A good day...

    Today was a good day. I got a call from one of the people in Atlanta that my home study has been approved and finalized. They emailed it to me to look at the rough draft to see if there were any errors. Everything involved with adoption takes so many steps. It is not like you are handed one thing and do it, it takes several steps to do just that one thing. Also, I had to fill out a preliminary application to the agency I wanted to use. I got a letter today from them letting me know I could send in the primary application. I guess that means that they have accepted me, YEH!!! I do not know if any of these things will make anything move any faster, but at least I feel like I am accomplishing something.

    This is Tuesday night and I have been off since Saturday afternoon. It has been a nice weekend. I went to church Sunday morning. They have a children's moment as most services do, and it was cool to think that hopefully soon, I will be able to see Aeson running down to the front of the church with the other kids. I also went to have lunch with my friends Frank and Sarah Orgel, and their daughter Leigh Ann Mathis that is pregnant and due in just a few weeks. We had a nice time. We looked at all of the baby things that Leigh Ann has in her nursery. Man, if I get half as much stuff as she has, I am going to have to move into a bigger place, HA! She had the coolest diaper bag, made by Columbia I think. It totally did not look like a diaper bag at all! I am going to go ahead and buy one this weekend. As I have said before, I do not know what kind of Snugli to get, so she and I discussed this also. I am obsessing about the Snugli because I am going to have to carry Aeson all over Vietnam for several weeks, and the most comfortable Snugli is gonna make or break me.

    I have been looking into food choices for when we are gone as well. I saw one picture where they take a coke can, cut out the top, stick a defeathered bird in head first, feet hanging out the top, and cook it in the can on a grill I think. Needless to say, I have been looking into all types of just add water soups that we can take with us, as well as beef jerky and other small non-perishable foods. If the bird in the can is any indication of food choices there, I will be skinnier than I already am when we return, HA! I am sure there are things that will not be so strange, but this is an adventure.

A new week...

   Starting a new week. I have never been one to wish my life away, but I am looking forward to having some things happen. I heard from my case worker, Mary Ann, today. She is sending my home study to Atlanta tomorrow hopefully, they should let me know by next week that they have gotten it and how long it will take them to do what they have to do to finalize it. I know that some of this doesn't make sense to most of you, but they are awesome little baby steps, HAHA, for me.

    If you will notice, I have added the logo to the agency that I am waiting to get approval from. I am going to call them tomorrow to see what is up. I mailed in the preliminary application last week. The website is www.vorf.org . You should check it out. It will give you some insight on some of the process. 

    Some of my friends can't believe that I bought the recliner that I mentioned. I have always been anti-recliner...lol. Age changes alot of things. I am going to take a picture of it and post on here to prove it. Give me a few days.

    My friend Jody and I were looking at all the baby stuff in Target over the weekend. That does get me a little excited. There are so many choices for Snuglies. If you know what that is and have one you think is great, please let me know which one it is.

    Since I will be at home more once Aeson arrives, I decided that it was time to get serious about the cooking thing. I can do it, but just need to work on my organizational skills. I guess it would be good to stock the cabinets as well, HA. I actually bought a crock pot this weekend as well. The idea of putting everything in one pot and letting it cook for 8-10 hours sounds easy enough. Plus, there are a zillion recipes on the internet for "slow cooking".

    At this point, I know that some of you that read this may not find it very interesting. And it probably isn't, but it will be relevant to Aeson one day. Also, I realize that as hard as I may try, there will be numerous grammatical errors in these posts. I apologize for that, but most of the time it is way late and I am way tired when I am writing this. So please overlook these imperfections

    Also, keep your fingers crossed. I found a organization that gives financial grants to some who are adopting. This is a grant that does not have to be paid back...lol. I kind of doubt that I would be eligible for anything, but I will fill out the paperwork and see what happens. Every little bit helps.

Trying to get some help

    Today I asked as many of my clients as I thought could be of help, if they knew anyone in government in Atlanta that might could hurry along my I600A form. The is preliminary form that allows me to bring the child home from Vietnam. They are saying that the office is backlogged by about 15 weeks. I hope it doesn't take that long. All I can do right now is try to get as much of my paper work that I have to send to Vietnam for them to look over (called a dossier) ready for when my home study is completed and sent back to me. I have been told that there is not really  a chance of Vietnam having the same troubles that Guatemala has, but it is difficult to trust. As I may have stated, to my knowledge, Vietnam is the last country open to single male adoption of infants. 

    I started warning my clients this week that even though it is going to be a while before I travel to Vietnam, I am going to be taking a month off of work. Those who are more laid back will not have a problem. They can stretch it out and it will not cause them too much trouble. So far they are willing to take a back seat to the more obsessive compulsive ones...LOL... that have to come in on a very strict routine. I guess alot of people will be making sacrifices for this child to come to this country...LOL. Even though I will not have to be in Vietnam for the whole month, I think it will be wise for me to have some extra time off to get him adjusted to things and to Beth who I hope still has all intentions of keeping him for me.

