Lisa and I just completed and passed Module 2 of the DVD "Because They Waited." This module dealt with the issues of need and unmet need. I found it very interesting that children from orphanages have had a history of unmet need (changing, feeding, etc.) that will impact their development.
In order to help the child overcome this, it is important that Lisa and I establish ourselves as the child's primary caregivers. However, day care is just a reality that we are going to have to face with Jacob. The good thing is that since we are both teachers, we will have his same school schedule while he is growing up. Also, we will have summers off with him. That is a blessing.
Lisa and I are anxious to get our little one and give him the constant love and care that he needs. I know that Lisa will make a wonderful mother. I plan on being the best dad that I can be. But first...we have two more DVD modules and a million pieces of paperwork to go. Sigh!
The Fugates in Moscow
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Saturday, September 8, 2007
News
Well not much happened this week. We have an appointment to meet with our Social worker Michelle next Saturday for our second homestudy visit. We have been working on all the paperwork she gave us at our last meeting and had our medical exams done.
Alonzo and I have also started on our DVD and have taken one test. A 100% for both of us. We plan on watching the rest this week to have that done. We hope to hear from CIS about our fingerprinting soon and look forward to having this part of our journey done. Then comes the long, long wait.
Alonzo and I have also started on our DVD and have taken one test. A 100% for both of us. We plan on watching the rest this week to have that done. We hope to hear from CIS about our fingerprinting soon and look forward to having this part of our journey done. Then comes the long, long wait.
Monday, September 3, 2007
Working on the DVD series
As part of our homestudy process, Lisa and I have to read a book called Adoption Parenting and watch a DVD series called The Heart of the Matter: Because They Waited. After each section of the DVD, we have to take a test. We watched the first of four modules today and took the test. I am happy to say that we each made 100%.
Here is our picture with the materials. We are as happy as one can be with study related material...LOL!
Sunday, September 2, 2007
Completed Our Autobiographies
Lisa and I finally finished our autobiographies and sent them off to Michelle. It wasn't bad writing them...just a lot of details about growing up, married life, our beliefs on discipline, etc. Here is a bit of what I wrote:
Lisa and I have been married for 15 years now. It has been great. Of course, no marriage is perfect. You are always going to have your little squabbles, but we always work them out. We have never had any marriage counseling. We generally just talk things out when we have a disagreement. On the most part though, we get along really well. At home, we have three dogs that we care for very much: Pepper (cocker spaniel mix), Sadie (beagle), and Sassy (mini daschund). In the afternoons, we generally come home from school, rest a little bit, eat supper, clean up the kitchen, and then exercise a little bit. We either go for a walk or walk on the treadmill. Then we either watch TV or play on the computer. We have three televisions and two computers so we can do what we want whenever we want and not have to fight over what to watch or who is getting on the computer…LOL!
Lisa and I do not have any children. We always took the attitude that it would happen when it was supposed to happen. Of course, nothing ever happened. When Lisa got in her mid-30’s, she started getting worried about the age factor. We went to a fertility doctor in Lexington and everything checked out medically for us. We tried IUF but decided that we didn’t want to spend over $10,000 for IVF when we could use that money for adoption. IVF might not work. Adoption will almost certainly work. I have the belief that everything happens because it is supposed to happen. It also happens at the time it is supposed to happen. I truly believe that Lisa and I are meant to take this life journey of adoption. It was meant to happen just as surely as you were meant to help us along our path.
Lisa and I live in a brand-new log home that we had built just last year. This is our first home that we have owned. We have rented up until now. We love our home and are very proud of it. The house is 30 X 40. It has a finished basement that serves as a family room and exercise room. There is also a full bathroom and utility / storage room. On the first floor, there is a living room, dining room, kitchen, full bathroom, guest bedroom, and office. When we bring our son home, we will have converted the office into Jacob’s room and the guest bedroom into our bedroom. On the second floor is the loft which overlooks the living room, a third full bathroom, and the large master bedroom. Everything is log, wooden, or beige. We have a very neutral color scheme that goes with just about anything. I would call our style of decorating as mountain lodge mixed with some country influences.
We have lots of space in and around our house for both of us and for Jacob. My parents live right next door to us. Other than that, we have lots and lots of space. There is a wooded area right behind us that stretches out for miles. My parents own several hundred acres of land on the road where we live and on the nearby coal mine which gives them some royalty income each month. I feel that Jacob will be very happy to have lots of space to run, play, and be a kid. We enjoy living in the country and hope to give Jacob this joy as well.
I want to adopt because I want to share my life experience. Lisa and I have a lot of love to give. We have a lot of interests and experiences to share. Lisa and I have been thinking of adoption on and off for several years. It wasn’t something that we just rushed into one day….like purchasing a candy bar. It was something that we knew would happen when it was supposed to happen. Also, as I have stated before, genetics alone do not make a family. Love makes a family. Sharing life experiences makes a family.
Lisa and I plan on telling Jacob about his adoption in stages as he is developmentally ready. I will always let Jacob know that I love him and that I am his dad and Lisa is his mom. Lisa and I will let him know that he was adopted because we loved him and it was meant to be. As far as his birthparents, I will let him know what I can, which will probably be nothing. I will let him know that they loved him but gave him up for their own personal reasons, which was probably poverty. Lisa and I plan on taking him to Vietnam to visit when he is older and can appreciate the visit. I want him to know where he came from biologically, but I want him to know that his family is here and that we love him. I can’t say that everything is going to work out perfectly. Nothing ever does. But, I can say that it will work out the way that it is meant to work out. All that I can promise is to love Jacob and to try and raise him to be the best person that he can be.
