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posted Dec 1, 2009 5:59 PM by Joe Long
Most of you know we have moved to Florida (we love it!). Due to the timing of our move we weren't able to get all of our paperwork submitted to the NBC (bascially the US approval) because we couldn't get our fingerprint appointment before we moved. Although we were disappointed, the GREAT news is we were still able to submit our enitre home study to the MOJ (Ministry of Justice) for translating and to get "in line". This means that there was not a delay in getting our home study submitted to Bulgaria (a huge blessing!), but we can't be 'officially' logged in until we get the NBC approval (meaning, if our names actually came up we could not be placed with a child right now). Soooooo, we were going to wait until we bought a house to get the home study updated in Florida (we must get an update because they will schedule the fingerprint appointment in the state the home study was done). But, since it was taking awhile to find a house we are going through with the home study update for the rental. We hope to have our paperwork submitted to the NBC within the next couple weeks!
Next Steps: After the NBC receives our homestudy update then they will schedule a fingerprint appointment. It will take the NBC ~3 months to approve our application for adoption. Once received we can send this to Bulgaria and then OFFICIALLY be logged in! |
posted Aug 25, 2009 4:12 PM by Myra Long
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Well, we have been in a waiting phase until our criminal checks came back. Finally, they are ALL returned (and no problems found)! :-) We had our first meeting with the social worker last Wednesday (for about 3.5 hours). We have our 2nd (and last) meeting this Wednesday. Then she writes up a report, we submit it to the NBC and schedule an appt to have fingerprints taken. As you may (or may not) know, we are moving from Oregon to sunny Florida on Sept. 19th. This means we really need to get a fingerprint appt. soon. Our case worker thinks she can call a contact she has and get us in quickly - we hope so!! |
posted Jun 29, 2009 9:37 PM by Myra Long
As we mentioned in a previous post, we went to a dinner reception in Portland on Friday night that our adoption agency held to welcome visiting officials from the Bulgarian Ministry of Justice and to celebrate their '1st generation' children (now teenagers) that were adopted from Bulgaria 14 years ago! It was AMAZING! It was a very emotional night (and you all know how emotional Myra can be!). It was great to learn more about AGCI and it's history with Bulgaria, to meet numerous families from all over the U.S. that adopted from Bulgaria and be able to talk with their beautiful & wonderful children. We also had conversations with the ministry officials who are in charge of approving all adoptions and the person who will be our guide/interpreter/taxi/advocate each time we go to Bulgaria to meet and receive our child.
God is so wonderful and he just keeps giving us reassurances. The phase of the adoption Joe is most scared about was the initial time with our child. Taking them from the only place they have known, on a plane for 18 hours and not really being able to communicate in a language they understand. While at the dinner many of the families talked about the funny things that happened on their trips back to the U.S. and we could tell they were actually FOND memories for them. When we asked them more, they reassured us that there were always people around to help out including flight attendants, customs officials who take you to the front of the line and so many people along the way! Alternately, one of Myra's biggest worries was the teenage years and having her child reject her (which she hears happens with all teenagers though!). Well we sat with two wonderful young women in their late teens and just seeing how much they loved their parents really helped ease this fear. Also, a number of the children spoke at the reception and it was clear how much they cared for their families. Of course most have a desire to go back to Bulgaria some day (to just visit or to help in orphanages) but that isn't because they want to to get away from their families here, it's just a part of who they are.
We were equally excited to meet the founders of the adoption agency. Myra read the book that the wife wrote and it was great to meet the women (her daughter and her) behind the writings. This was also our first face-to-face meeting with our adoption case workers!
While we were leaving, we recieved a parting gift - a beautiful ornament, designed to honor Bulgarian children - how special! As many of you know we decoarte our Christmas tree almost strictly with oranaments that have a special meaning to us. We are so excited to tell our child(ren) some day that we recieved this oranament to honor them while we were still in the early phases of praying for them and had no idea who they were yet.
Well, as you can see it was a wonderful night. We even left with some new friendships! |
posted Jun 26, 2009 9:47 AM by Myra Long
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updated Jun 26, 2009 10:29 AM by Joe Long
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Yeah!!! We were able to put in our big packet of home study materials last night - one big step closer!! Ok, so it doesn't look that big here but trust me...it's thick! And it took us 5 weeks to the day to put it all together. Thank you for all your prayers! We feel like things are moving forward!
