Our Dossier Travels Overseas

Well, we have been on the waiting list now for 4 weeks (not like we are counting or anything, ha!). Thankfully it is going much faster than I expected however we are still trying to find things to entertain us in the meantime. Karl had to intervene and tell me to step away from the "cliff" because I was convinced we needed to buy the Kelty child carrier which was on sale. His brilliant comment was, "Um don't you think we should maybe wait to see how old the children are before we make such a purchase, it will look pretty silly if you are carrying around a six year old in a backpack carrier." Touche Karlos. So needless to say we are without a carrier. I am wanting to "nest" and it is really hard just waiting. I think the next thing I will start to do is make a picture book of our family to send to the children once we accept the referral.

Anyway, we had good and bad news this week with the adoption. Good news is our dossier passed its examination in Washington, D.C. and now it is on its way to Ethiopia. It should arrive there sometime this week. The sad news is our adoption coordinator for IAN has decided to put more time into her new teaching job so she has put our case to a new coordinator. This new coordinator has had extensive experience in adoptions and we are not in the least worried about her capabilities but it is hard for us to have built a relationship with LeeAnn and now have to transfer the relationship to Aneeta. I am sure it will all proceed smoothly. We will miss LeeAnn, but look forward to our new journey with Aneeta.

Again thank you all for your support throughout our adoption process (and life in general)! Till next time. . .

WAITING LIST!!!

This is a moment that we have been waiting for! We have been setting small goals because it is hard to look so far forward and not get anxious about bringing our kids home and getting our paperwork in so we can be on the waiting list has been our first big goal. We now have our spot on the list so things can proceed. We felt like we were spinning our wheels with the paperwork until this point. So now we wait for a referrel. . .

Biometrics. . . check!

So today was a good day! We left for Fargo yesterday and got to spend time with my cousin Tanie and her husband Brad. It was so much fun! Had a wonderful dinner at Doolittle's and then relaxed around a bonfire until almost midnight. Then we were up early to be at the federal building in Fargo to have our biometrics done. So to clarify things, remember last post when I was whining about waiting for our appointment? Well I had been calling (practically stalking) our case manager for the United States Immigration Services (USCIS) because I was worried they hadn't received our homestudy I sent ages (like middle of JUNE) ago. Well she finally called me back to say she had just scheduled our biometrics appointment and we had to be in Fargo on August 15th at 8:00 am for me and 9:00 am for Karl. I was so excited to get that phone call! That was more emotional for me than turning in our dossier (which by the way got the seal of approval from our agency!)!  So we went to Fargo and we were waiting outside the office this morning even before they were open. I went first and they just let Karl go right away since another lady showed up. Since they were able to process us together the entire process took 12 minutes. OK, I am going to sound kinda grumpy here, but I am not because I am so happy were are done with biometrics, but really we had to drive to Fargo to be fingerprinted (again!) for something that took 12 minutes. Plus we have been waiting since mid June to get an appointment for something that literally took 12 minutes. Phew, I am done and over it (sorry about the complaining!). Also the women who work at the USCIS in Fargo were so pleasant that it was a blissful 12 minutes. So the next step is we wait for the approval letter from USCIS (it comes from our caseworker in Texas) and as soon as we get it, we copy it (people going through the adoption process should laugh at that), and then we mail it because as soon as it reaches IAN in Colorado we are on the waiting list!!!!!!! That is a big deal!!!! Until then . . .

Progress

Well progress has been made in the adoption journey finally. My friend Kelli became a notary in mid-July and thanks to her hard work we whipped through all the stuff to be notarized in two days! I was also able to get the other necessary items certified and sent the dossier today! BUT unfortunately I still haven't been received the appointment for biometrics (we need to have fingerprints taken AGAIN but in Fargo this time). It has been over a month since we sent our completed form to USCIS and now we are just waiting. Our agency recommended we send our dossier although currently incomplete to get everything checked over so when we eventually get our letter from USCIS we can be put on the waiting list right away. So I have been calling USCIS and leaving messages just to check and be sure all of the documentation they need is in place so that we can get our appointment. Kinda frustrated by this step right now but we will get through it and there is a reason why this is happening. Our babies are just not ready for us quite yet :)

Thanks again to everyone for their help with the flood. The berm is STILL holding (UNBELIEVABLE!!) thanks to such a wonderful group of people helping. 

