Getting ready update:
Our three small bedrooms have been rearranged into every conceivable set up possible! The boy's room fits the loft bed, bunk bed and desk okay, but the girl's room just isn't cooperating (I think the desk is going to have to go, but where?) and we still need to be able to put a crib in there in April, ugh!
We met with a contractor on saturday to start getting an estimate for a bedroom/bathroom addition (which would require taking out the half-bath) of aroundv380 sq. ft. We figure that would be the minimum that will be the most useful. He'll have some figures for us hopefully before Eddie leaves on the 5th.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Monday, February 9, 2009
Attorney from heaven
So, we met with the attorney today and it went very well. He thinks the Adoption petition will go very smoothly since the kids are already U.S. citizens and Eddie already has guardianship. He's going to write up a draft of a Temporary Custody order for us to look over next week. The kids have to live with us for 6 months before the Adoption will be signed by a judge. And the best part of the meeting was when he told us that we will NOT have to pay ANY legal fees, only the court filing and vital records fees!!! How amazing is that?
Saturday, February 7, 2009
It's a ....VAN!
It's official...we are VAN owners! I never thought I'd own a van, even then if I did I figured I'd get some small fancy thing with lots of cool gadgets. But this thing is HUGE! So, I have give lots of THANKS to my Aunt Leslie and Uncle Greg for being willing to give us such a great deal on this van, which has a whole new engine and tires!
Also, I have more good news. We are meeting with an adoption attorney on monday to start the paperwork for temporary custody and then the adoption here in the U.S. The temporary custody order will do just what it says, it will give us custody here in Utah, so that we can add the kids to our insurance, register them for school, apply for their social security cards, etc. Since the kids are already U.S. citizens, we can do a regular adoption, rather than a international, so it should be almost as straightforward as the process was when Eddie adopted my 13 year old son last fall.
Also, I have more good news. We are meeting with an adoption attorney on monday to start the paperwork for temporary custody and then the adoption here in the U.S. The temporary custody order will do just what it says, it will give us custody here in Utah, so that we can add the kids to our insurance, register them for school, apply for their social security cards, etc. Since the kids are already U.S. citizens, we can do a regular adoption, rather than a international, so it should be almost as straightforward as the process was when Eddie adopted my 13 year old son last fall.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Tickets for trip #2
The plane tickets have been purchased! We bought tickets for Eddie to go back to Ecuador on March 5th and bring the five older kids back on March 12th!!! We've decided that Steven will stay with his aunt and uncle for now because of his attachment to them. It was a hard decision to come to, but since he is so young, he really isn't ready to leave the only family he knows, even if he could have a better life in many ways with us. We'll be keeping in touch very regularly and frequently from now on, so that he can get to know us and the rest of his family here better.
Today we also made that last payment to our lawyer, for a total of $2715 in legal fees for the Ecuadorian guardianship. Now we have to get started on the U.S. guardianship/adoption (we're not sure if we have to get guardianship first before we can do the adoption), work out insurance for Diana's pregnancy (our insurance won't cover maternity for dependents), get school in order (so far we have a dual-language elementary school for Jefferson this year, and a dual-language Jr. High for Miguel and Marlon for next year) and rearrange our two bedrooms to fit all of the kids in! Oh, we're getting a 12 person passenger van from my aunt and uncle next week, which is a big relief since both of our cars only seat 5 people. We've been watching the tv show "17 Kids and Counting" to calm our panic about having 7 kids (that's including our own two) and a baby on the way.
Today we also made that last payment to our lawyer, for a total of $2715 in legal fees for the Ecuadorian guardianship. Now we have to get started on the U.S. guardianship/adoption (we're not sure if we have to get guardianship first before we can do the adoption), work out insurance for Diana's pregnancy (our insurance won't cover maternity for dependents), get school in order (so far we have a dual-language elementary school for Jefferson this year, and a dual-language Jr. High for Miguel and Marlon for next year) and rearrange our two bedrooms to fit all of the kids in! Oh, we're getting a 12 person passenger van from my aunt and uncle next week, which is a big relief since both of our cars only seat 5 people. We've been watching the tv show "17 Kids and Counting" to calm our panic about having 7 kids (that's including our own two) and a baby on the way.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Home again
We just got back to Utah on sunday, but have both been sick since then so I haven't posted anything yet. The rest of our trip went really quickly. It was great to spend a couple of more days with all of the children, but then we were off to Quito to start our long trip home. Now that we're here, we've started working out their options for school, healthcare,and looking into possible social security benefits from their father.
