March 9

Hello everyone,
Since we are getting overwhelmed by paperwork, and since I can't remember who I've told what to, I've resorted to mass emails. I thought this would be the best way to keep everyone updated with what's going on with things.

We have taken 2 out of our 4 classes. So far we have taken adoption basics part one and two. This Saturday is adopting from Russia and the Ukraine (not exactly appropriate for us, but that's the closest thing and we have to have 24 hours of classes anyway.) Our final class, adopting 3 and older will be rolled into our home study process since we were the only ones that signed up for it.

Now that our fingerprints have finally cleared (thank goodness we're not criminals), our home study can begin. This will consist of three visits with a social worker, at least one of which will be at our house. After this, we will receive a report which will be included in our dossier and also sent to INS. After INS processes more paperwork, we will receive the last form we need for our dossier and will then send it in to our agency. It will then get sent to Washington D.C and then on to Kazakhstan. Hopefully after our home study is completed, we will receive more information about Olesya. We really have no idea when we will be going to Kazakhstan - most likely sometime this summer. For those of you who have seen the movie, The Money Pit with Tom Hanks - remember how everything always took "two weeks" to get done? Well, our motto seems to be 4-6 weeks. It seems like that is how long everything will take.

On the decorating front, Olesya's room is painted (cream, pink, and green) with furniture in it. We have also painted the bathroom (bright blue with rubber duckies). Along the way Joe has demonstrated painting skills that were previously unrealized. :) Now with nothing else to decorate, I guess I have to just sit and wait - the hardest part.