The other day my office manager asked me how much of my time is spent being preoccupied with our adoption - she can tell how it weighs on me. It was a good question, to which I didn't have a specific answer. I just know it's a lot.
Yesterday was particularly remarkable in the amount of time I spent preoccupied with our adoption. Along with my usual few emails each day related to something other than work (church, etc.) I received 1 email from our new home study social worker, 2 emails from a prospective agency that I had asked for more info, and 3 emails from our current adoption agency. I responded to all of them. I don't want to think about how much time that probably took. But I'm not really able to let that stuff wait.
Our home study worker learned that she needs to do a background check for us in Wisconsin as well as Florida because we lived there less than 5 years ago and that is a new rule. So I looked into getting that process moving. Our meeting with her went very well on Tuesday and we are busily assembling the paperwork she needs to finish our home study update (which is needed no matter which adoption agency we end up with).
The prospective agency was working on sending along a fee schedule to us, as they just finalized it for 2008 (in other words, we're just slightly late!). We have narrowed the search down to this one or one other one that I talked with back in November.
But the most important emails yesterday were from our current adoption agency. They have confirmed that our paperwork made it to Russia and was brought to the office of the Ministry of Education, and was turned in, and was NOT rejected outright (even though some of the documents were prepared for another region of Russia). We are surprised and cautiously happy about this. Our caseworker said that the MOE could still ask us to redo some things once they look more carefully through it, but at least for now it looks like we are actually "in line". We like the idea that the Russian government actually HAS our paperwork for the first time. Our agency was told by the MOE to check back in 10 days to check the status of the situation. This could mean that they would be ready to give us travel dates, or to tell us about a specific child, or to ask us for updated paperwork (could be one document, could be all 12 or so). I emailed back and forth with our caseworker to try to understand more, but this is really all the info they have. This could be very good news, but we just can't tell for sure yet. (Notice my lack of exclamation points - I am holding off on getting excited right now).
There was an interesting turn of phrase in our caseworker's email in which she was explaining the possibility of getting a referral. She said that after 10 days "they might have someone ready." For some reason, this stuck with me: "someone". I think everyone always says "a child" or "a baby", not "someone." It seems much more specific to me, for some reason. Even though it's unlikely that the 10 day mark will bring this best-possible news, it has helped move me toward a more hopeful mood about all this.
If we are instead told we have to redo all the documents, we are still planning to switch agencies. Both of the our candidate agencies are moving at light-speed right now, with first-trip travel happening within a month after submitting paperwork. So no matter what, we should be in a good situation within the next few months, God-willing.
Please pray that God is willing!
Friday, February 22, 2008
Thursday, February 14, 2008
The plot thickens...but not too much
We have learned that the packet with our dossier was in fact sent on Monday to Russia. The person who told me it hadn't been sent yet had thought the director was still waiting on something, but when I talked to the director today he gave me the tracking number of the package he sent out on Monday to Russia. It should arrive tomorrow or Monday.
I had a talk with him about this situation and he understands where we are at. He has asked if he can just TRY to get it submitted and see what feedback they get before we move ahead and sign up with another agency. He made clear that he was not asking us to pay anything, basically he just wants a week to see if the submission goes through. I told him we were absolutely, for sure switching home study agencies, even if we didn't switch adoption agencies, and I said that we expect it would be messy to potentially have two different homestudies floating around. He assured me that this will not create a problem. He also clarified that the new bureaucrat in our region is not at all involved with the court system, which is the dicey part of the process.
Nothing has changed from the plan I laid out here earlier today - we are starting the new homestudy on Tuesday (already made our appointment), and we are looking into whether to pursue Russia with a new agency or pursue domestic adoption. The one change is that during the next week, while we are investigating these options, our current agency (with no additional payment or commitment from us) is going to try to submit our paperwork. If by some miracle it is accepted, despite the expiration dates, then we would be traveling quickly. More likely, there will be problems and it will not make it, in which case we will pick up with another agency as planned. So it doesn't cost us anything to let them try.
Not sure what you should pray for, but please pray for God's will to be done.
I had a talk with him about this situation and he understands where we are at. He has asked if he can just TRY to get it submitted and see what feedback they get before we move ahead and sign up with another agency. He made clear that he was not asking us to pay anything, basically he just wants a week to see if the submission goes through. I told him we were absolutely, for sure switching home study agencies, even if we didn't switch adoption agencies, and I said that we expect it would be messy to potentially have two different homestudies floating around. He assured me that this will not create a problem. He also clarified that the new bureaucrat in our region is not at all involved with the court system, which is the dicey part of the process.
