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.....