regional assignment, I do have faith that they will do all they can to get us assigned somewhere kid and sanity friendly. So the next big news will be when we get that assignment. I can’t wait to find out where we are going!!!
All the documents were pretty similar to the one we did for Camille, but there were a few extra things we had to add this time. We had to include a few more financial things. Both Nathan and I had to undergo several more medical tests/procedures than last time because you know, it is vital that adoptive parents be much healthier than your average human specimen. And we also had to submit to psychiatric testing this time around. I think the fact that we are intentionally pursuing a third child and going to Kazakhstan to do so might have tipped off our agency to the fact that we *might* be just a little cuckoo. So after paying the lowlow price of $800, having an interview with a psychologist, and answering a very bizarre set of psychiatric questions, (“How often do you look at a mirror and want to smash it?” A) Often B) Sometimes C) Never), it has been proven that we are probably sane enough to raise children. I want this to go down in the history books because I fear that the proven sanity we possess today will quickly disappear once we’ve got 3 kids under 6 living in our house.
And in other marginally interesting news, at the advice of our agency, we broadened the age range of the child we would like to adopt. They recommended we put 24 months and younger, so we did. So we could come home with a 6 month old baby or a 2 year old! There are pros and cons to both scenarios, so I actually don’t have a preference. But it just kills me not knowing! Baby or toddler? Blue or pink?? Crispy or Original? It’s so hard to prepare when you don’t know what you are preparing for! And darn it, I like to prepare.
So, that’s it. From here on out, we just wait for every official in Kazakhstan to read through our dossier, decide we are fit parents and then assign us to a region. Our agency told us that we should expect to travel 9-12 months after we submit the paperwork. I told them we are willing to wait longer to get assigned to Almaty (or an equally easy, urban region) because we have pretty much decided we are taking the girls with us. (Not so coincidentally, I’m certain that making that trip with the 2 girls will be the start of the not-so-slow death of aforementioned proven sanity). While our agency, Adoption ARK, cannot guarantee any regional assignment, I do have faith that they will do all they can to get us assigned somewhere kid and sanity friendly. So the next big news will be when we get that assignment. I can’t wait to find out where we are going!!!
OK well, that is all for now. I know this is just fascinating stuff for all of you. But we appreciate those of you who are humoring us and still reading along. The support is very much needed! The next post will hopefully be news of our regional assignment is!!!
It IS fascinating! I love to hear every detail =)
ReplyDeleteAnd the mirror question.. even if you thought A, would you admit it in this type of evaluation? ;)
So exciting Lidsey, you are awesome parents and taing the girls will be such a fun adventure for you as a family xxxxxx
ReplyDeleteI'm a little behind on my blog reading, but wanted to send you a quick note to say that this is the prettiest blog ever. I can't believe Nathan let you go all girly - then again, you're the writer, right? Congrats again! At the rate we're going, we may be over there at the same time. Never know.
ReplyDeleteMelanie
I know I'm a little late catching up, but fabbo news! And I can't believe that they passed you and Nathan on the psych eval when you're both, quite clearly, barking mad.
ReplyDeleteHaving said that, I once had some psych testing for a job selection process, and one of the questions read: 'Do you sometimes see people or animals that other people can't see?' Sometimes. SOMETIMES? Didn't you notice that bear in a tux come in with me? And won't you ask it to leave me alone?
Sorry, off the track. Right. Well done. xoxo