What happened to thirty days?!?!  Somehow the 20 days and 10 days got consolidated to 1 week!!  Things are pretty hectic around here- both Paul and I have been sick as dogs with Jake flitting around the house without so much as a sniffle- kids huh?!  He's saving it for the 19 hour journey to Kiev?!?!

We had our travel meeting Wednesday, that in true exec fashion, I dialed into, curled up on the couch in my pj's.  Luckily Paul was well enough to make the trudge into Dallas.  Dawn very graciously went over expectations again- just to make sure we REALLY knew what we were getting into.  After a ~minor~ confusion about accommodations- I think we are all set.

Jake has started to give deep (and when you know Jake- that's serious) consideration to what it really is like to live in an orphanage- what they wear, eat- how they act.  LOTS of conceptionalizing!  I think this will truly be an eye opening experience for him.... and us too!

Our first set of PAP (potential adoptive parents) comrades have already landed in Kiev- with appointments tomorrow- we wish them LOTS of luck (with inclusive detailed notes so we can have a crib sheet of everything that happens).  Paul and I, on the other hand, will be harrowing the fields after having spent all day winterizing the pasture troughs.  We did manage to get out to Walmart to get the last few things we keep thinking we'll need- odds are we will end up repacking again this weekend.

It's 30 days and counting- and Paul and I are trying to get through the final preparations to leave.  We spent most of today going through the 5 bags we had already packed trying to eliminate weight.  Ukraine International is very fussy about the number and weight of bags they let on the plane.  We ended up pulling out all of the food we had bought to take to the orphanage as well as most of the school supplies.  (both of which will be easily consumed in our household!)  We already have 250 lbs and haven't packed our clothes yet!!  WHAT ON EARTH- you may be asking- weighs 250lbs already!!!  We were priviledged to have some FABULOUS sponsors who donated or provided at cost loads of stuff.  The local Goodwill allowed me to buy 100 pieces of childrens clothing for $100!!!  I went diving for the Levis, Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfingers et al... having lived overseas- you realize its the label that matters!  We also have bed linens, towels, wash clothes, toothpaste, toothbrushes, asprin, and bandaids ala Costco- and lots of toys- stuffed animals, bracelets, hair clips, 'creepy crawlies', soccer balls, kick balls, frisbees, decks of cards, coloring books, and sidewalk chalk... oh and not to forget the 10 lbs of magnetic rocks that a local store donated!!  We did keep the 10lb jar of peanut butter at Jake's insistance!

Welcome to all readers...  I know I have personally spent many late nights over the last year combing every blog, every website, trying to find information about adoption, Ukraine, adopting in the Ukraine, timelines, SDA/SPARDAC/NAC- just so I felt like I had some understanding about what my family and I were about to get ourselves into. 

Family (and those of you that know the story) can skip this section.  Let me introduce myself- my name is Pamela, my husband is Paul and my 9yo BioSon is Jake.  We decided last January that we wanted to add to our family- and I decided that I had NO desire to be pregnant again- so we started down the path of adoption.  Given both Paul and I lived and worked internationally- having an international child seemed natural.  After reading everything we could on the various countries- we decided on the Ukraine.  Today is October 29th- and it has taken us 11 months to get to here. 

A brief timeline:
1/2/07     first contacted adoption agency
1/18/07   signed the contract with the agency
2/4/07     had all documents submitted for homestudy
3/5/07     received approved homestudy
4/12/07   received USCIS approval/documents sent for US approval and translation
....after numerous rewrites, new letters, updated copies...
7/30/07   final documents delivered to Ukraine
8/20/07   dossier submitted to SDA
10/10/07 received registration number and travel date

After numerous dossier documents, fingerprints, home studies and conversations with Dawn (our adoption coordinator)- we applied and were successfully accepted to adopt a little girl between 4 and 8 years old.  It was October 12th, that we finally received our registration number and appointment date - DECEMBER 13th.

We are going to spend the next 8 weeks preparing, packing, planning- and just trying to stay sane!  Stay with us for more!