Still Searching for the "Right" Placement Agency

Hi Y'all,

Just wanted to update everyone as to where we are in the adoption process. This week I made numerous calls to adoption placement agencies. To give you a little background info in case you don't know how it work, here is how it goes. In order to adopt a child you need to have an approved home study. We are about 3/4th done with our home study. We are somewhat at a standstill until we find a placement agency. The agency that we are using for our home study is also a placement agency but they are not taking any more families on their waiting list for Vietnam. Oh yes, it looks like Vietnam will most likely be the country we adopt from. Apparent Lutheran Social Services isn't getting a ton of referrals (babies) from Vietnam and therefore are not putting more families on their waiting list. This is a pain for us because it would be a lot easier to just work with one agency. Plus, there is an inter-agency transfer fee of $750 if we go with another agency. Errr. Anyway, for the last week I've called about 10 different agencies, mostly out of state that do Vietnam adoptions. If they are accepting families they I have requested information packets. Once we get those we will review them and narrow it down from there.

Yesterday I was really annoyed because I spoke to a placement agency in Oregon and the woman on the phone was super nice until I mentioned my disability. She told me she needed to put me on hold and make sure that Vietnam would accept Paraplegics. Ugh! Doesn't she realize how much research we've already done. I just can't help but take that personally. I feel like they think I have some contagious disease that they might even be able to catch over the phone.

I just want to find an agency that is warm and welcoming to us.

We'll keep you posted on the process.

Nothing special planned for this weekend except a movie and dinner out. We really want to see the Daniel Day Lewis movie, There Will Be Blood. I saw him on Oprah yesterday and he seems like such a nice guy. Anyway, that is about it.

Delicious Beef Stew Per Multiple Requests

Nor'easter Beef Stew



2 pounds of Beef Stew meat

> Salt and Pepper to taste

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 large onions, coarsely chopped

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon thyme

2 ounces of tomato paste

2 cups baby carrots, cut into halves

2 teaspoons minced garlic

6 red potatoes, peeled, cut into quarters

2 (15-ounce) cans low-sodium beef broth or consomme

1 cup water

2 tablespoons Chinese black vinegar or Worcesterhire sauce

> parsley for garnish



Season the beef with salt and pepper. Heat the olive oil in a 6-quart pot over the medium heat. Add the beef. Saute for 10 minutes or until browned on all sides. Remove from the pot with a slotted spoon. Add the onions, bay leaves and thyme to the beef drippings. Saute for about 10 minutes or until the onions are tender. Add the tomato paste, carrots, and garlic. Saute over medium-high heat for 3 minutes. Stir in the beef, potatoes, broth, water, and vinegar. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low. Simmer, covered for 1 1/2 hours or until the beef is fork-tender, stirring occasionally. Remove and discard the bay leaves. Garnish with parsley.

If you like a thicker gravy then use about 2 TBS of cornstarch with water to thicken it.

It really is sooooooooooo good. Bon Appetite.



Serves 4 to 6

Last time I made it, I doubled it and it made almost too much. We've now had it for dinner 3 nights in a row and I'm sick of it by now.

Awaiting Nor'Easter

Hello :)

Well, Kyle asked if we could make one of my favorite recipes "Nor'Easter Beef Stew a few days ago not knowing that we'd be dealing with a real Nor'Easter. Evidently we are supposed to get close to a foot of snow tomorrow. I've already realized that there is no way I'm going to work tomorrow unless their prediction is a total wash.

We've had yet another low-key weekend. This past Friday was my first Friday off with my new schedule. I headed to my mom's house around 11:00 & she helped me with some things I needed to do for the adoption process. I had to get copies of my birth certificate and our marriage license. Instead of me going into the various town halls my mom did. It made things go a lot quicker. As most of you know, things take longer with me because I have to transfer and get in and out of the van, etc. Anyway, my mom was so helpful. I think she is just so excited to be a grandmother again that she'll do anything to speed the process along. After that we got lunch at our favorite salad place and split an amazing salad. It is huge that is why we split it. Then we decided we'd rent a movie. We rented Two Weeks with Sally Field. I think it was initially a TV movie, maybe HBO. It was good but extremely DEPRESSING. We were sobbing throughout the whole movie pretty much. Sally Field's character has terminal cancer and her four children come to spend the last two weeks of her life with her. It was soooooo sad. In retrospect it wasn't the best choice because my mom is 70 and I know she is at the point where she is thinking a lot about her own mortality. Then I started to stress about how I'm ever going to live without my mom. I just love her so much.

