FUNDRAISING IDEAS!!!

In the last few weeks, we have had the opportunity to share our adoption story with another couple who is in the process of a domestic adoption. It has been such a blessing!

They have finished their H.S. and now they are playing the "wait game." The only hold back now is the finances. If any of you out there have any fundraising ideas, PLEASE let me know! Money is such a crucial part to an adoption, however it should never be able to hold someone back from adopting!

Keep them in your prayers and thank you for any ideas you may have! To follow their journey go to, www.bastianbabylove.blogspot.com


Love to all and God bless!

P.S. We are all doing awesome here! We'll post pics soon!!!

WE LOVE TO EAT!!!

Tonight was the first time that Zach ate baby cereal. He has been so hungry lately! After much advice, we caved in and let him try it. He figured it out quickly and I couldn't feed him fast enough. Everytime I would give him a bite, I would wait a bit to make sure he was ready for the next. If I waited to long he would yell at me..."ah ah ah ahhhhhh!!!" He was so stinkin' cute ;-)

Talk about slackin'!!! This blog hasn't been updated in a LONG time...ooooppppsssss!!! Needless to say, our life has been quite busy! Our girls are so close to starting school, so we are making the best of the rest of the summer! Mr. Man is quite a character! He chats with you now, smiles a TON, grabs for things, drinks 6oz at a time, goes to bed at 7pm and sleeps until 4:30ish!!!! He is such a good baby ;-) He has recently decided that when we get to the grocery store, he would prefer to be held during our shopping trip instead of sitting in his comfy little car seat. You should see the looks when I have a baby on my hip, my 8 yr old pushing the cart, my 5 yr old following right behind and my 4 yr old bringing up the rear with a little tune of her own(she will be famous someday!) It's quite comical to see all of the "you crazy lady" looks;-) THANK GOD I HAVE GOOD KIDS!!! I am looking forward to the one on one time that Zachary and I will have once school starts...I have a feeling that I won't be as entertaining as his sisters though!

The new pics are of Zach at the store in the cart(didn't last long). The other one is of him in his new Bumbo chair.

Hope you all are well and we'll try to update this thing more often.

"Superman"

Time fly's when your having fun! I just realized that this blog has not been updated in a while...

Things are going great! We went on our 1st camping trip as a family of 6last weekend...AWESOME!!! Zach does great when we go out of town. When we get home though, he tends to need a bit more attention for a few days. Nothing that we can't handle ;-)

We are working on 13lbs and trying to gain an inch or so. The smiles and laughter from him are priceless! He is a SUPER STRONG little guy! He loves to stand(with assistance), rolls from his tummy to his back, he has quite the big guy grip and chats with us on a daily basis.

The posted pics had me cracking up! He looks like quite a man ;-)

God bless!

Growing up quick

THINGS HAVE BEEN GOING FANTASTIC IN OUR HOUSEHOLD! THE KIDS ARE ALL HAVING A GOOD SUMMER. THE TIME THAT WE ARE ALL SPENDING TOGETHER HAS REALLY MADE THE BONDING PROCESS GO FLAWLESS. ZACH IS GROWING LIKE A WEED! HE IS SMILING, MAKING NOISES, STAYING AWAKE A TON MORE, AND WAKING UP LESS AT NIGHT. HE IS REALLY AN AMAZING LITTLE MAN!

WE ARE HEADING TO OUR 2 MONTH DOCTORS APPOINTMENT ON MONDAY. WE ARE ANXIOUS TO SEE WHAT PERCENTILE HE WILL FALL IN AS FAR AS HIS GROWTH. LAST MONTH HE WAS IN THE SINGLE DIGITS.

HERE ARE A COUPLE OF NEW PICS...

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all of the dad's out there! Things are going great here! We had our first post home visit last week, it went perfectly. Zach is growing like crazy! He is becoming alot more alert everyday, it's so fun!!

We hope you all are doing well, until next time...

PICTURES

HERE ARE SOME CUTE PICTURES...HE IS QUITE THE LADIES MAN!

