Kind of a quiet week on the adoption front. No new news, no action with any of the paperwork. Just Jason and I buzzing around like 2 busy little bees.
Our project list is progressing, and it feels great. Things that have been stuck on that list for over a year are starting to get done. Our house stinks to high heaven from wood stain and polyurethane. I have to stick my head out the door every couple of hours just to clear my sinuses and get a shock of clean, cold, Minnesota winter air.
Now, you may all think that I am going off the deep end, or maybe I've just been sitting in these fumes for too long, but I have bought 4 turkeys in the last week...I am like a woman out of control. The price is just so good (I sound like an addict justifying my behavior, right?). The advertisement says "1 per customer", and there is no minimum purchase, and they are just $0.39/lb!! I bought a 20 pounder for Thanksgiving. Then I forced Jason to come back to the store with me and we each bought another turkey. Last night, I made my girlfriend stop by the store with me. I got a turkey, and I convinced her to get a turkey too. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME??????!!!!!!
Each time I check out, I giggle like a kid and feel like congratulating myself for getting such a great deal. Then I remember the "1 per cusotmer" sign, and just know that I will be ousted, and my picture will be posted on a customer wall-of-shame at the store. When I walked in the door last night with another turkey, Jason looked at me and just shook his head. I said "What? Now I have one turkey for each boy!" Hope they like turkey.
Call it some bizarre form of nesting...I don't know. I think I am finally done though, as the freezer is nearing full capacity. Now it's time to start concentrating on Thanksgiving...getting the house ready for company and preparing the food. It is like heaven for someone who has been hit with the nesting urge.
We have the boys' photos in our kitchen, and I look at them hundreds of times in a given day. I am so excited for the day when they will actually be here in person, sitting at our table, or maybe running around the kitchen making lots of noise. As we head into Thanksgiving this year, it is with grateful, hopeful, humbled hearts...and a freezer full of turkeys!
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Second Week of Deer Camp
Not too much is happening here this week, we are plugging along, and bracing for some cold weather! We are still working on miscellaneous projects around the house, and Jason is spending the final days of the Minnesota deer season trying to put some meat in our freezer...with 3 boys, I think we are going to need it!
We are at sort of a resting point with paperwork. All of the essential documents are submitted, and we are just waiting for their approval before we can move onto the next documents. We had the opportunity to declare the new legal names for the boys, and they will be: Juan Manuel Gregory Lenz, Santiago Nicholas Lenz, and Christian Thomas Lenz. It is an honor for us to pass on the names of some of the most important and loved men in our lives...and the Nicholas thing goes back to my older sister, Vicki. She wanted a brother in the worst way...a little boy named Nicholas...and instead she got: ME! So, while it may not be the brother she always wanted, and it may be 35 years later, here comes a Christmas present she had hoped for! :)
We did fill out a brief form that will be used to help introduce/familiarize the kids with us and our extended family. It looks like they will use that form, along with the stuff we sent down a week ago, to help the boys with the transition. Based on that, we are kind of assuming that the boys don't know about us yet, but we have no way to find out for sure. Funny that they may not even know we exist yet, but that we have all ready embraced them in our hearts and lives.
That's one thing about doing an ICBF adoption vs. a private orphanage adoption - it can be more difficult to get information in a real-time setting. The adoption agency can't exactly call down to the foster parents and bombard them with all of our questions...they have to proceed through a sort of diluted chain of people to try and get information. So, until we are actually physically present in Colombia with the boys, it may be difficult to get any updates or new information other that what we were presented with in our referral packet. We sometimes struggle with that because we are so excited and have so many questions about how the boys are doing, how fast they are growing, what they are up to...not really urgent, pressing issues, but just the things that two new parents think and wonder about.
I found out something really cool this week...I was talking to the ESL (Enlish as a Second Language) teacher in our school district, and he told me that there is another family right here in Duluth that recently adopted 3 siblings from Colombia, and that their kids attend the same grade school where our boys would go. How awesome is that!? So, he was going to forward that family our information, and hopefully we will be in contact with them soon.