Nothing has changed from the plan I laid out here earlier today - we are starting the new homestudy on Tuesday (already made our appointment), and we are looking into whether to pursue Russia with a new agency or pursue domestic adoption. The one change is that during the next week, while we are investigating these options, our current agency (with no additional payment or commitment from us) is going to try to submit our paperwork. If by some miracle it is accepted, despite the expiration dates, then we would be traveling quickly. More likely, there will be problems and it will not make it, in which case we will pick up with another agency as planned. So it doesn't cost us anything to let them try.
Not sure what you should pray for, but please pray for God's will to be done.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
The Time Has Come for a Fresh Start!
Well, we did not wait until Friday. We did wait until we found out whether our paperwork was going to be submitted before it begins expiring. It is not. The paperwork I sent overnight mail last Tuesday to our agency's office in the U.S. has still not been sent along to Russia. Our agency explained their alternative plan to me (too much to bother explaining here) and we have decided we don't want to do it. So we have officially terminated our case with them.
As much as this is a loss, this is really a huge relief! We don't have to deal with the uncertainty of working with our agency anymore. We also don't have to worry about the particular region we were planning to adopt from, which just recently got a new government official who may make adoptions more difficult. These worries are no longer OUR worries.
So what's the plan? First, we are going to move forward with a home study update from our local social worker. This means we won't have to work with the home study agency anymore either, which has certainly been a source of stress. So this is the first good thing we get to do. Second, during that process (maybe a month? not sure) we will finalize whether we want to start a new Russian adoption or consider a domestic adoption. Both have their upsides and downsides. If we go with a Russian adoption, we will probably use an agency recently recommended by friends of ours. I have been in touch with the agency, and they are literally searching for families to adopt the children that they are ready to place. They recently had a family submit their documents, and the day after the documents were submitted in Russia they were given info about a child, followed by a trip to meet her two weeks later. Talk about running smoothly! So even if it takes us a month or two to put together new paperwork, we are still possibly in the game for a first trip by summer. We don't know as much about domestic options, but we will talk to our social worker about that to get more details. The timing is more uncertain in those cases since we would have to be selected by a birth mother from among other waiting families, and you can't predict when that will happen.
We are feeling optimistic that we are being led in a new direction. Having these frustrations behind us is a load off our minds and hearts. But your prayers for our next move are appreciated!
As much as this is a loss, this is really a huge relief! We don't have to deal with the uncertainty of working with our agency anymore. We also don't have to worry about the particular region we were planning to adopt from, which just recently got a new government official who may make adoptions more difficult. These worries are no longer OUR worries.
So what's the plan? First, we are going to move forward with a home study update from our local social worker. This means we won't have to work with the home study agency anymore either, which has certainly been a source of stress. So this is the first good thing we get to do. Second, during that process (maybe a month? not sure) we will finalize whether we want to start a new Russian adoption or consider a domestic adoption. Both have their upsides and downsides. If we go with a Russian adoption, we will probably use an agency recently recommended by friends of ours. I have been in touch with the agency, and they are literally searching for families to adopt the children that they are ready to place. They recently had a family submit their documents, and the day after the documents were submitted in Russia they were given info about a child, followed by a trip to meet her two weeks later. Talk about running smoothly! So even if it takes us a month or two to put together new paperwork, we are still possibly in the game for a first trip by summer. We don't know as much about domestic options, but we will talk to our social worker about that to get more details. The timing is more uncertain in those cases since we would have to be selected by a birth mother from among other waiting families, and you can't predict when that will happen.
We are feeling optimistic that we are being led in a new direction. Having these frustrations behind us is a load off our minds and hearts. But your prayers for our next move are appreciated!
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Counting down to next Friday
We had an excellent meeting on Saturday with the local social worker. We talked about a lot of options with her, and we will most likely switch to her for our home study update and then talk with her about our next steps. It is really exciting to have personal contact with someone who is local and available to help us!
So why are we counting down until next Friday? That is when our paperwork in Russia begins expiring. If it happens that - between now and then - our agency manages to submit our file to the Ministry of Education in Siberia, then we will be able to continue there. Otherwise, we are prepared to rethink the whole situation.
We'll keep you informed!