We have the Social Worker coming on Thursday to meet with both Kyle and I individually so this weekend we've been getting our condo cleaned and organized. On Saturday morning we had to take Rosie to the vet to get her Rabies vaccine. She is such a good girl.

We still haven't decided on which country we will adopt from. I'm still researching countries and it and seems like the rules change every other day.

Progress with Home Study

We made a good deal of progress this past weekend with our adoption checklist for the home study. We were able to go to the bank and get forms notarized. That was a big one. Thankfully our bank is open on Sundays. Kyle was sick most of the weekend so we had a very low-key weekend. He was trying to take it easy but he still managed to get rid of our Xmas tree and put away a lot of the Xmas decorations. We have so many!

Anyway, back to the adoption process, we both officially finished out autobiographies last night. They were a lot of work but they are finished. Now we need to mail those to the Social Worker and all the individuals that we asked to be references for us. Now we just have to keep plugging away at our “To Do List.” We both still have to have our Dr’s fill out a medical form. I have to get a “special” letter from my doctor that specifically says that my disability will not interfere with my ability to parent. I’m telling you, it is SO much harder to adopt than to have your own child.

Other than plugging away at all this, we haven’t been up to much. We really wanted to see a movie this past weekend but the theaters near us did not have any of the movies we wanted to see. We love to go to the movies but we never go. I really want to see Juno.

I’m in a rut lately with recipes. I’m sick of everything and really need to change things up a bit. I did make Snicker Doodle Maple cookies (yum) for my hubby this weekend and homemade chicken soup (boring.)

I have a new schedule at work that I’m really excited about. Instead of having Mondays off I have Friday off and I work at home Tuesdays and Thursday. Whooo!!! That means I’m only in the office twice a week. I think this will work out better b/c the traffic isn’t as bad on Mondays. Plus, my mom is off on Fridays which means I get to hang with her. I love my mom. OK, folks that is it from us. We’ll keep you posted on things.

Home Study

Well, Our adoption process took it's first major step on Monday with the beginning of our home study. We met with the Social Worker for about an 1 1/2 hours. She was very nice. We basically reviewed what we need to complete and have a rough date of March for completion of the home study. We also reviewed our reasons (motivation) for adopting. We also have discussed possible countries that would be a good fit for us. We are looking at a couple of Asian countries. Caitlin was not really nervous, however, I(Kyle) was. I was working on my essay earlier and I think created an "overload." I was feeling like I needed to accomplish more for that day then I really needed. Overall, we believe things went well. Caitlin and I have a good start on our essays, which must be completed by Jan 14. This way the social worker will have time to read and review for our individual meetings on Jan 17. We both have approximately 3 pages written of the 4-8 page essays. The essays cover our families, school years (elementary thru college), religious affiliations, adoption motivation, employment, our community, and general questions. The essays are supposed to focus on our feelings, which sometimes may be hard to discuss. Anyways, wish us well. We need your support. We are really excited and can't wait to be parents!



We wish all a Happy, Healthy, and Great 2008!!!



Our New Year's Eve was spent with Kyle's sister and her family. We had a very nice one. We enjoyed Lobster and Steak that Jay had prepared. We also watched a movie, an Adam Sandler movie. Chuck and Larry or something of the sort. It was pretty funny and entertaining. We left around 11:30pm. We spent New Years day on Cape Cod at Megan's in-laws (Jean & Lou.) They are sooo nice and cooked us a fabulous meal. They are such gracious hosts. We are so lucky to know them.

Now the big focus is on losing those holiday pounds. Ugh!!!!