We are definitely settling in to the idea of being parents to 3 little boys, and are (finally!) able to sleep a little bit better these days. We feel so relieved to have some sort of sense of what this year may bring...until now, we have felt like we were pretty much in limbo. It was hard to look ahead and have this knowledge that our lives were going to drastically change, but to have no specific details about that change. If anyone asked us to make plans even 1-2 months in advance, we would kind of shrug our shoulders and say..."Maybe??? It depends on...?" And now, even though we have no assurances of what lies ahead, it feels as if the fog is starting to lift, and at the very least we know that it will bring 3 beautiful little boys to a waiting Mommy and Daddy!
We are at sort of a resting point with paperwork. All of the essential documents are submitted, and we are just waiting for their approval before we can move onto the next documents. We had the opportunity to declare the new legal names for the boys, and they will be: Juan Manuel Gregory Lenz, Santiago Nicholas Lenz, and Christian Thomas Lenz. It is an honor for us to pass on the names of some of the most important and loved men in our lives...and the Nicholas thing goes back to my older sister, Vicki. She wanted a brother in the worst way...a little boy named Nicholas...and instead she got: ME! So, while it may not be the brother she always wanted, and it may be 35 years later, here comes a Christmas present she had hoped for! :)
We did fill out a brief form that will be used to help introduce/familiarize the kids with us and our extended family. It looks like they will use that form, along with the stuff we sent down a week ago, to help the boys with the transition. Based on that, we are kind of assuming that the boys don't know about us yet, but we have no way to find out for sure. Funny that they may not even know we exist yet, but that we have all ready embraced them in our hearts and lives.
That's one thing about doing an ICBF adoption vs. a private orphanage adoption - it can be more difficult to get information in a real-time setting. The adoption agency can't exactly call down to the foster parents and bombard them with all of our questions...they have to proceed through a sort of diluted chain of people to try and get information. So, until we are actually physically present in Colombia with the boys, it may be difficult to get any updates or new information other that what we were presented with in our referral packet. We sometimes struggle with that because we are so excited and have so many questions about how the boys are doing, how fast they are growing, what they are up to...not really urgent, pressing issues, but just the things that two new parents think and wonder about.
I found out something really cool this week...I was talking to the ESL (Enlish as a Second Language) teacher in our school district, and he told me that there is another family right here in Duluth that recently adopted 3 siblings from Colombia, and that their kids attend the same grade school where our boys would go. How awesome is that!? So, he was going to forward that family our information, and hopefully we will be in contact with them soon.
We are definitely settling in to the idea of being parents to 3 little boys, and are (finally!) able to sleep a little bit better these days. We feel so relieved to have some sort of sense of what this year may bring...until now, we have felt like we were pretty much in limbo. It was hard to look ahead and have this knowledge that our lives were going to drastically change, but to have no specific details about that change. If anyone asked us to make plans even 1-2 months in advance, we would kind of shrug our shoulders and say..."Maybe??? It depends on...?" And now, even though we have no assurances of what lies ahead, it feels as if the fog is starting to lift, and at the very least we know that it will bring 3 beautiful little boys to a waiting Mommy and Daddy!
Thursday, November 18, 2010
It's a Wonderful Life
Wow...where have the days gone? We have been keeping very busy here, and making slow, steady progress, even though some days it doesn't feel like it!!
We finished our video to send to the boys, and, NO, I am not going to post it here. :P It is sooooo CHEESY!!! We were actually quite nervous about making the video. After all, it will be the first time that our kids will hear our voices and see our faces...it felt kind of intimidating, to be honest. Well, we hope that the video will help the kids get familiar with us a little bit, and with our home. So, we introduced ourselves, walked through the house, talked to them a bit. We spoke in Spanish as much as we could, because we heard from B, our social worker, that the kids usually laugh their heads off at their parents' funny accents. And I'm sure we will sound goofy to them...not just an American accent, but a Fargo-type accent thrown in there too! We sent the video, the photo album, and some teddy bears down to the boys last week, but don't know when they will be given to the kids.
