The "Gateway to the West" becomes the "Gateway to the East"

It seems like just yesterday I was fretting about missing our window of opportunity to get to Russia quickly... oh wait, it WAS yesterday. It turns out that we didn't miss it at all. How frustrating it can be to expect things to work out on our time schedule when it's God's schedule that counts. God showed us YET AGAIN that He has things well in hand and that we're going to do it His way and in His time. Today we received our travel invitation!

The fun part is that it came AFTER I had left home to go to St. Louis for the NATA Convention. I go every year (I pretty much have to... I'm on committees that meet at the convention and I'm usually giving an invited talk or two at the conference). I arrived in St. Louis just in time for my first committee meeting. Just as it ended, Lisa called to tell me the good news. We were given our travel instructions and we had to act pretty quickly to capitalize on them. Our agency's case worker pushed hard for us to be traveling in 10 days. We opted for one week later so that we'd be able to make more sound arrangements for our biological kids (and for Bandit the dog).

We had to arrange for flights to Moscow (over $1500 each... ouch... and that doesn't include the ~$500 each for the in-country flight from Moscow to Stavropol). We also learned that the Moscow-Stavropol flight has a per person baggage limit of 20 kilograms (about 40 pounds) INCLUDING our carry-ons. We'll have to pack light. We also had to apply for our Russian tourist Visas. I wound up having to find a Walgreen's in St. Louis to get a passport style photo taken to attach to the Visa application (SUGGESTTION TO FUTURE ADOPTIVE FAMILIES: keep an extra copy of your passport photo to use with your visa application). I FedEx'd my Visa application from St. Louis. It's sometimes a little crazy how these things come together.

Off they go!

We had a family milestone today. Today, BOTH of our kids left for church camp. Beth has gone several times before, but today was Luke's summercamp maiden voyage. I know you'll find it hard to belive, but it's AMAZING how fast a kid can wake-up, get out of bed and be dressed. I think it took exactly 0.2 nanoseconds this morning. This can't be the same kid who we have to beg to get dressed for school instead of playing legos in his room, can it?

The bus left the church at around 8:15. At 8:16, my wife was missing the kids. It was strange having a quiet evening and dinner together without them. Almost seems familiar but a somewhat distant memory. Maybe we used to do this sort of thing before we had kids. Was there a time before kids? Anyway, pray for Lisa... she's going to have a long week.

Q: So you have a referral... now what?

A: Wait some more!

What, did you think things would go quickly? Silly you.

We received our unofficial referral two weeks ago today. It's a mini-anniversary! We were asked to update a few papers since our children were in a different region of Russia than we had originally been assigned to. We had a few forms to complete, have notarized and apostilled. We also had some for our homestudy socialworker to complete an notarize along with a slight modification to the homestudy report. The adoption agency caseworker said it might be possible for us to make our first trip in as little as THREE WEEKS! THREE WEEKS... WOW... We were starting a sprint!

We had our paperwork finished in less than a week (it helps to live in the State Capital where you can just drive downtown and get your apostilles while you wait). The social worker also had hers done in a week... but it took the US Postal service several days to actually deliver it to us... maybe one day too many. We were DESPERATELY trying to have everything in by Thursday of last week so that it could be processed before one of the caseworkers was going on vacation. We received the last piece of paper on Wednesday and immediately FedEx'd it to the caseworker (note: I never thought we'd have our own FedEx account, but it was a good idea to get it).

The last document was delivered to our caseworker on Thursday... but I fear we missed our window for going quickly. We REALLY hoped that we would get our next packet of information emailed to us on Friday... maybe even get our travel dates. Instead, we haven't heard anything since Thursday when we received an email telling us that our paperwork had been received and our dossier was being FedEx'd. I know that it's only Monday and it's been just a few days, but it seems like an eternity when you hoped to be going forward quickly. Another gentle reminder that adoptive parents don't always think rationally... and that your adoption is a life and death matter to you, but it's really just another case that is part of someone's job for your caseworkers. It's always good to try to remember that.

A Long Overdue Post

It seems like the last few months have been overwhelming. I've been absolutely swamped at work with an accreditation self-study for my program. We've been overwhelmed at home with homework, learning AWANA verses, soccer, and watching a 6 month old 4 days per week. I have a TON of posts I've wanted to make, but haven't been able to find the time. We've been overwhelmed in the adoption too. Getting all of the paperwork together for the dossier and homestudy update didn't seem that daunting when we began, but it all took a lot longer that it was supposed to. That was partly our fault and partly the fault of others. We expected to have our dossier out in late March... then it was by Tax Day (April 15). We had to wait on reports and a few documents and it was May 13, 2008 before the dossier was submitted to our agency.

After submitting it, I had to work diligently on my program's accreditation self-study... almost like doing another adoption dossier... but longer. Yuk! Lots of 12 - 16 hour days and going in early and coming home late. 1083 pages later, it was done and submitted on May 29th. At the same time, I had to get the admissions cycle completed for next year's Athletic Training class... 30 interviews in 3 days. Beth had soccer playoffs (they won the championship, but more on that in another post soon to come). Both kids had end of the year homework and projects. Do you get the idea that it's been a little crazy around here lately?

We somehow made it through May alive and almost sane. Then, just as we reached the point where we could slow down a little, the Lord showed us that he understands our frantic lives. Instead of adding a new task that we weren't ready to take on, he waited until our heads were back above water. Yesterday, June 2, 2008 we received the email that we've been longing to get for a year and a half. Out of the blue (at least it seemed out of the blue), we received an email from our caseworker at Adoption Ark titled "Kids Info". We had the first stage of a referral!

The email had 3 photos of an orphaned sister and brother in Stavropol, Russia. Our kids have FACES... and eyes that burn their way into your soul. It had NAMES. Our kids have names now! Their names are Yana and Genadiy. They are no longer "our adoptive kids" or "our Russia kids"... they are Yana and Gena (nickname for Genadiy). The email had birthdates! No more wondering how old they would be and how they would compare to our biological kids. Our kids are 10 and 8 years old and fit right in with the 12 and 8 year old kids already at home. We can't post their photos yet... that comes after it's all official.

Somehow, the whole thing changes when you get that email. Before the email, adoption was sort of an abstract thing. It was hopes and dreams. It was a paperchase. It was frustration and barriers. It was tears. It was long talks into the wee hours of the morning. It was waiting. It was people who couldn't understand why it was so important or why another week makes any difference. It was constant prayer. It was wondering if it would ever happen. It wasn't really real. In hindsight, it was just another project, albeit one that we had a lot of time and emotion invested in. Our El Salvador experience hardened us and made us a little pessimistic. We really didn't expect to hear anything for months. Then the email came... 3 weeks after sending in the dossier. Now adoption is none of the things it had become. Now, adoption is Yana and Genadiy. They are real and they are ready for a family... our family.

The kids are in a Stavropol, a different region of Russia than Ivanovo where we were first working toward. Our agency divides the country up with different caseworkers for different regions. When our materials went in, all the caseworkers looked to see if there were matches for the paper-ready children in their region. We matched up in Stavropol, so we will be changing case workers. Our new caseworker has let us know that we have to already update 7 documents because the new region has slightly different requirements. She wants the documents sent-in within a week... finally someone who wants to go quickly! She says that we may be traveling to Russia in as little as 3 weeks. WOW... now we're really going fast! Lots to do! It will be hard to go meet our kids and then have to come back home without them... but's that's how it's done in Russia.

Keep us in your prayers. Here we go.....