Saturday, February 25, 2012

Rumor has it

I just heard that Obama has signed into the budget for the adoption tax credit to be extended for 2012 and 2013. I almost cried when I read it. It hasn't passed yet so I'm not getting too excited but you better believe that I will be praying for this to come to pass!





Friday, February 17, 2012

APPROVED!!!!

I found out yesterday that my registration/file has been formally approved by CARA, which is Ind*a's central federal agency that oversees the adoption process!!  First huge step in the right direction!  My caseworker told me that they still don't know what the next steps will look like since the implementation of the new procedures.  What we are ultimately waiting for is for me to receive Sofia's child study report so that I can formally accept her referral.  Then, I will wait to be officially matched.  Some more good news is that families who were in process before the January 20th registration date, have had their cases pick up speed.  It appears that Ind*a is adhering to their new time guidelines for special needs cases.  This is fantastic news because HOPEFULLY after I receive her file, they will adhere to the time lines for her case.  This would be absolutely amazing.  You can guess what I'm praying for next :)

Happy President's Day Weekend!!!!

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Crickets Chirping and a Rant

I'm not gonna lie, I'm disappointed that I didn't hear anything back about my case. I also emailed my caseworker a question about one of the documents needed for my dossier. She answered that question but not any of my questions in regards to being approved. That leads me to assume that I haven't been. Yet. Oh how I love waiting.

On the flip side, I did get a chance to vent to the US government about how it handled the Nepal situation. I added in there for good measure my opinions on how I think they need to grow a pair and stand up to UNICEF, which is completely anti-adoption, and quit acquiescing to them. Since when should UNICEF be legislating inter-country adoption? Last time I checked, I don't pay taxes to UNICEF.... Or maybe I do. Who knows what kind of convoluted crap goes on. The best part is that the survey was sent to me by Joint Council, who I happen to think is like Dirty Harry, so I KNOW my feedback will be reported. If I were a political satirical cartoonist, I would draw a picture of Dirty Harry, aka Joint Council pointing its magnum 44 at UNICEF and saying, "do you feel lucky, punk? Do you?"
Have I mentioned that I freaking hate UNICEF and will never ever ever ever ever donate to them? And furthermore I will be very vocal about what kind of crap they preach.

See what extended waiting has done to me? That mixed in with some PMS. I should be a shut in for the next few days.



Thursday, February 9, 2012

Pins and Needles

I found out that my two friends Sarah and Mer have received approval from CARA!!!! This is very exciting!! The three of us made it into the system's first batch of 100 PAPS. Under the new guidelines, Ind*a is trying to keep up with the paperwork so they only allow 100 files register each month with the goal to process those cases before the next 100 are registered. I'm hoping and praying that my file has received approval as well. I've also been praying that the three of us would be able to travel together...it would be such a blessing!! I've emailed my caseworker but I haven't heard anything back. Today I had to call to verify something with the paperwork and I found out that she has been out sick. So maybe, just maybe, when she makes it back to work she will have good news for me!

The next step after the official approval from CARA will be for my file to get sent to Sofia's orphanage.  Please pray that I get the official acceptance SOON!!

Saturday, February 4, 2012

I Like Smiling. Smiling is My Favorite!


I LOVE THIS SMILE!!!!

I wish I could show her in all her glory, but I'm not allowed....yet!  Soon, baby, soon!

Thursday, February 2, 2012

SOFIA HAS DIMPLES!!!!!!

And you know how I know this?  Because today I just got 3 new pictures of her and she's SMILING in all of them!!!!  OH MY GOODNESS IS SHE ADORABLE!!!  This might not seem like a big deal but for me it is monumental!  Every picture I had of her up until this point was hard to look at.  She looked so, well I guess the best way to describe her expressions, a mixture of sad and angry.  You could see that she was a fighter/survivor.  Her eyes were either empty or angry.  And I completely understand based on her history.  SO - to see JOY in her eyes, well it brought me to tears!!  I just want to HUG HER TO PIECES!!  Man I hope this adoption flies!!!!!
I LOVE YOU SOFIA!!!!!!

Words

Words and language are weird.  If you really think about it.  It's mind-blowing to me how we learn to speak.  I did my thesis on second language acquisition when I got my Master degree to teach Spanish.  When I think about Sofia making the transition to the US, learning English will be one of the them.  I'm so thankful I am a language teacher and understand how second language acquisition works.  I'm also thankful that I know how to make it fun.  It's another thing to be thankful for in how the Lord has orchestrated her adoption.

The photo of the day prompt is "words." Here's my take:

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

A Month of Love

My love/hate relationship with February:  I hate Valentine's Day.  I always have.  There's something about forced affection for marketing purposes that drives me crazy.  I'd rather receive unprompted, genuine, random acts of kindness.  I'd also like to give unprompted, genuine, random acts of kindness.  On the flip side, I'm not a total Valentine scrooge.  What I love about February:  it makes me "officially" stop and reflect upon the relationships that are most important to me and hold a place in my heart.  I recently read The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin.  It is an interesting book.  In her pursuit of happiness, she managed her goals into a system where she focused on one goal for an entire month.  Obviously for February, she focused on REALLY loving the people who are most important to her.  Even when she didn't feel like it.  After all, don't they say that real love is an action, not an emotion?  So that got me thinking and for the month of February, each day I want to reflect upon and find a way to show the people I love that I really do love them.  I'm hoping that I will develop the "habit" of loving people.  I know they say it takes 30 days to form a habit, well this year is leap year so I'm working with 29 days....we'll see what happens!

I also decided to participate in the February photo-a-day challenge.  They give you a prompt for each day; some are completely random and others not so much.  I'm looking forward to the creative aspect of this challenge!  Here's my first photo and the prompt was "my view today":



Here's to love!