Sarah
So why are we counting down until next Friday? That is when our paperwork in Russia begins expiring. If it happens that - between now and then - our agency manages to submit our file to the Ministry of Education in Siberia, then we will be able to continue there. Otherwise, we are prepared to rethink the whole situation.
We'll keep you informed!
Sarah
Thursday, January 31, 2008
meeting on Saturday
Just a quick post to let you know we will be meeting with a local homestudy/adoption agency this Saturday. We would appreciate your prayers that it would become clear if we should change course in any way.
Thanks!
Thanks!
Monday, January 28, 2008
a good thing
We have been thinking about how to make this process easier as we re-do several things. The list of documents can be broken into roughly two pieces: those provided or filled out by us (passport copies, Russian adoption registration forms, etc.) and those provided by our home study agency (the home study itself - which is a 7 page document all about us - as well as copies of their licenses and some other forms they need to sign and notarize). There are only a couple other miscellaneous forms that don't fit into these categories - so this about covers it.
Upon reflection, we've realized that the difficult and stressful part of this has consistently been with our home study agency. Though certainly no one is intending to be malicious, we just haven't had a smooth experience with them. I think the distance (they are not within an easy drive) has made the process of sending things back and forth too cumbersome. One possibility this time around is to have our updated homestudy done by a local agency (meaning a local social worker with a non-profit organization) rather than continuing to work with the agency that we have been using. This would mean we could physically bring over forms, stop by to pick them up, and be able to get things quickly fixed if there are any quirks. Rob has talked with one organization already and they have indicated their willingness to do this. We also have another one referred by some good friends who did a Russia adoption in 2006 and lived in FL at the time. Though we need to finalize it, we think this will be a really good move for us to ease the stress of the paper chase.
Meanwhile, we are also re-examining our options as far as adoption agencies go. Each time we've done this before, there has been a hopeful development with our current one. It's hard to imagine what that would be this time, though. We have a few leads, so we'll be checking into them in the next couple of weeks.
That's all from the adoption front for now - we'll let you know if there are any new adventures :)
Upon reflection, we've realized that the difficult and stressful part of this has consistently been with our home study agency. Though certainly no one is intending to be malicious, we just haven't had a smooth experience with them. I think the distance (they are not within an easy drive) has made the process of sending things back and forth too cumbersome. One possibility this time around is to have our updated homestudy done by a local agency (meaning a local social worker with a non-profit organization) rather than continuing to work with the agency that we have been using. This would mean we could physically bring over forms, stop by to pick them up, and be able to get things quickly fixed if there are any quirks. Rob has talked with one organization already and they have indicated their willingness to do this. We also have another one referred by some good friends who did a Russia adoption in 2006 and lived in FL at the time. Though we need to finalize it, we think this will be a really good move for us to ease the stress of the paper chase.
Meanwhile, we are also re-examining our options as far as adoption agencies go. Each time we've done this before, there has been a hopeful development with our current one. It's hard to imagine what that would be this time, though. We have a few leads, so we'll be checking into them in the next couple of weeks.
That's all from the adoption front for now - we'll let you know if there are any new adventures :)
Friday, January 25, 2008
My oh my
Well, the news from Russia is not very good. We've basically learned three things since our caseworker returned from her maternity leave. (Praise God that she is back - I now have a clear communication channel again with the agency and she is very responsive.)
Here's the scoop:
1) The document we sent (twice) has not arrive either time. According to the FedEx tracking number of the second package, it was attemped to be delivered at 5pm last Friday and the business was closed, and since then every day it says "in transit". Don't know if that means it is on its way back to the U.S. or what. But they never received it at our agency's office in Siberia.
but that doesn't really matter because....
2) We also learned that even though we had talked with our director about moving our file from the new region (where we applied last August) back to Siberia, he never actually did it. This means the other documents that we updated last fall are also not in Siberia. We thought they were there already, since we were told to only re-do the one document.
3) Also, our agency cooperates under the auspices of another one for the Russian side of the adoption (staff in Russia, etc) and apparently that other agency did not have the appropriate updated documents for our case. I don't even know what this is about, but apparently it will be fixed within a week.
What this all means is....
Our file is not ready to be submitted to the Dept of Education in our region, despite our best efforts and our following of every instruction we were given. It is missing several pieces. By the time those pieces arrive (about a week for the stuff coming from the other region and for the stuff from the Russia-side agency, and who knows how long for our document sent by FedEx) it will be February. By late February all of our Siberia documents begin to expire because the signatures are over a year old. (We submitted all of them last time around in April 07, but the ones we obtained first were signed as early as February, and the rest in March.)
