Passports are in...

As of 6-14-10 we are the proud new owners of USA passports!  Now we can get busy on all the paperwork that requires passport numbers.  I wish, wish, wish there was a quicker way to make this adoption move along.  It really is maddening how long it takes to send in paperwork, get it back, send it in for apostilling, get it back, and send it to EE.  Maddening I say!  

POA's and CSP *SENT*...

So, maybe I'm a little cautious, just a little.  I took the envelope down to the FedEx place this afternoon filled with our precious POA's and CSP forms.  I did not seal the envelope before getting there because I wanted the FedEx person to help me finish filling out the packing slip and put everything in correctly.  The lady at the counter was so helpful as I fumbled to finished writing in the proper box's.  We debated on the spelling of Kiev.  Was it Kiev or Kyiv?  Turns out it is either...so we put both.  The envelope will get there with either spelling and will for sure get there with BOTH!


I paid the nice lady $114 to send the envelope the fastest way possible.  It will still take 6 days and that is waaaayyyyyy too slow in my book.  I might try UPS for the next set of documents and see if they can do this faster.  Every day we wait for things to ship is another day sweet AJ spends alone in his bed.  We cannot get there fast enough. 

I felt good that we got that done and I drove off set to go home.  Half way home, I remembered that I did not seal the envelope and turned around and headed back to the FedEx place.  I do not think the lady at the counter was too surprised to see me.  I must have looked like a new momma returning to check on her baby in the church nursery.  I told her what I had done and she smiled and assured me that SHE had sealed the envelope for me.  I was very thankful.  She even showed me the envelope.   We talked again about the spelling of Kiev and looked it up in the FedEx city handbook.  We then talked about these all-important documents and I told her about our adoption.  She said her sister has adopted three from Russia, with one more on the way.  Very neat!


I will be very glad when these documents make there way to Eastern Europe!  Wish it were ME! 

"He knows my name"

We sang this song in church tonight like we have so many times before.  Only this time I cried.  I cried because I heard it from the view point of AJ, as if he were singing it to God and to us.  I pray AJ feels he has a Father, both earthly and Heavenly, who knows his name, who will NEVER leave him, no matter where he goes.  I pray AJ can some how feel our love.

I have a maker
Before my heart,
before even time began
My life was in his hands

He knows my name
He knows my every thought,
He sees each tear that falls
and hears me when I call

I have a father,
he calls me his own
He'll never leave me,
no matter where I go

He knows my name
He knows my every thought
He sees each tear that falls
and hears me when I call

He knows my name
He knows my every thought
He sees each tear that falls
and hears me when I call

He knows my name
He knows my every thought
He sees each tear that falls
And hears me when I call
He hears me when I call

First set of apostilled documents are back...

We received our first set of apostilled documents in the mail today, back from the Secretary of State of Texas!!  Now on to Eastern Europe...Yeah!

Home Study, Part 1

Today we was the first of two home visits for our home study.  It went great!  Our social worker is such a sweet, sweet person and put us at ease from the very start!  The interview was literally like talking to an old friend ~ nothing hard about it!!  She visited with Jeff and I and then each of our children.  We did a walk through inside the house and outside. Jeff and I have quite a bit of paper work to work on between now and our second home visit but that is good because it will keep us busy and keep things moving along.   One step closer baby boy, one step closer.....

Things are starting to move

We applied for our passports yesterday.    We went during Jeff's lunch hour and were very short on time.  The postal worker was so sweet.  The line was *very* long and the postal worker saw that we had a document folder...and a baby...and asked us if we were there for passports.  We said 'yes we were' and he waived us to the FRONT of the line.  I am so thankful we did not have to wait.  The cost to apply for passports sure has gone up over the past 30 years since I last applied.  It was just under $200 each, well, we did expedite the process so that did add a little.   At least this process is done and Jeff was still able to grab a bite to eat and get back to work on time since the nice postal worker waived us through the line.  So thankful!


