IAC 157 Results

Since I know a lot of people are interested in this information, I have decided to post on my blog the results from the MOJ IAC meetings as they are published on the MOJ website. Please understand that while I can read the Cyrillic alphabet and did study Russian (which is very similar to Bulgarian) for 10 years, I use Google Translate to read the information on the MOJ site. This should account for the sometimes odd wording in English, but I am not editing what Google Translate gives me.

The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 157 which was held on 9/28/10:

1) German dossier from 2005 referred a child aged 2 years, male sex, family history

2) Norwegian dossier from 2006 referred children aged 5 - twins, female, with peculiarities in development

3) Greek dossier from 2006 referred a child aged 5 years, female, with particularity in speech development

4) Maltese dossier from 2006 referred a child, aged 4 years old, male

5) Italian dossier from 2006 referred a child aged 5 years, female

6) French dossier from 2009 referred a child aged 7 years, male

7) U.S. dossier from 2009 referred two children aged 11 years with a biological connection, female and male

8) Italian dossier from 2009 referred a child aged 4 years, male, with specificity in health – (a decision by the WCO 17.09.2010g. to contain an account of the MAP site – please don’t ask me what this means, I don’t know. I think it might be referring to the child being listed as a waiting child on the MOJ site if the referral was denied by the parents)

9) U.S. dossier from 2010 referred two waiting children whose profiles were on the MOJ site

10) U.S. dossier from 2010 referred two waiting children whose profiles were on the MOJ site

News From The MOJ Website

I was visiting the website of the Bulgarian Ministry of Justice this morning and found some information on the number of international adoptions completed in 2010 through June 30, 2010. A total of 109 adoptions of 122 children were finalized. Fifty-eight of these adoptions were by Italian parents, 18 by U.S. American parents, 14 by German parents, 5 by Spanish parents, and 5 by Swedish parents. The remaining nine adoptions were completed by parents from Canada, France, Cyprus, Holland, Switzerland, Bahrain, and Norway.

If this pace continues, there should be another 18 or so adoptions finalized by U.S. parents in the second half of 2010. This would make for a total of 36 adoptions which, in turn, would mean that the number of Bulgarian children adopted to the U.S. would have more than doubled from last year to this year. Sadly, I can't quite decide if this is good news or bad news for those of us in the long wait line for referrals.

Bibs or Bust

One of the things that I had always intended to donate to our children’s orphanage(s) are bibs. Specifically, I was looking for tie closure bibs as I think Velcro bibs hurt the tender skin on babies’ necks and collect lint and other gunk in the wash. After some research, I realized that tie closure bibs are not easy to find, so I asked my friend Whitney to check with her seamstress on the price of having some bibs made. A few weeks later, Whitney told me that her seamstress, along with the members of her church sewing circle, would like to make the bibs for free and donate them. What a wonderful and generous gesture and what cute bibs!

I would like to thank the seamstresses by name or at least mention their church here, but I have been unable to find out this information. Maybe they would like to remain anonymous. So, to the women who made these bibs, our sincerest gratitude for your kindness, time, and efforts. Your thoughtfulness and generosity are deeply appreciated.

Brotherly Love

In case you ever wonder how I spend my time, a lot of it goes to being Naunty (or Nanny Aunt) to my two littlest nephews. Sweet moments like this one I got to witness on Friday make taking care of them so well worth it for me.

I think they will be great big cousins to our children when they come home.

More Paperwork In Progress

On Saturday we finally fedexed our I-800A* Supplement 3* application for the free extension of our I-797* approval. It was received at the USCIS facility in Texas on Monday. In order to avoid any RFEs* or other potential delays, I included any and all documentation that NBC* could possibly want even if they already have it on file.

Also for those of my readers just starting out on their journeys, please be advised that on November 23, 2010 USCIS will increase its fees for all immigration filings. The fees for I-600a/I-600 and I-800a/I-800 will increase to $720. Biometrics (fingerprinting) will increase to $85. For detailed information regarding the increase, please visit USCIS's website.

*If you don’t know what any of these things are, you must not be a (P)AP*. :)

Grandma Rocks

Craig and I spent Labor Day weekend with his mom and step-dad near Pensacola, FL. While there, Craig's mom presented us with this beautiful quilt she made for our children. We are so thankful to know that Grandma is just as excited as we are about our adoption and that she will love her new grandchildren in that special grandma way.

The Magnificent Seven

Moms, that is, and they just made a big difference. Here’s the scoop:

Several weeks ago, our cousin Jessica asked me if there was anything she could do to help us in our orphanage fundraising efforts. At the time, I was stumped, but I promised to let her know if something came to mind. So I thought and thought about it and one day I finally had an idea. I had always intended to give gently used children’s clothing to the orphanage(s). My plan had been to scour the local Goodwills, Ebay, yard sales, etc. to find the best deals, but then it occurred to me that Jessica has many wonderful friends who, like her, are mothers of young children. So I asked Jessica if she and the other moms would be willing to sort through their children’s wardrobes and donate gently used clothing for us to take to the orphanages. I am happy to say that they were.

This weekend, Jessica and I got together to pick up any donations that hadn’t already been dropped off at her house. I am glad she told me to bring the truck. Here’s a picture hubby snapped of me unloading at home:

And here’s a photo of the majority of what was donated. There were some stray shoes and coats and overalls that I forgot to add before taking the picture, but I think you can see that some of the orphans in Eastern Europe will be quite well-dressed. By the way, due to the sheer volume, I had to snap this photo from our loft looking down into our entry:

I am very humbled by the unbelievable generosity that was extended through us to the children who will remain behind in our kids' orphanage(s). My sincerest thanks go out to Jessica who clearly has a huge and loving heart and offered to help in any way she could and to the magnificent seven moms, including Jessie, who so liberally and graciously donated clothing for far-away children in need.