We received our referral !!!

Well after accepting all indications/probability that it would be June/Summer before our first trip, we got THE CALL - we have our referral and we'll be traveling in April ! We are one ecstatic household! Now reality sets in - lining up the family and friends to care for our Princess, booking travel, 'packing light', etc. We're burning the midnight oil night and day. Have to get our travel visa's now, and get dossier documents finalized to bring with us per our consultants request.

We took our brief, very brief medical information and met with a doctor who specializes in international adoptions. A lot of our concerns were alleviated but we did receive a list of "do's" while on our visit - such as games to play, kinds of photos/video to take, what reactions to look for, etc.

We have purchased toys and will be getting some Cheerios and snacks for him also. Our Princess picked out his blanket and a 'lovey' that we'll leave there with him.

And speaking of our Princess ... she is so very excited! Talks of sleeping in his room with him so he won't be alone at night, pulling him in the wagon when we go to the Fall fairs, helping bathe him, being his seat mate in the truck ... all those Big Sister things!

We've run the gamut of emotions these past few days; mostly all good, but stressful none the less. So, please keep the L3 in your prayers as two of us travel and one stays state-side.

How time flies and stands still all at once!

It seems as these past several weeks have left nearly no time to get even the necessary things done...family birthdays, cousins activities, our own activities, the list goes on as it probably does in your family from time to time also. We did finally get the closet doors replaces, walls and trim painted and new light fixtures in both kiddo's rooms, pink for the Princess and a tan color for the Prince. We're having a difficult time figuring our what design or patterns will go on the pink. We've pretty much decided on using nautical flags and boats, anchors and such on the tan. Maybe by the next post this will be finished.

We are in the waiting for a referral stage, and waiting...waiting...waiting. We are just about finished with the updated home study and financial statement. This next week will will go get newly fingerprinted and get an updated FBI report. That seemed so scary at first, now we seem to be in a repeat mode. Many of our documents expire in the next 2-3 months so we are starting to get all new updates.

Russia has really cracked down on international adoptions again. We do not think that these new decisions will delay our process, but please join us in prayer about all our documents being accepted, without delay and that our referral is "healthy" in body, mind, soul, and spirit. We couldn't list that desire on our paperwork, but we petition God for this daily. Thanks for your support and prayers. God is good...all the time. Steve & Cheryl

No news, the wait continues...

Well, here we are. It's the middle of January and our paperwork has been in Russia for two plus months. We nave no further news but are moving forward with things anyway. We are in process of updating our home study since an original copy no longer exists here in the U.S. Fortunately we have been able to keep our social worker, Kristen through all of the changes and closure of the home study agency that we started with.

CHI did get confirmation on some of the document formatting that is required in Yaroslavl. Hopefully we will get confirmation of the formatting of financial statements soon as we are waiting to provide updated information for our home study until we have all the details confirmed with our CPA.

The Princess' and Prince's rooms are in process of being painted. The new furniture for the Royal Court will be delivered this Saturday, so we are really pushing ourselves to get the rooms ready. There is still so much to be done on the Prince's room. The Princess' is almost finished as far as update and paint..."desire pink". Yes, pink. That's what the Princess requested. His will be a combination of blues and browns - a captains and nautical motif.

That's it for now. Just a quick update. Oh... we found out that through a mutual friend that we may have a missionary contact in Yaroslavl. We are looking forward to getting in contact with them and hopefully developing a friendship and meeting up when we actually get to travel to Russia.

That's it for now. Keep us in your prayers. S&C

Paperwork Under Review in Yaroslavl

A quick update of where we are in our paperwork pregnancy: Our registration dossier is in Russia and has been submitted to the Department of Education in Yaroslavl. That means that the translation has been completed and we are under review for approval. We had a small snafu of sorts in that our "original" home study document never made it to Russia with the rest of the documents. We submitted a certified and appostilled copy but yesterday (Friday 11/21) we were notified that the copy was not acceped. We promptly mailed the only "orignal" home study document that exists to CHI; it should be in the mail to Yaroslovl on Wednesday 11/26. Please pray with us that this will meet all of the requirements and be accepted so that we may move forward to the referral stage of the process.

We also received several new documents from Anna, our coordinator with CHI. She has been diligently working on these for the past several weeks to make sure they are in accordance with the Yaroslovl region. So, now we move on to more paperwork... Oh the wonderful world of paper pregnancy. It is a glorious thing! :-)

As we are beginning our Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday season we are ever aware that this may be the last Thanksgiving and Christmas with only our Princess. We are so excited to add another member but at the same time want for this one to be so very special and memorable, for next year may be extra special in an entirely different way. Thank you Lord for the countless blessings that we have received so undeservedly from you.

Assigned To Region - Yaroslovl'

We received word from CHI that we have been assigned to the Yaroslovl' Region (Yea!!!). This is a new region for CHI. We will be working with Anna and Olga going forward. They are very nice people and we are blessed in that they are both from Russia and familiar with the many nuances of the process. The dossier is in process of being translated and we will know what additional documents are required for this region soon. We are quickly learning more about Yaroslovl (http://www.answers.com/topic/yaroslavl). It appears to be a beautiful location with about 6 orphanages and two baby houses. Our Little Prince may well be in one of these locations now. Please pray with us that the immediate phase of documentation will proceed easily, expediently and accurately. Princess O thinks it is pretty awsome that we know where her little brother lives now and so do we. Love and kisses from the L3 to our Prince.

Registration Update

Just a quick update on "where we are"..... The paperwork has been in Russia for about two weeks. As we understand the process, it normally takes 8-12 weeks for it to be translated and then a region assigned. We are patiently waiting for the region assignment and then we will begin completing the remaing portions of the dossier according to that regions specific requirements.

Because of changes in international adoptions, our agency (Children's Hope International) has made several changes. We are loosing the consultant and branch manager we have been working with. Hopefully we will be able to keep our LPC for future home study requirements. CHI has been good to work with. Please keep them in your prayers too as they restructure and work on our behalf to complete our adoption.

Our Princess

This fall, our princess has decided to be a cheer leader rather than a soccer player. She is loving dance, and learning to play the piano (some day she will love that too - we hope). She is soooo excited about having a brother. She prays for him every night that God blesses him with a good night and good day and that he is healthy and comes home soon. It is difficult for her to understand why we just can't go and get him. She already has a name picked out, but we won't share that just yet. We are in process of repainting and working on the kids rooms. Her room is first of course and then her brother-to-be's room. There are all sorts of suggestions being given for that as you can imagine from an excited big sis. We are so richly blessed to have our Princess. It has been seven wonderful years... thank you God once again for blessing us with her.