Life is great

So far, so good! Things have been going pretty smoothly in our household. Zachary has been a blessing in this family. Last night we went out for fish fry and on our way out of the restaruant, a lady stopped us so she could take a peek at Zach. She just ranted and raved about how beautiful he was(of course we agreed!) On our way out of the place Ashley says, "I am so glad that we have our Zachary home...I love him so much!!!" It was so sweet!

He is a huge cuddle bug and between the 4 of us girls and dad, it's a good thing he likes to be held! We will post more soon!

"Chunky Monkey"

We had our first doctors visit since we've been home. We have gained 2 lbs and grown 2.5 inches!!!! We are turning into quite a "chunky monkey"!
(current weight is 7 lbs 10 oz. and our height is 19.5 inches)

Other then that, things are going great! We did forget to mention a VERY INSTRUMENTAL person who helped us find our son!!! Melissa S., thank you soooooooo much for all of your help and guidance! You are amazing!!!!(Thanks Mike and Becky for that connection ;-)

Anyways, Zach is going to his first wedding this weekend...stay tuned for more pictures!

WE ARE HOME!!!!

Well, we made it home yesterday! We were definately more than ready to get here! We still can't believe how all of this ended up!!! We have the most perfect son for our family!!!!

We had a GREAT experience down there and we met some AMAZING people! Besides the people and our beautiful son, my(Sarah) favorite part of the whole trip was the CONSTANT compliment on how good I look for having a 10 day old baby ;-) Some may ask what my response was...the only good one I came up with was THANK YOU...hahaha!!!

All fun and games aside, we truly have a number of people we need to thank!

First and foremost, we want to thank our Heavenly Father!!

Thank you to all of those that took such wonderful care of our kiddo's while we were gone! Shane and Angie, Laura, Brad and Medea, Benny and Julie, Jack and Denise, Dad and Shane and Miriam!!! Ms. Olsen, Ms. Jolene, and Ms. Everson!!!

Thank you to our family who have been so supportive!

Thank you to our neighbors who have kept our house together and kept our girls company!

Thank you Jack and Denise for ALL of the UPGRADES and cleaning you did to our house!

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Gabrielse for your wonderful support and encouragement!

Thank you InterCon staff for being so supportive and understanding throughout this process!

Thank you to all of our dear friends who have shown nothing but genuine support!!!

A HUGE THANK YOU TO...MARTINE, STACY, HAKIEM, AFC STAFF, HILEAH HOSPITAL NICU STAFF, IVETTE and ANDREW!!!!!!

We are so happy to be home and the girls have fallen head over heels for Zach!!! We will continue to post as we get more pictures!!!

Thank you Hialeah NICU staff!!!!!

We want to take the time to thank the staff at the Hialeah NICU!!! Your support, your faith and your kindness has meant so much!

Thank you for taking such wonderful care of Zachary prior to us getting there, as well as while we were there!

You will be in our hearts and prayer for a LONG time!!!!

God Bless!!!!!!!

He is PERFECT!!!!

WOW!!! I don't think you could have wrote a better story for us! Our little Zachary John was born on Tuesday May 12th. He weighed 6lbs and was 17in long. He is ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!!! The doctors and nurses have done a great job with him! We hope to bring him home(our hotel room) on Friday, if not sooner. There is nothing wrong with him, however they are administering antibiotics through an IV due to the lack of prenatal care.
As far as coming home...probably not until the 28th. We have to wait on some paperwork to clear through both states(rumor has it that it takes up to 7 days).

Needless to say, we are on cloud 9 right now! We miss the girls terribly and can't wait to get home, but we are trying to enjoy this "bonding" time with our new little man.

Thank you all for your wonderful support!!!!!!! When we got home from the hospital tonight, we had over 100 emails! Keep them coming;-)

One of these days while we are here, we'll update you on how all of this came about so quickly.

Love to all!!!!

Keith and Sarah

BREAKING NEWS

WOW!!! WE WILL GIVE DETAILS LATER, BUT FOR NOW WE WANT YOU ALL TO KNOW THAT WE ARE HEADED NOW TO PICK UP ZACHARY!!!! HE IS IN THE U.S....WHO KNEW?!?!? HE WAS BORN ON TUESDAY. ACCORDING TO THE DOCTORS HE IS STUNNING ;-)

WE ARE AMAZED AT HOW THIS ADOPTION JOURNEY HAS TAKEN SUCH A TURN! WE ARE SO THRILLED THOUGH AND WE CAN'T WAIT TO GET OUR HANDS ON OUR SON!!!

