Rob and I talked briefly last night about our adoption process.  I said, “Should I make the appointment for the home study tomorrow?”  He said, “Why don’t you call the adoption agency tomorrow so we can start getting our dossier together.  Don’t we need the same documents for the home study?”  So, as usual, he’s right.  I have my alarm set on my phone go to off at a quarter after 3.  It’ll be 9:15 their time.  Hopefully, we don’t have to pony up the money right this minute.  If they can hold off until the first of the month, when we should hopefully see our OHA allowance we can use that money to pay for whatever needs to be paid for now.

I also found out today that my 23 year old cousin is 8 weeks pregnant and she is due on the 31st of December.  I’m happy for her!

We also finally got our income taxes filed.  Actually, we filed back in March before we moved, but Rob mistyped my SSN and it was rejected.  Hopefully, we should see our refund pretty soon, along with our economic stimulus checks.  All of that money is going into our adoption fund.  It’s a pretty good chunk of change and I’m glad, too!  We won’t have to rape our money market account too much, which is a good thing.

I was reading about what was required for our Russian adoption and depending on the region, both of us have to travel the first time for about a week.  This is when we get to meet our little child for the first time.  The second time we travel, it could be as long as 3 weeks.  Rob only has to stay for a portion of it because they consider the mother the primary caregiver and he will only be required to attend court with me.  Then, before it’s all said and done, I have to make a trip to Moscow for the adoption finalization for no less than 4 days.  After all that’s done and we get our pre-approval from CIS (what used to be the INS), as soon as we step foot on American soil after the adoption, the baby will become AUTOMATICALLY a US Citizen! There is some paperwork that we have to drop off when we get to Customs, but after that, it’s pretty much a done deal.  There are home visits for a few years, but I’m not entirely sure how many visits there are.  I know that we are to be visited within one month of the adoption, 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, 3 years and then I can’t remember if she told me that there was a 4th year or not.

Rob got this crazy idea that since I was writing in these blogs and talking about our process of going through this adoption, that I should use it to write a book.  I actually had the same thought on the same day.  I guess I could fictionalize it or something…or maybe not…though something that I learned when I was in the Army, people can tell you what it was like for them, but the experience will not be the same for every person.

We are so excited!  We also picked out our baby’s name.  It’s going to be Dmetri.  I can’t think of a middle name, poor guy.  Nothing really fits.  I suggested Henry, but it doesn’t work and I also suggested Patrick, but it doesn’t flow very well.  When I said Dmetri Henry, he wrinkled his nose.  So, if you have a suggestion for a middle name, I’m open to suggestions 🙂

Well, it’s 11 o’clock and I was thinking about walking over to the bakery and getting a cup of coffee, but it’s a little too chilly for that today…Maybe another day!

Well, thanks for reading and have a great day.

PS  After I get off the phone with the adoption agency, I’ll write more! 😉