An Adoption Process

Adoption Chronicle

Due to privacy concerns this blog series will not publish until the adoption is final. Names have been shortened to protect the privacy of my family.

March 5th 2014

Wen and I married on September 06, 2013. Wen got a loving and devoted wife and a mother for his 11 year old daughter. I got a loving and devoted husband and a bright and creative daughter, a ready-made family. Before Wen and I were even married Anna was calling me mom. It was like we'd been a family already for a long time. Some health scares from Wen early on in our marriage caused us to start talking about what would happen to Anna if anything bad happened to Wen. We finally decided, much to the excitement of Anna, that I should adopt her for her protection should anything happen to her father. 

On February 18th we got a consultation from an adoption attorney. This wouldn't be a completely straightforward step parent adoption because Anna's birth mother was still living, though we didn't know her whereabouts or stability. Anna's last memory of her birth mother was from when she was two years old, and it was a traumatic memory. The birth mother had had court orders against her being in the presence of any of her under age children until she fulfilled court required sanctions, which she still had not done. Our lawyer was confident the adoption would be successful even if the birth mother could be located and even if she decided to contest the adoption in court. Going to court would cost us more money, but she was confident the court would rule in our favor.

The first thing we had to do was raise the money for a retainer fee. It cost us $1800 to get started. We had just gotten our tax refund and decided that was the best use of it. We also got some help from some family. On February 27th we got the retainer fee to the lawyer. She was out of the office at the time but called me on Saturday, March 1st and then e-mailed me a form to collect all the information. That got turned in on Tuesday March 4th. The first order of business was to place an ad in the newspaper for 4 weeks. So we are just waiting for the lawyer to get that done at this point. I am excited and anxious about this process. The waiting will be hard but the result will be worth it.

April 14th 2014
After submitting all the paperwork in March we had to wait 2 weeks for the court to approve us serving the birth mother by newspaper publication. This was unusual according to our lawyer but apparently due to some moving with one of the offices at the court. Today the publication appears in the newspaper and will be there for 4 weeks. So we wait.

May 12 2014
We are in the final stretch for completing the adoption and expect it to be done next week sometime. The birth mother's last chance to contest in court was May 3rd and she did not file anything with the court so we have moved on. Early last week we got the affidavit of publication, got the default motion and now we are just waiting for DHS to waive the home study and then for judgement which should happen this week or next. We are about ready to go public with our happy news, which we will as soon as it's all final.

I am really excited for the timing of this because it happens so close to Anna's birthday. Her birthday is on Saturday May 31st and my hope is that we will have the new birth certificate by then (may not happen that fast though). 

June 11, 2014
Unfortunately the Adoption was not final before Anna's birthday and we were not able to go public with our happy news till today. While she had a great turnout for her birthday party, sadly it was not an adoption party as we weren't able to celebrate yet. Today, however, it was final. The judge signed the documents and Anna became my daughter. The new birth certificate will take a little longer to arrive.

August 28th, 2014
The birth certificate finally arrived in the mail. So special to see my name on my daughters birth certificate. Her hyphenated last name has finally been corrected and we all have the same last name now. One happy family. My mom threw us an adoption party on August 2nd and it was such a blessing to be surrounded by people who love and support us. When all was said and done it had cost us $2200. Though it was a long process it was definitely worth it.

Hike #14 South Breitenbush Gorge

This hike is #21 in the new Sullivan book if you want to find more information about it. It was a pretty easy 6 miles to Roaring Creek and back again. I started at the lower trail head and took a quick side trek on the Emerald Trail to plant the box. I went as far as the log bridges known for washing out. A couple of the old bridges were torn up and unusable but the new one was pretty sturdy. This is a more popular hike I think so I put a special box here.

Hike #13 Shellburg Falls

At the State Fair this year I bought Sullivan's new Central Oregon Cascades book for 2012-2013. So from now on I'll be using this book to plant boxes. Over this last weekend I spent 5 days up in the Mill City and Detroit area to check on some boxes and plant some more.

