Well, no referral yet.
However, the plot has thickened and the news is not good. At least one family that has now traveled to our region, with our agency, has found that the government there will not refer any healthy children to foreigners - so they had the heartbreaking experience of declining two separate referrals who were very severely sick. They were not told about the illness of the first child until they arrived. They are home now - please keep them in your prayers as they mourn this experience and decide what to do next.
As for us - we need to talk to our agency, but obviously it's not looking good. Please pray as we likely make a decision about our next step. We would like to see where God might be opening a door for us.
It's a good thing our optimism is always cautious - it seems we continue to be tested right now.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Continuing to move forward
About a week ago, our caseworker sent us an email saying that now that our first set of paperwork is there, registered with the Russian government, we should start preparing the paperwork that will be needed to arrange the 2nd trip. The idea is that we will bring that paperwork with us on the first trip, so that we can submit it in person to the court system as soon as we accept a child, hopefully shortening the gap between trips. The reason we didn't prepare it earlier is that some of this paperwork expires within 3 months of the signature - which means she thinks we are likely to be completely done within 3 months. That would be glorious!
So let me tell you a bit about the last week to give you the picture of what we've been up to, and to explain why we haven't had time to blog:
1) contacted county property appraiser's office to get a form listing characteristics of our home - needed to be signed and notarized. Received it on Thursday but the notary stamp was not strong enough (couldn't quite read the name). Asked for a new one and got it on Saturday!
2) contacted our doctors to get appointments (earliest available were this coming Monday for Rob and Wednesday for me) - they'll need to do bloodwork (HIV test, etc) and then we will have them sign our forms ASAP
3) got proof of employment forms from our employers - signed and notarized
4) got fingerprints done at the University Police Department to send to the FBI for a new background check - sent on Wednesday
5) sent an order form to MN for new certified copies of our marriage license on Monday, received them back on Friday (amazing!), sent them back to MN Secretary of State for Apostilles (approval notices that the copies are truly certified)
6) sent a request to our home study agency (the old one) for 4 forms on Monday - received them on Saturday and ALL OF THEM WERE PERFECT!! Praise God.
7) got a few other forms notarized by my office manager (thanks Laura!)
8) sent request to FL Department of Health for a letter verifying that licensed doctors in the state of Florida are qualified to do adoption-related physicals (!)
9) made an appointment with a psychiatrist to get a letter attesting to our mental health (our two exams by psychologists are not good enough, since they don't have MD degrees and our region of Siberia requires this) - that will be Monday the 31st.
We have experienced so much help and cooperation from so many people this week! Please pray for the last few particulars to be taken care of in a timely manner: letter from Secretary of State, letter from Dep't of Health, Apostilled marriage certificates from MN, and doctor/psychiatrist letters. It's a lot to ask, but God is powerful. We hope to bring all of these with us on our first trip to Russia.
There is another family with our agency who became registered in the region just before us (within a week) while we were waiting for the one additional document we had to send. They received a call 2 days after their application was submitted with a referral and travel date; they were asked to show up in Russia 9 days later (they arrived there yesterday!). Our application is only a few days behind theirs, so it looks like big news might be right around the corner. It's tricky to balance the excitement and nerves, and yet have the appropriate caution and reasonable expectations.
We are hanging in there and will update you with whatever we hear!
So let me tell you a bit about the last week to give you the picture of what we've been up to, and to explain why we haven't had time to blog:
1) contacted county property appraiser's office to get a form listing characteristics of our home - needed to be signed and notarized. Received it on Thursday but the notary stamp was not strong enough (couldn't quite read the name). Asked for a new one and got it on Saturday!
2) contacted our doctors to get appointments (earliest available were this coming Monday for Rob and Wednesday for me) - they'll need to do bloodwork (HIV test, etc) and then we will have them sign our forms ASAP
3) got proof of employment forms from our employers - signed and notarized
4) got fingerprints done at the University Police Department to send to the FBI for a new background check - sent on Wednesday
5) sent an order form to MN for new certified copies of our marriage license on Monday, received them back on Friday (amazing!), sent them back to MN Secretary of State for Apostilles (approval notices that the copies are truly certified)
6) sent a request to our home study agency (the old one) for 4 forms on Monday - received them on Saturday and ALL OF THEM WERE PERFECT!! Praise God.
7) got a few other forms notarized by my office manager (thanks Laura!)
8) sent request to FL Department of Health for a letter verifying that licensed doctors in the state of Florida are qualified to do adoption-related physicals (!)
9) made an appointment with a psychiatrist to get a letter attesting to our mental health (our two exams by psychologists are not good enough, since they don't have MD degrees and our region of Siberia requires this) - that will be Monday the 31st.