And the water rises. . .

Well it's a good thing we all know how to swim. As many of you know the Missouri River is raging a war against us, and unfortunately it is winning. Our house is safely out of harms way, but my parent's house is going to need some prayers. Thanks to the most wonderful friends and family their house still has a fighting chance. A week before last Thursday it was reported how bad things were going to get and my Dad had been trying so hard to save Misty Waters for the season and then realized that his own house was in jeopardy. That night we started building a berm and sand bagging. Previous to that time we had been helping a friend's parents to sand bag their house. I was also able to help a co-worker move his things out of his house. I am so glad I did those favors because we had to call in all those favors plus when working on my parents house. We had to rebuild their berm on Thursday just in time because this morning Karl and my Dad went out to my parent's house and water is in their yard and 8 inches up their berm in the backyard. It really is a sad sight. The good to come out of it is all the acts of kindness from friends and family. Shout outs to: Todd Ternes (love him like a brother), Lori, Randy, Jace, Seth, Randi Jo, Mitch, and Tanner Lura (who all drove two hours one way to help us), Brock Frederickson (who is married to my cousin Kassie), Mark VanRay (both him and Brock are barely related to us and they drove hours to help), Karen and Lenny (again drove miles!), Kelli, Chris, and Ella Gabel, Carol and Greg O'Shea, Sharon and Dwayne Ternes, Katie and Casey Rogstad (Casey had barely landed back from being gone for a week and didn't even go home before coming to help!), Jeff and Bri MacQueen, and many many more, some even strangers. Also those who didn't help us directly but my cousins who organized a wrestling group to come up to Bismarck for the day to fill sand bags, I am so proud of you and so thankful. Words are just never enough but I hope you all know we could not have done this physically or emotionally without your help and support. I just hope you all know that we would return the favor in an instant and will always be here for you.

On to happier subjects our homestudy is done, I know I said it was done last time, but last time our portion was complete and now the WHOLE thing is complete. It was very interesting to read what another person who barely knows you perceives your family. Thank you to our references who said such kind things about Karl and myself. We will pay you later :)

If you have time, please say a quick prayer for all of those affected by flooding in the state this year.

What a post so soon?!

I know everyone will be shocked that I posted again so soon but another hurdle was tackled. We just sent in ALL of our homestudy material, yes ALL of it! As long as we didn't forget anything or screw anything up that means we are DONE with the homestudy! Yippee! Not that we didn't enjoy spending time with our fabulous social worker, Lindsey, but it just means we are even closer to getting on that waiting list! We are also done with the I-600A form and will be mailing that tomorrow! Those of you not down with the adoption lingo it is just a form that needs to be sent to the Department of Homeland Security. The more official name is the application for advance processing of orphan petition.

In addition to the hopeful things in my life, my uncle Pud is doing really well! I am so proud of him because his life has had to change dramatically in the course of one week and he is taking the bull by the horns and working to make his life healthier! I know there is going to be many ups and downs but he and we can do it! I even saw him reading the nutrition labels off a box of oatmeal (that for the record had a huge red heart on the front of it that read "Heart Healthy") and he told me "I can't eat that stuff, did you know it has 11% sodium!" False advertising if I ever saw it!

Yesterday we also had Pastor Renee to our home to visit about the adoption. I really can't say enough about what a amazing woman she is and how she has helped guide us back to our faith. She wrote me an email the other day that read, "I am so happy to be able to support you both through this journey, and I am excited for Heart River (our church) as well!" What a wonderful faith community to belong to!

Well I just read the post again and I seem way more giddy than I ever realized, perhaps it is because I just got done working out and my blood flow to my brain hasn't returned, but that is okay, it is a good feeling to just relax and be happy in this moment.

A Difficult Week but Happy Mother's Day to all!

Many of you have heard but my Uncle Pud had a heart attack last Thursday and ended up with a quadruple bypass on Tuesday. This has led to a lot of long days this week. We are both pretty tired out and trying to rest up. Thankfully Pud gets to leave the hospital today! It will be a long road to recovery but he is well on his way.

We celebrated my 28th birthday last week as well! My family made it very special with dinner made at my house with my favorite meal, FAJITAS! Yum!

