Is there a doctor in the house?

YEAH Tracie . She did it. She got into medical school. She starts in the beginning of August. The Sereika household is all abuzz for Tracie's accomplishment. We are so proud. Looks like she'll become a resident of the state of Kentucky.

New travel arrangements

Well i am so excited that I may get to travel to ethiopia as well. We originally were just going to send Frank then we got an offer that just seems like divine intervention. Its hard because we really need someone to run our household. I have a geriatric dog on lots of meds and my mom always watches her even with her allergies. But my Moms immune systen these last few months have taken a turn and she is heartbrokn but her skin just cannnot do 1 week with our Brittney spaniel. Her skin is all red and blistery and hives it is very painful and uncomfortable for her. The Poodle is a hypoallergenic dog but thats not right to do to her either. Well most would say put them in a kennel. But it is hard due to my Spaniels med regimen and bad heart I'm afraid something would happen to her. Then there is also our 2 year old Lilly. We can afford to take her as well but I'm not looking forward to 15 plus hour flights with 2, 2 year olds either. But then steps in my blessed step son and his girlfriend Tracie. We are busting with pride cause Tracie had her interview for medical school last Friday and it looks very promising for her. They even ran into one of the interviewers at the hotel lobby the next morning and he recommended some books for reading for over the summer so she can get prepared for fall. Is that a good sign or what? We are thrilled she will be starting her dream to become a physician as well. And if she gets in she will be quitting her job very soon as a Unit secretary in a local hospital to start some studies and relax a little. She has offered to stay at our home and manage the dogs, and take care of the Girls too. This is great for us and we are excited to take her up on this offer too. Just keeping our fingers crossed she gets in to Medical school. She'll know on Tuesday.

A New Story

Well we got a new agency profile on Abel with a completely different story than the original. Not that we will change our minds but to know the truth is really important. his momma was a very brave woman who cared for him alone untill she subcommed to HIV AIDS. Then he went with his maternal grandmother who could not care for him and then his Aunt who brought him to the orphanage. Although it saddens us deeply now to know there is a living Grandmother and Aunt and we have no way to contact. I am sure these will be issues we will be facing with him later in life ,and I pray the Lord gives us wisdom to say the right things and help him through this.

I 171-H Bliss

It's here, It's here!!!!!. Today in the mail that all important 171. This is the US govt. giving us permission to bring home 1 orphan from Ethiopia. Well Bring on the Court date . We are ready to bring home Abel.

More New pics, and a little sad

OK so we were so blessed to get 3new pics from our agency yesterday, but I have to admitthe one picture has really bummed out frank and I. Sure he never smiles or has any expressioninthose pics but this is what our Lillian did in the orphanage as well. i call it orphanage affect. but then as you pan down in the pic you see his pants are soaked with pee. I guess We're just sad thinking noone cares enough or is way tooo busy to change our little mans pants. I do uderstand that resources are scarce but when you see that stark reality on a child that we already feel is ours it hurts knowing that mommy can't do a thing to make it better. People who know me would tell you I'll move mountains for my kids. Before Frank and i knew each other we both lived through single parenthood. We both really understand the sacrifices it takes and we both loved and cherished every moment with all of our kids. I have faced many circumstances as well and I can assure anyone I will go to the ends of the earth for my kids.
On another note we are really doubting the age of our Abel as well the story and dates on the police report don't add up. We really feel he is a young 2. Not a soon to be 3. This is fine with us but we will have to determine his bone age by X-ray once he is home . It would be unfair to start him in preschool, ice skating, etc. if he is not old enough. There are some other real clues as well but I won't get into them here. i imagine it is hard to age a toddler that is all alone and not able to tell you anything about himself. And I do believe this happens all the time with orphans.Well please pray for our dossier to go through translation quickly and a quick court date.

New pics

OMG. One of the Illien families just traveled las week to Ethiopia and got some great pics of our little man. he is soooo darn cute. It kills me to not get to post the pics due to Ethiopian law, but soon I promise. there is this one shot of him in his little denim overalls and a pink and white shirt under it with his little thumbs strategically placesd in the sides of the overalls, and to top it off he has on a navy blue and white holly hobbit hat on with a bow on the side. Priceless. believe me this pic is definitly being shown at his future wedding. HAHA.
We did buy his bedroom linen today its a western cowboy and horses theme with a matching comforter. And we sent off a photo album, a Eyore stuffed animal, and a baseball cap to illien today , I am hoping they will forward it on to Ethiopia so he'll get it but I'm not sure they will do it or not.

Spring is here, I think

Well we've had good weather this week in the 50's. Yeah. No snow either. It's about time. I have been so anxious to get winter over and get outside and play. We are getting a bit of rain but the good news is it is NOT SNOW. We went to the park this week after school and let the girls run around and play till they dropped.

Official Refferal

Well it's official. Abel is our referral. I'm just mailing off the check this afternoon and our dossier is due back from DC tomorrow and then it's mailed tomorrow to Ethiopia. Our agency just emailed our in Country representative to let her know that Abel has a family and to start the paperwork for him. On another note I got a response email from USCIS that they have all the necessary paperwork in order and the caseworker is expected to approve our 171 in about 3 weeks time. Perfect. we will have it before court. I have to admit I was sweating thinking about not getting it on time, but it looks as if it will work out.

A new bedroom suit

Well i found the bedroom suit we wanted for Abel on sale so I bought it. It's a cute twin sized bed with pull out drawers in the base. A small headboard with some room for storage. Now we just have to buy some nice boy like linen since all the linen we have for twin beds is pretty girlie. No I won't make him sleep on the strawberry shortcake sheets. Since we don't really know what he is going to like , I think we are just going to start with some trains or planes sheets then see what he's in to. My daughter slept on his new mattress on the floor last night and she gave the seal of approval this AM that it was comfy. We sure can't wait to see him in his new bed and jammies and give him the bggest hug and kiss before off to dreamland. Praying for a quick turnaround with our paperwork. Our agency is predicting it will be in Ethiopia in about 1 week from today. I guess around 3 weeks to translate and then we are able to apply for a court date.
On another note Lilly's speech is really taing off. We recently had her evaluated and she was at about a 15 month level at 22 months old but she is now taking off. She's starting to use slang terms too which is pretty funny coming out of her 2 year old mouth. She calls her sister "DUDE" calls the dog named LuLu" WUWU". I'm still waiting for her to put 2 words together. But the most precious thing is at 6am when she wakes up I hear her call out from her crib "MOM" MOM untill I come in there and get her. I forgot how precious that sound was. I swear parenting keeps you young.

April Fools Day

So our agency emailed me last night to say that the dossier will be on its way to Washington DC later today and they were wondering how close I was to getting our 171. ( the 171 is a very important form from the US govt. allowing you to bring your child home and apply for citzenship. Cleveland's office is notoriously slow, and since I have done this before I applied at the end of Jan. They need 3 elements to process your appliction. 1) your money- they don't waste any time cashing your check. 2) fingerprinting done on a federal level. (We reported on Feb 20 when they requested for our fingerprinting) 3) A valid homestudy which they would have recieved on Fri last week as well. So all this and somewhere in 3 months time you will recieve a magic piece of paper which is the US allowing you to parent a foreign child. Now I'm crossing my fingers that we will have that piece of paper by the beginning of May so then we will be ready for travel when Ethiopia is ready for us. you see International Adoption is not for the faint of heart . It takes alot of coordination on behalf of 2 Governments and your agency, and your own self. The amount of organization needed is incredible as well. And this has forced me to get alot more organized and start files on everything, email, paperwork, social workers paperwork, medical reports, not to mention vaccinations to travel, and packing lists.