My biggest concern about adoption is that Jacob will feel that his parents didn’t want him. I don’t want him to feel like he was discarded. However, that is something that he will have to work out on his own. I can give him love and support. I can’t control his feelings. I only hope that our love and support will let Jacob know that his true family is right here in Kentucky.
Lisa and I chose to adopt from Vietnam because there are many, many children in that part of the world who need a loving home experience. It was a calling. It was meant to be. If it had been meant for us to choose another country, we would have. Everything happens for a reason. Although we were going to adopt from China at first, we switched to Vietnam because of the new restrictions that China has put into place. Now that we have switched, we know that it was meant for us to adopt from Vietnam in the first place.
We spent several hours today just looking at blogs and YouTube video of adoptions from Vietnam. I love the internet! We added a clock to this blog that shows the time in Vietnam.
Keep checking back to this blog for more updates! Send us an email if you want!
Lisa and I have been married for 15 years now. It has been great. Of course, no marriage is perfect. You are always going to have your little squabbles, but we always work them out. We have never had any marriage counseling. We generally just talk things out when we have a disagreement. On the most part though, we get along really well. At home, we have three dogs that we care for very much: Pepper (cocker spaniel mix), Sadie (beagle), and Sassy (mini daschund). In the afternoons, we generally come home from school, rest a little bit, eat supper, clean up the kitchen, and then exercise a little bit. We either go for a walk or walk on the treadmill. Then we either watch TV or play on the computer. We have three televisions and two computers so we can do what we want whenever we want and not have to fight over what to watch or who is getting on the computer…LOL!
Lisa and I do not have any children. We always took the attitude that it would happen when it was supposed to happen. Of course, nothing ever happened. When Lisa got in her mid-30’s, she started getting worried about the age factor. We went to a fertility doctor in Lexington and everything checked out medically for us. We tried IUF but decided that we didn’t want to spend over $10,000 for IVF when we could use that money for adoption. IVF might not work. Adoption will almost certainly work. I have the belief that everything happens because it is supposed to happen. It also happens at the time it is supposed to happen. I truly believe that Lisa and I are meant to take this life journey of adoption. It was meant to happen just as surely as you were meant to help us along our path.
Lisa and I live in a brand-new log home that we had built just last year. This is our first home that we have owned. We have rented up until now. We love our home and are very proud of it. The house is 30 X 40. It has a finished basement that serves as a family room and exercise room. There is also a full bathroom and utility / storage room. On the first floor, there is a living room, dining room, kitchen, full bathroom, guest bedroom, and office. When we bring our son home, we will have converted the office into Jacob’s room and the guest bedroom into our bedroom. On the second floor is the loft which overlooks the living room, a third full bathroom, and the large master bedroom. Everything is log, wooden, or beige. We have a very neutral color scheme that goes with just about anything. I would call our style of decorating as mountain lodge mixed with some country influences.
We have lots of space in and around our house for both of us and for Jacob. My parents live right next door to us. Other than that, we have lots and lots of space. There is a wooded area right behind us that stretches out for miles. My parents own several hundred acres of land on the road where we live and on the nearby coal mine which gives them some royalty income each month. I feel that Jacob will be very happy to have lots of space to run, play, and be a kid. We enjoy living in the country and hope to give Jacob this joy as well.
I want to adopt because I want to share my life experience. Lisa and I have a lot of love to give. We have a lot of interests and experiences to share. Lisa and I have been thinking of adoption on and off for several years. It wasn’t something that we just rushed into one day….like purchasing a candy bar. It was something that we knew would happen when it was supposed to happen. Also, as I have stated before, genetics alone do not make a family. Love makes a family. Sharing life experiences makes a family.
Lisa and I plan on telling Jacob about his adoption in stages as he is developmentally ready. I will always let Jacob know that I love him and that I am his dad and Lisa is his mom. Lisa and I will let him know that he was adopted because we loved him and it was meant to be. As far as his birthparents, I will let him know what I can, which will probably be nothing. I will let him know that they loved him but gave him up for their own personal reasons, which was probably poverty. Lisa and I plan on taking him to Vietnam to visit when he is older and can appreciate the visit. I want him to know where he came from biologically, but I want him to know that his family is here and that we love him. I can’t say that everything is going to work out perfectly. Nothing ever does. But, I can say that it will work out the way that it is meant to work out. All that I can promise is to love Jacob and to try and raise him to be the best person that he can be.
My biggest concern about adoption is that Jacob will feel that his parents didn’t want him. I don’t want him to feel like he was discarded. However, that is something that he will have to work out on his own. I can give him love and support. I can’t control his feelings. I only hope that our love and support will let Jacob know that his true family is right here in Kentucky.
Lisa and I chose to adopt from Vietnam because there are many, many children in that part of the world who need a loving home experience. It was a calling. It was meant to be. If it had been meant for us to choose another country, we would have. Everything happens for a reason. Although we were going to adopt from China at first, we switched to Vietnam because of the new restrictions that China has put into place. Now that we have switched, we know that it was meant for us to adopt from Vietnam in the first place.
We spent several hours today just looking at blogs and YouTube video of adoptions from Vietnam. I love the internet! We added a clock to this blog that shows the time in Vietnam.
Keep checking back to this blog for more updates! Send us an email if you want!
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