Waiting patiently.....

I believe the hardest part of this journey is waiting on other people to do their part of the process.  I am the type of person who takes charge and accomplishes tasks right away, I do not procrastinate.  This week I pray everyday for God to give me the patience to sit back and wait while our social worker types up our home study and emails it to us for review.  I find myself checking email constantly throughout the day, hoping to find The email.  It is one of the last pieces of information to get approval from the US Government and then send to Eastern Europe for travel to meet our baby girl.  We should be receiving our original background checks from DPS this week and the home study and then I will feel like we are back into motion instead of sitting still and waiting.

We pray together everyday as a family and ask God to continue to take the lead on this journey, as it was Him who brought us here to begin with.  We pray for our baby girl that she will be kept safe and feel some sort of love until we can get her.  Our little Natalie is so excited to get another baby sister, she picked her name and every night at bedtime she asks God to watch over her and help us bring her home.  We have been selling items of value in order to get enough funding to accomplish this task, but we are a bit short and are asking anyone who feels lead to help us bring our baby girl home, to donate directly to our agency by clicking on the button on our blog and it will take you to a donate page.  If you cannot afford to donate anything, perhaps you will feel lead to sign up on the Reece's Rainbow website as a prayer warrior and pray for all the children who are in need of homes.  I pray that God blesses each and everyone of you reading my blog.

Another busy and exciting week....

We got our tax returns notarized and our medical clearance forms, then I traveled yesterday down to Austin, stayed the night and was in the Secretary of States office at 8:00 this morning.  I was able to get all the documents apostilled that I carried with me, and I stopped in Belton on my way home and picked up a copy of another document needed by the Department of Homeland Security.  I arrived home around 2:30, stopped at the post office and sent 8 documents off to another couple that are traveling to Ukraine on Monday, they are going to hand carry and deliver for us.  Plus we completed our second set of fingerprints yesterday.  Now I have to focus on my school work, I have to finish reading a chapter for Sociology and take a test, then read several chapters for English and write a report, all before Sunday.  We are expecting our home study report to be completed and a draft sent to use by Monday or Tuesday next week, once finalized a copy goes off to the Department of Homeland Security and they will approve our application and our approved package will go to Ukraine.  It is looking like we may travel earlier than Sept/Oct, possibly July, which works out much better for school purposes.

What a day....

Today started with me seeing my doctor and ordering labs so he can sign the health form. That was a 2 hour visit, mostly waiting on him to show up.  Then off to the lab, only to have to wait again because the doctors office did not send over the request.  Then off to the County Appraisers office to pick up the letter he signed, only to have to get another signed because the notary stamped her seal over some letters on the paper and that is a no no. But the good things are, letter from County Appraiser approved from my coordinator.  Now I am putting together a stack of documents that need to be apostilled in Austin.  My plan is to travel down there Tuesday night and be in the office at 8:00 am when they open.  I am going to try and have as many of our documents ready and with me as I can.  And I received an email today from USCIS saying they received our application and assigned it a number and will start working on it.  Yeah, now will have to wait for a letter from them telling us to come and do fingerprinting.  We already have fingerprinting tomorrow morning for the other country, then we will have to fingerprint for our social worker and again for the US government.  You would think they could all get together and share one set of fingerprints.  The process is moving along smoothly, a few bumps but nothing major.  The quicker we can get all documents completed the quicker we can travel to get our baby girl.  Keep praying and visit our family page on Reece's Rainbow at http://reecesrainbow.org/sponsorwalter

Start of Second Week......

This week started with having 22 pages of documents notarized for the Country where our baby girl is located, only to get home and find the notary made a mistake in her dates.  This meant having to reprint and resign and re-notarize because you cannot have any cross outs, changes, white outs anything, they have to be perfect.  Well that is behind us, now we have fingerprint appointments and doctors appointments this week and our social worker will be here Sunday for the home study, we also signed up for our required adoption classes online.  Things are moving along really quick, and we are getting excited as each day passes and we accomplish another task on the list.  Next week should bring a trip to Austin to have documents Apostilled, but we shall see..

March 17, 2014 moved from old blog

First week down…

MARCH 17, 2014GODSHANDONUSLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Last week was a busy week starting with commitment to our baby girl, hiring a social worker to complete our home study, paying fees to Reece’s Rainbow, communicating with our facilitation team in Ukraine and starting all of their paperwork, compiling lots of copies of documents for our social worker, filling out the really long autobiography for both Shawn and I, dropping off medical forms to our pediatrician for the our little ones, and ending the week with a TB test on both of us.  Now today starts just as busy, mailing off our I600A to the US Department of Homeland Security, getting certified copies of our marriage certificate, having our TB test read and picking up the medical form on both of us.  We are praying hard every day that the Lord watches over our baby girl and keeps her safe. With all the turmoil taking place in Ukraine, we pray she is in a safe area and will not be affected by the outcome, for if she is, she will forever remain in Ukraine.  We are also praying for God to watch over and protect all those precious kids that are in Crimea and will be affected by this outcome.  We are still waiting for Reece’s Rainbow to complete our family profile page so people can donate directly to them for our adoption.  Please pray for our family and all the kids in Ukraine.

March 16, 2014 moved post from old blog here

Submitting to Gods will for us

MARCH 16, 2014GODSHANDONUSLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

When we begin an adoption journey we submit ourselves to a process, which enables us to bring the child home. We submit ourselves to someone else’s opinion because we have to have a home study created by someone else who judges our motives, our character and our means. We submit ourselves to God’s will for our lives even when others would deem us irrational. Yet we submit. God does not call us to become part of the crowd. He does not ask us to go with the flow. He asks us to submit to His calling on our lives whether it makes sense or not. Noah building an ark on dry land made no sense yet he submitted. Abraham sacrificing his only son made no sense, yet he submitted. Mary, was chosen to be the mother of Christ which she must have known would submit her to others ridicule, yet she submitted when she said “be it unto me according to Your will.” She submitted. And so do we. God gives us strength to continue to submit to His will even when it’s not easy. Proverbs 3:5-6 says: 5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Shawn and I are submitting to Gods will with the adoption of our new baby girl, He placed her in our hearts and life, He has already provided some of the financing and we are trusting in Him to provide the rest as we submit to His will for us.