We are anxious to buy their plane tickets to come the first week of March, but the family that the youngest, Steven, lives with doesn't want to let him come, so we're waiting to get the tickets. Legally Eddie is his guardian, but they only cooperated with the guardianship and citizenship because he assured them that we would force him to come. But once Eddie saw how they lived (8 people in a one room concrete block house in the campos outside of Guayaquil), he changed his mind. They have had Steven since he was born and really love him, so it is hard to consider taking him away. But Eddie feels that it is more important the he be with his brothers and sisters here where his has the chance for a better life. He is going to talk to them again today to see if he can get them to understand that Steven would be coming to a home where he is surrounded by family who love him and can offer him great opportunities as well. Everyday we wait, the tickets get more expensive since we want to get the kids here earlier than we had originally planned. In order for them to leave Ecuador, they have to be with Eddie, since he is their legal guardian. And he has to have a letter from the court giving him permission to leave the country with them. It would be too expensive to have them come in separate trips because of the legal and airline ticket costs, but we have to make sure that Diane (16) is here six weeks before the third week in April...because she's pregnant. Yep, we had hoped the girls would be able to avoid this exact situation by coming here, but we were too late. So, getting her here before her 34th week of pregnancy is driving our schedule. If she doesn't have the baby here, she won't be able to come at all. In order for her child to get citizenship if it is born outside the U.S., she would have had to live here in the U.S. for 5 years before the child was born. We have so much to do to get ready for them all to come here!
We are anxious to buy their plane tickets to come the first week of March, but the family that the youngest, Steven, lives with doesn't want to let him come, so we're waiting to get the tickets. Legally Eddie is his guardian, but they only cooperated with the guardianship and citizenship because he assured them that we would force him to come. But once Eddie saw how they lived (8 people in a one room concrete block house in the campos outside of Guayaquil), he changed his mind. They have had Steven since he was born and really love him, so it is hard to consider taking him away. But Eddie feels that it is more important the he be with his brothers and sisters here where his has the chance for a better life. He is going to talk to them again today to see if he can get them to understand that Steven would be coming to a home where he is surrounded by family who love him and can offer him great opportunities as well. Everyday we wait, the tickets get more expensive since we want to get the kids here earlier than we had originally planned. In order for them to leave Ecuador, they have to be with Eddie, since he is their legal guardian. And he has to have a letter from the court giving him permission to leave the country with them. It would be too expensive to have them come in separate trips because of the legal and airline ticket costs, but we have to make sure that Diane (16) is here six weeks before the third week in April...because she's pregnant. Yep, we had hoped the girls would be able to avoid this exact situation by coming here, but we were too late. So, getting her here before her 34th week of pregnancy is driving our schedule. If she doesn't have the baby here, she won't be able to come at all. In order for her child to get citizenship if it is born outside the U.S., she would have had to live here in the U.S. for 5 years before the child was born. We have so much to do to get ready for them all to come here!
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Success at the Consulate in Guayaquil!
We all went to the Consulate yesterday (by all, I mean all of the people that needed to be there and everyone who just wanted to cram into the van we rented, I think at one point there were 18 people in it) and everything went very smoothly. All of their Consular Report of Birth Abroad applications and Passport applications were accepted. So, they are officially U.S. citizens now!!!! (Endless thanks go to Shawn Tribe in Citizen Services for her endless patience with my endless questions). Their certificates and passports will come in 8-10 days. We´ll have our lawyer do the document with the local court that will give Eddie permission to take them out of the country, so everything will be ready for when he comes back for them in 4-6 weeks. While we´ve been in Guayaquil, we´ve been staying at a small hotel on a hill above the city, with just us and the children. This is their first stay in a hotel and they are enjoying the quiet of the garden here (and of course the pool). When we´ve been in Santo Domingo de los Colorados we´re surrounded by other relatives and friends (plus the constant noise of the city, radios, cars, chickens....), so now we are finally getting to get to know them better and to tell them more about what their lives will be like in Utah.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
It's like being in another country....
Well, we made it safely down here without any problems. Eddie´s cousin, Fabian, his family and the children met us at the airport. It took two hours to get out of the Quito city limits and then two more down insainly steep and wet mountain roads. Lanes and road rules are optional here, so the trip was interesting to say the least. Santo Domingo de los Colorados is a medium size city, kind of like Framingham, Ma. or Salt Lake if you replaced all of the nieghborhoods and businesses with the most run down neighborhoods of a big city. We ended up staying in a hotel near Fabian´s house and it isn´t so bad, it´s more like a hostel back in the states.
