That still small voice...

Have you ever heard "that still, small voice" and waited to see if it would get louder?  That is what has happened to us over the past couple of months.  God has been speaking softly in to our hearts about another little boy in the same orphanage as AJ.  Another little boy who needs a mommy and daddy to kiss his sweet cheeks, feed him when he is hungry and comfort him when he is afraid.  Time and again, we have been drawn back to this precious little one, looking at his picture and praying that his forever family would come find him.  Time and again, that "still, small voice" just kept getting louder and louder.  We had to act!  After MUCH pray and thought over several months, today was the day...

Today, his forever family has found him!!  Today, we answered the call, the call to bring this youngster into our family!  We officially committed to adopt Michael as well as AJ!!!   Michael is a precious 3 year old, almost 4 year old, who is full of life and will thrive once we get him home.   He has some health issues but we are not afraid.  God has perfectly equipped our family for exactly this and we are honored to answer His call. 

                        Introducing: Michael!

The home study is DONE!

Today, the home study is DONE!  Our very gracious HS preparer has so diligently gone through our HS, line-by-line-by-line ten dozen times....or more.  She allowed us to preview and suggest changes time and again.  I am so thankful God directed her to us!  Today, our home study is done and that is HUGE!  We will send it to the state-side team today to read over and make suggestions.  I'm thinking there will be nothing to suggest because it is that well prepared!  Thank you, Ashley, for your commitment, your diligence and all the hard work that you put into this HS!  What a gift you are to us and this journey!

This is the moment our home study was signed by the notary and the social worker.  Thank you Douglas and Ashley for all you have done!!

Prayers Warriors

Through the grace of God, this adoption process has gone very smoothly up to this point.  I am so grateful for that because when things go smoothly, babies get rescued quicker!  Our home study is nearing it's end with the rough draft being written as I type.  Prayer warriors, please stand in agreement with us that the rest of this process will continue to go smoothly and according to His plan.  Please stand in agreement with us that our finances will come through in a timely manner and not delay the process.  It is not cheap to rescue a child, for sure, but through hard work, God's grace and a little help along the way, this too will come together.

Please be on the lookout for exciting updates coming soon...

Powerful Words of Wisdom from a fellow Reese's Rainbow mom

"It isn't faith unless you're doing something you couldn't do apart from God. We are called to do big, crazy things that don't make sense to the world, things that challenge our fears and put our feet right on the edge.

Yes, I think it's completely biblical to give others the opportunity to follow God's commands to care for orphans. It is every bit as biblical as World Vision or Feed the Children reaching out to ask people to help with their efforts. It is every bit as biblical as the church asking its members to fund the efforts of its missionaries.

Every person who supports you in your journey---you are giving them the unbelievable opportunity to be a part of this bigness...you are drawing them in to obedience to God at its core...you are allowing them to be a part of saving a child...you are making it real and tangible...you are His hands and feet on this earth... There will be those who consider international special needs adoption something only superheroes do, and you will put a face on courage, boldness, and
obedience."

Praying for God's peace to flood you. :)
Ashley Mo

Medical paperwork...DONE!

Today we met with our doctor and our notary down at the doctor's office to sign and notarize our medical paperwork.  I'm so glad all the parties were able to come together at one time, in one spot to get this done!  Thank you, thank you everyone involved for paving the way for this!! So many adoptive families have had issues with this portion of the journey and I am grateful to God and everyone involved that, for us, all went very smooth!  Thank you so much!!!

I sent in this paperwork along with 4 other notarized documents to our state-side team to be checked.  All the documents looked in order and we were cleared to send everything to the Secretary of State to be apostilled!  I will get this done Monday.  It should take about a week for the SOS to return the apostilled documents to me.  Once we have our completed home study, DPS background checks and get those notarized and then apostilled we will be able to send everything over to USCIS where we wait for our FBI fingerprint appointment.  Once cleared, we will then send all our documents (our dossier) over to Eastern Europe where everything will be translated and approved by the SDA.  Then we get our travel date and off we go to meet our little man!

That will be trip #1.  On that trip we get the official referral from the SDA, meet our little man and go to court where we officially become his parents. Yeah!!!  There is a 10-day wait period, that we are praying will be waived... and occasionally is... before we can bring him home. The wait period is primarily for the birth family should they decide to come forward and contest the adoption.  This RARELY happens.  We can come home during the 10-day wait period and then return to pick him up or just stay there and wait.  We will most likely come home during the wait period.  

The second trip is when we get to take our son out of the orphanage for the last time and walk outta there to freedom, fresh air and family.  This day is known as "Gotcha Day"!  What a wonderful day that will be!  We will then go get his birth certificate, Visa and Passport before making the trip back home.

SO, there you have it in a nut shell.  The process from this point to that. 

$$ answers - because several have asked

It costs a LOT to rescue an orphan!  NO, we do not have this money laying around.  We are working like crazy earning this, doing what we have to do like selling everything in sight, offering horseback riding lessons to local children, cooking everything at home, being even more frugal than usual, etc.  We have faith that we will be able to earn what is required.  God has this!

So, here's the breakdown for those who have asked:

$800 homestudy
$200 our passports
$200 apostilled documents
$500 mailing documents
$1000 USCIS,i-600a and fingerprinting
$5000 flights*
$8600 EE legal fees/facilitator fees
$1700 first trip lodging ($80/nt 3 weeks)
$1100 second trip lodging ($80/nt 2 weeks)
$450 first trip food/other supplies ($20/day 3 weeks)
$250 second trip food/other supplies ($20/day 2 weeks)
$1200 both children passports
$1100 Visa and Medical for both children
$2000 transportation (in country)
$2000 orphanage donation/dossier preparation costs

* I will update these as the actual figures come in