Saving Sofia: She's a BABY!

Monday, February 1, 2010

She's a BABY!

I just got word today from Andrea, the Director of Reece's Rainbow, that Sofia's birth year was noted incorrectly on the website. Her birthday is February 21st but she wasn't born in 2008....but 2009!!!

She's turning ONE year old later this month. She's a BABY!!!

Of course my initial reaction upon reading Andrea's email was a bit of SHOCK but I quickly realized that we were just given another gift. The gift of an entire year.

One less year in an institution. One more year for early intervention services when she comes home to us. One less year of abandonment. One more year of love, attention, hugs and kisses from her family here at home.

Although she will celebrate her first birthday in an orphanage, this will be a VERY special birthday for her and for us! Even though she is half way across the globe from us, we will send her our love. She will have the greatest gift of all...one that so many of us take for granted...a family.

She will definitely be the BABY in the family now with three older brothers to watch after her.

We're so happy!

We also got a few more pictures of her today. These are like GOLD to us!

21 comments:

LaurieFebruary 1, 2010 at 6:29 PM
Oh WOW!!! That must have been a surprise, but you're right - what a gift!

Gorgeous pictures...ah, such a sweet girl! :)
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AnonymousFebruary 1, 2010 at 6:31 PM
She is beautiful Jennifer. I love the new pictures. You will have so much fun with her too!! She is very close in age with my Sophia. We have 2 beautiful Sophia's / Sofia's
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MollyFebruary 1, 2010 at 6:51 PM
She is SO precious. and how wonderful to be given another year!!
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AnonymousFebruary 1, 2010 at 6:55 PM
That is an amazing gift!!!!
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ginaologyFebruary 1, 2010 at 7:11 PM
That's wonderful that she's actually a whole year younger! And thanks for posting the other pics. She's so beautiful & precious!
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shereeFebruary 1, 2010 at 7:33 PM
why do I cry EVERY. SINGLE. TIME I read about this angel? Gah! Love her already!!
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Sweet Pea's MommyFebruary 1, 2010 at 7:49 PM
She looks just as adorable in these photos as in the original one. I'm praying for you to be able to get her home quickly! She is such a lucky little girl and you are a very lucky family as well. Our thoughts and prayers are with you on this journey!
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ds.mamaFebruary 1, 2010 at 8:12 PM
Another year to love her, what a blessing!
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Jenny RFebruary 1, 2010 at 8:21 PM
That is so cool! How exciting:) What a special birthday present!
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DeniseFebruary 1, 2010 at 9:20 PM
Definitely fortunate to get her a year earlier!! Although I think I would have been thrown for a loop had I ever decided to adopt her as I had this dream of my "twin" girls. But you are so right....she will only spend one year of life in the orphanage as opposed to two years. And I think this is a blessing in disguise as I bet if everyone knew she was so young, she would have been scooped up long ago!! She was just waiting for you guys. I talked to Heather (Zoey's mom) today and we were both beyond excited for your family to be adopting her and that she will live in CA which means we may get to meet her someday. Afterall, you will have to bring her to Disneyland :)
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DeniseFebruary 1, 2010 at 9:21 PM
Oh, and I forgot to mention that I love these new pictures. Seeing her full body just makes her look that much sweeter!!
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Michelle R. SlapeFebruary 1, 2010 at 10:01 PM
This is such wonderful news!!!!

She is such a cutie and Cody and I cannot wait to meet her!
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HeatherFebruary 1, 2010 at 10:11 PM
Your having a baby ... I couldn't resit that one!Seriously ... what a gift..to both you and her.Denise and I are super excited ... we will definitely take a road trip your way to get some Sophia loving.the new pictures are beautiful.She is beautiful.This whole thing is beautiful.
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Susan AFebruary 1, 2010 at 10:46 PM
How precious! How wonderful! How beautiful she is! It's really exciting news!! Oh, how we all can't wait to get her home to you!
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LisaFebruary 2, 2010 at 3:32 AM
The gift of another year...and new pictures...I know how much that means...and I am overjoyed for you :)! She is precious and is so deserving of all the love coming her way! YOU are, too!
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CheriFebruary 2, 2010 at 7:33 AM
Wow.....what a gift Jennifer, an extra year to be Sofia Sanchez! What a beautiful surprise in your inbox from Andrea!
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Anne and Whitney: Up, Down and All AroundFebruary 2, 2010 at 8:27 AM
What wonderful news that she will only spend one birthday in an orphanage because her next birthday will be with her family!!! Love the new pics - hope they can send you some more soon!!!
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BethanyFebruary 2, 2010 at 2:41 PM
Oh, wow! That is awesome!
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MarianneFebruary 2, 2010 at 3:26 PM
No way!! Wow!!
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SarahFebruary 6, 2010 at 10:32 AM
AMAZING :)
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AprilFebruary 12, 2010 at 7:45 PM
Wow, what a surprise, but such a blessing. We're adopting Alyona through RR and I would be completely shocked (and pleasantly surprised) if they said, oh by the way... How fun, congratulations!
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Adoption Timeline

12-13-09- Grandma Esther passed away. Discovered Sofia at www.reecesrainbow.com and decided to donate to her grant fund in honor of Grandma and the Christmas Angel Tree Project. Couldn't get her off my mind.

