INDIA - Dossier time!

Hello all!  Much needed update follows!
     We are adopting this little girl we told you about earlier!  Her name is Abha, and I'll just tell you right now, she's adorable.  I hesitated posting more details because for a while it was back and forth.  Do we have her or don't we?  Can we pursue or not?  We prayed and prayed for wisdom and calm and that Abha find a safe family, as things were uncertain and thankfully God answered our prayers AND allowed that we be the family for Abha which was just icing on the cake.  I firmly believe that God is guiding Abha to a family and also guiding our story, we feel privileged that it could be us entrusted with Abha.  So far so good!  We are two approvals into the 6-step gauntlet.
     We were matched with her on March 20 after much uncertainty.  There was a system error that appeared that we could not continue with her referral, but then the region said they were under the impression we were matched, so that was good news! Then a few weeks later the central authority said no, because of the previous mistake another family had reserved her.  Then a few weeks later after our agency appealed on our behalf, the central agency granted us the reservation and matched us with her.  Phew!  Talk about a roller coaster!  So we continued on with the immigration paperwork, and one of the papers appeared unacceptable.  After about a week, and a discussion with the supervisor, it was decided that the paper was acceptable.  NOW we are ready to obtain the necessary documents to fill out the DS-260 to obtain a visa for Abha to eventually travel to the US!  In the meantime, our acceptance dossier (see following pics) is traveling through India being approved (the next two approval steps) and will hopefully end with our NOC (no objection certificate) then it's the two court processes.  Little by little, we inch through!  Also we are going to be getting more info from the orphanage about her likes and dislikes and details about her day.  Hopefully in a little while we'll be able to send her gifts and pictures.  Once we pass court, I can share pictures.  Until then, I want to show you what an international dossier looks like, in case you ever wondered. I'll give you a hint.  It looks like a mountain of papers.

Yipes!  Imagine the postage!  It'll give you nightmares!

BIG UPDATE

IT'S THE BIG ONE!!!  Well, there are other big ones to come, but this is the BIGGEST SO FAR!!!  Yesterday we got word that we are traveling... IN TWO WEEKS!!!  I meant to post yesterday, but figured that my readership is pretty low and Facebook is better for simply letting everyone know.  It's so exciting to post something so concrete on this little blog of mine.  We travel April 10th (a Friday) and arrive in Kiev by Monday.  We are taking a one day layover in Oslo so Zack and I can have a little anniversary date.  We celebrate 10 years in a few months, and since it's going to be super difficult, if not impossible, to have our annual anniversary trip any other way, that's how we're going to make it happen this year!  And then our official appointment with the SDA in Kiev is on April 15th.  That will be a big day.  That's the day we receive a profile of a child (or two?) to meet.  My to-do list, like, exploded the last 24 hrs.  I'm going to be keeping everyone updated through this site as we travel, so bookmark this blog if you are interested.  It's really happening, people!!!

Another update on waiting

So here we sit.  I procrastinated writing this post because it's a little bit depressing.  Ok, that sounds worse than it is.  Come back, keep reading, it's not that bad.  We had about a month delay with our paperwork.  We were hoping to be approved late February but now we will have to wait until late this month to hear whether or not we are approved.  So that puts travel around May/June.  This adoption waiting is weird and vortexy but all told, it's not so bad.  There's lots to keep us busy.  Also, the more we think about this new timeframe, the better it seems.  There are a few pieces we can put into place before we travel.  We may even be able to take two trips which would be ideal.  So anyway, with that in mind, thanks everyone for sticking with us!  We'll keep you posted!  We're super close, and soon my posts will be way more exciting!!!

Update on our waiting

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!  People kindly ask me every so often - "Any adoption news?"  And I answer them honestly - yes, but it's still super boring!!!  Our dossier paperwork was submitted on Jan 22 to the Ukrainian government.  I tell people, "You can't tell, but I'm bulging paper-pregnant!"  Now we wait for our approval and our "invitation to travel".  The estimated time to get our approval was, at the earliest, today!  Seriously, Old Christmas and Valentines Day have been weird this year because they have been paperwork timing dates.  We should be receiving our approval soon.  If we're approved, that is!  So, rather, we should be hearing in the next week whether or not we have been approved.  *nervous twitching*  After that, it may be four days, it may be four weeks until we receive our "invitation to travel", which will then occur approximately a month after we get aforementioned invitation.  Clear as mud?  Told'ya it was super boring.  But... that's what I have for now!  Continue to keep our family in your prayers as we prepare with excited trepidation (is that a thing?) for this vague event in the unknown, equally hazy, future.  Ooh, a foggy post.  You know what else?  Today marks the 2nd anniversary of the first post of the adoption chapter of this blog!  We have been in process for 2 years now.  Wow.  Looking back on this journey, God's timing and sovereignty is evident in so many ways.  We marvel at how He got us to where we are now.  What a long, strange, paper pregnancy!