We finished our I800 documentation (citizenship/immigration paperwork), and it is on its way to the Feds. We hear that we should receive approval in approximately 3 weeks. Once we have this, we can start planning our actual travel dates and booking tickets, and also apply for our visas. We are still waiting for our fingerprints to come back from the FBI, but they are in process and there is nothing we can do to speed them up. Hopefully it will only be a few more weeks before they are ready.
We have been having lots of fun making plans for the upcoming "baby" showers. And here we must say a huge thank you to everyone who has been involved. We have been amazed at the outpouring of love and support from those around us...it is as if the excitement and joy of welcoming these three little boys into our lives is absolutely contagious. People that are practically strangers to us want to know what they can do to help, how they can be involved. It is awesome, and very humbling, to see. It feels sort of like we are having these George Bailey/It's a Wonderful Life moments...seeing how your own life has intertwined with and touched other peoples' lives...how friends and family and community are hoping and praying and willing to reach out to help our little boys and our family. Words cannot express our gratitude. And sometimes I feel like running through the street, like George Bailey did at the end of the movie...bursting with joy...kissing that stupid old bannister post when it came off in his hand for the millionth time. Not that we won't have challenges in the days ahead. We know we will. But we know that we won't be alone...and for that, we thank all of you!
We finished our video to send to the boys, and, NO, I am not going to post it here. :P It is sooooo CHEESY!!! We were actually quite nervous about making the video. After all, it will be the first time that our kids will hear our voices and see our faces...it felt kind of intimidating, to be honest. Well, we hope that the video will help the kids get familiar with us a little bit, and with our home. So, we introduced ourselves, walked through the house, talked to them a bit. We spoke in Spanish as much as we could, because we heard from B, our social worker, that the kids usually laugh their heads off at their parents' funny accents. And I'm sure we will sound goofy to them...not just an American accent, but a Fargo-type accent thrown in there too! We sent the video, the photo album, and some teddy bears down to the boys last week, but don't know when they will be given to the kids.
We finished our I800 documentation (citizenship/immigration paperwork), and it is on its way to the Feds. We hear that we should receive approval in approximately 3 weeks. Once we have this, we can start planning our actual travel dates and booking tickets, and also apply for our visas. We are still waiting for our fingerprints to come back from the FBI, but they are in process and there is nothing we can do to speed them up. Hopefully it will only be a few more weeks before they are ready.
We have been having lots of fun making plans for the upcoming "baby" showers. And here we must say a huge thank you to everyone who has been involved. We have been amazed at the outpouring of love and support from those around us...it is as if the excitement and joy of welcoming these three little boys into our lives is absolutely contagious. People that are practically strangers to us want to know what they can do to help, how they can be involved. It is awesome, and very humbling, to see. It feels sort of like we are having these George Bailey/It's a Wonderful Life moments...seeing how your own life has intertwined with and touched other peoples' lives...how friends and family and community are hoping and praying and willing to reach out to help our little boys and our family. Words cannot express our gratitude. And sometimes I feel like running through the street, like George Bailey did at the end of the movie...bursting with joy...kissing that stupid old bannister post when it came off in his hand for the millionth time. Not that we won't have challenges in the days ahead. We know we will. But we know that we won't be alone...and for that, we thank all of you!
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Scrapbook (fun) and Paperwork (not-so-fun)
A busy day of paperwork and finishing the photo album for the kids. I had to work on our I-800 documents. (These are petitions to classify the kids as immediate relatives...basically clears them with the US Citizenship and Immigration office. We will finalize the adoption in Colombia, and the kids will be US citizens as soon as we land back in the US.) Since we are adopting a sibling group, I had to fill out 3 sets of paperwork - one set for each of the boys. Just try keeping that straight!!! But, it's done, and I'll send it all out tomorrow. One more box checked off of the list - yeah!
