April 2009, start seriously praying about adoption.
May/June 2009, research, research, research & decide on Uganda.
June 15, 2009, get information packet & application from Amani Baby Cotttage, Jinja Uganda.
June 22, 2009, speak to Homestudy company & let them know we will be ready to begin in September/October.
July 16-28, 2009, we travel to Uganda for a mission trip & are able to visit ABC twice while we are there.
July 22, 2009, know for sure that God has led us straight to Amani Baby Cottage.
August 31, 2009, begin filling out our application to Amani.
September 08, 2009, mail off application to Amani Baby Cottage!
September 30, 2009, speak to Executive Director at Amani & think that God may be closing the door? Praying for His Will to be done, not ours.
October 01, 2009, explore more options (other orphanages in Uganda) & request Home Study for early November.
October 04, 2009, We got an email from another Ugandan baby home saying that due to the higher number of Ugandans adopting (which is very cool), they are closing international adoptions until further notice… Is God completely steering us away from Uganda? Thank you Lord for guiding us… So, we are now pursuing Ethiopia as well. We have requested packets from America World Adoptions and All God’s Children International.
October 05, 2009, scheduled our Home Study for November 7th!! Medical & Background check forms are in the mail to us to get started on.
October 07, 2009, got our packets in the mail & are leaning toward All God’s Children International. Talk to the Sheriff’s Office to see about coming in to get our background checks & fingerprints taken. Make appt. for next Wed. (10.14)
October 12, 2009, We have decided to postpone our home study until we get more of our personal documents together & raise more money… Rich will be traveling most of October & there just isn’t enough time between now & Nov. 7 to get it all done. Then with the holidays, we may just re-schedule for January… But, we will have most of our documents (and extra time to raise more money), so things will probably move more quickly once we get started “officially”… We have now realized that adoption is NOT easy!!
November 06, 2009, Mail off 2 background check forms (Dept of Children & Families & FL Law Enforcement), make appt for Monday to get fingerprints for FBI & local background check.
November 09, 2009, We both got our local background checks & FBI fingerprinting done & mailed off to FBI! Melissa got physical & blood work done today. Rich goes to doc on Saturday.
December 02, 2009, We are just about finished with all of our paperwork needed for our home study, which is now going to take place January 9th! We are also attending an adoption seminar next week & hope to have an agency picked shortly after! We’re just waiting on God’s timing & seeking Him for direction…
December 07, 2009 Well, we have lots of news on our adoption. First of all, we decided on a name, Micah. Secondly, we have been collecting information to submit our pre-application with an agency that we have been interested in. This weekend we finally got all the documents needed & faxed 30 pages over this morning. We got a call and were told that unfortunately we do not qualify for the Ethiopia program because of some of the criteria that needs to be met through immigration. It’s not our fault or the agencies fault, it’s just certain criteria must be met for other countries when adopting a child internationally. So, God is showing us clearly that Micah is NOT in Ethiopia, or Uganda or possibly not in Africa at all. How clearly He is speaking to us and guiding us to where our son is. Now we are researching our options for domestic adoption, which we know nothing about. Luckily our home study team does domestic adoptions, so they will be a huge help!
January 09, 2010, We had out home study today & passed with flying colors. We are enrolled in the Lost Children of Florida program .
January 21, 2010, We’re just waiting on FBI clearance letters, this is taking FOREVER!!!
February 9, 2010, Finally get our clearance letters from the FBI. Tomorrow I will mail off the letters to Hope for Families, so they can finalize our home study.
February 25, 2010, Receive FINAL DRAFT of our home study. Now we wait. 6-8 months is the typical wait for a boy under 2. We should have Micah by the FAll!
June 30, 2010, still waiting….
August 18, 2010, Rich spoke to our agency and we were told that the program we are in is not going as quickly as anticipated, new avenues are being pursued in finding children to place with forever families and instead of the projected wait time of 6-8 months, we are most likely looking at 12 months.