1-1-10- Received Sofia's Christmas Angel Tree ornament and put it on our Christmas Tree. Still constantly thinking about her.

1-24-10- Hector and I decided to commit to adopting Sofia. Contacted Andrea at Reece's Rainbow.

1-25-10- Contacted Across the World Adoptions to begin the Home Study.

1-26-10- Sent our application to Reece's Rainbow and sent a check for the FSP Donation, Love Offering and Promise Trust.

1-27-10- Jen's physical completed. Vaccines administered. FBI and DOJ/Child Abuse fingerprinting completed.

1-28-10- Faxed Home Study Application and Agreement. Mailed hard copy.

1-29-10- Hector's fingerprints completed for FBI and DOJ/Child Abuse. Completed the required 10 hours of International Adoption education credits.

1-31-10- Mailed USCIS our I-600A application and fees.

2-1-10- Employment verifications completed for Home Study. School evaluations completed on Diego and Mateo. Received dossier paperwork from Reece's Rainbow.

2-4-10- Assigned a social worker for our Home Study at Across the World Adoptions. Had over 15 documents notarized.

2-5-10- Hector's physical completed. Vaccines administered. Child Specific Petition and Power of Attorney's notarized and ready for apostille.

2-8-10- CSP and POA's apostilled and shipped to Sofia's home country! First home study visit is scheduled for 2/15.

2-10-10- ALL paperwork completed for Home Study! YEAH! Working on gathering the rest of the dossier paperwork.

2-15-10- 1st Home Study Visit completed.

2-16-10- 2nd Home Study Visit completed.

2-22-10- Received our I-797C Notice of Action for our Orphan Petition.

2-25-10- State Police clearance fingerprinting done. Apostilled 20 documents at Secretary of State office.

3-1-10- Final revisions completed on Home Study.

3-2-10- Jennifer fingerprinted a third time for USCIS. Hector's police clearance letter received.

3-3-10- Hector fingerprinted a third time for USCIS.

3-4-10- Home Study, Agency License and Social Worker Licence notarized and mailed to us today.

3-11-10- USCIS Approval!

3-12-10- Dossier shipped out to Sofia's home country!

3-15-10- Dossier arrived in Sofia's home country!

3-25-10- Dossier officially submitted. Approximately 10 day wait to get travel date!

4-6-10- Received our SDA appointment for 4/22 at 9am! Booked our plane tickets for 4/19 arriving on 4/20.

4-14-10- Volcano erupts in Iceland causing flights to be grounded throughout Europe!

4-19-10- Flight is cancelled. No alternative routes are available. Requested new SDA appointment.

4-20-10- Got a last minute flight to Kiev through Vienna, Austria.

4-21-10- Arrived in Kiev, Ukraine!

4-22-10- Completed SDA appointment at 9am. Received referral at 6pm. Hopped on a midnight train to Dnep.

4-23-10-Arrived in Dnep at 7am and ran around Dnep for 11 hours today with our facilitator Marina gathering papers and getting notaries. Met Sofia!

4-26-10-Took Sofia out of the orphanage to get her picture taken for Visa immigration, US Embassy and the SDA. 7 day wait begins for court date.

4-27-10-Prosecutor says our documents are complete and ready for the judge and court proceedings.

4-29-10-Still waiting for interpol clearance so court date is set for 5/13.

4-30-10-Interpol clearance arrives. Court date moved to 5/6!

5-6-10- Court completed and Sofia Andrea Sanchez is officially adopted! 10 day wait begins.

5-16-10- Return trip is set for 6/6 and we'll arrive in Dnep on 6/8 to begin the process of bringing Sofia home, hopefully on or before 6/17.

6-8-10- Arrived in Sofia's region and completed all necessary paperwork for her new birth certificate and for her Ukraine passport.

6-10-10-GOTCHA day! Took Sofia out of the orphanage and home to our apartment.

6-11-10- Got Sofia's Ukrainian Passport and took overnight train back to Kiev. Changed return flight home to 6/15.

6-14-10- Got Sofia's Visa at the U.S. Embassy.

6-15-10- Going HOME!

6-16-10-Applied for Sofia's Social Security Card.

7-15-10- Received Sofia's official certificate of U.S. Citizenship in the mail.

Monday, February 1, 2010

She's a BABY!

21 comments:

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