When I became cross-eyed from too much paperwork, I took a break to finish the photo album that we'll be sending to the boys. Let me preface this by saying I am NOT a scrapbooker. In fact, I think that I failed cutting/pasting in all of grades K-3. I think that it had something to do with being a lefty trying to survive in a right-handed world. Anyways, hopefully the boys won't mind their mother's lack of talent for scrapbooks! Here are pictures of the pictures... :)
The last page in the book is a picture of Jason and I, with the pictures of the kids surrounding us, and reads "La Familia Junta"...which I think/hope translates into "the family together".
That's all for now. Lots more to do...better keep working!!!
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Coming Out of The Fog
The last week feels like a blur...we spent the first 2 or 3 days after the referral sort of walking around in a haze. Staring in amazement at the pictures of the boys, knowing that we should be doing something, but not even knowing where to begin. As we started processing our big news, we eventually came back out of orbit and started at...TARGET!!!
What fun to plan for the boys and the days ahead, and all of the STUFF we will need for 3 little kids! See, we've sort of put this part off a bit...Before we had our referral, we didn't want to bring too many children's things into our home, not knowing how long our wait would be, and not wanting to be surrounded by daily reminders of the children we are waiting for. Besides, we had no idea what to shop for until we knew the ages and genders of our little ones. So, we have a lot of preparations to make! This part has been a looooong time in coming, and it felt great to finally be able to walk through the baby and childrens' departments with the anticipation that we will soon be welcoming 3 little boys into our lives.
And ever since we got the ball rolling, we have been a flurry of activity. Our house is in a state of chaos as we re-arrange all of the furniture, start to child proof, and finish miscellaneous household projects that we have put off for too long. We have made lists, and lists, and more lists. I have talked to the school district, the fire department (trying to figure out the whole car seat/booster seat thing and what we'll need), our social worker, the international adoption pediatric specialist, and many many of our friends and family. Thank you all so much for your support and encouragement. I had to laugh when a friend of mine told me to BREATHE!! JUST BREATHE!!! Exactly.
I have been busy working on a scrap book for the kids (I am not good at this, but am really trying - thanks Vicki for the supplies and help!) I have been trying to learn how to make a DVD to send to the kids, and fighting with the computer to figure out why the audio won't play with the video. GRRRRRR! Finally found a fix for that, and now we can have some fun making the video. Our social worker says that the kids love to see/hear their new family and will get a kick out of our funny accents as we try to speak Spanish.
We have officially accepted the referral for our 3 little boys, and will be submitting our paperwork today...which will promptly trigger...more paperwork. Oh well, every paper, every signature, every notarization from here on out gets us one step closer to bringing our sons home!
What fun to plan for the boys and the days ahead, and all of the STUFF we will need for 3 little kids! See, we've sort of put this part off a bit...Before we had our referral, we didn't want to bring too many children's things into our home, not knowing how long our wait would be, and not wanting to be surrounded by daily reminders of the children we are waiting for. Besides, we had no idea what to shop for until we knew the ages and genders of our little ones. So, we have a lot of preparations to make! This part has been a looooong time in coming, and it felt great to finally be able to walk through the baby and childrens' departments with the anticipation that we will soon be welcoming 3 little boys into our lives.
And ever since we got the ball rolling, we have been a flurry of activity. Our house is in a state of chaos as we re-arrange all of the furniture, start to child proof, and finish miscellaneous household projects that we have put off for too long. We have made lists, and lists, and more lists. I have talked to the school district, the fire department (trying to figure out the whole car seat/booster seat thing and what we'll need), our social worker, the international adoption pediatric specialist, and many many of our friends and family. Thank you all so much for your support and encouragement. I had to laugh when a friend of mine told me to BREATHE!! JUST BREATHE!!! Exactly.