STAY TUNED....

THIS PAGE IS GOING PRIVATE

WE WILL BE SECURING OUR BLOG AND MAKING IT PRIVATE. RIGHT NOW ANYONE CAN READ IT. AFTER THIS WEEKEND, YOU WILL NEED TO SIGN UP. ALL FRIENDS AND FAMILY, PLEASE SIGN UP SO THAT YOU CAN STAY UPDATED...WE PROMISE TO UPDATE SOON!

HOME STUDY COMPLETE!!!!

Well, our home study is finally finished! It went really great and we actually had some "additional" topics come up. We have to be a bit careful with how much we say at this point, but we would ask that you keep us in your prayers. We have some major decisions in the works regarding our son!

Thank you again for all of the support and we will keep you updated as we move forward!

P.S. Thank you KJ, Jenni and Sheila for your extra support this week!!!

Home Visit Completed

We had the home visit today and from what we can tell it went great! The gentleman that came to our house was very nice and easy to chat with. We do have a final visit at his office next Tuesday. We are planning to submit everything to immigration towards the middle of May.

We are having a slight delay in getting Sarah's birth certificate from Illinois. They are really backed up in paperwork. We are hoping that we will be receiving it soon, as we need it for a number of things coming up.

We hope you are all enjoying the beginning of spring! We can't believe that next year at this time our son will be home with us!!!

Until next time...

So close to done!

We are almost done with our Home Study!

Our "home visit" is next Tuesday, followed by our office visit on the 28th. We are sending in our I600-A today which will get the immigration process started. We will then schedule our fingerprinting. So far we are staying on track with the time frame that we have been expecting.
The next big task will be to tackle the dossier paperwork.

We really appreciate all of the support that we have received from all of our family and friends! A special THANK YOU to Jill, Shane and Miriam, Liz, Randy and Gina, and Ben and Jen for the extra support you have given us! You helped us get one step closer to bringing home our son!

Paperwork

So far, so good! We are swimming in paperwork, but we wouldn't change a thing! The home study paperwork is almost finished!!!!! We have to have two meetings with our case worker, get physicals on all of us (which are scheduled for next week), and mail the remainder of the paper pile to our agency.
As soon as that is done and they write up the HS report, off to immigration we go! We will send in a I600A form, which is an application for immigration, along with our HS report.
After we get the immigration approval, which could take up to 90 days, we start compiling our dossier. We are finally seeing some progress!!!

IA Process

Our meeting on Monday went good. It was basically a review of the international adoption process. It touched on Kazakhstan briefly, but it was very vague. We did learn that it was a required part of the process for immigration though.

We have had a ton of question's regarding the specifics of the process. We have stated that it is a long and overwhelming one, however we decided to give a brief outline of the actual steps and timeline that we will be following.

Here is a brief idea of what we are currently doing...

As of right now, we are in the 2nd phase of the adoption. The 1st phase was the hardest I think, just because that is where we made the actual decision to adopt, we chose the country, and then we chose the agency. That process consisted of a TON of research, checking agency references, interviewing agencies, talking to families who have been through this before, finding out the requirements for the different countries, narrowing down the countries that we are eligible for, researching the cultures, finding out the different processes for each country and agency, finding out the financial requirements for the countries and agencies and making the final decision on the country and agency.
It may not sound that bad, but it was a intense 6 month process!!!

Now that we are in the next phase, it's paperwork, paperwork, paperwork!!!

These are the things that we have been doing to complete our Home Study and compile our Dossier(which is a collection of official documents).

• fill out the pre-app for the international adoption(IA) agency($100)
• fill out the pre-app for the home study agency($35)
• have a required 45 min.meeting with the IA agency regarding the process
• fill out the formal IA application and submit it($3300)
• fill out the formal Home Study application and submit it($1235)
• collect certified copies of birth and marriage certificates($133)
• collect 5 reference letters
• collect letters from our banks
• collect employer letter
• fill out financial form
• collect background checks
• start our International Adoption educational training
• apply for USCIS approval by submitting a I-600A form($670)
• get fingerprinted($160)
• get medical exams done on all 5 of us
• have our H.S. house visit and office visit
• write an auto biography about ourselves($priceless$)
• apply for a passport($200)
• get all of the documents notarized and appostiled($600)

Needless to say, this process probably has a few more documents then I listed, but you get the gist of it.

