Travel Dates

This morning we received our travel dates.  We leave KS on Saturday, 3/13 and return on 3/20.  We will be meeting with the DOE and then going to see Alexandra for the first time on 3/16.  Our agency has instructed us to get a 90 day visa so we can make both trips on the same Visa.  That means if all goes well on the first trip we could be home with her in less than 90 days.  Praying for that but trying not to build false expectations either.  Lots to do in only a couple of weeks.  I know it will fly by but right now it can't get her fast enough. 

Finally

After nearly 15 months of waiting and wondering we finally know what this day feels like.  Relief, excitement, joy, fear, and the list could go on.  Wednesday evening of last week we received information on a 2 year old girl that was being referred to us.  We sent her information to the specialist we are using to do an evaluation of her but we would have to wait until Monday to hear back.  Those were the longest five days and boy was God doing a work in us.  With each referral that was declined and each new phase of this adoption journey different heart issues have come to light that we needed to work through.  It's as if your heart is put under a microscope (I hear that's what parenting does to a person).  We really were not aware of the expectations that have been developed, the fear that we have about parenting and the concerns we have about a lot of things.  After four days of wrestling with these heart issues we got to a point on Sunday where we were ready to talk to the doctor and eagerly anticipating her call.  Our biggest prayer was that we would have clarity and unity in making decisions about this little girl.

Around 6:30 Monday night we got the call from the doctor and it went well.  After that call we had absolute clarity and unity about our decision, praise God for that!  We agreed that we would move forward and accept this referral of Alexandra.  What that means is that we have accepted an "invitation" to travel to Russia to learn more about her.  If that goes well and everything is as it appears, we will proceed to the next step which is to begin finalizing paperwork to adopt Alexandra.  That would happen before we return home from our first trip!  After the paperwork is complete, we return home and wait for a court date.  At that time we would return to Russia and bring her home.   

So for  now we are asking our friends and family for patience.  The information we have right now is limited and until we get to the point of finalizing her paperwork we are not comfortable sharing any specifics.  We are currently working with our agency on scheduling an appointment with the DOE and travel arrangements.  It is very likely that we will be leaving for Russia in about 2 weeks.  Obviously there's a lot to work out in only 2 weeks.  People have said once you get to this point things go so quickly and they were right. 

I have updated the prayer requests on the right side of the blog.  Please continue to pray as we continue on this adoption journey. 

 

Home Study Update

As I mentioned in the prayer requests section, we are approaching a time when a lot of our paperwork needs to be updated.  Our dossier ended up being 110+ pages long and the different documents included have various expiration dates.  Some documents are good for 1 year, some for 18 months and some for only 3 months.  Most of the "BIG" things are good for a year which means they expire in May.  However, our homestudy was dated in March so that expires in a little over a month.  We contacted the gentleman that did our homestudy only to find out that he let the license for his official agency lapse.  He's still doing home studies and is still a certified social worker however for international adoptions that's not enough.  Russia requires all homestudies be done by an official "agency" and we must provide copies of a current license for both the social worker doing the home study and the agency they are with.  This is very frustrating news to say the least.  The gentleman we used was the only approved, licensed agency in the local area so we are hoping that he can work something out with another agency and be able to do the update with their oversight.  The only problem is there are no other local agencies that meet the requirements for international adoption homestudies.  The others in Kansas seem to all be located in the Kansas City area.  We are hoping for a quick solution and praying this is only a small inconvenience rather than a setback.  There have been many times during this adoption journey when we have seen God do amazing things and have found great favor with the governments and officials.  Praying for this same favor yet again.