Folks, we are just about back to square one. We basically need to do all the paperwork once again. It is hard to believe. We are still promised that we will be first in line (at least within our agency's set of parents) when our documents are submitted, but they will not be submitted for a while because we need to get everything updated. It wouldn't be bad if it were just filling out forms, but we have to get forms from other people/gov't agencies. This includes stuff from our home study agency, and that is always a difficult situation because they are not usually comfortable with our many, detailed requests and it tends to take a couple of rounds to get anything done.
Please be in prayer for us. We've said it before, and we'll say it again: we need to rethink whether to stay with this plan or try something else. We will not give up on becoming parents, but we may need to change course.
Here's the scoop:
1) The document we sent (twice) has not arrive either time. According to the FedEx tracking number of the second package, it was attemped to be delivered at 5pm last Friday and the business was closed, and since then every day it says "in transit". Don't know if that means it is on its way back to the U.S. or what. But they never received it at our agency's office in Siberia.
but that doesn't really matter because....
2) We also learned that even though we had talked with our director about moving our file from the new region (where we applied last August) back to Siberia, he never actually did it. This means the other documents that we updated last fall are also not in Siberia. We thought they were there already, since we were told to only re-do the one document.
3) Also, our agency cooperates under the auspices of another one for the Russian side of the adoption (staff in Russia, etc) and apparently that other agency did not have the appropriate updated documents for our case. I don't even know what this is about, but apparently it will be fixed within a week.
What this all means is....
Our file is not ready to be submitted to the Dept of Education in our region, despite our best efforts and our following of every instruction we were given. It is missing several pieces. By the time those pieces arrive (about a week for the stuff coming from the other region and for the stuff from the Russia-side agency, and who knows how long for our document sent by FedEx) it will be February. By late February all of our Siberia documents begin to expire because the signatures are over a year old. (We submitted all of them last time around in April 07, but the ones we obtained first were signed as early as February, and the rest in March.)
Folks, we are just about back to square one. We basically need to do all the paperwork once again. It is hard to believe. We are still promised that we will be first in line (at least within our agency's set of parents) when our documents are submitted, but they will not be submitted for a while because we need to get everything updated. It wouldn't be bad if it were just filling out forms, but we have to get forms from other people/gov't agencies. This includes stuff from our home study agency, and that is always a difficult situation because they are not usually comfortable with our many, detailed requests and it tends to take a couple of rounds to get anything done.
Please be in prayer for us. We've said it before, and we'll say it again: we need to rethink whether to stay with this plan or try something else. We will not give up on becoming parents, but we may need to change course.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Wondering when this will speed up....
Well, today is the big day that the government in Russia comes back from vacation and back to work. I wish I had some confidence that today was the day that our documents would be submitted, but unfortunately we have never been told yet whether the document we sent (on Dec. 22) arrived and was obtained by our facilitator there. It had been sent to the wrong address, but we were told that the facilitator would probably be able to get it from there. Unfortunately, we've gotten no information from our agency since hearing from them before Christmas (when they let us know the correct address) and our attempts to communicate have been unsuccessful.
We decided to wait until today to re-send the document, as it is costing big bucks to FedEx it all the way to Siberia. It is now sent! This means we have a tracking number and it should arrive in 1-3 days (I'm guessing 3!). So even if they never got the first one we sent, this one should be successful in arriving at the correct destination. Then it is just a matter of our facilitator there putting it together with our other documents and submitting it to the Russian government.
Please pray for us. I'm really unhappy about the communication issues that are going on and I just want things to get moving! This coming weekend Rob and I are going out of town for a couple of days just to relax - hopefully our last vacation before the child arrives. If I remember, I'll try to post some pictures to the blog when we return!
We decided to wait until today to re-send the document, as it is costing big bucks to FedEx it all the way to Siberia. It is now sent! This means we have a tracking number and it should arrive in 1-3 days (I'm guessing 3!). So even if they never got the first one we sent, this one should be successful in arriving at the correct destination. Then it is just a matter of our facilitator there putting it together with our other documents and submitting it to the Russian government.
Please pray for us. I'm really unhappy about the communication issues that are going on and I just want things to get moving! This coming weekend Rob and I are going out of town for a couple of days just to relax - hopefully our last vacation before the child arrives. If I remember, I'll try to post some pictures to the blog when we return!
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
Happy New Year!