We have experienced so much help and cooperation from so many people this week! Please pray for the last few particulars to be taken care of in a timely manner: letter from Secretary of State, letter from Dep't of Health, Apostilled marriage certificates from MN, and doctor/psychiatrist letters. It's a lot to ask, but God is powerful. We hope to bring all of these with us on our first trip to Russia.
There is another family with our agency who became registered in the region just before us (within a week) while we were waiting for the one additional document we had to send. They received a call 2 days after their application was submitted with a referral and travel date; they were asked to show up in Russia 9 days later (they arrived there yesterday!). Our application is only a few days behind theirs, so it looks like big news might be right around the corner. It's tricky to balance the excitement and nerves, and yet have the appropriate caution and reasonable expectations.
We are hanging in there and will update you with whatever we hear!
Friday, March 14, 2008
Document submitted in Russia today!
We got word from our caseworker that our new form arrived in Russia yesterday and is being submitted today!
I asked for a timeline for a referral of a child, expecting to be told it would be totally unpredictable, and she seems to think it will be a matter of weeks (not months). I have become cautious about getting excited about things too early, but I am optimistic that it won't be too much longer now!
I asked for a timeline for a referral of a child, expecting to be told it would be totally unpredictable, and she seems to think it will be a matter of weeks (not months). I have become cautious about getting excited about things too early, but I am optimistic that it won't be too much longer now!
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Document is on its way
Just a quick update - our agency director received the form that Rob sent, and as of Monday he had already sent it on to Russia. We hope it will arrive there by the end of the week, and then next week we will inquire with our agency to see if they have an update on the status of our dossier (since it will then be fully ready for a referral). Our only sense of the time frame here is that it shouldn't be too long. In my mind, I'm thinking we might hear something in April and travel for our first trip in May. But it could be quicker or slower....this is just my current guesstimate.
As soon as we know more, you will too!
As soon as we know more, you will too!
Friday, March 07, 2008
Looks like we are moving in the right directions
Amazingly, in less than 10 business days (9 to be exact) we heard back from our caseworker on Wednesday. We learned that there was only one document that the Department of Education in Russia wanted us to redo! It is a really silly one too - they wanted something reworded that was a complete technicality. They didn't seem to mind the other forms that do not have the right region's name on them.
The timing on this was a little hectic, because I was heading out of town on Thursday and we suddenly had this document to redo, plus a bunch of other little stuff I needed to finish before leaving town. Luckily we were able to get the new form done (we just needed to sign and get notarized) and then Rob drove to Tallassee yesterday to get it apostilled and sent to our agency. It will arrive there this morning, and they will be sending it along to Russia! Talk about quick turnaround on our end - we had the form to them in about 40 hours from when we heard we needed it. Hope we never have to try to break that record!
Our caseworker also said that it would be a good idea if we signed region-appropriate versions of a couple of forms that the Department of Education had not rejected, but that our facilitator in Russia thought we should have on hand. We did these as well, but unfortunately one of them needs to come from our home study agency (the old one, since their home study is in our packet that has been - almost - accepted now). Rob is going to deal with them and hopefully we can get that form next week sometime and send it along. But it is not as urgent, thank goodness.
So while we do not yet have a referral of a child, the caseworker basically said "They are still searching for a referral for you, they just want this one form done differently." So we are on the radar!
I expect our fixed-up document will get to Russia by the end of next week, so perhaps we'll have more news by early the following week. I'll keep you all in the loop!
Sarah
The timing on this was a little hectic, because I was heading out of town on Thursday and we suddenly had this document to redo, plus a bunch of other little stuff I needed to finish before leaving town. Luckily we were able to get the new form done (we just needed to sign and get notarized) and then Rob drove to Tallassee yesterday to get it apostilled and sent to our agency. It will arrive there this morning, and they will be sending it along to Russia! Talk about quick turnaround on our end - we had the form to them in about 40 hours from when we heard we needed it. Hope we never have to try to break that record!
Our caseworker also said that it would be a good idea if we signed region-appropriate versions of a couple of forms that the Department of Education had not rejected, but that our facilitator in Russia thought we should have on hand. We did these as well, but unfortunately one of them needs to come from our home study agency (the old one, since their home study is in our packet that has been - almost - accepted now). Rob is going to deal with them and hopefully we can get that form next week sometime and send it along. But it is not as urgent, thank goodness.
So while we do not yet have a referral of a child, the caseworker basically said "They are still searching for a referral for you, they just want this one form done differently." So we are on the radar!
I expect our fixed-up document will get to Russia by the end of next week, so perhaps we'll have more news by early the following week. I'll keep you all in the loop!
Sarah
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