We were invited to our homestudy agency, God's Children, to participate in an adoption get together yesterday. Honestly, we were both a little nervous to go but it ended up being alot of fun getting to know other families who are adopting as well as see all those adorable children that have been brought to their forever homes. We didn't realize how much adoption has made on impact on the Bismarck/Mandan and surrounding communities! We have quite the support network. Very exciting news!

As far as where we are in our paper chase, Karl has to finish his education and we have to meet with Pastor Renee to have an adoption meeting with her. Then all our homestudy things can be sent in and hopefully we will be done with all things homestudy for now. Once the homestudy is completed all of our dossier paperwork is completed but just has to be notarized so that will be quick. I am hoping in a month we will be on the waiting list!!!!! So excited!

Happy Mother's Day to all!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! Unfortunately I have been fighting a miserable cold for the past week and this was my first day out of the house for awhile. I am so sorry to have to miss my Uncle Randy's 50th birthday party as well as celebrating Easter with the Lura side of the family! We miss you all!

My first trip out of the house was to church this morning with Karlos. In the sermon today our pastor, Pastor Renee, was telling a story about her husband Ben (those of you who don't know, her husband died in the Haiti earthquake) and a mission trip he took to Ethiopia when he was 15. According to some of my Ethiopia reading Easter in some areas is a bigger holiday than even Christmas, and Pastor Renee told the story of how Ben and his dad where staying in a small village in Ethiopia and in the middle of the night while it was still pitch black they woke up to singing. They put on their clothes, rubbed the sleep from their eyes and took to the street with the people following the singing. The people of the village sang while they climbed a mountain and held Easter service on the top of the mountain. It was a great story and the great beginning to a wonderfully uplifting sermon. I feel Ethiopia everywhere I go these days. . .

We had our second homestudy visit on Tuesday and it went so well. Lindsey is just a wealth of information and although she technically is here to somewhat "judge" us, we feel so open to be able to discuss some of our more embarrassing parenting questions to her without worrying about her reporting us even before we have children! I had to laugh because I have been spring cleaning like a nutcase lately and it was very important for me to move all the cleaning chemicals up to higher cupboards. So when Lindsey didn't ask to look in the cabinets I was kinda sad! She quickly said, "well if you really want me to I can look in the cabinets." In other words we probably overdid it. We are also probably the only people in Bismarck who have child safety doorknobs on our utility room door with no kids living in the home. I also had my friend Laura's daughter Sydney color me a picture to hang on the fridge. See we are a child friendly home! We were well prepared and turns out it probably would have been ok without the over the top effort. Now we wait for Lindsey to finish all her paperwork and we have a bit ourselves to finish and then we can send the dossier once we get her report back from the government.

Special thanks to Kelli for becoming a notary for us! You are the best!

1st Homestudy Meeting Completed!

Karl and I were able to meet Lindsey, our homestudy social worker, for the first time on Thursday! We drove to Jamestown to meet with her. It was a bit scary because you really want this person to like you and think you will be good parents. Lindsey was very supportive and professional. Another small world story though! We were talking about where Karl grew up and he mentioned that his parents used to own the Wigwam resort in Baudette and Lindsey stated she had been there before! This made us excited and then she said, "The last time I was there a wedding party was taking pictures on the boat dock and the entire wedding party fell into the lake!" Before she had finished the sentence, Karl and I looked at each other in amazement and I shouted (literally, in a coffee shop, it was embarrassing!) "That was Jenny's wedding!" (for those of you who don't know Jenny is Karl's sister). What a tiny little world we live in! We all had a good laugh about that one.

Also exciting was last weekend we were out eating with my family and my good friend's sister (who adopted two children from Ethiopia 8 months ago and has been my mentor through the paperwork process) and her family came in to eat. Karl and I hadn't met their Ethiopian boys yet and was able to spend a bit of time talking with them. What an inspiration seeing how well they are doing and how bonded they are to their parents. Such cute boys!

So what's next you ask. . .  well still compiling paperwork and then off to get everything notarized and certified. We have to wait until the homestudy is completed and filed before we can turn in our dossier so our first priority right now is finishing up the homestudy documents and doing our adoptive parent training requirements. I have found that some organizations are kinda stinkers about helping us with paperwork!