Well, we have just returned from our holiday travels. It was a real mix of joy and sadness this year, as Rob lost both his grandmother and a cousin on the same day (Grandma from illness and Ted from a car accident). Our time in Canada was mostly spent preparing for the arrival of relatives and putting together funeral plans, a picture collage, etc. It was good family time, for which we are thankful. We are also comforted that both Grandma and Ted had committed their lives to Christ and are now with him. After our time in Canada, we headed to Minnesota to see my family, which was wonderfully relaxing and (thankfully) uneventful.
But even though our holidays are over, the holidays in Russia will not be over until January 14. This is when we hope that our packet can be submitted to the Department of Education in our region in Siberia. (By the way, for those who know the exact region we are going to, please do not post it in your comments, as we are supposed to avoid posting such detailed info on the web.) We only had to re-do one document, but the copy of it that we sent before leaving town on December 22 was actually sent to an outdated address in Russia (long story, not our fault), so we are sending another one. It is on its way to Tallahassee to be apostilled and we will get that back next week and send it along to the RIGHT address in Russia. I hope to be writing an update here soon when we confirm that the document has arrived and is ready to be submitted with our packet in Russia! Then it is just a matter of waiting for the Department of Education to give us an invitation to travel (when they have a child in mind for us), which could be weeks or maybe a couple of months from our submission.
Wishing you all a happy and blessed New Year! I suppose you can guess what our hope and prayer is for this year (same one as last year and the year before, since we started all this in January 2006!). We believe this WILL be the year, and we'll be sure to post if there's any news!
But even though our holidays are over, the holidays in Russia will not be over until January 14. This is when we hope that our packet can be submitted to the Department of Education in our region in Siberia. (By the way, for those who know the exact region we are going to, please do not post it in your comments, as we are supposed to avoid posting such detailed info on the web.) We only had to re-do one document, but the copy of it that we sent before leaving town on December 22 was actually sent to an outdated address in Russia (long story, not our fault), so we are sending another one. It is on its way to Tallahassee to be apostilled and we will get that back next week and send it along to the RIGHT address in Russia. I hope to be writing an update here soon when we confirm that the document has arrived and is ready to be submitted with our packet in Russia! Then it is just a matter of waiting for the Department of Education to give us an invitation to travel (when they have a child in mind for us), which could be weeks or maybe a couple of months from our submission.
Wishing you all a happy and blessed New Year! I suppose you can guess what our hope and prayer is for this year (same one as last year and the year before, since we started all this in January 2006!). We believe this WILL be the year, and we'll be sure to post if there's any news!
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Reasons for Rejoicing! Reflections and an Update
Reflections:
I promised a while ago to post a list of some of the blessings God has provided that may not have been possible if he had not made this path to children difficult for us. I call the list "Blessings on the Path that Veered from my Plan." Here are a few selections...
* If we had been given our first child when we initially planned, I would not have been able to invest as much in my education - an education that has served me well and brought me to a job that is a great fit and great blessing for me!
* If we had been given our first child when we initially planned, I would have spent less time having really important conversations with friends in Madison and helping some people through hard times. My flexibility allowed me to bless others.
* If we had been given our first child when we initially planned, we would not be in a position in which we call on others for so much support -- and experience so much grace through them.
* If we had been given our first child when we initially planned, we would not have been able to be as highly involved in multiple ministries in our church and small group.
* If we had been given our first child when we initially planned, we probably would not have connected as well with younger people when we arrived in Gainesville - which would mean missing out on some of our greatest times playing board-games and entertaining ourselves with the Wii!
* If we had been given our first child when we initially planned, I would not have gotten to know my students and colleagues as well as I have (I'm always hanging around the office). I have really valued the relationships that have been built during this time of schedule flexibility.
* If we had been given our first child when we initially planned, Rob and I wouldn't have had as much time to enjoy each other's company and support without a lot of other responsibilities pulling us in different directions. I have come to take our time together for granted, but really it is a huge blessing.
And finally....
* If we had been given our first child when we initially planned, we wouldn't be experiencing God's provision of the child who was meant to be ours!!
Speaking of that child....there is good news!
Update:
Just as we were getting really frustrated and looking (again) at changing agencies, we got the news that our agency has been REACCREDITTED IN RUSSIA!!!!
