Alrighty folks. It's time. We are so excited. I can't wait to get this party started. I just have to get through that plane ride. Yep, I still HATE flying, but sometimes you have to be courageous. I am just praying that my faith will remain stronger than my fear. ;0)
If you are one of our prayer warriors, we ask that you pray for the kids here. It was pretty emotional tonight telling them goodbye. Pray for health and safety. And please pray for "A". Pray for her heart to start softening to us. Pray that she's ready to embrace all the changes that are fixing to happen to allow her to become part of a family, OUR FAMILY. ;0) Pray for her transitions. And most importantly pray that she will start to learn, understand, and love the savior who is even more enamored by her than we are.
Hopefully we'll be able to update when we get on the other side of the pond.
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
Sunday, May 10, 2015
Travel Explanations
If you need to travel internationally it's SO much cheaper to fly during the week than on the weekends. Just a FYI. $1800 each to travel on Saturday straight to Bulgaria versus $1400 to travel on Thursday to Paris for a couple of days & still get to Bulgaria on Sunday. Guess who is having their 20th Wedding celebration in May? I can't wait & am so excited to get to see that beautiful city with my man. Maybe the excitement of that mini-trip will help shake the nerves for the remainder of the trip. ;0)
Oh & for those of you who know Andy - you know he sees someone he knows EVERY time he travels out of the country, or anywhere for that matter. I got a message earlier this week from a fellow ZTA sister and member of our church asking when we were going to Paris. She & her hubby will be there the same time we are. WOW - what a small world. At least this trip we will know ahead of time who he's going to run into. ;0)
Timetable - need to look up missing dates
Aug or Sept of 2014 we saw her picture for the 1st time.
Sept 9 Pre-application sent to MLJ
Mon. Oct. 13 - official - started the race to "A"
Nov 2, 9 & 20 - homestudy visits
Dec 23 - sent off I800a to USCIS
Feb 4, 2015 fingerprint appointment
Jan 28 - acutal fingerprints were made (1 week early)
will have to look up other dates
March 18, dossier submitted to MOJ for approval
March 26, we were reviewed & approved
May 17-23 in country for Meet Ya trip.
Sept 9 Pre-application sent to MLJ
Mon. Oct. 13 - official - started the race to "A"
Nov 2, 9 & 20 - homestudy visits
Dec 23 - sent off I800a to USCIS
Feb 4, 2015 fingerprint appointment
Jan 28 - acutal fingerprints were made (1 week early)
will have to look up other dates
March 18, dossier submitted to MOJ for approval
March 26, we were reviewed & approved
May 17-23 in country for Meet Ya trip.
From The Beginning....
I know I know. You never thought I'd have another blog & neither did I. But I have to document this & since I am a horrible scrapbooker, this is how I can do it.
MANY people have asked, so here's my answers to how this whole thing started.
Back in Sept 2014 I was looking through some of the photolistings of waiting children that had come through my email. If you didn't already know, I get regular emails of kiddos that I pray for & sometimes advocate for. I remember seeing this beautiful child and for some reason I was captivated by her. I remember Elijah & I looking at her wondering why in the world that child needed a family. He jokingly asked if we were going to adopt her. I laughed and told him no but we needed to pray for her because she needed a family. Now, can you just stop for a minute & think about that? Can you imagine what my heavenly father is thinking while listening to us? ;0) Anyway, I couldn't get her out of my head. So, I did what any normal middle age crazy woman would do. I contacted the agency for more information. During that time, I called upon my two prayer warriors who have been with me during lots of ups & downs. I just asked for them to pray. Even on that day I couldn't figure out what was going on, but I knew something BIG was up. The agency got back with me & due to their regulations had me fill out a "preliminary" application. Now, that didn't bother me. I've done it plenty of times before. It's standard procedure to get more details on a child that you are trying to advocate for. But I had to ask Andy some questions because I didn't know all the answers & of course he wanted to know what was up. I filled out the short form request & went about my normal life, or so I thought. Due to different reasons, the agency came back & asked us for the complete application which included references before they gave me any specific info. So I head to work - My boss didn't come in that morning & I needed her signature. But guess who came up front? Our children's minister just happened to be there, which is unusual. So, I asked him for a favor. I asked him to sign something & not ask any questions. Of course he saw it was for an adoption agency & immediately made one of his faces. So, I couldn't just leave it there. He got to see her pic then even before we knew she was to be ours. ;0) I still was in denial. I even told him, it was nothing - it was all too crazy. We could come up with excuse after excuse. We even made a spread sheet of pros & cons as to how this would affect our family. For about 6 weeks we all prayed. We had many family discussions. Lots of questions & answers. Lots more prayers. Then God showed us in little steps that this was way bigger than we ever imagined. On paper & in normal