December 2, 2010, Speak with Hope for Families about dual enrolling in Lost Children of Florida and their Interstate program.
January 2011, start getting info together to update our home study, which expires 02/25/2011
January 24, 2011, inquire on a toddler boy in our city who’s up for a match next week! 02/02/2011, our agency will present us to the matching committee and see if we can proceed with adoption.
PRAY!
February 2, 2011- 4:52 pm we get the call… WE ARE A MATCH! Rich & I have to take some parenting courses required through the state since he is in foster care. We are waiting on our “full disclosure” meeting, which should happen in about 2 weeks. After that meeting we will have 48 hours to sign our “formal acceptance”, and begin the visitation/transition schedule. He may be with us “full time” in 2 months. Keep praying for paperwork!
February 14, 2011- we find out that DCF requires things that are not required for our home study, so we have more paperwork than we thought… Update reference letters, HIPAA papers to sign, Adoption Application through DCF, reference forms from all the girls’ teachers, update vaccines for the cat, updated auto insurance papers & financial income/expense report. As soon as we get all of this, we should be able to schedule our full disclosure meeting. This week, we will start the 10 week adoption MAPP classes (required by state). The good thing about the MAPP classes, it will not postpone us for visitation/transition!
February 20, 2011- start MAPP class
February 25, 2011- find out that the fingerprints HFF took are not accepted by HKI
March 3, 2011- get re-fingerprinted… now we wait for caseworker to get results in so we can finally schedule our full disclosure meeting- pray that it’s not the full 30 days that is expected.
April 5, 2011- get call from our case worker and have our full disclosure meeting scheduled for Monday, April 11, 2011! After full disclosure we have 48 hours to sign formal acceptance to adopt him & then we will start visitation/transition.
April 11, 2011- Full Disclosure meeting/ Formal Acceptance
April 12, 2011- First visit!
2 weeks of Supervised Visits
2 weeks of Unsupervised visits
May 9, 2011- first sleepover.
June 9, 2011- Placement staffing. Rich & I, foster mom, caseworker, 2 CMS nurses & 2 HKI supervisors present. All agreed that he will be “placed” with us. This should happen in the next week & we will have him full time. After 90 days with us, we will go to court to make the adoption final!
July 15, 2011- He is officially placed with us! We will go to court on (or around) October 15th to finalize the adoption. Praise the Lord!
October 13, 2011- consent sent to the attorney for us to adopt Santana
October 17, 2011- Happy Adoption Day, Micah Santana Lazzara
This is so awesome what you are doing!! I wil be praying for you! We hope to adopt some day as well(an at risk child from the U.S)
God Bless You!!! Kara Redmon Mawdesley
Thank you Kara. Keep me posted on your adoption plans in the future, I’d love to help out in any way possible.
God bless you and your family. It is wonderful that you are adopting a child that wouldn’t have the opportunity to have a ‘real’ family. Your family will truly be blessed and I will keep you all in my prayers.
Patrice:)
Thank you so much Patrice, we covet your prayers.
Rich like i always say what you are doing is not something easy but thank heavens that you got the courage and strength to do it. am praying for you to succeed and am eagerly waiting to see the little smart boy.
Richard Uganda
Thank you Richard!
Good post! I liked the information you contained in it. I would have never discovered this web site if I didn’t see it Googling random things!
Thank you! I have been finding some interesting blogs lately too
Hi Melissa,
I have been catching up on your adoption efforts and was wondering if you and Rich have considered a “Stork Drop” option. Or if anyone has mentioned that to you. I have a friend who just got a healthy newborn boy from a “Stork Drop” two weeks ago, so if you need any info or guidance in that direction I would be glad to connect you two.
Many prayers for a special boy in your future,
~ Sarah
Hi Sarah!
We are full steam ahead with the Lost Children of Florida program. We are in the phase of just waiting for our referral, so changing directions at this point isn’t an option. Thank you for thinking of us. Maybe next time
Melissa