We received our FBI fingerprinting clearance letter this week....Normally this would be really exciting and move us to the next step in our adoption process, but given our last few weeks this is a relief that our letter came, but it also means we missed the cut off point with our agency by about 3 weeks! We are praying this is for the better and that we are headed in a new positive direction.
Tomorrow will start the process over for us as we are mailing our application into a new agency to continue with our pursuit of a Russian snow princess! More to come.......
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Update
So two weeks have went by since our Agency called and told us that they would not be processing our adoption and that the Russian government was too unstable to proceed with American adoptions and since we didn't know any better we were devastated and lost. But, the investigator in me came out and I have done tons of research and talked with Social workers across the country about this Russian problem. However, there isn't really a Russian Problem! Several agencies I talked to have experienced a slow down with the Russian Election but none of them are considering closing their programs. Now I would be skeptical if I had only talked with one, but I have talked or emailed with 6 differnt agencies in the last week and they all told me the same thing. Russia is Russia! They have a history of stirring things up during the election season and then things get settled and adoptions continue on. The adoption Treaty between Russaia and Us is supposed to be officially signed in the next month or so, but again Russia is in control of their children so who really knows.
So where does that leave us?
That is the million dollar question. We are still seeking God's direction for our family. We are pretty confident international adoption is where we are supposed to be, we also still feel like Russia is the specific region of the world we are called to adopt from. We are pretty gun shy at this time and we need to be confident in our decision. We already took the leap of Faith we needed and said yes to international adoption, and now we have to rebound from our first roadblock.
We are hoping to make some decisions soon, but we are kinda letting things just resignate in our souls for a while, or if you are a spiritual person that believes in words from others, we are sitting on a verse - be still and know that I am God.
To our child, wherever you are: Know that Mom, Dad and little C love you so much and that we pray that God protect you while we sort through the logistics of how to bring you home.
So where does that leave us?
That is the million dollar question. We are still seeking God's direction for our family. We are pretty confident international adoption is where we are supposed to be, we also still feel like Russia is the specific region of the world we are called to adopt from. We are pretty gun shy at this time and we need to be confident in our decision. We already took the leap of Faith we needed and said yes to international adoption, and now we have to rebound from our first roadblock.
We are hoping to make some decisions soon, but we are kinda letting things just resignate in our souls for a while, or if you are a spiritual person that believes in words from others, we are sitting on a verse - be still and know that I am God.
To our child, wherever you are: Know that Mom, Dad and little C love you so much and that we pray that God protect you while we sort through the logistics of how to bring you home.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Isaiah 55:8-9
Isaiah 55:8-9
My thoughts are not your thougts, says the Lord.
For just as heaven is higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts.
My thoughts are not your thougts, says the Lord.
For just as heaven is higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts.
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Good Bye Russia
It is a sad day at our house. We received a call from our adoption agency yesterday telling us that they will no longer be proceeding with Russian adoptions. In a summary of events..Russia has elected a new president and he is calling for a minimization of all foreign adoptions that will soon be phased out completely or as a last result. We appreciate our agency's integrity, they were honest and willing to move us to another program within their agency or refund the money we have invested so far, but they did not feel like the program was going to have the end results we were all hoping for...a Russian child finding their way to a forever family.
They did tell us we could look for another agency that was willing to process new families, but to use caution and ask how deep the wait list is, because their comes a time when money can't be refunded because it has been used to translate paperwork or pay fees for certain things.
So today we are left with a void. We loved Russia, we loved our Snow Princess and a little piece of our hearts are broken.
Today we feel like if our agency feels like the program is too unstable that we should use that advice. We will contact a few agencies on Monday and ask questions but most likely, this chapter of international adoption is closed.
So the big question is what will we do? We will be changing agencies if we decided to proceed with international adoption, we really feel like Eastern Europe is where we are called to be and amongst our current agency our choices are limited to three other countries and two of them are about a 4 year wait for a healthy infant.
We are re-visiting our motives for international adoption, we are questioning our desires for a family, we are praying that God sheds a light on our future. We have choices to make that we were hoping to never make again. We could proceed with another country, we could check into domestic U.S. adoptions, we could call our fertility clinic and get an appointment or we could do nothing and be extremely happy that we have been blessed with the beautiful baby we already have. These are some of those tear jerking moments you just have to ask God why? Why can't we just have a baby? Why did we feel called to Russia? What do I do with all the emotions I have for this baby girl I don't know? Where are we supposed to end up?
We took a step of faith about 8 months ago and said yes to international adoption. This was a road we thought we would do someday, not knowing that someday was now....so we are trying to roll with the punches and look for God's plan in this. No one ever said International Adoption was easy, we knew we would hit some road blocks but we really were not expecting to change countries all together. So if you are a praying person, please pray for discernment and direction for our family.