I was able to send in our first set of documents for apostille this morning.  The lady at the post office said the documents should arrive in Austin by noon tomorrow.  The cost for this...$69.15!   We should get these back in a couple of weeks and we can send them to Eastern Europe....cost for that, $200.  No body ever said rescuing an orphan  was cheap....but well worth every penny!

Two words...

Blue ink!  Use BLUE ink to fill out all of your dossier documents!  Or else you will have to do them all over again.  The reason for this is so originals can be distinguished more easily from copies.  Lesson learned!

Notorizing on a SATURDAY! Yeah!!

So, I called over to my wonderfully, fantasticly great next door neighbors to see if they by some chance would happen to know of a notary who would be open on a Saturday, the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend and guess what....MY NEIGHBOR IS A NOTARY!  I had no idea...but...GOD knew he was a notary and directed my steps.  I'm speechless.  I have 6 documents I need to send overseas this weekend and I will get to do that today instead of having to wait through the holiday weekend and into next week.  These are extremely important documents with one being so important that it actually 'holds' our little one for us until we can get to him!!!  I'm crying tears of joy.


Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

S-O, S-L-O-W

AJ, sweet AJ!  I think of him and want this process to go beyond lightning speed.  He needs his mommy.  He needs his daddy.  He needs his brothers and sisters to play with him, hold him, kiss him good night.  He needs to come home.  This process is agonizingly slow and I think of him, needing me.  It's hard.  I find rest knowing that God kisses his sweet cheeks each night, that God warms his little body as the nights grow cold, that God has this.  GOD HAS THIS!


It seems we are just spinning our wheels at times.  Everything is moving SO SLOW!  We need to get our Power of Attorney and CSP documents signed and notarized but it is Memorial Day weekend and everything is closed!  We need to get other dossier documents signed and notarized..... but we need our passport numbers to put on those documents.... but we do not have our passports yet..... because we need copies of our birth certificates....which I cannot get until next week because of the holiday. Grrrrrrrrr.


On the flip side, our state-side team is AWESOME!  I have emailed them with many questions and they have responded so fast and with great reassuring answeres.  Remember, these gals are all volunteers with families of their own.  God bless them!  They truly rock!!  Thank you team!!!

Home Study

We have the BEST social worker in the world.  She is such a trooper and is trying so incredibly hard to get just the right template for our home study.  God has truly blessed us with her!!  I am hopeful that we can get our home visit out of the way next week and start all the paper chasing so we can go get our little man.  Thank you Ashley for all you are doing to get our home study going and going right!

INTRODUCING: Our SON..

It is with great pleasure that we introduce our little Eastern European Prince, "AJ".

The top picture if the most current picture of "AJ" and the bottom is when he was 10 weeks old.  "AJ" is not the name he will come home with.  It is just his RR screen name until we pick his forever name.  "AJ" was born in 2008.  He is the most beautiful and perfect baby!  "AJ" has Down syndrome and a minor heart murmur.  Our family cannot wait to bring this little guy home so he can run around our place and enjoy all that life has to offer.  We will be working VERY hard to raise the needed travel funds so we can go get "AJ" as soon as all the necessary paperwork is completed.  If  you feel led to help bring our baby home, please visit our Family Sponsorship Page HERE.  All donations are tax deductible.


We are coming baby boy...

Sweet Chrissie rest in peace

One of our online RR/CHD friends has gone to be with Jesus!  Sweet Chrissie had a severe congenital heart defect and had it repaired just over one month ago.  She fought hard and touched many lives while in the PICU for 31 days.  She was born in Serbia and adopted through Reece's Rainbow by a loving, Godly family just 7 months ago.  Chrissie got to know the unconditional love of a forever family.  Today, she plays at the feet of Jesus!

Sleep tight my precious wee-one

It is 2:40pm my time and 10:40pm your time.   I pray someone fed you a warm bottle and bathed you before bed.  I pray someone kissed your sweet face good night.   I pray you drifted off to sleep feeling safe in a comfy bed.  I pray you feel your mommy's love from around the world.  Good night darling boy of mine.

