International Adoption Seminar

Chris and I attended the required International Adoption Seminar by Buckner this past week and it was great! We drove up Wednesday afternoon and came back after the seminar was over Friday night. It was a long and tiring trip, but well worth it all.

The Seminar talked about attachment & sensory issues our children may have and we will have to deal with as well. It helped that we both had finished the book: The Connected Child by Dr. Karen Purvis prior to the seminar as alot of what was discussed was in her book. We feel better prepared now, but we still know that there will be other issues that pop up when we get our children home. We also had a break-out session that was specific to Russia, and that gave us a better insight in what to expect as we continue in the process.

It was really neat to meet 2 other couples that are adopting from Russia that live in the Houston area (one is about 10-15 minutes away in Sugar Land, and the other is in the 290 area, which is still rather close)! They are both looking for 1 child, age 2 and under. We are already planning on getting together in May, probably at a support group meeting.

Chris and I are still really tired, but that is to be expected when given an overwhelming amount of information for 2 days and then driving home that second night! We did walk to the Celebration Station (it is next to the hotel we stayed at) to paly 2 rounds of Putt-Putt Golf Thursday night to de-stress. We had a lot of fun; Chris won both rounds (by just a few points)!

We now have a lot more to discuss and plan for, but God is with us and will provide. Attending the Seminar puts us about half-way through the Home Study Process...

One book down...

Chris finished one of the books we have to read "The Connected Child" and wrote his summary report. I started reading it yesterday at school, but didn't get very far. I should be able to finish it before we leave for the seminar on Wednesday. He started reading the next book "Adopting the Older Child". I had to find it on Amazon.com because it is out of print (was written in 1978), but it still has good information. Our social worker, Joy, said that she wanted us to read at least one book on adopting older children since we are asking for older children. I still plan to read the one my sister got us for Christmas, "Toddler Adoption" as part of my list since they may be older in age, but on an emotional/mental level of a toddler.

We are attending the required International Adoption Seminar with Buckner this next week in Dallas. We plan to drive up when Chris gets off at 11:00 on Wednesday and drive home after it is done on Friday so that we can pick up our dog from the vet on Saturday (it will save us about $60 at the vet's and one night at a hotel). It will make for a very long day, but we are okay with it. We had hoped to get together with friends in Burleson, but they are going to be in Houston visiting with their kids and grandkids.

As far as the other parts of the Home Study: psychological evaluations and getting the house ready, we are waiting until we finish with the Seminar this week. I have been a bit stressed out right now, so I need to wait and do one thing at a time. We have done little things around the house, but are waiting (for now) to do the big things.