Submission Date

We had some adoption news today - our "submission date" is May 13th! For those of you that are not familiar with the adoption process, this is our understanding of how it works from this point on:

First, our translated dossier will be submitted to the SDA (State Department of Adoption) in Ukraine on May 13th.

Then, the SDA will review the dossier and give us an invitation to come to the Ukraine to adopt. Hopefully, if things go well, our SDA appointment for Katya will be the first week in June. So, it looks like we will probably be there at the same time as the Benson's, which will be awesome! (NOTE: We are submitting two dossiers, one for Katya and one for Sasha. We will delay our SDA date for Sasha with the hope that things in his region will change and we can possibly go and get him later in the year or early next year.)

Then, the crew will board an airplane and about 24 hours later be in the Ukraine. The "crew" will consist of the following: Alex, me, Tony, Allie (maybe), and my mom. The thought of a 24 hour trek with a 4 month old, is not an exciting thought for me (or for all the other people that have to be on an airplane with us!) but means that we are one step closer to bringing Katya home!

Once we get to the Ukraine, we meet with the SDA, they ask us a bunch of questions about why we want to adopt, and then give us their blessing (hopefully!). We haven't heard of them turning anybody down...

After the SDA gives us permission, then we will get to go see Katya! If we have our way, we will be taking the train, as I hear it is much cheaper than hiring a driver. However, it is also my understanding that you have exactly two minutes to get you and all your luggage onto the train or it will leave without you. With strollers and luggage for three girls this makes me very nervous, which might be incentive to make sure we pack light! Katya will have to write a letter stating that she wants us to adopt her. We will also go and meet Katya's 15 year old brother to see what he is like and whether or not he wants to adopted or if he will give us permission to adopt Katya and not him. I don't like this unknown - not knowing whether we will be bringing him home with us or not - but I suppose this is the best way to handle this situation...

After Katya (and possibly her brother) makes it known that they want to be adopted, more paperwork is prepared and the goal is to get a court date as quickly as possible - which will probably be one to two weeks out. While we are waiting to make our appearance in court, we get to visit Katya everyday when she gets out of school. I am already trying to come up with things that we can do to entertain Katya, Allie, and Tony. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

When we go to court, the judge will again ask us questions about why we want to adopt. I am already anticipating that our age will be a concern to the judge, since this appears to have been a concern with some of the other people that have adopted before us. Also, us having a new baby I am sure will also prompt questions from the judge. Hopefully, the fact that we have been married for almost eleven years and Alex has an eleven year old daughter will weigh in our favor. The judge hasn't said no to anybody that we know before us so we are hoping that he doesn't say no to us...

After the judge gives us permission to adopt, we are required to have a "ten day waiting" period before the adoption can be finalized. At this point, half or more of our "crew" will be heading home. It is still up in the air whether I or Alex will stay, as it will depend on when our SDA date is. If Alex stays, me, my mom, Tony, and Allie will all be heading home and Alex will stay in the Ukraine to hang out with and entertain Katya. This will make Katya very happy, as she was already excited when we told her that it would probably be Alex that stayed for the whole time. However, if I stay, my mom and Tony will also stay and Alex and Allie will be heading home.

After the ten day waiting period is up, Katya is officially ours and we have to go through the process of getting a new birth certificate, visas, medical exams, and lots of other paperwork. This will probably take about a week, making the total expected time for one of us to be in the Ukraine about six weeks.

Waiting for our SDA date is going to be agonizing - we are so ready to have Katya come home!