I have been busy working on a scrap book for the kids (I am not good at this, but am really trying - thanks Vicki for the supplies and help!) I have been trying to learn how to make a DVD to send to the kids, and fighting with the computer to figure out why the audio won't play with the video. GRRRRRR! Finally found a fix for that, and now we can have some fun making the video. Our social worker says that the kids love to see/hear their new family and will get a kick out of our funny accents as we try to speak Spanish.
We have officially accepted the referral for our 3 little boys, and will be submitting our paperwork today...which will promptly trigger...more paperwork. Oh well, every paper, every signature, every notarization from here on out gets us one step closer to bringing our sons home!
Friday, November 5, 2010
The Call
Two days ago, we got "the call". It came in the midst of a chaotic week, and we are still processing everything that's happened, but here's how it went...
I had unexpectedly traveled home to my parents' house for a couple of days, as my mom had been hospitalized with chest pains. Turns out everything is ok, she just has to lay off of the bacon from now on!
As I was packing the car to leave, I noticed I had a message from our social worker...an urgent sounding message asking me to call her right away so we could discuss some "things". Hmmmmm..... My mom was looking at me asking "Is everything ok?". To which I quickly LIED and said "Yes, everything's ok. It was just a message from the other day that I forgot to delete." Sorry, Mom, I didn't want to lie to you, but I knew I needed to talk to the social worker and Jason before I said anything else.
I said goodbye to my mom, drove a little ways down the road, and immediately pulled over to call our social worker (I'll call her B from here on out). B told me that she had news of a referral and wanted to meet with us as soon as possible. I called Jason to tell him the wonderful news, and he sounded kind of shell-shocked and nervous. We arranged to meet with B at 3:00, and knew that we would have a LOOOOOONG afternoon ahead of us. I had a 4 hr. drive, and Jason was stuck in manditory hospital computer training at work. Torture...but we made it!
We met at B's office, and we both looked a little worse for the wear. I don't even know how to describe what was going through our minds as we sat waiting. We were just minutes away from seeing our kids' faces for the first times. Children, that until now we had only imagined...Would they be boys or girls? What ages? Are they healthy? Are they safe? Is it all going to be ok?????? We were a bundle of nerves!
B called us back to her office, and sat across the desk from us with a thick stack of papers. She asked us how we wanted to proceed, to which I practically jumped out of my skin asking to see pictures. She told us that our referral was for three healthy BOYS!!!!!!!!! THREE BOYS!!!!!!! And she laid out their pictures for us to see. They are ADORABLE!!!! We aren't allowed to post their pictures online, but they are a handsome bunch.
Here's what we know:
Juan Manuel - 6 yrs old
Juan Manuel is described as happy, spontaneous and noble (the foster mother says: noble, because even though he is scolded he does not get angry and, after a little while, he continues as if nothing had happened). Regarding his favorite foods, he says "he loves everything". He excells at drawing and painting.
Santiago - 4 yrs old
Santiago is respectful. He is organized and described as analytical, introverted, and has good manners (the foster mother says that Santiago is very well educated). He paints fluently and creatively.
Christian - 2 yrs old
Christian is described as happy, loving and spontaneous. He likes hiding and being looked for. He "displays a certain ability for climbing up and going down of chairs, tables, beds." He likes to be cuddled.
The boys are currently in a loving foster home, where they seem to be doing very well. The boys are all in good general health. We are so happy that the boys have been kept together, as the information we have states repeatedly what a strong bond they have to each other. Several people have asked us why the boys are available for adoption. The short answer is: poverty. The boys' biological parents wanted a better life for them. While we do have more information, we would like to keep it private out of respect for the boys.
We are absolutely thrilled, and so proud to share the news of our sons with you all. The days ahead will be hectic, I'm sure, but we know that the time will just fly. We anticipate that we will travel in mid-January, and there is a lot to do before then!!!