 
Whats next? We need to complete about 12 hours of online adoption training, wait for our criminal checks to be returned from the four states we've lived in and get all the references people have completed for us to the agency. Once that is complete, we can meet with a social worker (about 6 hours of face-to-face time) so they can write the formal report/recommendation. Sound daunting? It is, and its hard now because its no longer our timeline, its up to the government now. But we are just so excited to have completed this first big hurdle!
While we wait for those things to come back we will also continue working to collect/request the paperwork needed for our dossier (the binder of information about us that is actually sent to the Ministry of Justice in Bulgaria for translation and review...the completed home study report will be part of that).
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posted Jun 23, 2009 8:43 AM by Myra Long
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updated Jun 23, 2009 8:51 AM
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Well, we have been writing, writing, writing and despite some minor hand cramps are feeling pretty good! We have completed our adoption workbook (about 18 hours!) and our personal profiles (about 6 hours). We weren't allowed to talk about our profiles while doing them, but can compare notes now that we are done. I wonder if we have any big differences!? For our homestudy we also have our employment letters, doctors letter, vet letter and other copies of birth certs etc. I feel like we have a small forest of paperwork piling up!
Another interesting thing was we were going to get to host Bulgarian officials visiting the different agencies this Friday. The schedule fell through (which is disappointing) but we were still invited to a dinner reception for the officials this Friday (26th). Maybe we will get to meet them still! Plus, we will get to hear stories from children adopted from Bulgaria (who are now in their 20s). We will post this weekend to let you know about it! |
posted Jun 2, 2009 8:49 PM by Myra Long
Well, we had big plans on completing everything in record time, but it's a bit more than we thought. Well, actually it's A LOT more than we thought. We are making slow progress though - we had our first round of fingerprints done (that's right, there are multiple rounds) and sent in for our FBI criminal check. We've submitted our paperwork for the state criminal checks (every place we've lived since 18) and have completed the county check. So far, so good. ;-) Joe talked to the case worker that has been assigned to us and she is very nice and helpful.
We've been working on our Adoption workbook too, the 172 pages that were quite daunting at first are looking doable. It's actually very thought provoking - just LOTS of writing! We also recently found out that it looks like a new Bulgaria law may pass soon that allows children abandoned for 6 months (as opposed to 12 months) to be released for adoption . That is SOOO wonderful! There are so many children in orphanages that this would affect!
Not really too much other exciting news, just chugging along - 'we think we can, we think we can - we KNOW we can'!! :-) Thanks for your support! |
posted May 21, 2009 8:29 AM by Joe Long
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updated May 21, 2009 8:38 AM
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Well, our initial excitement about receiving our home study information last night quickly faded as we started to read through the two very large binders left at our doorstep. The excitement was unfortunately replaced with a bit of shock and awe. It seems like an insurmountable task between the 3 sets of fingerprints from two different places, the parenting classes, the reference letters, federal/state/local criminal checks, etc. No doubt it will get done, but there's a period of sighing that comes first without really knowing where to start.
On the flip side, we also received the full DVD Love Knows | No Borders that I mentioned in an earlier post (see May 7th post below). So of course we watched it immediately and we continue to feel so drawn to the country of Bulgaria and the children that are in it's orphanages and need people like us to show them what individual love is.
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posted May 14, 2009 8:56 PM by Myra Long
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updated May 15, 2009 8:18 AM by Joe Long
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 We'll our hands may be cramped but we didn't waste anytime. We went to the bank (for the free notary services) after work and then got to work signing everything. Myra
rushed off to get it in the mail tonight! Ok ready for the next step!
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posted May 14, 2009 3:49 PM by Joe Long
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updated May 14, 2009 8:58 PM by Myra Long
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So we completed our orientation call today! Lots of great information, but lots to do. Tonight we're going to have all the contracts and other paperwork notarized and sent back. You can see the stack of documents in the picture! Then they will forward us our adoption planner (information of putting together the dossier) and home study binder. Now the government bureaucracy will come in full effect as we request background checks, get fingerprinted, obtain letters of reference, employment verification, marriage and birth certificates, etc. Everyone is different but they say it can take 3-4 months on average. She has seen people do it in a matter of a month if you really push through and devote almost all your energy to it. Can you guess where we'll lie on the continuum of motivation/effort?
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posted May 11, 2009 12:12 PM by Myra Long
(Myra) I just received a phone call from AGCI that our application was officially accepted! Next we will get an orientation packet in the mail, including paperwork/contracts. We have an orientation call on Thursday to discuss the next steps. Wish today was Thursday! :-) |
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