A bunch of blah blah blah

Well, it's been ten days since I've written anything down. Ten uneventful days...oh, except that we received a letter from the USCIS letting us know they got our I600a form. Yea! We are officially in a government file!
Today was really crazy. Our son had a lot of homework and I couldn't get anything to print that he had typed. Our dog was acting strange (ok, when does he not?) and my daughter was acting...well...like a twelve year old. Our entire living/dining room carpet is ripped up and we have furniture everywhere throughout the rest of the house. We're installing laminate flooring and the dru part of drubek is not home long enough to finish the job in one weekend. We quickly realized our hot water heater had been leaking and was damaging a section of the floor. Between the two of us, we spent the majority of the day fixing the leak. I made several trips to the local hardware store while dear hubby was home fixing! To top it off, today was also the day that we had to put our potbelly piggy down. It was her time to go. She has been ill for a few months and she was old!!! I came to terms with this several weeks ago, but somehow, when it actually happens, it's a lot of sadness.
I thought to myself...wow, could I handle a day like today with four children? Then, another thought quickly took over and I realized how few and far between these sort of days are. Whew.

I wanted to add that we saw an amazing movie last night. It's called "The Ultimate Gift". I highly recommend it for the entire family.

Drubek

Home from Hawaii

We're baaaaack! We got home late last night from nine AMAZING days in Kauai and Kona. When I have more time, I plan to list some fun places to go, eat, see, etc...if anyone would like to plan a similar trip to these beautiful islands!

But, since our blog is about our adoption, I should stick with the agenda! =)

It's late so I'll make it short tonight. We got our back mail delivered today and lo and behold!!! We received not only my certified birth certificates (from Montana) but our passports as well. These all arrived within a week of us applying for them. We were told the wait was at least four weeks! I keep pinching myself. Other adoptive parents have told us that we'll hit a "brick wall" and we'll get discouraged at some point...but for now, I can't even imagine that happening! Each little step has made me rejoice. I hope that even during the bumps along the way, we'll keep in mind that everything happens for a reason. And maybe, we'll be able to share each discouraging adventure with someone else who may be at that "brick wall".

Happy Easter Weekend!
Love, Drubek

First Adoption study meeting!

It’s 4:32pm and our social worker will be here ANY MOMENT.
The house is tidied up and we put in some new flowers outside so it looks like spring is really here. I think we’re ready for the unknowns of the dreaded homestudy! =}
Andrew picked up the kids after school so I could finish vacuuming and setting out a few snacks. I opted for fruit and little individual bottles of water in an ice tub. I’m so ready for summer and strawberries and grapes looked delicious! I can barely keep the kids out of it until Mike gets here!

Update...It is now past 9pm and the home/adoption study went really well. Our social worker, Mike, is a really laid back guy. His heart is genuine and caring. We all instantly liked him. Yes, we did what all new adoptive parents do before a homestudy...cleaned, cleaned, cleaned! =) We planted a few needed flowers (but for the record, we would have done that anyway since so many are blooming right now!) I don't remember last when I dusted on a Monday! =D

Oh, I want to mention that we asked Mike some questions about filing our I-600A form. On line #16, he said to write the USCIS Yakima office (for Washington State residents) and then also put on the American Embassy or Consulate line Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Africa. I hope this helps for anyone filling this form out. I noticed several entries on the yahoo group that were wondering about this same thing.

Thank you to everyone who is keeping up with this blog. It's fun and therapeutic to blog. I highly recommend it! No matter what you're going through in your life, journaling is a healthy way to get (or keep) your sanity!

Summary of Expenses

As we searched for the right agency for our family, the questions we kept having over and over were "How much does all this cost?", "When do we pay?", and "Do we have to have all the money up front?"...There were never any clear answers. And, for the record, EVERY ADOPTION (as with biological births) IS DIFFERENT! **
So, we asked a lot of questions and at least got enough of them answered to know that we were ready to go for it.
As we go through this process, we feel it is very important to document expenses and timeframes (dates of service or dates we paid for something adoption/paperwork related) for other potential adoptive parents. If you are interested in learning more about these costs, please email us and we'd be happy to share with you!

We are very private about our other personal financial details, but feel this is an important part of the adoption experience. Hopefully this information can help even just one family in their own journey to bring their children home.

**Also, we want to add that each agency fee, certified document and/or other service will be unique and different. This is only an example of our financial experience.


Drubek

Easy!

Wow and incredible! I took this afternoon to get our certified marriage licenses and Andrew's certified birth certificates. I got four of each. Hope this is enough =).
I MUST say...except for getting a gordita instead of a burrito supreme, my day has been WONDERFUL.
The line at the courthouse was SHORT and I had my papers in no time flat. The line for the Health dept. to get Andrew's birth cert. was longer and not as efficient, but it took less than 2o minutes. I now only need to get my birth certificate from Ravalli County, MT. That'll cost about $12. I am thrilled. I was nervous that I'd spin my wheels awhile and then get told that the documents would have to come in the mail. Thank God for the computer age!

Oh, I forgot to mention another highlight from today...I found parking five spaces from the courthouse, meter already paid and the spot fit my big ol' Ford F350 just perfect!
I loved today!

Drubek

And the momentum builds...

I woke up early (our dog, Hugo, wasn't helping by flicking his tail against the side of the bed while staring at me in great big huge puppy dog eyes saying "Let me out, pleasssssse?"). I can't help thinking about God's timing. I relayed this story to my good friend last night...everything happens for a reason and in God's time. It's a difficult thing to remember sometimes but it gives me comfort.

For instance, we are about to go on vacation and figured we'd start our adoption study (usually called a homestudy but I don't like that word as much =) when we returned...hopeful that the social worker, Mike, would be able to fit us into his schedule. I sent him an email requesting more information around 8pm...lo and behold, within the hour, Mike called back! It was a good conversation. He asked if Monday at 4pm would be a good time to have our very first adoption study meeting here at our house. WOW. So soon!!! I also want to mention that not only is Mike a very likeable guy but his fee's are reasonable and well below the other agency's fees I've heard about.

I thought back several months ago and realized how even before we made this adoption decision, God was working to pave the way. Andrew usually flies out on Mondays...this week he will not since we are going on vacation on Wednesday. He could easily have said he was working a few days and then would meet the rest of us in San Francisco (we've done this sort of thing in the past). I also usually work on Mondays, even if it's only three hours...I've planned to take it off for months. This way I have time to straighten up the house and devote time to adoption stuff where I may not have otherwise. None of this could have happened on a regular Monday. Mondays typically are very "filled up" days in the drubek home. Now, I don't know if anyone reading this can follow the significance of these events...but I don't believe there are any coincidences. In the words of a great Newsboys song "It's just a spirit thing!"

Drubek

They got it!

We just got an email from Kari at Dove...our application has arrived and it is being reviewed, references are being requested and overall, we are ***officially*** starting adoption with a real live agency! Wahoooooo
I want to go out and buy something! =)

Drubek