Notarize, Certification, and Authentication. . . Oh brother

Well I am sitting here trying to stay warm with the blizzard going on outside! I am truly uncertain as to how I am going to get in to work tomorrow. Oh well, worry about that at that time. We luckily beat the blizzard by coming home yesterday from Montana. We had such a great time! It was so fun to spend time with the family and get to snowboard at the same time! It was crazy to run around running into Luras left and right!

We sent off our policy paperwork as you know last Monday and I received the dossier (dah see ay) guide by email today. At least this involves far less creative writing skills but every piece of paperwork needs to be notarized, most need to be certified, and some need to be authenticated. I forsee many a trip to the state capital for me. Thankfully my friend Kelli has decided (due to my begging and pleading) to become a notary public so she can travel from appointment to appointment with me instead of having to hire a notary to come with me to the doctor's office. Sounds like fun, huh! Now that we have this paperwork I am really getting excited and I feel like this is GOING to happen!!!

We are meeting our homestudy agent, Lindsey, in Jamestown next Thursday for our first visit. Excited but nervous. My next struggle is to get Karl to start our education requirements. Wish us luck!

Step Two: Done

Phew! We finally sent both our policy papers and our homestudy application! What that means is we now wait for a time when our homestudy agent, Lindsey, can come to Bismarck to do our homestudy and we wait for more paperwork so we can start our dossier for the adoption agency. Basically we wait for more paperwork. Thankfully I believe all creative writing projects are done so we can complete the next set of paperwork in a more timely manner. Karl is very happy to be sending that autobiography on its merry way.

We are so excited to leave for Big Sky on Thursday to spend some time on the slopes and enjoying my extended family. It is a Lura cousin reunion of sorts. Should be a good time, especially since we have cabin fever following the blizzard we got on Karl's birthday. I will post pictures when we get back.

Please keep the people of Japan in your thoughts and prayers as they continue to struggle with the effects of the tragic earthquake and tsunami.

9-10 PAGES!!

Hahahaha! I have to laugh at my husband. I emailed our coordinator today because we need to write an autobiography to send with our policy paperwork. You all know how wordy Karl is (please note the sarcasm) so he has one paragraph while I have three pages. Thus Karl wanted me to check with LeeAnn to see how long these autobiographies typically are. She said they can be as long as you would like to make them, as a reference theirs was 9-10 pages when they adopted. I forwarded this information to Karl and I think he had a minor stroke. Haaahahahahha! He better buff up his paragraph. But the good news is we can use this same autobiography for our homestudy so at least we will use it more than once. We also learned today that Ethiopia now requires us to travel twice instead of once. It is both a positive and a negative. Positives: we get to travel to Ethiopia twice!, we get to meet the kids before we bring them home and can actually deliver our adoption book to them by hand and bring toys! Negatives: it is obviously another expense and more vacation time, but the biggest negative is that we will meet our kids and then have to leave them. That is going to be heartwrenching! This is going to be such a crazy year with two trips to Africa and another trip to Haiti!

Policy Paperwork

So we received all of our policy paperwork the other day and received a phone call from our adoption coordinator, LeeAnn. Surprisingly, her husband worked with Karl at Bobcat and they have a baby girl from Ethiopia as well. They now live in South Dakota. It is such a small world and we will be in good hands as we start this process.

Also in our thoughts this week was the one year anniversary of the earthquake in Haiti. Remember to keep those still affected and those suffering in your thoughts and prayers. It helps me put my "rough week" into perspective.

Adoption process: Day One

Well the last couple of months have been a blur. My grandpa ended up in the hospital shortly after the last posting for heart surgery. Then we left for Haiti (more on that in a bit). When we got back grandpa ended up back in the hospital for a craniotomy. Plus work has been out of control for me! Christmas was wonderful and New Year's brings new beginnings, especially since today I just mailed our application for adoption to our soon to be agency, International Adoption Net. It was pretty crazy because I have filled that application out at least four times but haven't sent it so to put it in the mailbox today was quite a moment. We have slowly been telling close friends and family about our decision and have been met with such positive and loving responses. We will appreciate all your support in the year to come!