They did tell us we could look for another agency that was willing to process new families, but to use caution and ask how deep the wait list is, because their comes a time when money can't be refunded because it has been used to translate paperwork or pay fees for certain things.
So today we are left with a void. We loved Russia, we loved our Snow Princess and a little piece of our hearts are broken.
Today we feel like if our agency feels like the program is too unstable that we should use that advice. We will contact a few agencies on Monday and ask questions but most likely, this chapter of international adoption is closed.
So the big question is what will we do? We will be changing agencies if we decided to proceed with international adoption, we really feel like Eastern Europe is where we are called to be and amongst our current agency our choices are limited to three other countries and two of them are about a 4 year wait for a healthy infant.
We are re-visiting our motives for international adoption, we are questioning our desires for a family, we are praying that God sheds a light on our future. We have choices to make that we were hoping to never make again. We could proceed with another country, we could check into domestic U.S. adoptions, we could call our fertility clinic and get an appointment or we could do nothing and be extremely happy that we have been blessed with the beautiful baby we already have. These are some of those tear jerking moments you just have to ask God why? Why can't we just have a baby? Why did we feel called to Russia? What do I do with all the emotions I have for this baby girl I don't know? Where are we supposed to end up?
We took a step of faith about 8 months ago and said yes to international adoption. This was a road we thought we would do someday, not knowing that someday was now....so we are trying to roll with the punches and look for God's plan in this. No one ever said International Adoption was easy, we knew we would hit some road blocks but we really were not expecting to change countries all together. So if you are a praying person, please pray for discernment and direction for our family.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
USCIS Fingerprints done!
So we had heard through other adopting families that you could try to walk into the USCIS office anytime after you have your appointment letter, so we tried it....and it was sucessful. We walked into the building at 11:48 on Friday and we both walked out completed with reciepts in our hands at 12:02pm....
It was simple, and the workers were curtious and didn't really even bat an eye at the fact that our appointments were not until mid March.
So what happens now, we wait! We will get a clearance letter and then we will be assigned a region in Russia. Our agency has notified us that a few regions will not be adopting any children out to Americans until the governments sign an agreement, but others are still operating as planned. Each region has different criteria to meet and so with our assignement we can work on any final paperwork that will be required for that region. Then we are done with the paperwork, and we will wait....and this wait is an undetermined timeframe.
We are getting more and more excited. We are hopeful we will meet our child by the end of the year. With this date in mind we are really needing to push our fundraising efforts out into the community. Here is what we have planned if you would like to join us.
Fundraising:
Applying for a matching grant through a local organization - up to $5000.00 matching funds. Praying we get accepted for this. We know we have faithful family friends that can help us meet this goal.
Puzzle pieces: We are selling puzzle piece for $10.00 each. We are writing your name on the pieces and you will forever be a part of our childs journey home. Refer to a earlier blog for full details.
Garage Sale: We are accepting donations from anyone local and we are hosting a garage sell in April or May during our nieghborhood garage sale..so advertising will be free and we are going to put adoption signs up allowing people to make a donation and take what they want. Our goal from this is to hopefully make enough money to buy a plane ticket to Russia...
We are definately open to other ideas and have considered a few other options but they are yet to be determined.
It was simple, and the workers were curtious and didn't really even bat an eye at the fact that our appointments were not until mid March.
So what happens now, we wait! We will get a clearance letter and then we will be assigned a region in Russia. Our agency has notified us that a few regions will not be adopting any children out to Americans until the governments sign an agreement, but others are still operating as planned. Each region has different criteria to meet and so with our assignement we can work on any final paperwork that will be required for that region. Then we are done with the paperwork, and we will wait....and this wait is an undetermined timeframe.
We are getting more and more excited. We are hopeful we will meet our child by the end of the year. With this date in mind we are really needing to push our fundraising efforts out into the community. Here is what we have planned if you would like to join us.
Fundraising:
Applying for a matching grant through a local organization - up to $5000.00 matching funds. Praying we get accepted for this. We know we have faithful family friends that can help us meet this goal.
Puzzle pieces: We are selling puzzle piece for $10.00 each. We are writing your name on the pieces and you will forever be a part of our childs journey home. Refer to a earlier blog for full details.
Garage Sale: We are accepting donations from anyone local and we are hosting a garage sell in April or May during our nieghborhood garage sale..so advertising will be free and we are going to put adoption signs up allowing people to make a donation and take what they want. Our goal from this is to hopefully make enough money to buy a plane ticket to Russia...