PAPERWORK - Dossier in Ukraine!

Update sorely needed!  First of all, our dossier has been apostilled and sent off to Ukraine!  I'm told it's being translated and reviewed by staff in Ukraine.  Picked apart ad nauseam.  Then after the first of the year, (Old Christmas is celebrated in Ukraine) it will be submitted with the SDA.  That is, if we don't have to redo a portion - which often happens.  If it gets submitted early in January, we may be looking at travel by March!  That's so exciting to have a clearer picture of the process.  Liiiiiiittle by liiiiiiittle we are inching our way towards our child(ren)!!!  Carrie and Drew are being updated regularly on all this, too, as they are having to plan their lives around potentially traveling with us.  Kian asks every so often, "are we going to get my sister from Mykraine today?"  I have to tell him, "No, today isn't the day yet."

I am excited and yet terrified at starting this journey.  There are so many unknowns.  It's still so vague and impalpable.

The other day we were at Once Upon a Child in Canton, and we went over to the older youth clothes to take a look.  It put things in perspective.  I bought a size 8 outfit (no clue what size they'll really wear), just because.  It wasn't as large as I thought it would be - it still looked like a little kid to me.  I also bought two extra pairs of Christmas jammies.  Just cuz.  Our hearts are more and more ready - and it feels right that our family is just about ready to expand again.  Christmas is keeping me busy - after Christmas I'm going to need to find things to do.  Until we get our invitation to travel I'll probably be pacing the floor!  I'll keep you all updated, but it might still be boring for juuuust a little longer!

Happy Holidays everyone!!!

PAPERWORK - Dossier update

Sorry another boring post!  We're having a fundraiser this weekend and so then we may have some pictures to provide.  Until then, let the snores begin.  We are working through our dossier.  We have noticed that the dossier is less paperwork and paperchasing than the home study, but it's so METICULOUS!  Everything has to be dotted and crossed just perfectly!  The wording in some cases has to be just so, and things like that.  We are trudging through, in spite.  Here's a a list of the major items and what we've accomplished so far in the dossier world:

renew Rachel passport and get passports for boys - done
employment verification letters - almost done (need one from 61 Surplus yet)
marriage certificate papers - done
apostille marriage papers and home study - need to send to Columbus
medical certificates including bloodwork - done
criminal background checks - needed to be redone - got fingerprints and papers, need to send it away
proof of home ownership - had to get a lawyer to write this one since we don't have mortgage, we are working on it

Fun list, huh?  That's where we're at, as you can see a lot of things are coming together, shouldn't be long until we can send it!

Rachel

PAPERWORK - Dossier

Update on our paperwork situation.  I mentioned in my last post that we were told to wait until our move was done to start the dossier.  Everything is time sensitive regarding the dossier.  You can't do it and then wait to send it.  You have to do it all in one small time-frame.  It all basically hinged on the processing of our I-600A (our application to be approved as adopters of orphans).  We were told this takes a couple months, but the approval letter (I-171H) showed up at our door only a few weeks after our biometrics appointment up in Cleveland.  That changed the game a bit.  Now that we would have to process the address change with the federal government anyway, our social worker said, let's get to dossier-ing!  (That's not what she said, I made that word up.)  But that's how it felt!  Zack and I breathed a big fat sigh of relief and said "LET'S DO THIS!!!"  There was high fiving and grinning, and, well, you had to be there.  It was small scale torture to wait for my parent's house to be done and to get this move on.  Plus I felt like it was pressuring my parents which isn't fair.  So this really changed the game for my parents, too.  They can be a little more relaxed with the building.
The biggest change is that we will have to prepare this tiny, less-than-ideal home for potentially 2 more children!  Zack is up to the challenge and is at his best doing things like this.  We shifted stuff around and hauled some stuff off to storage.  We have been approved to house this many children in this house, so we'll make it work to the best of our ability, with loads of God's help!  Thanks everyone for praying and asking how we are doing even though we have such boring things to share!  Someday we will be posting milestones of our new child, and we will remember this paperwork stage as "the wilderness", but important nonetheless.