Good News all around! (We sorta have a date)

We received word from our agency on Wednesday (the 17th) that our dossier had moved from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Ministry of Education (Step 2 of 3). Which took only about 3 weeks....so we are getting much closer to traveling. I asked our agency, CAH if there was any "guestimate" of when we might travel and after checking with their in-country coordinator, they advised us of a very tentative date of after November 20th!! While we know this can change, at least it is a DATE to work toward and now we need to shift into high gear to prepare.

In addition to preparing to travel, we have decided to try and raise some funds to help the children at our baby's orphanage. The sad truth is there are very little funds to run these homes and the caregivers and doctors do the best they can with what they have. When we asked what they needed, we were told they need a blood glucose monitor and an electronic baby scale. We plan to take 2 blood glucose monitors and will need to purchase the test strips and scale. We would also like to take supplies like desitin (they can't afford diapers), baby wash, vitamins, etc. Some of the stuff we can buy there to donate as we will only be able to bring so much in our luggage. We have heard of a caregiver asking to BUY desitin from an adopting family. When asked if she needed it for her children at home, her response was no, she wanted it to buy it from them for children in the orphanage. We will not be using any of these funds toward our own adoption or for our child, but for the many children that are left behind and will not be adopted. We would like to donate these things in our child's name. The fact of the matter is, not all the children get adopted. Also due to the poverty level, many people relinquish children to the baby house, but not to be adopted. As long as they visit once every 6 months, the children are not eligible to be adopted, but rather live out their lives in the institution.

If you would like to make a donation, there is a chip-in box to the right in the side bar, you can click on it to make a SECURE donation to help the babies in the orphanage our baby is currently living in.

Thank you from, Fawn, Michael, Andrew and "Baby Kaz" as we call her for now.