For those keeping score at home, our agency's previous accreditation expired in June 2006, and there have only been two batches of agencies accreditted since then (in June and July 07). Our agency always "hoped" to be in the next batch. Then we were told earlier this week that our agency actually WAS in the next batch. I decided I'd believe it when I saw it. Fortunately, when the accreditations are issued, they are posted on the web, and I was able to confirm that our agency was reaccreditted. (You may recall that I'm not allowed to discuss my agency on the web due to our contract with them, so I can't name it here).
So I talked with our agency's director today, and he said that the best thing to do will be to pick up again on our process in our original region (remember we had done a new set of documents for a new region this summer). He is going to let us know next week exactly what needs updating in our documents there, where we submitted some updated documents in April 2007. We know for sure that a few of the documents need to be redone, but we don't think it will be too much work. Please pray that anything that needs to be done can be done swiftly and without stress :)
We expect to submit our updated paperwork next month, but it probably won't get officially registered with the Russian government before the holidays. (They take a break from late December until mid-January.) However, it will be registered immediately after that. I asked about the time projected between registration and travel. Our director said he thinks that, since we first attempted to register our paperwork with the Ministry of Education (government office that handles this stuff)way back in May 2006 in this region, they should put us at the front of the line even if there are others currently waiting there who submitted more recently. (The others in the process there are with other agencies that were reaccreditted earlier.) He said it is realistic to expect to travel by February.
********* WOOOOHOOOO!!!!!!!! *********
God is good and we are so happy to be moving forward.
I promised a while ago to post a list of some of the blessings God has provided that may not have been possible if he had not made this path to children difficult for us. I call the list "Blessings on the Path that Veered from my Plan." Here are a few selections...
* If we had been given our first child when we initially planned, I would not have been able to invest as much in my education - an education that has served me well and brought me to a job that is a great fit and great blessing for me!
* If we had been given our first child when we initially planned, I would have spent less time having really important conversations with friends in Madison and helping some people through hard times. My flexibility allowed me to bless others.
* If we had been given our first child when we initially planned, we would not be in a position in which we call on others for so much support -- and experience so much grace through them.
* If we had been given our first child when we initially planned, we would not have been able to be as highly involved in multiple ministries in our church and small group.
* If we had been given our first child when we initially planned, we probably would not have connected as well with younger people when we arrived in Gainesville - which would mean missing out on some of our greatest times playing board-games and entertaining ourselves with the Wii!
* If we had been given our first child when we initially planned, I would not have gotten to know my students and colleagues as well as I have (I'm always hanging around the office). I have really valued the relationships that have been built during this time of schedule flexibility.
* If we had been given our first child when we initially planned, Rob and I wouldn't have had as much time to enjoy each other's company and support without a lot of other responsibilities pulling us in different directions. I have come to take our time together for granted, but really it is a huge blessing.
And finally....
* If we had been given our first child when we initially planned, we wouldn't be experiencing God's provision of the child who was meant to be ours!!
Speaking of that child....there is good news!
Update:
Just as we were getting really frustrated and looking (again) at changing agencies, we got the news that our agency has been REACCREDITTED IN RUSSIA!!!!
For those keeping score at home, our agency's previous accreditation expired in June 2006, and there have only been two batches of agencies accreditted since then (in June and July 07). Our agency always "hoped" to be in the next batch. Then we were told earlier this week that our agency actually WAS in the next batch. I decided I'd believe it when I saw it. Fortunately, when the accreditations are issued, they are posted on the web, and I was able to confirm that our agency was reaccreditted. (You may recall that I'm not allowed to discuss my agency on the web due to our contract with them, so I can't name it here).
So I talked with our agency's director today, and he said that the best thing to do will be to pick up again on our process in our original region (remember we had done a new set of documents for a new region this summer). He is going to let us know next week exactly what needs updating in our documents there, where we submitted some updated documents in April 2007. We know for sure that a few of the documents need to be redone, but we don't think it will be too much work. Please pray that anything that needs to be done can be done swiftly and without stress :)
We expect to submit our updated paperwork next month, but it probably won't get officially registered with the Russian government before the holidays. (They take a break from late December until mid-January.) However, it will be registered immediately after that. I asked about the time projected between registration and travel. Our director said he thinks that, since we first attempted to register our paperwork with the Ministry of Education (government office that handles this stuff)way back in May 2006 in this region, they should put us at the front of the line even if there are others currently waiting there who submitted more recently. (The others in the process there are with other agencies that were reaccreditted earlier.) He said it is realistic to expect to travel by February.
********* WOOOOHOOOO!!!!!!!! *********
God is good and we are so happy to be moving forward.
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