Homestudy

We got our homestudy back today. Yay! Unfortunately there were about 10 factual errors and the other documents that were included were not notarized. Boo!

I emailed the social worker and we're going to be in the area anyway on Tuesday so I really, really hope we can pick it up.

How incredibly annoying.

Mentally preparing for travel

I have been waiting all week to post that we got our homestudy and it's on it's way to USCIS, but it has not come yet! Our social worker assures us that it's in the mail right now, so I hope it comes Saturday so we can get it going first thing Monday morning.

In the mean time, I'm trying to mentally prepare for our trip, find a place to stay in Moscow, and research, research, research.

I really need to get organized again, but life is just not slowing down. August is going to go by so fast and then all of a sudden it will be September and that's when we're hoping to travel! Yikes!

So, first we've been looking for a place to stay in Moscow. We have to be there for about 2 weeks, and a hotel is just way out of our price range. The cheapest hotels that I could find (that I would feel safe in) are in the $200-$250 per night range. So we've been looking at short term apartment rentals. Another advantage to that is that we can eat at 'home' and save money that way too.
But I can't decide on an apartment. Here are our choices:
WaytoRussia.net has apartments ranging from $70-$100 per night. The ones we are looking at have internet and are located about a 5-10 minute walk from the metro. The one I'm really looking at has a grocery store in the same building. The apartments are rented out by private individuals, so it's kind of a crap-shoot if you get a nice person or not (although they do have reviews, and I really like and trust the rest of the website)
Peace Travel has apartments ranging from $125-$175. They all have internet and free international calling (although I'm not sure we'd use that much). Also most of them are located in more touristy parts of town so we would have more to do. Some of them even have water filters and washing machines. But the big kicker is that I have heard rave reviews about this agency, and that the guy who runs it will really go the extra mile for you. The only problem is that his places fill up very quickly, so we'll be lucky to find one available.

So, is it worth paying an extra $1000 for a nicer stay? I'm really worried that something will go horribly wrong and we'll be up a creek with no money left. But the more I think about it, the more I'm leaning toward Peace Travel. We'll see what happens when the time comes.

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Another thing I've been looking at is lightweight packing. Considering that I usually pack everything but the kitchen sink, and that we'll have to literally carry everything around with us for a few days, I think I need a little help. So I found this website - Onebag.com that shows how to get everything you need into your carry-on. I don't think we'll go that minimalistic, but reading the tips and tricks was very helpful.

I should probably get back to work - hopefully I will post very soon about our homestudy being all done and sent out.

The MMPI fiasco

I talked back here about how Brent failed his MMPI test, but I never updated to say what we did next.

We talked to the psychologist, and he said that Brent couldn't retake the test with him because that would be 'cheating'. He could talk to a character reference, and then write up a report on Brent, but even then couldn't guarantee that it would be a good report. So Brent decided to go to a different psychologist and retake the test. I stayed with the original test because my results were good enough.

I finally got my write up this past week. Let me summarize.

I didn't get a chance to talk to Tracy, so all I know about her is what this test says. She says she's been interviewed by other people regarding this adoption. According to the test, she seems in good mental health, she is an outgoing and nice person. BUT, I reiterate that I HAVE NO IDEA what she is really like, and I CAN'T BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR ANYTHING ON THIS REPORT SO OMG DON'T SUE ME!!!!1!11

Brent retook the test and passed. The new psych said the test indicated that he was 'hiding something' so he asked to see Brent's first test. The old psych called and wanted to know why but then agreed to send it. Then the new psych called and said that Brent's first test looked fine! He said the only thing bad on it was that Brent was a little self centered (no comment). So now new psych is writing up his results and hopefully we'll have those this week. Sigh. What a pain. I had no idea that this was going to be the most annoying part of this process.

A's room is complete

And I feel all domestic-y.

In this post you can see that A's curtains barely covered the windows from side to side, and were so long that they hit the ground.

I didn't want them covering up the heating vents, so I cut them both in half and hemmed them up. Now he has four short curtains.

I'm pretty proud of myself for actually finishing a sewing project. It only took 2 days. And while my sewing skills could really be better, I don't think A will notice or care.

Now all we need is a little boy to live there!

I cooked dried beans successfully!

This ranks right up there with confusing heads of garlic with cloves of garlic - which I have also done, and made some very nasty tasting salsa.

Before this weekend, I could not make dried beans. I would soak them for 2 days and they'd still be hard as little rocks. Or I'd put them in the slow cooker overnight, but they still would never soften. I tried everything. Then I'd try to use them anyway and hope noone would notice the slightly crunchy enchilladas.

So finally I asked my Mother-in-Law if maybe dried beans were supposed to be hard and crunchy, and not like the canned beans. She set me straight.

Apparantly you should soak them and cook them, not soak them or cook them. I'm not sure why I never got that from reading the package.

Thanks, Margaret, for not making me feel even stupider than I already felt :)

Not much of an update

I don't have much news, but it's been a while since I posted, so I thought I should. I'd like to post everyday, but I guess I just don't have anything interesting to say.

Our adoption has not progressed at all, which is completely frustrating. Our social worker went on vacation before he finished our home study. Then when he came back, he had two more things that we needed for him. I should be able to get that stuff to him today, and hopefully we can have our home study in hand by the end of next week. (Are you reading this Jay? Next week!) Once we have that, we'll be starting up again with lots of paperwork to gather and prepare.

Brent and his COMMA group just finished their first annual Creative Ministries Summit. That was super fun and exciting, and I'm so glad it's over. You can see pics here.

I started running. It's fun overall, but not always very fun at the time. Does that make sense? Anyway, I'm using the Couch to 5K program and currently on Week 2 which means I jogged 9 minutes yesterday in six 90 second intervals.

July 1st I started participating officially in the Riot for Austerity 90% Emissions Reduction Project. The project started on June 1st, but I just found it a few weeks ago, so I'm starting now. The goal for the participants is to cut back on their personal and household emissions by 90% of the average American (or whatever country they are in). There are 7 categories: Auto Fuel, Electricity, Household Fuel, Garbage, Water, Food and Consumer Goods. I will go into more detail on another post about where we are in each category.

That's it for today - if you are at the Sheboygan parade, be sure to wave to me on the Praise Fellowship float! See you all later :)