Good news all around!

First good news: The auction was a huge success! My goal was to reach $1,000 and the final amount was $1,013! Thank you all so much for your help! This will definitely aid us in bringing home Calvin & Silas! So from us and soon them - THANK YOU!

Second good news: I now have the medical forms for Tyler & myself. I contacted the Dept of Health in Tallahassee and told them that we haven't received the licensure verification of our MD and they said that they have a second original that has been notarized that I can pick up on Friday when I go up to apostille the dossier! It's all coming together! Hooray! So I will mail the dossier on Friday to Russia! Woo-hoo! SO EXCITING! Boys, we're on our way! :D

Adoption Related Items

The CHRISTMAS IN SEPTEMBER auction ends tonight at 11pm EST. Thank you all for your support and generosity in our endeavors to raise money to bring Calvin & Silas home. There are a few items that haven't been bid upon, almost all of them being adoption-related items. I thought that posting the pictures and links here would allow you to see what's available still and maybe you or someone you know would like to have them.

Adoption Card. Click here to view.

Adoption Day Card. Click here to view.

Gotcha Day Card. Click here to view.

There are other adoption-related items that are on the auction:

Mother in many languages necklace. Click here to view.

Adoption onesie (custom made - choose country and heart location). Click here to view.

Forever Love Original 8x10 (custom made - choose country and heart location). Click here to view. 

Give Hope Africa Adoption T-shirt (Unisex). Click here to view.

Gotcha Day Blessing Book. Click here to view.

Loopy Russia Bows. Click here to view.

Personalized Wood and Sterling Pendant Necklace. Click here to view.

Welcome Home Adoption/Birthday Party - Full Printable Party Collection - African/Zoo Theme. Click here to view.

Women's Give Hope Africa Adoption T-shirt. Click here to view.

Closing in

Well, tomorrow is the last day of the auction. I greatly appreciate all the support thus far - the auction ends tomorrow at 11pm Eastern Standard Time. Please help to spread the word. Click here to see the 81 items (yes, 81!). After the auction is over, I will post how much we raised to bring Calvin & Silas home! :)

Auction

3 more days left until the CHRISTMAS IN SEPTEMBER auction closes! It will end on September 27th, at 11pm EASTERN standard time. There is still time left: click here to see the 66 items! Thank you for your support!

Delays

I have held off writing a post because I wanted to be able to write something positive, yet I cannot keep waiting for that. Do not worry, nothing is wrong with the actual adoption of our boys - it's just that things keep delaying our mailing the dossier to Russia. At one point we thought we had everything and were preparing to notarize/apostille/mail to Russia. Then we found out (the day before!) that our medical forms had expired and we needed to redo them. So we found another MD for Tyler & I (ours moved to England - Air Force) and started that process. She had us do (yet another) TB test and did a blood draw to test for infectious diseases. We had the same MD do the medical forms for the kids. I have those completed forms now.

However, I called to find out if our records were done for Tyler & I today and the nurse responded that it takes 7-10 DAYS to get the results. The blood was drawn on Tuesday of this week. So, the earliest we could have our forms is Tuesday, September 27th, but it could be as late as Friday, September 30th...we were planning to get our forms notarized today so I could make the drive to Tallahassee on Monday, but now that option is out the door. And even if the forms are done by Tuesday, Tyler will be out of town until Thursday, so the EARLIEST I could go up is a week from today, because he has to be with me when we notarize the documents. This may seem silly and I am probably just overemotional, but I am frustrated that things are taking so long. I am so ready to have our dossier on its merry way to Russia. Why all the holdups?!?!?

I am ready to hold my boys again. I wonder if they feel abandoned by us. Do they look out the window every day to see us coming to get them? Do they feel alone? Scared? Worried? I am not there to make things right. I want to be there to reassure them that I love them and then bring. them. home.

On the bright side, I received the following message from Victoria (our placement agency):

Dear Jill,

I got an e-mail from Sveta, she called both orphanages and was told the boys are doing well and they look forward to your coming to pick them up.

I am grateful for those small blessings that keep me motivated, like this email about Calvin & Silas. I guess I just need to keep myself busy until I'm back with my boys. Until then, I just look at these pictures to keep me going.

Police report

Today Tyler & I got our police reports for our dossier. It felt strange going to the police station - I don't think I've ever been to one before. I didn't have to go for the Ukrainian adoption, so this was new for me. We got our paper stating that neither of us has been arrested before in our town.

Next on the list: Tyler is working on our financial form and next monday/tuesday we get our medical forms. Once we get all those and our birth certificates for the twins arrive from Ukraine, it's time to notarize/apostille documents. I have a few days left open next week for a trip up to Tallahassee to get them all done and then I will mail them to Russia from there. Can't wait to see my boys again - I hope it will be October!

A week or so

Okay, so I talked with a nurse on base and there is a doctor there who is registered in the state of FL. Tyler & I both have appointments with her early next week. Today we will call and get the state registration verification process going, which usually takes about a week to finish, and then we'll meet with the doctor next week and I am hoping that we will notarize/apostille next week! I pray that this will happen! And I am hoping that our judge in Nizhny Novgorod will have our paperwork by Oct 1st!

Texas is too far...

So we found out that the doctor here on base that we met with is registered in TX and not FL. This means that we will have to get a referral off-base to a doctor who IS registered in FL, so we can fill out the medical forms for Tyler & me. So many hoops to jump through...

Victoria said that Sveta called Calvin's orphanage last week and they said that Calvin is doing well with his recovery from heart surgery. I am eager to see him in person, but it's nice to hear something about him!

The CHRISTMAS IN SEPTEMBER silent auction is still going on. You can check it out here.

Open for business!

The CHRISTMAS IN SEPTEMBER silent auction is now open! Here is the link:

http://www.32auctions.com/organizations/2051/auctions/2218

Details: the auction will run for 3 weeks. I will add more items as I receive them - still accepting donations! Get all your Christmas shopping done and help support us as we bring our boys home from Russia! Thanks for your support. :)

Help us bring Silas and Calvin HOME!

Christmas in September

I am doing a CHRISTMAS IN SEPTEMBER silent auction to raise money for our Russian adoption for Calvin & Silas. If you have any donations you can offer, please let me know! Thank you!

Redo

Well...I was hoping to go notarize and apostille our dossier tomorrow and then mail it out. I was thisclose to being able to do it all...and then Victoria from AAC said that our medical records that we did back in May had just expired. I guess they only last 3 months or something. This wouldn't be too big of an issue, except for our MD just PCS'd (Air Force term for transer) to England. Oh, and our pediatrician just retired. So we may have to have the kids meet with a new pediatrician and then get those papers redone. Ugh. Anyhow, it will take 1-2 weeks to get the forms redone and that means that it's very likely that we won't go to Russia before October. :*(