Back to Haiti. WOW what an amazing experience! I can't say life changing because I still love my heat/air conditioner and all the other amenties that make me spoiled but I have become very thankful. The best way to get a feel for our trip will be to write out my journal entries that I wrote while we were down there. Beware: this is a long post so get comfortable.

Friday, Oct. 29th: Got the Bismarck airport, met Dr. Cleary (from now on will be referred to only as Cleary) and Dr. Rainwater. I almost didn't make it on the plane because my ticket printed out with my maiden name and I had left my marriage license at home at the last minute. Thankfully, the only friendly Delta representative I have ever encountered worked it out and I made it on the flight. Arrived in Fort Lauderdale, walked the boardwalk along the beach. Went to bed early because the next day was going to be long.

Saturday, Oct 30th: Woke up at 3:00 to get to airport, met some interesting people in our hotel lobby at that time (ask me sometime I will tell you all about it). We checked in with IBC (the airline that flies from Fort Lauderdale to Cap-Haitien), they still use pen and paper and they weigh you in front of everyone on the luggage scales. Awesome. Flight uneventful and they even feed you (I turned up my nose to the sandwich they offered). Arrived in Cap-Haiten, mob of people outside airport to "help" with your bags. Ray Delnatus (the CFO of the compound where we stayed) picked us up with three other volunteers. Our bags were tied to the roof. Cap-Haitien is full of people and pretty dirty. Got to Milot and the compound in about 30 min., apparently the road is much improved from the last time Cleary and Dr. Rainwater were there. Met Emily, Smitty, and Blair at the compound, they are long term volunteers. Karl didn't even get a chance to put his bag in our room before he was whisked off to a project. I put some scrubs on and Cleary gave me a tour of the hospital and ORs. Impressed, they have three new anesthesia machines and are getting piped O2. After the tour we went to the clinic to see pre-ops. We had a couple of earthquake survivors to see in addition to the rest of the urology patients. After clinic Karl, Cleary, and I went for a walk through the town of Milot and to the palace. Met by our "friends" Serg, Johnny, and Charlie who gave us a tour of the palace and town. Interestingly there is a jet ski parked in downtown Milot that everyone is proud of. Of note there is no place to ride the jet ski in Milot. Food was great and the shower refreshing. Hard to sleep due to excitment and roosters.

Sunday, Oct. 31st. Up at 6:30 for breakfast. Karl went to work on a saw. I hiked to a waterfall with Emily and some of the other women volunteers. On the walk Haitian mothers bring there babies up to you to take pictures with them but charge "one dollar." It is very hot today. We got lost and ended up in someone's yard and the little boy (about 6 years old) walked us through the jungle to the waterfall. Only wildlife encountered was a goat. Karl still working on the saw (he is very frustrated with it). We start to hear about Hurricane Tomas that is heading to Haiti. It is a category 2 at this time. No need for us at clinic today so hung around and read a lot. Cleary was consulted in the afternoon for a pediatric case. A little girl had a perforated bowel due to worms. I was lucky enough to get to see one of the worms the next day, gross. In the evening Karl went with Tim (Karl's boss while we were there) to the Bapist church to fix their generator. They were having choir practice and sang to them while they were working. Karl fixed it and Tim was very impressed. Saw a tartantula outside the dinner hall. Fresh avocado for dinner (called zeboca), SOOOO GOOD! After dinner, Jackie (one of the Haitian workers at the compound) slaughtered some chicken, plucked them, and cooked them over a fire Haitian style. Discussed preparations for Hurricane Tomas, now a category 4.

Monday, Nov. 1st. Off the hospital at 7:30. Began our first operation. It was great to be able to do spinals again! The patients are amazingly stoic. Such nice nurses. Met Ghande one of the Haitian CRNAs that works there. She wanted to learn some of our techniques. It was fun teaching. Little girl with the worms is doing okay today but still in the ICU. 3 surgeries today. Karl finally fixed the saw among a million other tasks today. After surgery, Cleary and I went for a walk around the north and west side of Milot. Johnny met us on the way back through town. I bought a painting from him. "Dr. Bill" (Cleary) is thought highly of in Milot and everyone thinks I am his daughter (or son if you ask Serg). In other words I feel very safe. I have no problem walking to and from the hospital to the compound (about 1/4 mile) by myself. Drank some Prestige (the local beer) again tonight. Yummy dinner. Blair has been sick so I started on IV on her and gave her 2 liters of fluid and some Zofran. Says she feels better after the hydration. Hurricane Tomas is now downgraded to Tropical storm. 5 cholera patients in Cap-Haitien, we were supposed to get one today but no one showed up.

