The post where we beg and offer a cool giveaway as a bonus

Everyone, you know from a previous post that we are thick in the middle of living out a call to adopt Alex, a beautiful five-year-old child of God who lives in Eastern Europe and is stuck in a (very) basic care institution simply because he has CP. Some people have asked what they can do to help change Alex's life. And the first thing we always say is pray for Alex's protection.  Children with special needs are in pretty dire straits if they are orphaned in this country: no school ever, primitive care, limited treatment for their diseases or disabilities. While we have recent information that he is doing OK (considering), we'd very much like it to stay that way and pray for his protection every morning and evening.  (And lunch time, bike time, down time, ...you get the idea.)

But the second reality is that international adoption is not cheap at all. No one I know has $25,000 lying around.  While we are in a better situation than we could have expected financially (thanks in part to hard work others have done to help fundraise for Alex!), we could really use help with the pre-travel expenses associated with this adoption. For example, Jerry needs to renew his passport ($110). We need to pay for all these documents to get apostilled (that's a kind of "super-notarization" that works internationally - $3-10 a document, and there are what, 20 documents?). Paying to Fed Ex materials to this country so that they will actually GET there ($200-300?). Paying for super special fingerprints for the USCIS ($720--yes, you read that right). We will make it happen. We've nearly paid for the home study and promise trust (that's over $4000). But could we use help?  Oh yes, we can, trust me. We're pretty frugal folks--one older minivan for the family, lots of back rack clothes shopping, well-versed in bean based dishes, vacations involve camping because it's cheap--but pinching pennies only goes so far.

We're running a giveaway to help raise these necessary funds. If you are led to help Alex (this is in the end for him! and even $5 is MUCH appreciated), put some money in the chip-in here:




Every person who donates money between now and October 21 will be added to our prayers. We will also use random.org on October 22 to choose a person to win a $30 credit at my sister-in-law Becky's Etsy shop, Roses for Mary.  She hand-makes REALLY lovely rosaries out of clay and glaze--look at her shop feedback; people are truly delighted with these.  Your selections must be limited to stock on hand.  But here are some samples:

They would make great Christmas presents, even if you aren't into rosy rosaries (and not all of them are).

Also, if you don't want a rosary,

we'd be happy to give the winner a $30 Amazon gift card instead.

Please keep Alex in your prayers, and please spread the word about this giveaway via fb, Google+, twitter, your blog, or ye olde phone. It's humbling to ask for money, but for my son?  I'd do much more than this.

--Susan

More on the International Adoption Clinic

Yesterday, Susan mentioned the International Adoption Clinic at the University of Minnesota. I actually looked up their website today and am even more impressed than I was at our meeting with the social worker. It's reassuring to have such great resources close at hand.

According to our social worker, the doctors at the IAC can diagnose most reactive attachment disorder issues based on a video (e.g., uploaded to them while you're still in the child's country). They also watch out for diseases that ordinary pediatricians might miss, just because those diseases aren't so common in the U.S. (e.g., scabies).

From what we're learning, it seems very likely that Alex will have "issues" beyond what are typical for children who grow up in a birth family...which shouldn't be all that surprising. We've got great resources here in Winona, though, as well as at the state level.

Here's a video from the IAC website for anyone who is curious....

- Jerry

One more thing done....

We were in the Twin Cities this weekend for training (part of the home study requirement) with our social worker.  It was helpful since we weren't in with a bunch of families--just us!  So she tailored the session to us, since we know something (we think) about parenting in general and she knows which country we are adopting from.  We also discussed some of the special needs issues.  One thing we found out about (well, Susan knew this, but now knows more about it) was the International Adoption Clinic run by the University of Minnesota, which sounds like a super fantastic resource.

Anyway, once the medical reports are in (and that's in our doctor's hands), the home study work is DONE!  I think that was 2 1/2 weeks!  I give credit to this agency (International Adoption Services in Edina, MN), which really moved quickly on this.

--Susan

A visit from the social worker

The last couple of weeks, Susan has been spending countless hours filling out paperwork and figuring out what we need to do to move the adoption process forward. Today, all of that work took on a new dimension when our social worker drove down from St. Paul to do a home visit. Unfortunately, we had not counted on her arriving so quickly (it's a two-hour drive, minimum), so neither of us were home when she arrived. I was actually on my way home from an Early Childhood Family Education class with Mudpuppy (our soon-to-be two-year-old--tomorrow, in fact), when I got a call from the social worker who said she was at our house and one one was there and could she please get in because she really had to use the bathroom! How embarrassing (for us, I mean). Things went much better after that. She had each of us tell our whole life story (well, almost), interviewed our kids briefly, and asked a bunch of questions about our adoption. The hardest part was trying to remember the dates when various things happened. Now all we need is some paperwork from the kids' doctor, and one last letter of recommendation (provided by none other than Minnesota's teacher of the year!), and we should be about done with the home study.

New pictures of Alex

We got a number of new pictures of Alex yesterday; these were taken in the last few days, at his new institution. As you can see, he's smiling (as usual!).