I had unexpectedly traveled home to my parents' house for a couple of days, as my mom had been hospitalized with chest pains. Turns out everything is ok, she just has to lay off of the bacon from now on!
As I was packing the car to leave, I noticed I had a message from our social worker...an urgent sounding message asking me to call her right away so we could discuss some "things". Hmmmmm..... My mom was looking at me asking "Is everything ok?". To which I quickly LIED and said "Yes, everything's ok. It was just a message from the other day that I forgot to delete." Sorry, Mom, I didn't want to lie to you, but I knew I needed to talk to the social worker and Jason before I said anything else.
I said goodbye to my mom, drove a little ways down the road, and immediately pulled over to call our social worker (I'll call her B from here on out). B told me that she had news of a referral and wanted to meet with us as soon as possible. I called Jason to tell him the wonderful news, and he sounded kind of shell-shocked and nervous. We arranged to meet with B at 3:00, and knew that we would have a LOOOOOONG afternoon ahead of us. I had a 4 hr. drive, and Jason was stuck in manditory hospital computer training at work. Torture...but we made it!
We met at B's office, and we both looked a little worse for the wear. I don't even know how to describe what was going through our minds as we sat waiting. We were just minutes away from seeing our kids' faces for the first times. Children, that until now we had only imagined...Would they be boys or girls? What ages? Are they healthy? Are they safe? Is it all going to be ok?????? We were a bundle of nerves!
B called us back to her office, and sat across the desk from us with a thick stack of papers. She asked us how we wanted to proceed, to which I practically jumped out of my skin asking to see pictures. She told us that our referral was for three healthy BOYS!!!!!!!!! THREE BOYS!!!!!!! And she laid out their pictures for us to see. They are ADORABLE!!!! We aren't allowed to post their pictures online, but they are a handsome bunch.
Here's what we know:
Juan Manuel - 6 yrs old
Juan Manuel is described as happy, spontaneous and noble (the foster mother says: noble, because even though he is scolded he does not get angry and, after a little while, he continues as if nothing had happened). Regarding his favorite foods, he says "he loves everything". He excells at drawing and painting.
Santiago - 4 yrs old
Santiago is respectful. He is organized and described as analytical, introverted, and has good manners (the foster mother says that Santiago is very well educated). He paints fluently and creatively.
Christian - 2 yrs old
Christian is described as happy, loving and spontaneous. He likes hiding and being looked for. He "displays a certain ability for climbing up and going down of chairs, tables, beds." He likes to be cuddled.
The boys are currently in a loving foster home, where they seem to be doing very well. The boys are all in good general health. We are so happy that the boys have been kept together, as the information we have states repeatedly what a strong bond they have to each other. Several people have asked us why the boys are available for adoption. The short answer is: poverty. The boys' biological parents wanted a better life for them. While we do have more information, we would like to keep it private out of respect for the boys.
We are absolutely thrilled, and so proud to share the news of our sons with you all. The days ahead will be hectic, I'm sure, but we know that the time will just fly. We anticipate that we will travel in mid-January, and there is a lot to do before then!!!
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Goodbye, Sadie
One week ago, we said goodbye to our sweet girl, Sadie. She had started to really struggle, and actually turned away from her food - a thing she had NEVER done before in her life. We knew that it was time, and we did not want her to suffer as her cancer progressed. It has been a very sad week for us, as we are so accustomed to our life routines with Sadie in them, and are trying to adjust to her absence. Even Ruby keeps looking for her "big sissy", even if it is to steal her toys and push her out of the way so she can get more attention (aaaahhh, sibling rivalry!).
We are all managing, but have had very heavy hearts. We are so grateful that we were able to be here with and for Sadie during her final days. She has been a wonderful companion and pet, and we will miss her so much.
We are all managing, but have had very heavy hearts. We are so grateful that we were able to be here with and for Sadie during her final days. She has been a wonderful companion and pet, and we will miss her so much.
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