An update - Finally!

Greetings! I know it's been a while (over 2 months) since we have updated our blog. Believe me, if you were frustrated imagine how we felt! (Mark L., I thought you would be especially excited). Ha!
We just found out on Tuesday that our paperwork is officially in Moscow being translated. Once that is finished it will be put into a specific region and we will know where we are going when we travel.
We received our I-171H form from US Immigration on April 22nd. That was exciting just for the fact that we MUST have that approval before we travel and it can take a really long time to get back.
AND, we had a HUGE garage sale on April 25th and 26th (with a bake sale on Saturday) to raise funds for travel expenses. We were so blessed! We received so many donations for the garage sale, donations for the bake sale and you wouldn't believe all of the people that helped selflessly in one way or another! It was incredible! For us, it was more confirmation that we are doing what God has planned for us. We actually raised almost $2100. Amazing! And we still have enough to hold another sale which will be in the next few weeks.
We were even given a beautiful crib and matching dresser for "L.G.'s" room (my mom's group has nicknamed our "little guy" L.G.). Once we paint, I will post pictures.
Thank you so much for all of your prayers, support and encouragement!

Waiting

Are we done yet? That's how I feel already. Yikes! Everything has been officially submitted to the agency. I just received the next set of documents from our agency which include all of the travel information. What to expect each trip, what to pack for us, what to pack for him, common Russian phrases, etc. I also received the list of documents that we have to stay on top of. It seems as though each document we submitted has a different expiration date ranging from 3 months to 18 months. They all have to be current when we travel (which also means they have to be notarized and apostilled), so I will add all of that to our calendar. How great would it be if it all happened so quickly we didn't need to update anything? Now that our homestudy is done, I can also start applying for grants. Please continue to pray for us in this area. I am excited to see what happens there.

There is a family from our church traveling in Russia this week and next. It is their second trip, and I just read on their blog that the judge waived their 10 day waiting period and they will be picking up their son tomorrow! They first met with the agency (the same one we are using) the end of May last year. That's 9 months start to finish!

That's all for now. Thank you so much for the garage sale donations, your love, support and encouragement! It is a journey for all of us!

T-

HOORAY!

I can't believe it! Grace and I have just returned from downtown getting all of our documents apostilled! We will submit everything first thing Monday morning. This will officially put us on the wait list. The director said this morning it could be anywhere from 3 to 7 months.

Thank you so much for your love, prayers and encouragement! We truly appreciate them!

T-

So close!

We have officially completed our homestudy. Hooray! And we are very close to submitting our dossier! Hopefully we will be prepared to submit it on Monday. We have been told that once we turn in our dossier the wait can range anywhere from 3 to 9 months, with the typical average right at 5 or 6 months. That's July/August! WILD!

Our garage is already filling quickly with garage sale donations. Shane is eager for the garage sale(s)...it's cramping his workshop. Poor guy. (hee hee). And we are continuing to host date nights on Fridays. God has truly blessed us with an amazing support network!

Please pray that things will continue to move smoothly.

T-

Three down, one to go

Well, today was the 3rd of our 4 homestudy appointments. She actually visited our house this time. We are scheduled for our last homestudy appointment (which will take place in their office) on Tuesday. My goal is still set to have everything ready to be apostilled next week. Once that is done, we will submit the dossier and officially be on the waiting list. And from what I understand, that is exactly what you do.....Wait. While I dread it, I also think that it may be a reprieve from the mad rush to get all of the documents together.

Thanks so much for your love, support and encouragement.

T-

FBI Clearance

Hooray! Today we received our FBI Clearance. Shane was worried he wouldn't receive clearance. ha ha! It is incredible how quickly we received these back!

Our goal is to have our dossier ready to be apostilled by next week. We have our home visit (which will be #3 of 4 homestudy visits) on Thursday afternoon. The girls are really excited about this. I am hoping we will be able to schedule our fourth (and last) homestudy appointment for early next week.

The playroom has been cleared out. We have two friends that have offered to loan us a their cribs which is great! I had my physical yesterday and Shane goes on Thursday morning. We filed our tax return which will be a big help when that comes in. We are in the process of completing our 10 hours of mandatory online adoption education courses. Things are moving quickly and smoothly so far.

I just found out today that a couple at our church will be leaving a week from Friday to travel to Russia for their second trip and should be bringing their son home! Their journey has lasted about 9 months start to finish.

Hopefully things will continue to move as smoothly as they have already. I think that once we submit our dossier we start the holding pattern until we receive word that we have a referral.

Thank you for your prayers and encouragement!

T-

Fingerprint Appointment

Hooray! We received our appointment for fingerprints from USCIS (Immigration) today. Shane and I are scheduled to go on February 19th. This came a little quicker than we expected. Once they receive that and our completed homestudy we will be eagerly awaiting our Form I-171H (Notice of Approval of an I-600A petition).

We have also already received back our notarized and apostilled marriage certificates from Florida. (Russia requires 8 of these. Crazy, huh?).

Blind Referrals

We received some disappointing news from our agency today. Evidently, most of the regions in Russia are pushing blind referrals. This means that we may potentially have little or no information about the child before we travel (including medical). It's scary, but we have complete faith that this is what God has planned for us and things will turn out the way they are meant to be.

The Beginning

We are embarking on an amazing journey. After a LOT of thought and even more prayer Shane and I have begun the process to adopt a little boy from Russia. We are excited, scared, anxious and yet completely at peace, as there is no doubt in our minds that God has led us to this decision. He has been so faithful in providing confirmation and answers to our prayers along the way.

We told the girls on Christmas morning. They are VERY excited! Tori asks just about every day when we will receive a picture. Poor thing. It will be a while, but I love her enthusiasm! Grace already has plans to dress the little guy in her leotard, tights, tutu and ballet shoes and make him dance for her. Hey, he's Russian, right? Well, it will probably be to his benefit that Grace will be starting kindergarten next fall.

We decided to start this blog to chronicle this long process, and it also seems the easiest way to keep friends and family up to date. We would love your prayers and support. There are many unknowns with international adoption, but we trust that God has a bigger plan than we could ever figure out on our own (of course, there is no lack of trying on my end).

The biggest question has been "How long will it take?" That's a great question! We would like to know the same thing. I have recently heard stories that the process took 10 months start to finish, and I have also heard recent stories of the process taking close to 1-1/2 years. I am doing everything I can to accomplish the paperwork as quickly as possible. We have requested that our little guy be anywhere from 1 to 3 years old, but are really hoping for closer to 2. That means that he is already here on this planet, waiting for us to love on him and hold him. I don't want him to be apart from his family any longer than he has to be.

As I said before, we would love your prayers and support. We are so excited!