Court!

Oh my goodness - I am so excited to report that I have a court date! My adoption agency called me on Monday to let me know that I have court next Friday - February 11th. Amazing.
I cannot believe it but, I will be leaving for Russia on Tuesday! I have a court date on Friday - and when the Judge says yes and signs the documents, E. will officially be my daughter. Woo Hoo!
It was a crazy day - spent ALL day chasing documents, but at 4pm I left them with the DHL shipper and they are ALL on their way to Moscow. Truly an answer to prayer - I will have to post more of the details, because only He could move the mountain of paperwork to make this happen - for now let me just say God is so good.
My coordinator told me over and over that I wouldn't get a court date until everything was in country - BUT God intervened and I have a court date. I never thought I would be able to get all of the paperwork by today (the deadline they gave me or they would cancel court) BUT God intervened and it is all on its way.
So - one big prayer request - I need God to intervene at the Russian embassy in Houston tomorrow - they have a new "rule" that they require three business days from the date they receive your visa request to process the visa - I don't have three business days - I only have two - I am praying that God would burden the heart of whichever official receives the request from the visa company and they would release my visa on Friday so that I will receive it back on Monday. I know He can do it - would you pray with and for me?
Oh my.....E. could be home by mid-March

Translation....

A few more tidbits of information trickled in this week. The second half of my dossier made it to my region on Thursday. I am told it will take one week to translate and then they will pursue a court date. Woo hoo! So exciting.
I received my new FBI clearance yesterday - hurrah! I sent that along with several other documents that they requested.
Will probably be a quiet week - I don't expect to hear much before the week of January 24th.
I continue to pray for E's emotional, spiritual and physical health and safety while she waits....I know that her world continues as it always has and she likely isn't very aware that she is waiting...but my heart is dreaming of all the ways I will get to lavish love on her. Almost daily Sydney is asking me, "do you think E. will like this....."(insert whatever has caught her attention at the moment...playing a card game, a certain song, going for a walk with the dogs etc) I don't want her to wait even more day to be with her forever familiy.
Hold on Little E....mama's coming!

An Update

God is so good. A huge answer to prayer - I was contacted by a woman at the FBI - she had processed my request last year and sent me the letters last November - she wanted to make sure I had received that response. Yes, I definitely did receive that one, but it expires February 1st. I explained the situation and she asked if I would like her to expedite this new request? Ummmmm.....YES, Please! She told me she will make sure I receive the new request by February 1 - hopefully sooner. Thank You, Lord! That is a huge relief.
All other dossier paperwork should be in region this week. Praying for a court date!

Prayer Requests...

I know there are so many things to be praying for in each of our lives.….the needs are huge! But God is BIGGER!
I wanted to share with you all the ways I am specifically praying and ask that if God puts me or sweet E. on your heart that you would consider praying specifically with me!
Please be praying for E.
• That God would be preparing her heart to leave the only home she has known.
• That God would be preparing both of our hearts to bond and attach as mother and daughter
• That God would surround her with His angels – protecting her, ministering to her, filling her heart with His love as she waits….
• That she would remain healthy and safe! That He would protect her emotionally, physically and spiritually!
Please be praying for the paperwork…I am really feeling that there is a spiritual battle underway to delay the process – the enemy does not want this little girl to have a family and a community that loves Jesus – so prayer is the ANSWER!
• That I would be able to pick up my child abuse clearance tomorrow – those are taking weeks to process, but I’m praying that God intervenes – the child abuse clearance is only good for 90 days – mine expired this month – I applied for a new one two weeks ago.
• That all of my paperwork would get to Russia by 1/10/11 – this is when everyone returns to work there – they celebrate from now until then – New Years and then Christmas is observed on 1/7- Russian Orthodox Christmas.
• That A. would be able to obtain a court date by 1/31/11 – my FBI clearance expires 2/1/11 – I have applied for new clearance, but it is taking about 12 weeks to receive new ones back and this could cause a big problem – DELAY!
• This is a ways out –but it’s on my mind because of my history with international adoption…..my US immigration paperwork expires 5/2/11 – if I am unable to get her home by then I would have to start ALL OVER – I have already filed for my one free extension – when this expires it expires and you have to start from scratch – which means new homestudy, new application – not only does that translate into thousands of dollars, but the process is taking months…I know the Lord knows all of this…please be praying with me that E. will be home LONG before May 2nd.
Thank you all for standing with me over these past three and a half years….your prayers and love mean the world to me!

The Paper Chase!

