Registered!

Dan and I received an email from our facilitator tonight letting us know that we are registered with the SDA (Ukraine's equivalent of DCF). Our family was given a submission date of October 27th to present the rest of our dossier. This is wonderful news! This is also where we need God's hand in the process. Part of the dossier that must be in Ukraine to be submitted on October 27th is our approval form from the US Immigration service. They have had our application over two weeks and we are still waiting for our appointments to be fingerprinted. It is all in God's timing... we have no control and we trust that His timing is perfect.

Wisdom...

There is great wisdom to be found from those who are ahead of you in a journey. (Pastor David always says there is someone a few steps ahead of you to be learned from and someone a few steps behind that you should be mentoring.) Dan, Tim and I had the pleasure of having dinner with two families that have adopted from Ukraine last night. (Thanks, John & Laurie for hosting!) We enjoyed our discussions with them and learned a lot.

On the topic of wisdom, I just have to share the quote below with you... this mom very eloquently sums up what I've been thinking, feeling, and trying to do. It is from her blog: www.welcomingkatya.com.

Bill has often said that we have been called to pursue adoption, not make it happen. While I’ve agreed with this idea in theory, I’ve had trouble relinquishing control. If I can’t make something happen, then I’ll over-research something to gain as much information as I can in order to give myself some false sense of control. I’m learning, but obviously still have much to learn, about truly trusting God with the outcome. Another mom who adopted two kids from Russia many years ago, said to me last Saturday, “God doesn’t call us to be successful. He calls us to be faithful.” Two different ways of saying the same thing. Pray that my heart will get these truths more deeply and that during this time of waiting I’ll be faithful.

I so often feel that exact way, about much of life, not just adoption and could not have expressed the feelings better myself. Special thanks to Cindy for sharing... she and Bill leave on October 1 for their appointment in Kiev on October 5th. Please keep them in your prayers!

A quick update...

I don't have tons of news to share, but wanted to let you know that our package did arrive safely in Kiev. It actually got to the city on Monday, but our translator did not receive it until Wednesday. (I guess they leave a sticky note on your door when you're not at home and try again later, just like here!)

We are still waiting to hear back from the US Immigration office regarding our fingerprinting appointments. (I just checked today's mail... nope, not today.) I was encouraged to hear from a family in Jacksonville who had their immigration form processed in record time. Maybe the Orlando office would like to try to beat that time? ;-) I'll keep praying and checking the mailbox... you can focus on the prayer part.

Package #1 is on the way

Our first package of documents was shipped to our facilitator in Ukraine on Friday. It should arrive in Kiev on Wednesday or Thursday... we'll keep you posted!

A few steps forward and one step back

Let me start with the one step back. The item that we expect to take the longest in this process is receiving approval from the US immigration office. They’ve been reported to process the form we need in as little as 6 weeks or as long as 3 months. We mailed our original application on August 26th… and got it back, unprocessed, on Saturday, September 5th. (Background info – this form is 2 pages long but has 4 pages of instructions. At least ½ of one page is devoted to explaining how to pay by personal check, how they will process your check, etc.) You know how I follow directions very carefully, so I’m sure you will understand my shock when we got our whole packet back with a form letter explaining we needed to send a money order. Ugh! Are you serious?! Okay, fine, God must have a plan for this delay – I WILL find a bright side… that leads us to the “few steps forward.” The bright side comes in the fact that our home study was finalized, printed and notarized last night. (3 cheers for our wonderful social worker and fabulous notary!!!) That meant we were able to mail a copy of the home study to the immigration office along with our original form AND their beloved money order. Sooooo, hopefully that will encourage them, since they have all the pieces necessary, to send us our appointments for finger printing. We actually had about 16 different documents and/or letters notarized last night AND my marvelous, amazing, wonderful husband drove them all to Tallahassee today to be apostilled. (Yup, it was a new word to me, too. An apostille is essentially a certification issued by the Florida Department of State for notarized and other official documents that lets the Ukraine know it really is an official document.)

The moral of the story is we have collected almost all the documents needed for our dossier. Other than the immigration approval, the only thing missing is two forms from our doctor. They were actually filled out last week and are just waiting for his notary…

Please continue keep us and all the timing of this process in your prayers. Our desire would be to travel in November and be home before the end of the year, but it is more important to stay on God’s schedule, not ours.

Blogging... a new experience to share our experience

Okay, so if you've found the blog, you know there is something new going on in our world. God has put us back on the journey of adoption. We truly thought we were done. We hadn't really even thought about it since December 2007, but here we are. Let me try to answer at least some of the questions before you even ask.

Why did you stop last time?
We truly believe that the timing was not right in 2006-2007. God has always taken care of us and opened the doors we needed to walk through. At that point in time, the doors required battering rams to enter, so we stopped.

Why are you starting again?
Our hearts were moved by the stories of a friend who took a mission trip to an orphanage in Ukraine this summer. There is such a great need and we believe it is God's plan for our family.

UKRAINE?!?!
Yes, Ukraine. My family heritage (on my mother's side) actually traces back to that region and, like I mentioned above, the need there is great. (I'll try to post some of the orphanage statistics for you.)

Are you looking for a baby?
No. We believe we are called to adopt a school age girl... probably in the 6-9 year old window. In Ukraine, if a child has a sibling, they must be adopted together.

Does that mean you're adopting two?
We're really not sure. Ukraine does not pre-match families with the children, so we will not know until we get there. If God has 2 girls for us, then I guess we're adopting two.

Do you have to go there?
Yes, Dan and I will travel to Ukraine and probably be in the country for a month. Sometimes the process takes as much as 6-8 weeks. In that case, at least one of us would come home, probably at the 4 week mark, and the other would either stay to finish the process or make a second trip.

What about Tim?
Tim is excited! He's a bit guarded, understandable since last time we visited with kids he never got his desired sibling, but he is excited. He will have a wonderful team of people here with him while we are gone keeping his world spinning.

What can we do to help?
Now, pray! To say the timing of this entire process is in God's hands is a vast understatement. We know that He has the power to make our government (and theirs) process things more quickly or more slowly than typical timeframes. We are prepared to travel this journey on God's timetable. That said, if we are able to receive our approval from the USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) soon, it is possible we could be traveling as early as November. We could also be traveling anytime between that and next August... we'll keep you posted.
Later, help us learn how to raise a girl (or girls) who know how to walk, talk and feed themselves. Our world is going to be a very different place...



I expect you have lots of questions... so do we! :-) Feel free to ask and we'll do our best to answer.