While checking on my Shellburg box (Hike #6 - #3 in the Sullivan book) I decided to plant another box there because I discovered another trail to get down to the falls that was so much better. The first time I went there I took the longer trail that was mostly on gravel roads from the lower trail head. This time I started at the upper trail head where there is even a fairly new campground. I guess there had been campsites there before but it's been developed a bit more now, although there is still no camp host and appears to be on the honor system. Right next to the campground is the entrance to the trail head and it's a really easy hike on a wonderful forest trail. Expect to drive a lot further on gravel roads but your hike to the falls will be shorter by about half a mile, and definitely more scenic. Near the end there is a lot of climbing down to get to the falls but it's mostly railed stairs. This time of year the falls is pretty small but the hike was worth it anyway with so much forest to awe at on the way.

Hitting 500 finds

I've had my eye on my approaching 500 milestone for a few months now. I even considered choosing a special box to become that #500. I didn't though, I let it fall where it landed so my 500th find was "Fish Stories" by Gales Creek Diggers in Odell Lake, OR, and a cute stamp it was! It came during a trip to Waldo Lake, where I also nabbed a few of FORAYCH's Waldo's Treasure Hunting Adventure boxes, which I can highly recommend. I wish I could have done the whole loop to get them all, but I'm still recovering from some back and neck problems that make hiking more difficult. I did get about 6 miles of hiking in to get the 3 boxes I did find. Waldo Lake is pretty perfect this time of year. The mosquitoes were minimal, the water, though still cold, was as warm as it ever gets, and it wasn't too hot or too cool even at night. My only complaint was the cost of camping there. $20 a night for a regular 1-tent campsite, same price as John Neal Memorial Campground in Lyons only there are no showers or flush toilets at Waldo like there are at John Neal. I don't mind the more "primitive" camping at Waldo, the facilities are actually pretty clean for non-flush types, but it should cost less than more upscale camping with amenities. It was an enjoyable 2-night camping trip.

Coastal Buddyboxing

Me and Kuku at the Tillamook Cheese factory, Tillamook Oregon. June 2012

Boxing alone is fun, but boxing with friends is better. Last weekend started with a boxing in the park trip to introduce a new boxer, Barley, and her super sweet puppy to the craft. If there is anything better than being a first finder it might be watching a friend find their first box and find that they are the first finder of that box, AND that there is a first finder prize. Great way to hook a newbie boxer if she wasn't hooked already. Then I had an opportunity to go letterboxing with some wonderful seasoned letterboxers, including my letterboxing "mom", Kuku (who introduced me to boxing), and Waves. In our group was also a magical muggle who went along with us for fun. She was magical because even though she was not a letterboxer she had a knack for finding boxes that were eluding us. We were up in the Canon Beach area, where I haven't been since I was in high school, and camped out at the Nehalem Bay State Park Campground. The weekend started out wet and windy but we still managed to nab some boxes in the rain. Saturday was better and Sunday was gorgeous, thank you Oregon! We found quite a few letterboxes that weekend, among them some really fabulous carves. We also got to enjoy a sand castle competition held at Canon Beach.

The best thing about boxing with Waves is you are sure to get a ton of boxes, "Just one more?" The best thing about boxing with Kuku is you never know what she'll come up with for a cover when muggles show up unexpectedly, "I don't think those ferns up there are any different than the ones down here, they look the same." The best thing about boxing with a muggle, other than having a great finder with you, is the laughs, "Is this it?" *really loud and waving it in the air.* (She did learn quickly though)

Letterboxing is a hobby of art. I've have 4 journals filled up now of all shapes and sizes, some hard bound books like the one above and some spiral bound. The one above is my current journal that I got at the Art Supply store in Salem. I liked that it looks like a regular book but didn't like that for an art book it was sure boring. So I decided to decorate it using some stamps I've carved that I haven't planted yet and this was the result. Maybe I'll get these from now on. It was fun decorating it and I could do it differently each time I get a new book.