Where to begin? I was so hoping to have "Part 2" of my dossier winging its way to Moscow by now. HA! Wishful thinking! I feel like I'm running in a hamster wheel - spinning like crazy - going nowhere! ARGH! Just about the time I think I have all the paperwork together I realize something is going to expire.
State police clearance expires this month so I sent that off the beginning of last week - it came back today - wonderful, right? NOT! They spelled my last name wrong. So frustrating - they spelled it correctly at the top of the letter and then wrong when they referenced me in the body of the letter. I called them to explain the problem and they said please fax us a copy of what you received and a letter explaining what the issue is. Not difficult - but it ate up another 45 minutes of my time. And tomorrow is Christmas Eve - so I wonder when I will get the corrected copies back?
My sister's medical clearance was finally signed by her doctor today, but the notary that works in the medical office is out until 12/29 so it won't be ready to take downtown for the Apostille until then.
I realized that my FBI clearance (which can take up to 12 weeks to receive back) will expire February 1st - meaning I better start now since it could take a long time to get back and there is no guarantee I will get a court date in January - especially if I can't get the rest of my paperwork over there quickly. So today my sister (what a gem she is) and I went for the millionth time (OK I may be exaggerating a bit, but not much) to be fingerprinted for the FBI clearance.
And of course, every little bit of this costs time and money!
I'm feeling so sick of the whole thing! And frustrated to be constantly chasing down paperwork, updating things that expire, asking my sister to get something notarized, or go get fingerprinted. When will this ever end? I just want to get my girl home. I'm in the midst of one big pity party today....I promise I'll get over it by tomorrow....but today....I'm just plain MAD and SAD!

Fingerprints and Home Deeds and Psych Evals, Oh My!

The amount of paperwork required to adopt a child internationally never ceases to amaze me! And might I just say how sick I am of having my fingerprints taken! Today made just about the millionth time! Ok, maybe a slight exaggeration, but do fingerprints change? I think not! So taking them twice seems to be over the top - and I have easily been fingerprinted twenty times during this journey!
The day started with the coveted appointment with USCIS to have my fingerprints updated - because, again you know these things change...NOT! I waited two months for this appointment - good grief! For some reason they had no record of needing to update my sister's fingerprints and, of course, at the field office where they scan your fingerprints they cannot take just anyone's fingerprints and they cannot look up adoption applications - must have a letter requesting them! UGH! So, my sister, rockstar that she is, drove across town to the office that specifically handles adoption immigration to request this letter and later drove all the way back to be fingerprinted. I truly appreciate her willingness to do this today - since they say that once they have our "updated" fingerprints my new I600A will take 30 more days to receive.
Next, a phone call from my adoption agency telling me that the certified copies of my home deed already provided are too many pages. They only want page one. So will I please provide two new originals of only page one, notarized and apostilled. ARGHHHH! Frustrating, but doable.
Lastly, this evening a phone interview with a psychologist who will, hopefully, :) write a letter, deeming me to be fit to be a parent.
I know it will all be worth it! And I would do it a hundred times over for my sweet girl! But I must say it is exhausting!

Fantabulous News!

Well, not THE news, but good news nonetheless!
One of the really frustrating dossier documents for me to obtain was going to be the certificate of assets. In the general dossier instructions, it must be signed by a CPA. Now, I love my CPA - self-employed for the past fifteen years, I would never have made it without her guidance and direction when it comes to accounting - taxes, write offs all of those details! However, after reviewing the document she quoted me $800 to sign off on this document! $800 for one freakin page, people! One page headed overseas! ARGHHHHH!!! Let's just say, I was not pleased with her jacked up price.
Today, my agency sent me the certificate of assets specific to the region my little angel currently lives in - AND - guess who gets to sign that one? ME! WOO HOOO! YEE HAW! AMEN!
I'm so excited and relieved that I will not need to pay for a CPA to sign off. Thank you, Lord!
In other news, we need a new furnace - but, let's focus on the good news :) shall we?

Feeling Grateful

Yesterday was my birthday and I spent most of it feeling blue...

It is the fourth birthday I've celebrated since deciding to pursue International Adoption and still no little girl at home. Wah!

I find myself in need of a serious attitude adjustment....what usually works best for me is focusing on gratitude and so here is just a short little list of what I am trying to focus on...

I am so grateful that I live just about 45 minutes from my state's capital - I can easily drive there (often :) to the SOS office to have things apostilled. Many familys live too far for two trips in one week. I never expected to have the distinction of being known by the folks at the desk at the SOS office - too funny - they actually know me by name! :)

I am extremely thankful that currently obtaining an apostille is free - if you are willing (and I am) to drop off one day and pick up the next. Many states charge $10 or more per document - which easily adds up to hundreds of dollars. For example, today I picked 24 documents!

