I when to the INS office to try and see how we get PROOF she is a citizen. We were initially told that all we needed to do was show her visa with her stamp and that was proof that she was a citizen. We learned from the social security office that this is not true. Then the INS office informs me that we will need to apply for a certificate of citizenship, which can take 30-45 days AND costs $215 AND we have to bring in 2 passport photos. I personally think that it is ridiculous that we have to pay for proof our daughter is a citizen. We have already paid a small fortune in fees, and paid the INS fees for permission to bring her home, and not we have to pay to PROVE she is a US citizen. It seems that everything is always such a hurdle.
When I got home from the office I called several offices (homeland security, social security, etc), I tried to explain our situation and that we really couldn't wait 30-45 days to get her social security number that we needed it to proceed with other things that our daughter needs to start her care. The social security office told me that if I can get a passport I won't have to get her certificate of citizenship. So I have scheduled an appointment for next week, lets keep our fingers crossed that they will issue a passport.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Monday, April 2, 2007
04/02/2007 10th Orphanage Visit
Our 10th visit... When we arrived at the orphanage today Olivia was waiting at the window jumping up and down. When she came in the room she seemed more excited then the last few days. We learned that she was crying when we didn’t come the day before, she said that she cried a lot… which surprised us since we had the translator tell her that we wouldn’t be coming. I worry if our court date is delayed that she will not understand if we have to travel home for weeks before the adoption process if finalized. So hopefully we won’t have to leave the country.
I feel bad that she was upset and worried that she thought that we had changed our minds on her adoption - especially when we just brought in the other baby (Pearl). Today Pearl was ill and had a fever. We also heard back from the department of education that they would not allow us to adopt baby Pearl - we will only be allowed to adopt one child - so we will proceed with Olivia’s adoption only.
If anyone knows someone that is interested in adopting Pearl is a SWEET baby girl. She is very happy and laughs a lot and likes to play. If she is this pleasant only 2 days after her surgery you can imagine what a delightful child she is the rest of the time. I wish that we could come back for her, but our children at home are already very sad that we have left and between the expenses to return, and all of Olivia’s medical needs I don’t think that will be possible, at least in the near future.
I feel bad that she was upset and worried that she thought that we had changed our minds on her adoption - especially when we just brought in the other baby (Pearl). Today Pearl was ill and had a fever. We also heard back from the department of education that they would not allow us to adopt baby Pearl - we will only be allowed to adopt one child - so we will proceed with Olivia’s adoption only.
If anyone knows someone that is interested in adopting Pearl is a SWEET baby girl. She is very happy and laughs a lot and likes to play. If she is this pleasant only 2 days after her surgery you can imagine what a delightful child she is the rest of the time. I wish that we could come back for her, but our children at home are already very sad that we have left and between the expenses to return, and all of Olivia’s medical needs I don’t think that will be possible, at least in the near future.
Sunday, April 1, 2007
04/01/2007
Today we are not allowed to visit Olivia. We slept in a little and planned to go to a restaurant that was down the strip for breakfast at 10am, since the rest of the week we are at the orphanage we weren’t able to try their breakfast. We walked in slight rain all the way there to find they were closed even though we had specifically asked about their breakfast. We weren’t sure if they had different hours on Sunday, or why they weren’t opened. They have no signs on their door with hours or days of operation. We stopped by another restaurant they were also closed, so we decided to just head back to our hotel, since by this time we were pretty soaked.
Since we can’t pronounce the babies Kazak name I wanted to pick an American name for her, so that we can call her something besides “baby”. We tonight we agreed on Lily Pearl. Since she is Kazak she looks Asian (Olivia is Russian). We thought Lily was fitting, and we liked that her name meant Pearl and thought that was pretty so for now that will be her name. We realize the chances are very low that we will get to adopt her but we are embarrassing her for now. Worst case she gets to spend 2 hours a day with us and get extra attention. Well it is almost 1:00 am, so I better sign off for now.
Since we can’t pronounce the babies Kazak name I wanted to pick an American name for her, so that we can call her something besides “baby”. We tonight we agreed on Lily Pearl. Since she is Kazak she looks Asian (Olivia is Russian). We thought Lily was fitting, and we liked that her name meant Pearl and thought that was pretty so for now that will be her name. We realize the chances are very low that we will get to adopt her but we are embarrassing her for now. Worst case she gets to spend 2 hours a day with us and get extra attention. Well it is almost 1:00 am, so I better sign off for now.
Saturday, March 31, 2007
03/31/2007
Olivia was waiting by the window as always; though she didn’t run right to us this morning. She wanted to play first. I think she is showing more signs of security. Though when they brought the baby in and papa was holding it she kept shaking her head no. I am not sure what she was thinking. We hope that she doesn’t think that we are considering another child over her. It is hard to explain things to her since we have the language barrier. We tried to make sure that she didn’t feel that we were focusing too much attention on the new baby.
We also had our translator explain that we would not be able to come on Sunday, but that we would come on Monday. Last night I had a dream that we were discussing the babies name and that we wanted to giver her the middle name Pearl, after my sister Stephanie… which was ironic since today we learned the baby’s name means Pearl in Kazak.
We also had our translator explain that we would not be able to come on Sunday, but that we would come on Monday. Last night I had a dream that we were discussing the babies name and that we wanted to giver her the middle name Pearl, after my sister Stephanie… which was ironic since today we learned the baby’s name means Pearl in Kazak.
