Update

I learned that I have to travel all by myself. All the others where in small groups of two or three couples and I am all by myself. BUMMER. I will try to persuade the agency to allow my brother to travel with me.

Pictures room Mpolokeng

Pictures of the progress of Mpolokeng's room. With the help of my friend Joey and my nieces(who helped with the butterflies) the walls are done. Now I am searching for a good bed to finish the room.

Update Mpolokeng

Today the 22nd of December I learned that Mpolokeng is already 97 centimeters and 15,6 kilogram. She is tall!!!!But it is so good to hear something again.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Dear Friends and readers,

I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. That all your dreams may come true.

Greetings Ditty

New picture!!!!!!

From a lady from Florida I received two beautiful pictures and I placed one at the weblog. Mpolokeng means: Keep me safe.
I am so grateful for all the information I get worldwide!! Isn'it amazing!

Travel of second group

Finally! After a long wait the second group have permission to leave on the 3rd of December. They return on the 13th. Two out of five couples will be united with their adoptive children. I know that will be 3 boys and 2 girls. The two couples who will go first are adopting boys.
This is a new fase because the next group is MY group. I hope to leave end of January, beginning of February 2007.

Picture!!!

On a dutch website I found a picture of my daughter. She is the one in pink in front and in the middle of the picture! Isn't she lovely?

It's a girl!!!

September the 7th I got a call from the Agency. They have a little girl for me. Ze is born in May 2004 and her name in Mpolokeng. Now I know I am the proud mother of a girl!!! I still need to wait before I can travel to Lesotho but this was so unexpected!. I am so happy.

Documents

May 31st I sent my documents to the Agency Child and Future.
The day after I was called to adjust some documents and to have two more photo's taken. One of the bedroom and one of the kitchen. So friday the 2nd of june I sent it again so that it would be there on the 3rd as they requested.
The documents have been sent to Lesotho. So I am adoption pregnant!!!
29th of June I went to get shots for Hepatitus en DTP.
On the 14th of July I received a letter that the waiting time is running up. So instead of being a mum before Christmas it's seems to take until June next year.
Again I received a letter of the adoption agency. This time to tell that Lesotho wants single adopting parents travel alone to Lesotho so that it will not be confusing to the child which one is the parent. So unfortunately for my sister in law; this means that she wil have to stay home and I will travel alone.

Lesotho

Full Name Kingdom of Lesotho
Capital City Maseru
Area 30,355 sq km
11,720 sq miles
Population 2,100,000
Time Zone GMT/UTC +2 ()
Languages Sotho, Southern (official)
English (official)
Religion Christian (80%), co-existing with traditional beliefs
Currency Maloti (L)
Electricity 220V 50HzHz
Electric Plug Details
Country Dialing Code 266

Choosing agency

I've decided to choose Foundation Child and Future to handle the adoption. I have a few countriesfrom where I can adopt. For me it is a choice between Lesotho (an enclave in South Africa) or China. My first conversation with this agency will be on the 21st of April. It looks likes it is going to happen this year!

I decided to go for an adoption of a Lesothian child.

Permission to Adopt

25 -1-2006 I called to hear why it is taking so long for me to get the permission. Found out that they only sent the report this week. So again I lost a whole month. Hoping to get the permission in February 2006.
On the first of February I received the letter to tell me that I am granted permission to adopt a first child of a foreign nationality!

Department of Child and Family Services

On my birthday I finally received a call from a counselor of the Department of Child and Family Services.
He introduced himself and congratulated me with my birthday. We made an appointment for the first session on wednesday the 14th. We had a very good talk on the 14th at my place. He asked a whole lot of questions and even read a sermon I prepared for the latest comunionservice. At the end of the session he already mentioned that it would be a positive answer. As homework for the second session he gave me the following questions:
-motivation of the adoption
-what do you have to offer an adoptionchild
-how to you deal with the background of the adoptionchild
-what are your expectations of the adoptionchild
-how do family and friends think about this issue

That following weekend I made an extended circuleam vitae plus the answers to all the questions he asked. The 19th I had a session in the office of the Department. This went very well aswell. He would try to write the concept-familyreport as soon as possible and would forward that to me to look into. The 3rd of January I received a seven page report. After a few minor changes I phoned the counselor and agreed to the report.

Medical Examination

After receiving the letter of the Children's Welfare Department about the medical examination I made an appointment with an independent doctor for the same day.
He was very nice and everything went well. He didn't even charge me fee. The same day I sent the form to Children's Wellfare.

Informationcourse Adoption

Informationcourse adoption. Starting in May there were 6 days I had to attend the informationcourse. They showed the group video's of orphanages and the group met people who already had adopted and told us about their experiences. There were 7 couples and and I. It was very informative. But it made me more determined to go through with the adoption procedure.

Chronological order

October 2003 - Letter to Justice Department
December 2003 - BKA-number
February 2005 - Invitation informationcourse adoption
Mei-July 2005 - Informationcourse adoption
August 2005 - Medical examination
December 2005 - Conversations Member Department of Child and Family Services
January 2006 - Report Department of Child and Family Services
February 2006 - Permission from Justice Department
March 2006 - Changing agency
May 2006 - Sending Documents to Agency
June 2006 - Documents in Lesotho
Juli 2006 - Letter of Agency
September 2006 - Proposal of daughter