I am ever so appreciative of my many bloggy and real world adoptive friends that have come into my life since starting this roller coaster ride - thank you for your love, encouragement and support!

I am grateful that my homestudy agency is working with me to quickly respond to new region specific forms needed before I am able to travel for trip one.

I am grateful that I am self-employed and can therefore create my own schedule - allowing me to run all of these dossier errands!

I am thankful - and very excited - that today I shipped off ALL of the region specific paperwork to my agency! Hopefully, clearing the way for trip one in the next few weeks!

And I am infinitely thankful that the Lord is ever so patient with me and my impatience through this whole process.

Dossier Prep Classes, Anyone?

I'm so happy to report that my "mini-dossier" was given an A+ rating. :) In fact, the director told me I could give dossier prep classes. Wow! I'm shocked - if you read my last post you know that I was a little more than nervous about how it would turn out since I am so not a details person - apparently my determination to have a successful adoption overrode my lack of attention to detail.
OK - it probably helps that of the 3 dossiers my agency received last week mine was the only one that actually followed the directions they sent.
Now, let the waiting begin - some more!
I am still hopeful that things will move quickly. But trying to manage my expectations.
My agency sent me a picture of the sweetest little girl - they are waiting for the medical. So we shall see.

Mini Dossier......check!

Today I shipped my mini dossier off to my adoption agency! Very exciting to have this requirement complete! I'm praying that there are not many errors, OK no errors would be ideal! I am just not a details person and dossier prep is all about the details! The millions of details! Hopefully, I will get an email from my agency letting me know it's on it's way to translation! That would be amazing. A few little bumps today, but nothing like last week.
I'm dreaming of my little darling! I can't see your face yet, but you are already in my heart!

Better than Expected

The end of last week turned out on a much higher note! On Thursday I hurried around re-doing the failed notary's paperwork. I also spoke with my homestudy agency and they will have all of my documents and homestudy ready for me to pick up on Monday rather than their first guess of next Friday! Woo hoo! I am so grateful! On Friday I made the trek downtown to the SOS office to turn on all 14 of those re-notarized documents and this time, success! They were all accepted and I will be able to pick them up on Monday, Apostilled and ready to be sent on to my adoption agency. In fact, I believe I will be ready to send my entire "mini-dossier" (ha! I really think that is an oxymoron!) plus a few other documents I have been able to collect for my full dossier on to my agency on Wednesday! WOW! That is exciting.
Once they have reviewed the documents they will be scanned and sent to Russia via email and hand carried by another gracious adopting family to Russia and into the coordinator's hands. Let the waiting begin (again!). I will await an official referral and an invitation to travel for a visit trip.

Dossier Prep X Cajillion

Have been working feverishly on my dossier prep. Oh so frustrating! I think my window of stress tolerance is very small these days!
Yesterday I had a few hours in the morning to work on some forms. I went to have my passport copied. Then I ran over to the bank to have a bunch of things notarized. I hate that part, because I'm just not a details person so I have to go in and give all these directions and sometimes the notary will really listen and sometimes we end up having to make more copies and start over because the notary uses black ink and not blue, or they don't put my full name on the document argghhhhh!! This signing session went pretty smoothly (the notary actually listened to what I needed and seemed to care!) and I still had enough time to get downtown to the SOS office (for those outside the world of International adoptions - SOS = Secretary of State) to have the documents apostilled - so I was feeling pretty good!
I made the drive in good time with no traffic it only took 35 minutes - I found parking with minimal hassle - still feeling really good! Made my way up to the SOS office and found the right desk for the apostilles and......that's where the good feelings stop! The clerk took my documents and typed the notary's name in her computer - she made a face - and not a happy one - it was a scrunched up face that looked none too pleased. She told me she was going to get a second opinion because she is really picky, but the signature on my documents for the notary does not match the signature they have on file for her. Seriously???? Minutes later she comes back to say nope, they won't apostille any of these documents because the signatures don't match - in fact, not even close. I stumbled out of there barely making it to the elevator before the tears start. Poor guy riding in the elevator with me had to listen to me sniffle - he was clearly wishing he'd have caught the next one!
Sigh....I realize this seems trivial....but it's just all so tiring and I've been at it for three years! I know it will all be worth it one day, but right now it just pisses me off!!!
I started over today - haven't made it back downtown - but I will!