My trip into Dallas

Today I got to drive into Dallas to pick up our Home Study. Yea!!!! The Director went over our next steps and we will be mailing a mound of paperwork down to the Secretary of State to be apostilled and filing our I-600A on Monday. None of this probably sounds very interesting or even understandable, but trust me when I say this is very exciting and will open up the door to our actual dossier. Yea again!!!! Once we get our paperwork back from Austin we will forward it onto our actual agency who will then in turn forward it onto Russia. From there we will be assigned our region, which means we will know where in Russia our daughter will be coming from, even though she won't actually be selected for us yet. Prayer requests: that none of our documents will get lost, postponed, or need a do-over, that all of our documents will be moved through the systems as quickly as possible, and that God will open up doors for us financially as we begin to apply for grants to help fund this adoption.

Home Study Update

Well, we made it through our home study. It was very different from what I expected, but having never done this before I did not have much to go off of. I knew going into this that the process would be an emotional rollercoaster, but hearing about some of the cases and living conditions that these kids live in (where we are adopting from) absolutely breaks my heart. It's bitter sweet to pray for protection for our daughter from such experiences, but terrifying to know that it is going on to other children (that we can't bring home).

Our case worker came and talked to me, Brent, me & Brent, and the boys for about 2 hours. She also went and checked out the boys' rooms. I have been talking back and forth with her and she is finalizing the home study and intends to submit it for approval from her director and then to us. Once we have it in our hands we will be forwarding it to our actual adoption agency as well as using it to apply for grants :) I have found out that you can't apply for any grants until you have a home study. This also means that we can start working on our dossier...yea!!! While I know that this is going to be a mountain of paperwork for us to complete, I am excited that we get to start working on it.

Home Study :)

This Saturday is our official home study. We have been busy, busy, busy working on all of the paperwork needed for the home study as well as hosting our first garage sale/adoption fundraiser. It was a huge success and we were able to raise a good amount of money with it. So, thank you to everyone who contributed to it and thank you to all of our shoppers :) Prayer request: our home study this weekend. It is weird having someone come in and assess you, your house, and your family to see if you are "approved" or "qualified" to have another child. This is especially true since we already have had 2! Anyway, it does not matter. It has to be done, so here we go!

next...

Our passports have been applied for and our adoption agreement has been signed and mailed :) Next should be the home study and the beginnings of an insane amount of paperwork. I started looking through our book tonight and found it to be overwhelming. I decided we will just have to take it one step at a time instead of reading all that is expected of us at once. So, we will start with our home study and go from there ;) Prayer requests: that all of our paperwork will be done properly the first time, pray for our soon to be daughter and her birth mother (health pregnancy, healthy baby, etc.). Also, just continue to pray for God's provision with finances, etc. and for wisdom for Brent and I to know what step to take next in this area. Thank you for your love and support of our family!!!

Accepted :)

We found out last Friday that we were officially accepted into the Russian adoption program. Now we are just waiting for our paper work to arrive so we can begin getting it all filled out and providing all of our documentation. What used to be called the dossier (36 pages long) has been consolidated into a 12 page initial application. Once this is filled out we will have our home study and the paperwork will be mailed off to Russia for approval. Prayer request: that our case manager (Anna) will continue to be on top of things and not let our paperwork sit on her desk. She told me last Monday that she would be mailing this to me and we have yet to receive it. Pray for us to not be anxious as we do nothing but wait on everyone else! FYI, I had to laugh when I went to get my passport photo taken and I was told not to smile or wear earrings. Apparently you are not allowed to do either one any more. The funny part was when she asked if I liked my picture. How much can you like an extreme close up of yourself with no jewelry on and not smiling. Hmmmm, yes...I like my mugshot ;)

And the ball begins to roll...

Alright...the application has been filled out and is in the mail :) Prayer request: Please continue to keep our family in your prayers. I have spoken with several adoptive parents who all say the same thing. Adoption is a long and drawn out process that is emotionally draining. Pray for renewed strength and that we would not be distracted by all of the bumps along the road, but instead that we would keep our eyes on God and simply follow his direction.

Passports

So, the ball is beginning to role ;) My goal for this week is to get our passports (or at least the process of getting them) started. Prayer requests: Continue to pray for guidance over which country we are to adopt from and which agency to go through. We are hoping to hear back over the next couple of weeks from a source that will determine if we use them or the agency of our choice and we have it narrowed down to pretty much 2 countries. Until we decide with certainty we can't proceed any further.

Prayer requests

Our family continues to pray and would love to have others praying for our family that doors will be opened for us and that we could possibly start this while process sooner than we are planning to. We would love to submit paperwork today, but need to work out some of the fine details as well as some of the major wrinkles prior to doing so :) There are many people out there networking on our family's behalf and to each of you thank you! Even just seeking out contacts for us is such an amazing blessing! We know that God has a special child picked out just for us and we are doing our best to be patient while we wait for Him to lead us to where she is. Thanks again for keeping us in your prayers. It means more than anything to us.

Our announcement

After a few years of talking about it and another of praying about it, we are announcing that we are planning to adopt a little girl via international adoption. Our family is very excited and anxious to begin this process and recognize that there will be a long road ahead of us. Having no close friends or family that have been through this experience themselves, it is a very foreign (literally) concept to us. Just to let you know a little bit about our family, we have 2 little boys who are our biological children. They are the joy of our lives and keep us busy! We just have never truely felt that sense of "completeness" in our family of 4, which is what spurred all of our original discussions about adoption. I look forward to keeping you all up to date as our family begins this amazing journey and can't wait to see it all the way through!