So much has happened since I last posted. The home study is done! Finito! It couldn't have gone any better than it did. I was wondering how I would convince the social worker that I could parent two special needs boys as a single parent. In the end the social worker I was assigned happened to be a single mother who had raised two adopted children! So she understood exactly where I was coming from and she said she had no hesitation in approving me to adopt a second child. :) She also had some words of wisdom about having men in the boys' lives and about taking care of myself.
With the home study done and signed at the end of May I've been working on gathering all the documents for the dossier. I had to pass a medical exam and go for blood work. The only abnormality that showed up was anemia due to low iron. That seems to be something I've had all my life so I'll go back on the iron pills and see if that helps.
I'm just waiting for one last blood test result and then I can mail everything to the adoption agency. Then it will all be sent to the province for approval and then on to Bulgaria for translation! After that it will be logged in with the Minister of Justice and I'll (try) wait patiently for a referral. Once I get a referral I'll have a bit more of a time line. Until then I have no idea when I'll be bringing my son home.
It's hard not knowing who he is, how old he is, what he looks like and where he is. I think it's going to get a little bit harder every day. When I think about him I can't even conjure up a picture of him in my mind and yet he's a real boy who exists somewhere on the other side of the world! It's a weird feeling for sure. I went through the same feelings before I got the referral for Silas and I survived so I imagine I will this time too. ;o)
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May 8th was Gotcha Day and May 20th marked one year in Canada.
Photo on the left is at the airport last year and the photo on the right was taken at the Ds conference this year. |
It is a bit different this time though. I have this wonderfully busy, almost 4 yr old, to keep my mind off things! He's such an amazing kid. In a year he's gone from eating only purees and not being able to sit up to eating only solids and walking! That's right! He's a walker now! He's getting braver and braver with walking the last few days.
We saw an ENT last month and she says he needs tubes in his ears because they are full of fluid. I'm hoping that once he gets those he'll be able to hear more and then maybe he'll start talking or at least start to communicate a bit better. No surgery date yet but I think it could be sometime this summer. It'll be the first time I've had to hand him over to a surgeon so I'm not sure how I'll handle it. Lots of prayer for starters!
We had such a busy month of May, holding the auction, preparing for the big yard sale, road trip to Edmonton for the Down syndrome conference and then another road trip to Winnipeg to see family and go to the ENT appointment.
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| Swinging with Uncle on our visit to the city for the ENT appointment. |
The auction on facebook had some great items and some fun bidding wars. It raised over $3000! I'm so happy with how that turned out that I'm planning another one for the fall.
The Down syndrome conference was something I signed up to go to in January, before I started the adoption. Once I started the adoption I questioned whether I should have signed up to go. It was going to cost about $1000 to drive there, attend the conference and pay for the hotel. But as usual God always provides! I found out that the Manitoba DS society was reimbursing the conference registration for it's members so that was $370 back. Then I wrote a letter to the board of my weekend job (which has to do with special needs adults) offering to attend a session of their choice in exchange for some monetary support. I wasn't sure if I'd get anything but I thought it would be worth a shot. And it was! The amount from the board covered the hotel and most of the gas for travel. So I was able to attend the conference for almost free.
And what a blessing the conference turned out to be. I was able to meet friends I'd only been in contact with on facebook before. They were as normal in real life as they seemed to be on facebook. Not crazy at all! lol I learned so much from the sessions as well. And I made new friends! There were quite a few adoptive moms there. It was a great experience for both me and Silas. He did great during all the travel and sleeping in new places. I was so proud of him. :)
June hasn't been much slower....well maybe a tad. We had a very big and very successful yard sale the first weekend that raised over $1600! That's almost twice as much as each yard sale raised for Silas' adoption so I was very pleased. I'm planning another one for later in the summer so I'll be accepting more items to sell again if you have anything you'd like to get rid of!
Oh and the bubble bath fundraiser went really well too! $210 was raised. That's a whole lotta bubble bath! Thanks to everyone who bought and thanks to Mae and Mom who organized that!
So that's about where things stand folks! Over $12000 raised and saved in just over two months! Wow! God has provided for this adoption just like He did for Silas'. I'm so thankful for everyone who has helped with the fundraisers and who has donated. It's amazing to think that we're already 1/3rd of the way there. :oD
Stay tuned for some more fundraisers in the coming weeks and months!
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| Keep Calm I'm going to be a big brother! |