Hike #12 Little North Santiam Trail

This was a fun hike along the little north fork. If you have Sullivan's green hiking book, 100 Hikes in the Central Oregon Cascades from 05-06, it's #4 in that book. http://www.amazon.com/100-Hikes-Central-Oregon-Cascades/dp/0967783062/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335302099&sr=1-1

We parked at the Elkhorn Drive parking lot and were surprised to find no fee was asked of us.  To get there from Salem take hwy 22 east and turn onto Little North Fork Rd at the Swiss Villiage. Pass Gates Hill Rd and Turn right on Elkhorn Dr. which is a gravel road. You'll see the parking lot on your left across from a sign about Opal Creek Scenic Area. This is not a loop trail so you have to come back the way you came or park a second car at the other end of the trail. If you hike to the end and back it's about 9 miles with 900 ft. elevation gain. The water was still fairly high and we could see evidence of earlier flooding on the hike but the trail was was in good condition if a bit muddy in places. Superpup was ecstatic about being in his element again and really soaked up the woodsy atmosphere. There is something about old trees that I really love. It's hard to describe but it's as if they have absorbed time itself into their woody tissue and you can feel it emanate from the bark all around you demanding respect. I am in awe in these forests, as if it is a rare privilege to be there and I should be silent and let the forest speak. Lots of stories in those woods, if you look for them. 
http://www.atlasquest.com/showinfo.html?gBoxId=195799

Gearing up

November quickly approaches and I'm getting nervous and wondering what I've got myself into. Let me give you a sample of what I'm facing. I am currently in week 3 of a 10 week, 6 credit course, one of my last online courses to get my Bachelors in Science (Information Technology - Project Management) of which I will graduate with next Spring. I am also blessed to have a full time job. In addition there are all of life's normal distractions, house and yard work, socializing, parties etc. and I've got some crafting projects I'm committed to with deadlines as well. I am not as busy as some, even though I have activities planned for every weekend in Nov already. I don't have kids but I have 4 cats and a dog. Though caring for them takes time each day, it's time I need for myself to recoup and relax at the end of the day anyway. However, I believe one of the intentions behind NaNoWriMo is to just sit down and write. Life will always be busy and why would November be any worse than any other month?

So pushing on and gearing up! I am preparing the storyline and characters and mostly have it figured out now. There was a story I wrote ages ago for which I lost the text for and I've been meaning to re-write it for some time. As I understand the rules, this is ok. I only have a hard copy of a very early version of that story and if I do end up using any of those words it won't count toward my 50,000. At this time however, I want a completely fresh start because I have a different idea of where to take it. I'm not even reading that old text because I don't want to taint my ideas and confuse myself. If I were to give this story a genre I think it's a fantasy romance with some action. I do want to include a disclaimer and an agreement here before the whole process begins.

Disclaimer: I reserve the right to withhold text from my manuscript at my discretion. I may choose not to include certain portions if I am not comfortable doing so. I say this so I don't feel pressure on myself to write what I think people will want to read. I write faster and better when I write for myself and not other people. Each post will update my word count total, but it may or may not match the word count of text I post. I would also like to make it clear that while I agree any artist puts a little something of themselves into their work I do not model characters after myself or anyone I know. If you happen to know me (and chances are if you are reading this you do,) and you think you recognize me or even yourself  in a character it is completely coincidental and unintentional.

Agreement request: If you choose to read this blog, again, you do so at your own risk (eye bleach not provided). Remember this will be a draft, unedited, and a rare opportunity to see my naked mind (gaa! my eyes!) ha ha. I am not looking for critiques of my work, good or bad. If I want or need critiques I have my ways of getting them, and it wouldn't be here. If you choose to comment, you are welcome to, and I would appreciate it, but please be kind both to me and anyone else who might be reading or commenting. I can imagine it wouldn't be easy for any writer or non-writer to do what I'm about to do, which is actually why I'm doing this little experiment of sorts. If nothing else it will prove to me why no one will ever do it again.

As for copyright stuff, maybe someone out there is wondering why I'm not worried about this? I have two answers. Firstly, way back in the day a poor man's copyright was to mail himself a manuscript and never open the envelope when it returned to him. I see publishing this on a blog about as safe as a poor mans copyright.  Secondly, I'm just an average girl who likes to write, not a career writer, so I'm just not concerned about stuff like that.

So here's to all the WriMo's out there gearing up for a month of creative abandon. My November blogs are dedicated to you. Good luck to all!

 Cheers!