Our Adoption Journey

A journal of
our experiences
to adopt a baby boy
from Romania

Update: January 22, 2000 -
AARON ANDREI WITZIG IS HOME!!!
Click on this link to read the latest!

July 22, 1999 - We're still interviewing agencies, and I'm waiting for one last phone call, from Debbie Price at Children's House International. I told Chuck last night that I was ready to go with another agency - what could Debbie possibly say to me that would make me go with their agency. But we still felt this really strong urge to wait and talk to Debbie before we made a final decision. When she called, she told us about a baby boy - he was born on June 6, 1999, weighing 7 lbs, 7 oz and measuring 20 1/2" long. His name is Andrei Mateescu and he's in foster care in Bucharest. They are expecting pictures and will e-mail them to us as soon as they get them.

July 26, 1999 - What a rough couple of days! We haven't thought of anything else, waiting on pins & needles for pictures! Finally, we received 2 pictures of the baby through our e-mail address. This first one was taken June 30, 1999 - he was only 3 weeks old.

This next picture was taken July 21, 1999 - here he is 5 weeks old, weighs 9 lbs, 3 oz and is 21 1/4" long.

July 30, 1999 - We're waiting for a video of Andrei before we make a final decision to adopt him. It should be here tomorrow - oh my gosh!

August 3, 1999 - We finally got the video! What a beautiful baby :) He looks healthy, he's smiling, moving around normally. It was taken July 22, so I didn't print off any pictures.

August 4, 1999 - We've decided we want to adopt Andrei! I called the agency this morning to let them know. We FedEx'ed the program and referral money and notarized documents this afternoon. It's official :) Oh my gosh, we're really going to do this!!

August 5, 1999 - We tried to keep this to ourselves for a little while, since it will be so long before we can go get Andrei. But, we ended up telling everyone! We have decided to name him Aaron Andrei. We're hoping we can go get him in February.

August, 1999 -Well, we've been busy! We've applied for a home equity loan, filed with INS, filed out forms, forms and more forms! We were fingerprinted the end of this month for INS. Clearance should take 2-3 months, then we'll get an "official" referral of Andrei, then the actual adoption proceedings can start (a 3-4 month long process).

September, 1999 - We got a new video! It's a really short video, just a few shots of Andrei - but I was able to print off one picture of him. This video/print was taken August 10 (it takes about a month to get the video to us). It's not a very good picture, but you can see how he's changed :)

September, 1999 - Whew, we got our dossier done and sent in! :) The dossier for Romania is simpler and faster than other countries - we didn't have to have it all apostilled. We still had to do all the notarizations, though. We had a lady from our bank notarize all our documents - she doesn't ask for ID anymore - she knows us personally now!!!

October, 1999 - Another new video! Look at this little guy - is he gorgeous or what? He is SOOO beautiful! I can't believe how much he's changed! This video was taken around September 10 - he's 3 months old now. I don't have any measurements on him, though. He looks very happy and responds well.

In this picture, he's saying, "COME GET ME!"

October 22, 1999 - We have INS approval!! Next step - our official referral. I'm having a little trouble with his name - I can't seem to call him Aaron, I usually call him Andrei. I try to call him Aaron Andrei or Aaron A. We put the crib up and I've been buying a lot of clothes on eBay!

November 3, 1999 - We got a new video today - I'm a little disappointed - it was another of the really short ones. He seems kind of out of it - no smiles, seems very laid back.

Our Adoption Journey - page 2 AARON ANDREI WITZIG IS HOME!!! Pics -Feb - April 2000

April - June 2000 pics July - Sep 2000 pics Sep & Oct pics