    As I write this and have to make references to "him" or "the child", I am fast realizing that I need to settle on a name for him. All the names that I seem to like begin with a vowel. Of course, I would like it to be a name that not everyone has, but at the same time, I do not want it to be too different. So as for now, I will refer to him as Aeson (pronounced Ason). This may change so don't get too set on it. I am going to begin posting some pictures of Vietnam here so that it can give an idea of where Aeson is coming from.

    I guess I am doing like some other creatures do when they are getting ready for their children. I bought a recliner this week. It does not so much look like the old granddaddy type, but it does rock and swivel..LOL. I thought that would come in handy when one of us is having a hard time going to sleep. I also went for leather, I am anticipating all sorts of bodily fluids all over it and this will be much easier to clean. Off to bed now. 

Late beginning

    It is Wednesday January 9th about 11:45 PM. I have just signed up to begin a blog about my international adoption process. I am a little behind because I guess the real beginning was around October 22nd, 2007. Of course I had been thinking about adoption well before that, but actually initiated contact with some information sources at that time. 

    In just about 2 and a half months, I have actually gotten quite a bit done. I began emailing with different organizations/agencies and soon found out that single male adoption is not an easy task. There are many, and I mean many countries that are not open to this at all. I also found out that there are many adoption agencies that do not accept single male applicants. I totally understand some of their concerns and respect the path they choose to take. I was just disappointed when a "Christian" organization informed me that they "only deal with married couples because they are a Christian organization".  Does that mean they think that single men can't be Christians? Oh well, no need to waste too much energy on that subject.

    I finally got in contact with a single woman in Pennsylvania that had an adoption agency. She had adopted 2 children from Guatemala and had much success with single males adopting from there as well. She was very helpful and the information she gave me got me started. Long story short, the adoption process in Guatemala has fallen apart at this time due to changes in that country's policies. Guatemala was attractive to me for many reasons. I have friends that are latin and I am somewhat familiar with the culture. The Catholic religion that is practiced there, among most people, is not that far off from Methodist, which is what I am. Being self employed, the fact that when traveling to bring the child home, I would only be gone about 4 days. I would have been able to have gotten home with him and taken some time off of work as well for both of us to get to know each other.

    But, being the positive and persistent person I am I looked into  what other choices I had. There was always domestic adoption. As I have explained to many people, there are numerous reasons I would rather not do this. I won't focus on that, but instead, explain why I am attracted to international adoption. 

    I have never done anything traditionally or the way other people have done things. As hard as it can be at times, I like to be different. I enjoy doing things that other people think are risky or out of their realm. I think that because the child will be from another country will give not only him, but our whole family a lifetime of learning about new things that come from his country. Alot of people where I live here in Albany, Georgia, never step out of their comfort zone. They do not travel to new places, are afraid of new things and people, and little do they know they are missing out. But we are all free to make choices on how we want to live our lives (thank you God!!!) 

    I am on track to adopt from Vietnam at this time. I must be honest. At first I was a bit intimidated by Vietnam for many reasons. Mainly because it is so far away. The trip alone will be long. When going to bring the child home, Vietnam requires a minimum 2 weeks stay and could possibly be longer, more like 3 weeks. But, I am up for whatever needs to be done. For those that do not know, I am a hairstylist and salon owner. I know that most of my clients will patiently wait my return. After all, a little long hair and grown out roots has never killed anyone that I know of...lol.

    I had my first meeting with my home study case worker on the 12th of December. I was a little nervous about getting someone who I thought might try to interrogate me. No one likes to feel like that. Her name was Mary Ann and she was great. I was very comfortable with her. She was very helpful. She did not give me a hard time at all, but did her job to make sure I was "fit" to be a father also. Mary Ann was great about getting all my meetings done quickly and even wanted to meet my Grandmother. At our final meeting, she said as far as she was concerned, she thought I would make a great Dad. Man, was I relieved. As of today, she is still putting it all together, but it should be in Atlanta at the main office by next week I hope.

    I felt that I need to chose a different agency than the one I was going to deal with when thinking of adopting from Guatemala. For several reasons, but mainly because I wanted an agency with alot of experience there. I had searched the internet over, emailed numerous agencies that I felt like would accept a single male, and have decided on VORF, Vietnamese Orphans Relief Fund. I got some references from them that helped solidify my decision to use them as my agency (if they accept me).

    I sent off my application to them today as well as my I600A form to USCIS. I have decided that paying a little extra to overnight things is worth the peace of mind that maybe I am hurrying things along a bit.

    It is pretty late now and have to be up early. As I write in this blog, I am sure that I will jump around alot on times, dates and topics, but for anyone who knows me, they understand this. I am doing this so that when God willing, I bring home that little boy, that one day he can read this and understand the love, time, energy and of course patience that goes into adopting a child. If another person looking to adopt runs across this and it helps or gives insight as others have done for me, I feel like maybe I am giving a little back. John