International Adoption Simplification Act

Earlier this month, the U.S. Senate passed the International Adoption Simplification Act. This bi-partisan bill allows parents to adopt siblings even if one of the children is between 16 and 18 years of age. Normally children aged 16 and above are ineligible for international adoption into the U.S. The act also includes a provision that allows U.S. parents to safely immunize their children within 30 days after arrival in the U.S. instead of having to subject them to potentially unsafe immunizations in foreign nations. The legislation was sponsored by Senator Amy Klobuchar and now moves to the House of Representatives. For more information, click here: http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-s1376/show

Senator Klobuchar has also introduced the Adoption Fairness Act which would prohibit the Department of Homeland Security from charging a fee for the issuance of a Certificate of Citizenship for a child who is adopted by a U.S. citizen parent and who is eligible for automatic citizenship, regardless of where the adoption was finalized. Click here for more info: http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-s3091/show

Kudos to Senator Amy Klobuchar from Minnesota as well as to her co-sponsors for supporting international adoption. Minnesota has the nation's highest per capita rate of international adoption, so Senator Klobuchar is serving her constituency along with all International (P)APs well.

More On The Shelf

Well, it's taken me a few weeks, but the new shelf is finally all set up with my arts and crafts supplies and several other items that seemed to fit on it, too. I just love hiding my messes in pretty boxes:



Progress on the children's room is well under way. We painted the walls, installed blinds, set up a crib and a toddler bed, and organized the closet. Now we are waiting for Grandma to make curtains and picking out mattresses and bedding. When everything's finished, I will post some pictures.

I also wanted to let all of you know that next week I will hold my first fundraiser for our kids' orphanage(s). If all goes according to plan, an auction of original art works will go up on this blog on Sunday. Come back and take a look then and if you like anything, make a bid.

The New Shelf

Those of you who have seen the upstairs of our home know that I have been using an extra bedroom as my arts and crafts space for years. It's been quite nice to have all the supplies stored in one area and to be able to just go into this quiet room to make cards, wrap gifts, design scrapbook pages, etc. However, now that we are waiting for our children to come home, the time has arrived to give up the luxury of this space and begin turning the room into the kids' bedroom. In order to do so, I had to find a new spot for all of my arts and crafts stuff.

For as long as we have lived in this house, I have been wanting a built-in shelf in the loft around the window where there was an unused 16 inch-deep space from floor to ceiling. We finally decided to move forward with my shelf idea, so that I could use the area as my new arts and crafts storage. Here's a photo of the space before we changed it:

We solicited the help and expertise of a good friend, drew up an idea for how we wanted the shelf to look, headed to Lowe's to buy supplies, and then started building. I should probably be honest and say that my main job was trying to stay out of the guys' way as they measured and cut, carried and assembled everything. My sole contribution was serving them a hearty lunch.

It took about three weeks to get the shelf completed. The bulk of it was built in one long day, but putting up the trim, filling in nail holes, applying two coats of primer and a coat of paint added some extra time to the job. I am happy to say that I was able to help with the latter parts of the project.

Here's is the final product of everyone's efforts. Many thanks to our friend Bryan who truly was the main force behind getting the shelf built and making it look so nice. We are really happy with how it turned out and I am very excited about the extra storage which I have already begun to fill. I still have to find a few containers to hold some of the items that will be relocated to the shelf. Then it's on to painting the children's room.

Turn Available Into Eligible

There are many insensitive statements people could make about adoption, but one term used even by those who advocate in the field really makes me cringe every time I hear or read it. What is this horrible and offensive word, you might wonder? Well, it's AVAILABLE as in children being available for adoption.

Think about the definition of the word available: obtainable or accessible and ready for use or service, not busy, not otherwise committed, convenient for use or disposal. While I know that this term is sometimes applied to people, such as, "The eye witness was not available for comment," to me, it's mostly inanimate objects that are available. For example, a library book may be available if it's not checked out or a car may be available for purchase once it arrives at the dealership.

By applying the term available to children waiting to be adopted, we objectify them and turn them into a commodity. Granted, some might say that children are any nation's most valuable and precious natural resource, but I still don't think we should refer to them in the same language that we use when renting a reception hall, buying a CD, or trying to get our cell phones to work in areas where service is not offered.

I understand that no one in the adoption community means to be offensive or negative when using the word available, but please join me in making an effort to remove this term from the way we speak or write about orphans waiting for parents. Personally, I have been using the word eligible instead, but if anyone else has other ideas, I would be happy to hear about them.

If You Build It, S(He) Will Come Part II

I have been poking around Craig's List lately to find furniture and other items for our kids' bedroom and play area. About a week ago, I came across a listing of a daycare closing and selling all of its equipment, so my husband and I went and checked it out. We ended up buying quite a few things which were all nearly new as the daycare had only been open for a short time with very low attendance. We got everything you see in the photos along with an outdoor water/sand play table, a nap cot for my nephew, as well as 9 brand-new plastic cups and plates for $150. That's a very decent deal.

MacGahan Festival 2010

For those of you living in driving distance of Columbus, OH and looking for a cultural event about Bulgaria, please consider attending the 2010 MacGahan Festival in New Lexington, Ohio. The main day of the festival will be June 12.

The day will begin at 10:30 when the Very Rev. Vladimir Ivanov will officiate a Memorial Service at the grave of Januarius MacGahan at New Lexington Cemetery. Last year this service was bi-lingual, so I am assuming the same for this year. From the cemetery, attendees will proceed to the MacGahan Statue for a floral tribute and then to a luncheon at the Perry County Library at noon. The lunch will be catered by a local restaurant and will also include a program. Kavatsi, a Bulgarian rock band, will perform.

Last year, the festival was well-attended by Americans and Bulgarians alike. Among the guests of honor this year will be the Bulgarian Minister of Education as well as the Bulgarian Minister for Bulgarians Living Abroad.

If you plan to attend, please RSVP to Carma Jean Rausch at carmajeanrausch@gmail.com or at 740-342-1870. The event is free, but organizers would like a head count for the luncheon. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me privately at viviane8 @ yahoo.com

Homestudy Update

As you can probably tell by the silence on this blog, there has not been anything new in regard to our Bulgarian adoption except for more paperwork, of course.

Over the past few weeks we have been working on our homestudy update. We must have this update to apply to USCIS for an I-800 A extension later this year. For an Ohio homestudy update, you need new medical statements from your doctor, a new home fire inspection, new child abuse clearances from all states you've lived since age 18, new letters of employment, a new financial statement, new BCII and FBI background checks, a new letter of reference, and another visit with a social worker. We have completed all of these tasks and our homestudy could be ready except that the Ohio child abuse clearance report has not yet arrived at our agency. It could be another month before it does which is rather aggravating when all it takes is someone punching our names into a computer and running them through a database.

Fortunately, spring has been and will continue to be quite busy for us, so waiting on various adoption related matters has not been as difficult as it was over the winter which is not to say that it is easy now. There's a church we pass on our way home that currently has this message on its sign: "Patience is a virtue that carries a lot of wait." I'll be trying to keep this idea in mind as we move through this process.