So, I have to tell you about the kids. It is very hard to think of them as Eddie´s siblings, they are soooo small ! The oldest, Nancy, will be 18 in three weeks and is the same exact size as Fabian´s 9 year old daughter! None of the clothes we brought for her fit at all and a few fit Diana (almost 17), but that´s only because she is pregnant. Nothing for the boys over the size 12-14´s fit either. They are all kind, considerate and get along with each other well. If any of the girls want to sit down, a boy immediately pops up out of their seat. They are used to having chores to do, and don´t complain when asked to do something. They are content with their lives here and feel that they are being taken care of really well, especially compared to their last guardian. Fabian says he took them from the last place when he saw how sick and small they all looked because they were hardly fed and slept on the floor. Let me tell you a little about each of them. Nancy has always been the caretaker, she is shy, kind and a very good student (she has had two english classes as well). She and Fabian´s daughter are always together, talking and holding on to each other. Diana is more independant, doesn´t like to do the cooking and as Fabian says, she seems to rely on her good looks too much. Miguel (15) seems comfortable with himself (his hair is always carefully gelled) is friendly and helpful. Marlon (13) just goes with the flow and watches everyone else. Jefferson (11) is quiet, but smiles easily and enjoys being around the older kids, he is never more than two feet away from Eddie. We haven´t met the youngest boy yet, Steven (8), we´ll meet him tomorrow in Guayaquil. Eddie could tell you more about the kid´s personalities, because he´s spent more time with them (while I´ve been in bed) and usually rides with them in the bed of the truck to go everywhere. We took them to buy new shoes yesterday morning, their choices were very telling about their personalities: Nancy - functional slip on keds, Diana - silver flats, Miguel - beige leather dress shoes, Marlon and Jefferson - sneaker/hiking shoes. We ended up buying shoes for Fabian´s three kids and his wife and even his god-son, the total was $90. We have lots of pictures so far, but no way to download them from our camera!
I will write more if our next hotel has internet. Sorry this is so short and choppy, but it´s almost weird to be writing in english. I´ve already gotten used to speaking in very simple spanish, since I have a limited vocabulary I have to be really creative in expressing what I want to say. Like when I was trying to say that I have a twin sister, I had to explain that I have a sister who was born on the same day as me and we are identical. Anyway, I hope everything is going well for all of you. Feel free to write to us!
So, I have to tell you about the kids. It is very hard to think of them as Eddie´s siblings, they are soooo small ! The oldest, Nancy, will be 18 in three weeks and is the same exact size as Fabian´s 9 year old daughter! None of the clothes we brought for her fit at all and a few fit Diana (almost 17), but that´s only because she is pregnant. Nothing for the boys over the size 12-14´s fit either. They are all kind, considerate and get along with each other well. If any of the girls want to sit down, a boy immediately pops up out of their seat. They are used to having chores to do, and don´t complain when asked to do something. They are content with their lives here and feel that they are being taken care of really well, especially compared to their last guardian. Fabian says he took them from the last place when he saw how sick and small they all looked because they were hardly fed and slept on the floor. Let me tell you a little about each of them. Nancy has always been the caretaker, she is shy, kind and a very good student (she has had two english classes as well). She and Fabian´s daughter are always together, talking and holding on to each other. Diana is more independant, doesn´t like to do the cooking and as Fabian says, she seems to rely on her good looks too much. Miguel (15) seems comfortable with himself (his hair is always carefully gelled) is friendly and helpful. Marlon (13) just goes with the flow and watches everyone else. Jefferson (11) is quiet, but smiles easily and enjoys being around the older kids, he is never more than two feet away from Eddie. We haven´t met the youngest boy yet, Steven (8), we´ll meet him tomorrow in Guayaquil. Eddie could tell you more about the kid´s personalities, because he´s spent more time with them (while I´ve been in bed) and usually rides with them in the bed of the truck to go everywhere. We took them to buy new shoes yesterday morning, their choices were very telling about their personalities: Nancy - functional slip on keds, Diana - silver flats, Miguel - beige leather dress shoes, Marlon and Jefferson - sneaker/hiking shoes. We ended up buying shoes for Fabian´s three kids and his wife and even his god-son, the total was $90. We have lots of pictures so far, but no way to download them from our camera!
I will write more if our next hotel has internet. Sorry this is so short and choppy, but it´s almost weird to be writing in english. I´ve already gotten used to speaking in very simple spanish, since I have a limited vocabulary I have to be really creative in expressing what I want to say. Like when I was trying to say that I have a twin sister, I had to explain that I have a sister who was born on the same day as me and we are identical. Anyway, I hope everything is going well for all of you. Feel free to write to us!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