We are definately open to other ideas and have considered a few other options but they are yet to be determined.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
USCIS
We have prayed for a smooth trasition of our paperwork...and God has been faithful. We recieved our fingerprinting apointment today in the mail. We are scheduled for mid March, but plan to try to walk in sooner. Once this is done, we will get assigned to a specific region in Russia!
One step closer to bringing our child home!
One step closer to bringing our child home!
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Mora...what?
Yesterday, Jeremy and I sat at our dinner table discussing the adoption update we recieved earlier in the day. Neither of us really understood the verbage that was used and didn't really know what it meant....
Of course I couldn't hardly make it through dinner without knowing what this word "moratorium" meant so I pulled out our IPad and googled it...
Merriam-Webster Dictionary said: a legally authorized period of delay: a suspension of activity.
What? That can't be happening in our adoption timeline. We are just getting settled in this process and we were really hoping that we would at least have some movement by the end of the year. So we had to take a deep breath and do a little research. Here is what I found.
The Russian Foreign Ministry(people responsible for adoptions)have suggested the government employ a suspension on US adoptions of Russina children - It is my understanding this is mostly due to a couple of cases in the US where adopted Russian children have been abused and the Russian officials feel like the US judicial system has not given severe enough concequences.
Luckily the Foreign Ministry is not able to employ this moratorium on their own, this must go through the Russian government and they must sign an addendum to the US/Russian Adoption agreement that was signed into place in the summer of 2011.
So if you are a praying person, we ask that you pray that GOD releases this suggestion or that the Russian government sees that there is a huge need to continue to find the 250,000 orphans a home. The financial cost to keep these children institutionalized must be huge. The percentage of children that grow up in an orphanage and exit at an appropriate age to the "real" world and are actually are sucessful is very low. Most of these kids end up involved with drugs, alcohol, prostitution, in jail or worse commit suicide. These are all children of God that end up lost, and maybe could have been guided and loved by a forever family. We pray that the lack of self control from another adoptive family will not impact our family. I feel like a child right now saying to my mom, that just because someone else did something wrong doesn't mean I should be punished. Funny thing about that is that my mother would gently respond with - sometimes life's just not fair...
We have built a dream around our Snow Princess. We have started getting connected with other Russian adoptive families, familarlized ourselves with the culture and country, prayed for this child daily and even bought winter coats on sale that will keep us warm in tempatures that extend to -9 degrees. We are saddened that the program maybe put on hold, but we are hopeful that this won't happen. We are not interested at this time of switching countries. So we just have a worry in our hearts, but hopefull that things will continue to move as usual.
At this time - Nothing has changed....adoptions are still proceeding as they have.........we will pray it stays this way.
Of course I couldn't hardly make it through dinner without knowing what this word "moratorium" meant so I pulled out our IPad and googled it...
Merriam-Webster Dictionary said: a legally authorized period of delay: a suspension of activity.
What? That can't be happening in our adoption timeline. We are just getting settled in this process and we were really hoping that we would at least have some movement by the end of the year. So we had to take a deep breath and do a little research. Here is what I found.
The Russian Foreign Ministry(people responsible for adoptions)have suggested the government employ a suspension on US adoptions of Russina children - It is my understanding this is mostly due to a couple of cases in the US where adopted Russian children have been abused and the Russian officials feel like the US judicial system has not given severe enough concequences.
Luckily the Foreign Ministry is not able to employ this moratorium on their own, this must go through the Russian government and they must sign an addendum to the US/Russian Adoption agreement that was signed into place in the summer of 2011.
So if you are a praying person, we ask that you pray that GOD releases this suggestion or that the Russian government sees that there is a huge need to continue to find the 250,000 orphans a home. The financial cost to keep these children institutionalized must be huge. The percentage of children that grow up in an orphanage and exit at an appropriate age to the "real" world and are actually are sucessful is very low. Most of these kids end up involved with drugs, alcohol, prostitution, in jail or worse commit suicide. These are all children of God that end up lost, and maybe could have been guided and loved by a forever family. We pray that the lack of self control from another adoptive family will not impact our family. I feel like a child right now saying to my mom, that just because someone else did something wrong doesn't mean I should be punished. Funny thing about that is that my mother would gently respond with - sometimes life's just not fair...
We have built a dream around our Snow Princess. We have started getting connected with other Russian adoptive families, familarlized ourselves with the culture and country, prayed for this child daily and even bought winter coats on sale that will keep us warm in tempatures that extend to -9 degrees. We are saddened that the program maybe put on hold, but we are hopeful that this won't happen. We are not interested at this time of switching countries. So we just have a worry in our hearts, but hopefull that things will continue to move as usual.
At this time - Nothing has changed....adoptions are still proceeding as they have.........we will pray it stays this way.
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