Horseback riding for orphans

Rescuing an orphan is incredibly expensive.  For my part, I am once again offering horseback riding lessons to local homeschoolers.  All the proceeds will go to our adoption of our EE wee-one.  So far we have had a great response with over 15 kiddo's taking weekly lessons and about as many interested but not yet on the schedule.   We are so blessed to have the opportunity and resources to offer these lessons to the kids and kids-at-heart.

Good morning my little prince

It's 12:15am my time and 8:15 in EE.  I pray they fed you a warm breakfast this morning.  I pray they changed your diaper and gave you fresh bedding.  I pray you can see the sunshine outside, breathe in fresh air and feel my love from around the world!  You are in my thoughts all day, every day.


Good morning my little one...

My heart sank...

...today when I went to RR, as I do every day, to look at our  precious EE baby and he WAS NOT THERE...anywhere!!  I then went to the RR Yahoo group to see what was going on and found that someone had posted that our little man was on the "My Family Found Me" page.  Again, my heart SANK!  Did we not get our commitment papers in on time and another family found him first??  I'm still shaking.  I'm hoping that Andrea has been working on the website and has yet to email me about moving his picture over to the new page.  I did find him on the "Found" page as well but our names are not there beside him.  Hopefully, we will have our FSP up very soon and all will be okay.


Ultimately, if we did not get our paperwork in first and our precious little one goes to another family, hard as it would be for us, at least he is getting out of the orphanage.  Bottom line is to get these guys into loving homes and out of there.   I'm praying he is ours and I'll be able to SHOUT out his name and declare him as one of my own!


God knows!  He has this!   I'll just rest in that!

TODAY...

was slow...again! 


Technically, I should have titled this "Yesterday" because it is way after midnight but I doubt the correct-day police will read this anyway! 


Anywho, we still have one more commitment document to fax in but our fax machine BROKE!  So, off to Kinko's to fax it in tomorrow.  After this last document we are done with all the commitment stuff!!!  I cannot wait to get the official go-ahead to tell the world which little EE angel we are adopting!!


I am trying to be more organized with our paperwork and planning.  I bought a 3-ring binder and some pocket dividers and will be able to keep everything in one place and write down what we need to be doing each day.  Hopefully, this will help keep us on tract.  Sometimes I feel so lost in this process that I do no know what to do next.  I'm thinking things will pick up after Andrea gets all my commitment documents, makes our FSP and we receive the downloadable information packet.


Well, off to bed again.  It's late here...1:45am and 9:45am there.  I hope our little is able to eat a warm breakfast today and is not hungry.  Throwing my love through the wind to you little one...

SW preliminary contact form ~APPROVED~

Today our social worker approved our adoption on the preliminary contact form and faxed it in!  Yeah!!  We filled out the Family disclosure form,  got it notarized and will fax it in tomorrow.  We will mail our 'other form', cannot remember the name off hand, in along with our initial fees tomorrow as per Andrea's instructions.  Once Andrea receives all these documents, we will officially be committed to our little man! 


I am going to have to figure out a better, faster way to do all this paperwork because at this rate our little man will be 42 before we get to bring him home.  But, for tonight I am done.  It's late and I'm off to bed. 

Application for Adoption Grant Eligibility and Family Sponsorship Program ~SENT~

Today we sent in our Adoption Grant Eligibility and Family Sponsorship Program document via email to Andrea at Reece's Rainbow.  Well, actually it was technically yesterday since it was sent just before midnight!  Anyway, that was our very first document of MANY towards getting our little man home.  We cannot disclose exactly who we are adopting until we get a few more documents sent in and the initial fees paid. BUT, I can say he is a precious, baby boy from Eastern Europe who deserves a loving home with lots of fresh air to breathe, green grass to run barefoot through and a family who loves him unconditionally!


Tomorrow we will work on the Adoptive Family Disclosure form and take it to be notarized.   Hopefully, our social worker will get her Preliminary Contact form faxed in soon and we will OFFICIALLY be committed to our little man.  Then we can tell the world who he is!  I can't wait!!!