Our adoption just got updated to Home at Last Posted about over 5 years ago

We're Home! Can you believe the day has finally come when we can say our family is all together and home? I hardly can.Our trip to Sofia was wonderful. We arrived Monday, our kids came to us on Tuesday, and we got to spend the rest of the week with them in Sofia. On Wednesday, we had our embassy interview, which was not nearly as scary as I'd imagined. On Friday, their passports, visas, v...

Coming Home Posted about over 5 years ago

We have travel dates!!!!! We will leave Sunday, September 6 to go to Bulgaria. We get to pick them up September 9, and then we will all leave for home September 12. We are so excited!So, of course that means big changes ahead. Beyond the obvious that we'll now have three more mouths to feed and brains to entertain and grow, we will be focusing a lot on quality bonding time. In adoptive families...

Fully Funded Posted about over 5 years ago

Look at the beauty of that fundraising thermometer! We are fully funded! Thank you all so, so much for your support. And perfect timing too, as we just got our final agency invoice for $8,800.In case you're curious about the big picture, all together, the total fees and travel expenses for the adoption are about $50,000. $33,000 saved$7,000 raised at bingo, writing workshop, movie night, DoTerr...

Getting Closer! Court Scheduled! Posted about over 5 years ago

We recently received fantastic news—our family’s adoption case goes to court this Thursday, August 6! That means that in less than a week, we will officially be parents!!! We won’t have them home yet, unfortunately, as there are still some steps to take after that, and those can take anywhere from two weeks to several months in normal years, and in covid, it’s totally unpredictable. But ...

Updated Goal Amount Posted about over 5 years ago

Just a quick update to explain why I changed the goal amount. We have one remaining agency fee for $8,800, due when our case passes court. We have received a generous donation of $6,000 from the Gift of Adoption Foundation (wow!), and we have received $300 in donations since February (all donations prior to February were used toward a previous agency fee), which leaves $2,500 left for us to pay...

Covid Questions Posted about almost 6 years ago

We're often asked what's going on with the adoption in the midst of the pandemic. The short answer is: not much. Both the US and Bulgaria have shut down many procedures, understandably.Bulgaria is starting to open up, slowly. Their courts have opened, and our paperwork is in, waiting for a court date. When we pass court, they will legally be our children, but we still can't pick them up until b...

Our adoption just got updated to Travel Planned Posted about about 6 years ago

We went on our first trip to meet N (14), T (11), and E (8) in early February! We got to spend five days with them, and it was incredible. Now we are submitting our next bundle of paperwork to get the court documents submitted. We are hopeful that we'll get to travel on our second trip to bring the kids home this summer, hopefully as early as June.Thank you for your support!Ali and Tim Shaw

Our adoption just got updated to Travel Planned Posted about about 6 years ago

We leave on Friday to meet our children! This is the first of two trips that Bulgaria requires for international adoptions. We will spend several days playing and bonding with the children. Then we return home for the legal and immigration processes to finalize. In about four to six months, we'll get to return for a second trip to bring them home. Thank you for being on this journey with us!Ali...

Our adoption just got updated to Child Identified Posted about over 6 years ago

We submitted our dossier this week! This is a huge milestone, as it means that most of the paperwork (that we have to do) is done, and now we wait for the Bulgarian Ministry of Justice to review it all and schedule our first trip.It also means that our next payment will be what's called the official referral payment, which is $3,650 to our adoption agency here and €12,500 to the Bulgarian NGO t...

Our adoption just got updated to Child Identified Posted about over 6 years ago

Tim and I are excited to announce that we are preliminarily matched with the best kiddos in the world! They are a sibling set of three, ages 7 (girl), 11 (girl), and 13 (boy). We cannot share photos or names yet, but they like to dance, scooter, eat pizza, play soccer, and draw and color. We are 100 percent smitten with them! What Does Preliminarily Matched Mean?It just means that not al...

Our adoption just got updated to Paperwork In Process Posted about over 7 years ago

We have been approved by our adoption agency! Our next step is to pay the initial $4,000 agency fee and start the $2,000 home study process.

Our adoption just got updated to Paperwork In Process Posted about over 7 years ago

We have been approved by our adoption agency! Our next step is to pay the initial $4,000 agency fee and then start the $2,000 home study process.