Sorry I haven't posted anything in so long, but there really is nothing new to share. We honestly don't have much idea when we will be getting a referral or traveling to Russia. It seems that is taking a while for things to get up and running after the summer holidays and re-accreditation process. We continue to hope and pray for a referral soon but we just don't know. Luckily Brynn is keeping us busy with volleyball games and tournaments. She has dramatically improved and is a wonderful player! Not to mention she is captain of the team and take her responsibility seriously. I promise to post as soon as we know something more.

July Update

Just a quick note to say things are starting to look up but we are also trying to stay grounded about it all. It is rumored that the Russian government will be issuing accreditation certificates on the 4th of July. Our agency is already seeing an increase in the number of referrals this past week. Hopefully, something will be happening for us this month but they are saying September if not sooner.

I am no longer working outside of the house. That is except for church where I have been busy volunteering at vacation bible school and now I am doing meals on wheels. Things will quiet down next week as Brynn is off to Servant Camp in Key West and vbs is over. I have many things to do before we travel to Russia.

I had to change the ticker since I found a bear to use. We are tossing around names and are pretty sure on a family name, just waiting to meet him to make sure it fits. I hope you all have a wonderful July 4th.

The Waiting Game

I haven't posted anything lately since we are just waiting. We had been told initially to expect a referral in May. We were then told when I called in the middle of May it would probably be June but it could still be May. I was getting word from several people that things were slowing down for our agency and every other agency still working in Russia.

I spoke with our agency director last week. The agency is just not sure what to tell us at this point. The accreditation problem with adoption agencies in Russia has just slowed things way down for everyone. Luckily our agency is still working with families and processing them as independent. Our agency director did say if not before then it should be in September. Also adding to problems is that government offices in Russia close down for part of the summer for vacations, like most other European countries. However this past week some families received referrals so we have moved up on the list. Where we are on the list, I am not certain. We are just waiting and praying for a referral this summer but September will be ok to0. We knew this going in to it so we are not really surprised just disappointed.

We have been working on the nursery and we are getting close to posting pictures on here of it. The walls are done, the bedding is done and the last of the furniture is on order. It is very cute with creamy colored bead board walls with denim blue above with some red fire trucks here and there for Don. As soon as the last of the furniture arrives I will put pictures up for everyone. We have left a twin size bed in there for me to sleep in the first couple of weeks we have him home. They are not used to being alone and it will help with the transition. We also fenced the backyard so that we don't have to worry as much about the creek. Don did a beautiful job on it, now I have to landscape it. I am hoping to have an English garden Florida style out back.

My last day of work is June 14th, just around the corner. I am very excited to have some time with Brynn this summer and to get some long needed maintenance done around the house. Not to mention closest to clean, etc. I also want to spend some time this summer working at our vacation bible school and doing more at church. God has truly blessed us with our church family, we feel very fortunate to have found them! They are terrific support for us through this journey along with our family and other friends.

I hope everyone has a wonderful summer!

Short Update

I guess we have encountered one of our first delays. Hopefully there won't be too many more. I spoke with our agency today and things are moving slowly right now. We were told not to expect a referral this month, maybe in June. However, several of the regions will be closing for two months this summer, they usually only close for one. So things could take most of the summer which is what we were told in the beginning. I am hoping otherwise but I it is how most Russian adoptions go.

Keep us in your prayers!

Update

Just a quick update. Our dossier made it to our adoption agency today, hopefully there is nothing that will have to be redone. I am counting on at least one thing needing revisions. It seems to be the way things go for us. We are half way through what I am hoping is a four week wait but one never knows. Tomorrow we have to be in Davie (2 hours away) at 8:00 a.m. for fingerprinting for immigration paperwork, it will be an early morning.

Don and I spent the weekend and the last two evenings working on the "nursery", sounds so strange to say. We put up cream beadboard with a shelf around the top and painted the top half of the walls a medium periwinkle/denim blue. It looks wonderful. Due to all of the company coming we are putting it back together as a guest room but it will be easy to change in to a nursery when it is time.

Michelle is graduating from USF on Saturday morning. Yippee!!! It is very exciting for her. She will be starting nursing school in the fall in the Tampa area. I hope it all works out for her. Her and I put together a luncheon after the graduation for family. One of her good friends is getting married that day and she wants to go to the reception in the evening so we didn't do anything big. When Michelle graduates from nursing school we'll have to do it up right. Don's sister, Carol, from Rhode Island is coming for the weekend and Don's parents will also be there. And then they will visit us for a couple of days afterward.

We are on the waiting list

We are officially on the waiting list with our agency. We are number 6! I am so excited. We have been told to expect a referral within 4 weeks with travel (if we accept) two weeks after. Which means we should be in Russia the end of May or first part of June. I am trying to stay calm and not panic, boy do we have work to do!!

We got the bulk of our dossier sent off to the Florida Department of State for apostilling and they should be to our agency the end of next week. Our hold up may be US immigration but everyone keeps telling us that will pan out in the end. You call when you have travel dates for trip 2 and they rush it through for you.

I will post as soon as we get our referral!

Some great news early in the game

Our last home study visit went great on Monday evening. I really like our social worker, I think we could end up great friends in the end. We turned in to her all of our paperwork that she needs from us. She is waiting on our background checks to come in and then can finish things up. Hopefully it will be done within a couple of weeks.

We got our contract and dossier package on Monday from our adoption agency. Of course I dive right in to it to get it done as fast as humanly possible. I gave our social worker the list and examples of what is needed from the home study agency on Monday night. I then worked on it until late trying to get a head start. On Tuesday I called our agency to ask some questions, while I was at it I asked how long for a referral. I was quoted a month or so for a boy. Oh my gosh. I sent our contract in on Tuesday and they should have it by the first of next. Which would put our referral in May, best case scenario. I have a ton to do before then. I am in gathering paperwork mode and plan to send our first package to the Secretary of State on Monday for the Apostille. We should have our psychologist and MD appoints done the first of the week along with our CPA paperwork. We had a friend offer to do the CPA portion of things. And a friend of a friend agreed to do the psychologist portion in a hurry for us.

Anyway the great part of all of this is that we should be traveling for trip one and two in the summer months and have our little guy home by fall. I am trying to stay grounded in case something happens and we start encountering delays. This is always very possible with international adoption especially Russia. I keep thinking I am misunderstanding things. I will be nervously asking again, however this is the second time they have told me. I just can't believe it.

I have to get a crib by the weekend so I can take pictures to send with our package. We also have to buy a camera to take pictures with. Our pastor and his wife are graciously donating a crib to us. I haven't seen it yet so I hope it will work in the nursery we have planned. The nursery will be firetrucks in case any of you had any doubt. Ok, I am off to do my real work so I have time to get my dossier done! I probably need to take a day off of work to work on it all. Maybe Monday that will give me the weekend to do what I can at home and Monday to hit the notary, maybe one of my darling friends. Great thing about being in the legal field.