Friday, March 30, 2007
03/30/2007
There was some sort of even in the front of our hotel, so our driver was not able to pick us up from the front. She ended up parking several buildings away and come running up to us so that she could guide us to the cars. We were supposed to pick up the last medication, but now didn’t have time… she had already picked up the shoe cobbler, that we requested make some special shoes for Olivia, since she really can’t wear normal shoes. He came with us to the orphanage and measured Olivia’s feet and will make us some custom shoes. Olivia didn’t seem to mind the process at all.
We met with one of the nurses that said she took care of Olivia as a very small baby, and that she had worked at the orphanage for 33 years. We took her photo with Olivia. We promised we would make her a copy. At the end of our visit they took us into the doctor’s office to meet the baby we had discussed yesterday. We sat down and they handed her to us. She was very happy and smiled and laughed each time we tickled her. She seemed in a great mood for just having surgery. When she laughed you could still see stitches in her lip and all along the inside of her palette. She was a very sweet little girl. They said she loved to play and was happy. We told them that we would discuss her adoption and tell them our decision tomorrow.
We met with one of the nurses that said she took care of Olivia as a very small baby, and that she had worked at the orphanage for 33 years. We took her photo with Olivia. We promised we would make her a copy. At the end of our visit they took us into the doctor’s office to meet the baby we had discussed yesterday. We sat down and they handed her to us. She was very happy and smiled and laughed each time we tickled her. She seemed in a great mood for just having surgery. When she laughed you could still see stitches in her lip and all along the inside of her palette. She was a very sweet little girl. They said she loved to play and was happy. We told them that we would discuss her adoption and tell them our decision tomorrow.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
03/29/2007
Today Olivia seemed a little sick, we had another typical visit, we asked to play in the “exercise room” upstairs again which we were allowed to. But learned later that the doctors were upset that we were in that room and told our translators that the Americans can not go in any room they please. They basically stated that they had a schedule. This is a room that they stated the children exercise in, but both are children acted like they had never or seldom go in that room. So I don’t think that they we will be allowed to go in that room again.
We were asked if we wanted to meet a baby that we had been shown a photo of just prior to our leaving for Kazakhstan. We said yes, and they said tomorrow we could meet her. She had just turned one on the 28th, and had been in Almaty having surgery to repair her cleft lip/palette. On our way out the doctor asked us if we would get some medicine for Olivia since she was sick. She wrote us a prescription on a plain piece of paper. Apparently you don’t need an official prescription in Kazakhstan; you can buy anything you want. She also asked us to pick up some medication for the other babies as well; which we agreed to do. We went to two pharmacies and were able to find 2 of the 3 medications but could not locate the third medication.
We were asked if we wanted to meet a baby that we had been shown a photo of just prior to our leaving for Kazakhstan. We said yes, and they said tomorrow we could meet her. She had just turned one on the 28th, and had been in Almaty having surgery to repair her cleft lip/palette. On our way out the doctor asked us if we would get some medicine for Olivia since she was sick. She wrote us a prescription on a plain piece of paper. Apparently you don’t need an official prescription in Kazakhstan; you can buy anything you want. She also asked us to pick up some medication for the other babies as well; which we agreed to do. We went to two pharmacies and were able to find 2 of the 3 medications but could not locate the third medication.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
03/28/2007
Today we are going to the “exercise room”, since the children are watching a cartoon in the “music room”, were we usually do our bonding time. We played for a while then were invited to the “music room” to watch the Kazakhstan cartoon. They had set up little white benches for all the children. They filed in a small group of children that I would guess were about 2-3 years old. They all sat on a bench, and seemed very well behaved. They then filed in a larger group of 3-4 year olds. They all sat as well. As soon as they turned off the lights and started the cartoon, several off the young children started crying, so they took them out of the room.
The cartoon was a little scary we thought, though we couldn’t understand the language it had a 3 headed dragon like character that was eating several animals. Then it seemed to get ill and couldn’t fly. Then these three “wise men” called this mosquito like animal went and sucked blood from a small infant, it looked like the infant was on the verge of dying from this act, and then a bird was chasing the mosquito to get back the blood, and was chasing it when the blood was dropped and caused flowers to grow from the dirt. Suddenly the baby was better, and then the dragon fell out of this castle when it was chasing the bird and died. It was all very weird and scary; I was really surprised that this is what they chose to show 2-4 year olds. I was expecting a Disney movie or equivalent. The children for the most part sat quietly and watched the film. Then they were all escorted back to their rooms.
The cartoon was a little scary we thought, though we couldn’t understand the language it had a 3 headed dragon like character that was eating several animals. Then it seemed to get ill and couldn’t fly. Then these three “wise men” called this mosquito like animal went and sucked blood from a small infant, it looked like the infant was on the verge of dying from this act, and then a bird was chasing the mosquito to get back the blood, and was chasing it when the blood was dropped and caused flowers to grow from the dirt. Suddenly the baby was better, and then the dragon fell out of this castle when it was chasing the bird and died. It was all very weird and scary; I was really surprised that this is what they chose to show 2-4 year olds. I was expecting a Disney movie or equivalent. The children for the most part sat quietly and watched the film. Then they were all escorted back to their rooms.
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