Tuesday Nov. 2nd: Able to sleep last night for the first time without Ambien. Yippee! Only one case today because it is considered a holiday in Haiti and the people believe if they have surgery today there will die. I taught Marie Jean (another Haitian CRNA, I LOVE HER!) to check the O2 sensors on her new machines). I went back and watched Karl manage his team in moving dirt to make a pad to place shipping containers on that will be close to the Sprung building. Peapop runs the Excavator and he takes great pride in it. Cleary and I went to the hospital to get e-mails out and check up on Hurricane Tomas. Cleary, Karl, and I have decided to stay through the storm just in case they can't get help in. Dr. Rainwater is going to try to leave early.  Cleary and I asked to do other jobs since we weren't in the hospital much. We hauled water in preparation for the hurricane (got to ride on the awesome trike), tore the tarp off of glove mountain, and folded tarps. Cleary left to go see Serg at his house and came back with "gifts for my sister" (Serg and I are siblings because he calls Cleary his "papa" and he thinks I am Cleary's son). Necklaces, paintings, etc. Spent the evening chatting and drinking Prestige.

Wednesday, Nov. 3rd: Ate crepes for breakfast with the spicy peanut butter, unbelievable between those, the fried eggs, and fresh avocados I crave almost daily. Had 5 cases today, Decostyl a CRNA student from Cap-Haitien came today to see Cleary and work with us. What a awesome experience for me to get to teach. He will be a great CRNA! Done at 4:00. Karl rode to the river to fill sandbags for the now Category 1 Hurricane Tomas. Bought is team drinks for lunch. They call him "Good boss". After work we unloaded a shipping container, organized it while the crane moved it, and then refilled it. I have a new view on chartible donation after the experience with shipping containers in Haiti. The Sprung building still isn't finished. Only three surgeries tomorrow so we will be doing more hurricane prep. Karl is putting in 12 + hour days but is enjoying the work. I always admired Cleary and my opinion of him is only growing. I am lucky to have such a great mentor. I am proud of our group.

Thursday, Nov. 4th. Busy day in the OR. Interesting conversation with a patient regarding Viagra (ask me about this sometime too). Finished cases around 4:00 again. The Hurricane is suppose to hit tomorrow evening so as soon as we are back we start more preparations. We unloaded another shipping container after dinner. Got done at about 10. John, a doctor from Ireland arrived today from Port-au-Prince. Updated us about the cholera situation down there. Really busy and tiring day.

Friday, Nov. 5th. Raining this morning. Dr. Rainwater tries to leave but IBC has cancelled all flights out of Haiti until Monday due to the Hurricane. Emptied another conatiner. So exhausting and rainy. The Haitian crew tried to teach Emily and myself how to carry linen bags on our heads the Haitian way. I made it about 10 yards and it fell off. Emily the same. The Haitians were proud of us for trying though. Cleary made it the whole way! After lunch Cleary and I started to tarp the windows of our house but Cleary got called away to help with a c-section so I finished the tarping. Saw a black widow spider. Unloaded another shipping container that evening. It was raining so hard we were all soaked. Formed a line and tossed things to each other to speed up the process. We found unused "cups" (more like stainless steel urine containers but you make due in Haiti) and stole them for our party. Made Haitian Hurricanes to drink. 3/4 bottle of Haitian rum, Tampico (like super sweet Sunny D), and a splash of Sprite mixed in a coffee pot, poured into urine containers. Yummy! Had a Hurricane Tomas party. A really fun night with the whole volunteer crew after the hard work.

I stopped writing my journal on Friday but we left Haiti on Monday morning. On Sunday we woke up at 5 in the morning and walked to the Citadel in the rain. It was a great hike and although it was too foggy to see much it was again a great experience with even better people. Flew into Miami on Monday and stayed in the Expressway Suites, quite a difference from our accomodations in Haiti. Miss Haiti already. Going back next year as long as we are invited. See my pictures on facebook.