After all of this is completed(2-4 months) we will officially submit our dossier($2700)

Our dossier will then be sent to Kazakhstan for translation prior to being registered and legalized at the Kazakh Embassy in Washington, D.C. or New York City. The final product then travels through the Kazakhstan government.

After the approval process in Kazakhstan, the dossier will be registered in a region, and we are invited to travel to see potential children. We will visit Zachary in the orphanage for 14 days. After completion of this required visitation period, our case will be presented to the court, and a judge will assign a court date, which will be within 5 days or so. Both of us are required to attend this court hearing. We will then travel home to wait for the adoption to be finalized. ($21,750+travel, lodging and food)

That 1st visit will be anywhere between 3 and 4 weeks total...YIKES!!!! All we can say is... Skype!!!!

After a two week period, the judge will issue the final adoption documents. At this point, we will be able to return to Kazakhstan. After finalizing Zachary's visa at the Embassy in Almaty, Kazakhstan, we will travel home with him. ($travel fees)

Only one parent has to travel on the second trip and it lasts anywhere between 5-10 days.

So, there it is in a nutshell. From here on out when we update you on the process, you will have an idea of where we are at. It should be mentioned that after the dossier is submitted, there will be 4-6 months before we travel. At this point we are expecting to travel sometime between Nov. '09 and March '10. It will depend on how quick we get all of our paperwork done.

We will keep you posted!!!

KAZAKHSTAN

So, we have made our decision....Kazakhstan is the country we have chosen! On Monday we have a phone conference with the agency. We will go over all of the details of the process. For those of you who know me(Sarah), you know that I already know the process like the back of my hand. It will be a great experience for Keith though to be able to ask all the questions he wants, and I am sure that I will come up with a few more of my own!

We have sent for our I-600A packet, filled out a ton of the home study paperwork, sent for certified copies of our birth certificates, chatted with our 5 references, etc...

We know the road ahead is going to be a LONG and overwhelming one, however we are soooooooo excited to meet and bring Zach home!

We want to thank a couple of people who have helped get us that much closer to bringing our son home...Amy H., Jen S., Valerie J., and Amy R. You girls have been a HUGE help!!!! Thank you for your support!!!!

FYI

DUE TO THE FACT THAT WE ARE NOT SEASONED "BLOGGER'S", THERE MAY BE SPELLING AND PUNCTUATION ERRORS. NOT SURE HOW TO USE THE EDIT YET...

The search has started!

Well, this is our first "public" update on the search for our son. We are hoping to use this blog to keep all of you updated and informed on the adoption process. Obviously, you can all guess what our son's name is going to be. We are so looking forward to adding him to our family, and we can't wait to meet him!



It is going to be quite a process. For a few years now, we have been researching all angles of adoption. International adoption is definitely the route we feel led to go. Since August, we have been looking at countries, agencies, and families who have done it before. In December, we decided on a country and an agency. The county we chose was Russia. After a few "hiccups" regarding the agency and the country, we decided to check out other options. We are finally confident with the agency we have picked and we are hoping to confirm either Russia or Kazakhstan as the country very soon! The reason why Kazakhstan is an option, is because it is a very similar county to Russia, however the adoption process is much different.

Both programs have their own pros and cons, that is why we need to think about it a little longer. We will be having a phone meeting with our agency later this week or next about it.



As soon as we decide on a country, we will immediately start on our home study and dossier. This is required for any international adoption. This process is going to consist of mountains of paperwork and interviews. It should take anywhere between 2-6 months, depending on how quick we can get everything together. After that, it will be "hurry up and wait". As soon as we have waited until who knows when, we get to travel to meet Zachary!!! We will let you know how that will work once we finalize our country.



We look forward to having you all apart of this process! Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers these next few days as we face the decision of the country we will be going to.



Until next time...