thinking, this was the craziest thing we could ever do. But when God speaks, how can we say no? So, on Sunday Oct. 12, 2014 after a very certain convincing sermon we agreed we would call the agency on Monday since Andy was off (he's never off on Monday.) We called on Monday, Oct. 13 and officially started the race to "A". I thought Andy & I were both going to have a heart attack right there on the phone with the agency. We not only needed to pay the pre-application fee but a couple of the first payments upfront because we were going to be moving fast. They had to convince the authorities in Bulgaria that we were serious. We had to fill out all the paperwork in just a couple of days because her file was scheduled to be taken away from this agency by that Thursday. I don't think I've ever been so nervous & happy at the same time before. ;0)
So, that is the brief summary. I am going to try to keep this for me, for her, for whomever wants to know. Sometimes it may not make sense, but that's my life. ;0) Thanks for following along. I am thrilled that you are interested, but please know that I do this for our memory so it may not be very exciting for you.(now you have been warned)
We leave this Thursday for our first trip where we will meet her. We can't post pictures of her on any website. I'll try to post our thoughts & memories as they happen, but wanted you to know so everyone wouldn't ask for pics. :(
Here we go guys..... Our last miracle
MANY people have asked, so here's my answers to how this whole thing started.
Back in Sept 2014 I was looking through some of the photolistings of waiting children that had come through my email. If you didn't already know, I get regular emails of kiddos that I pray for & sometimes advocate for. I remember seeing this beautiful child and for some reason I was captivated by her. I remember Elijah & I looking at her wondering why in the world that child needed a family. He jokingly asked if we were going to adopt her. I laughed and told him no but we needed to pray for her because she needed a family. Now, can you just stop for a minute & think about that? Can you imagine what my heavenly father is thinking while listening to us? ;0) Anyway, I couldn't get her out of my head. So, I did what any normal middle age crazy woman would do. I contacted the agency for more information. During that time, I called upon my two prayer warriors who have been with me during lots of ups & downs. I just asked for them to pray. Even on that day I couldn't figure out what was going on, but I knew something BIG was up. The agency got back with me & due to their regulations had me fill out a "preliminary" application. Now, that didn't bother me. I've done it plenty of times before. It's standard procedure to get more details on a child that you are trying to advocate for. But I had to ask Andy some questions because I didn't know all the answers & of course he wanted to know what was up. I filled out the short form request & went about my normal life, or so I thought. Due to different reasons, the agency came back & asked us for the complete application which included references before they gave me any specific info. So I head to work - My boss didn't come in that morning & I needed her signature. But guess who came up front? Our children's minister just happened to be there, which is unusual. So, I asked him for a favor. I asked him to sign something & not ask any questions. Of course he saw it was for an adoption agency & immediately made one of his faces. So, I couldn't just leave it there. He got to see her pic then even before we knew she was to be ours. ;0) I still was in denial. I even told him, it was nothing - it was all too crazy. We could come up with excuse after excuse. We even made a spread sheet of pros & cons as to how this would affect our family. For about 6 weeks we all prayed. We had many family discussions. Lots of questions & answers. Lots more prayers. Then God showed us in little steps that this was way bigger than we ever imagined. On paper & in normal thinking, this was the craziest thing we could ever do. But when God speaks, how can we say no? So, on Sunday Oct. 12, 2014 after a very certain convincing sermon we agreed we would call the agency on Monday since Andy was off (he's never off on Monday.) We called on Monday, Oct. 13 and officially started the race to "A". I thought Andy & I were both going to have a heart attack right there on the phone with the agency. We not only needed to pay the pre-application fee but a couple of the first payments upfront because we were going to be moving fast. They had to convince the authorities in Bulgaria that we were serious. We had to fill out all the paperwork in just a couple of days because her file was scheduled to be taken away from this agency by that Thursday. I don't think I've ever been so nervous & happy at the same time before. ;0)
So, that is the brief summary. I am going to try to keep this for me, for her, for whomever wants to know. Sometimes it may not make sense, but that's my life. ;0) Thanks for following along. I am thrilled that you are interested, but please know that I do this for our memory so it may not be very exciting for you.(now you have been warned)
We leave this Thursday for our first trip where we will meet her. We can't post pictures of her on any website. I'll try to post our thoughts & memories as they happen, but wanted you to know so everyone wouldn't ask for pics. :(
Here we go guys..... Our last miracle
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)