Another Step Complete

Two days ago I completed another step in the adoption process. As my friends and family, and now strangers who happen to come across this blog, know, I am in the military, and one of the things that military forces do is deploy to places we don't want to go so you don't have to. In the next couple of months the unit I am in is set to deploy, and as far as they knew, I was planning on going right along with them.

As soon as I'd found out about the impending deployment, I made sure to let my chain of command know about my situation. I was instructed to write a memorandum (a letter, for civilians) to my battalion commander informing him of the situation I am in. The adoption process had begun before Lindsey and I found out about the adoption, so I wanted to make sure they knew everything.

Well, as a result — and I don't know this for sure — I will probably be moving to the other battalion in the brigade that just recently returned from a deployment. This has its pluses and minuses, but the important thing is that they are willing to work with me when they could have told me that I would just have to wait until we got back, which would make us lose Banana.

Dossier Kit

Hello everyone!

A little update today. We finally received our dossier kit, an email with 26 attachments of forms that need filled out. Some of these forms even need filled out in duplicate and triplicate. Yikes! Not to mention that there are expiration dates on some of these forms, so the timing has to be right for everything.

However, all this overwhelming paperwork is nothing compared to how great it feels to be one step closer to Anna! Please pray that we fill out the paperwork correctly (that might sound odd, but the wording needs to be exact or it can be sent back from Russia for reworking) and that the timing is just right with everything!

Thank you for all your support!

It's Been A Long While

Well, Lindsey and I have had quite the busy few weeks, both in and out of our adoption process. We've had a few blessings and a few setbacks in the process, but everything looks like it's going to be on track.

First off, Russia released a blacklist, so to speak, of home study agencies which they are no longer accepting applications from. Naturally, due to our luck, the one we were going to go with was of course on this list. We prayed about it some more, thanked God that we hadn't actually made any financial commitments to the agency, made some more calls, and found another agency that Russia will accept. Their fees are about $300 more than the agency we originally were going with, but they are able to get the entire home study completed in 2-4 weeks after receiving our initial payment and application.

Another setback is that I am not receiving the student loan refund check I was originally expecting after all. With everything that was going on in this semester, I had to drop one of my courses, taking me out of eligibility for aid by going below a half-time status. Right now, we're not sure what to do to make up for that money we were expecting, but we're confident God will come through for us. We still have grants we can apply for, and have also had donations sent to us, including some from a most unexpected source.

So, where are we now? We're waiting on a couple of things. The home study packet and the dossier. The requirements for that were recently changed as well, so we've been waiting on our adoption agency to get the required documents to us. I also still have to go get my passport.

Keep praying for us, it's a long road that seems like it will never end.

Update on donations

Hello Everyone,

We have just found out an even better way to take donations for our adoption of Anna. Instead of using PayPal, checks can now be sent to A Child's Embrace which is the sister company of our adoption agency. This way donations are tax deductible!

If you are interested in helping us out you can send a check to:

A Child's Embrace
2012 Broadway Street
Vancouver, WA 98663

When you do that just make sure that in the memo line of the check that it says: Anna 81020.

Thanks,
Justin and Lindsey

WHOOO HOOO!

GREAT NEWS! Hello everyone, all I have to say is God really was trying to teach me patience the last few days, which has been KILLING ME! I even told Justin that I'm fine with learning patience once Anna is home with us (and has doctors like she needs, etc.), but that I can't handle it now. Well, amazing news! My refund check from my school has come in and it's enough to cover not only our deposit to the agency, but also almost our entire home study (which we only have to pay half now).

This is such good news because last semester it was much later in the year until I got the check, which was making all of this situation more frustrating as we were just waiting on things to happen (both Justin and my school money and money that was left to Justin from his grandmother).

I am so grateful and so relieved. I already called the lady at the adoption place to let her know, she was excited for us too!

Thank you for your prayers

Anna Videos

Here are some videos of Anna from the Russian web site we got most of the pictures from. They take a while to load, and are for the most part in Russian. The second video has a section where the American doctor speaks about her in English though. Give it a look.

Some updates

Hello Everyone,

Thank you so much for your support as we've been starting this journey. We are still going forward and trying to figure everything out. The paperwork feels overwhelming at times, and honestly so does the money.

At this point Anna will actually be taken "off hold" for us while we continue to try and get everything together. While this feels like a setback, especially considering how much we already care about this little girl, I am hopeful that what God has planned will come true. I am trying to look at this as positively as possible. If there is another family that already has their home study done, and has the funds necessary to complete the adoption quicker than we could, then Anna will get the medical care that she needs all that much sooner. While it's heartbreaking to think that some other family would get "our Anna," I am trying to keep in mind that God is in control of everything. If she is meant to be in our family, then she will still be available once we are able to do everything we need.

We will still be moving forward with our home study as soon as possible, and we will keep everyone updated as much as we can.

More information about Anna

Last week we got an email from the adoption agency with more information about Anna (who we have decided to call Anna Banana)

Apparently, she has just learned to sit up on her own! While in a non-OI child I realize this usually comes much sooner than 19 months, but the email said that the doctors are very encouraged by her progress.

We also found out that she was born at 39 weeks and was the third baby that her mom had. They also were able to tell us her Apgar score, which was 8/9 (which I understand to be good). And... if that wasn't enough... we found out her actual birthday, which is July 15th!

Just some updating!

Cool Info

In our information packet we got last week, we found out two interesting tidbits.

One, Anna is in Moscow! We didn't know where in Russia she was until now.

Two, that there is a $3,000 grant that will be applied to our international fee! That's very exciting because the money portion of this adventure is the most overwhelming. This is from an outside source that puts money on particular special needs children in hopes of helping them get adopted.

Praise God for awesome information and the blessing of that grant!

Slideshow of our Anna

How we found Anna

I guess since we've shown you a picture of the little girl we are hoping for I can tell you about how we found her.

Like I explained a few posts pack, we have been searching Waiting Children lists like crazy, most often these lists consist of no photo and a quick few sentence bio about the child. Well... here was the first "glimpse" we had of Anna:

"This very tiny girl was born in June of 2007. She has Osteogenesis Imperfecta. She has had many health struggles being in an orphanage but now has a non-profit aid organization helping to sponsor her and she is starting to get some much needed medical care. This child has a strong spirit and a heart of gold. She is described as fun loving and cheerful. She loves to be touched and held. She is getting massages which she likes a lot. She always has a smile for those who greet her and she loves to be the center of attention. She urgently needs a family to love and care for her and get her medical care. She is quite bright but will not have the chance to thrive and grow where she is. We have lots of photos and a video available for people who might be interested. If you think you may have a special place in your heart for this little princess, please give Kids To Adopt a call."

From that I requested information about her and a couple others from the agency (I figured if I was emailing about her, I might as well see about some others) Later that day Jeny from the agency emailed me pictures and a video link for Anna and the others... but right away we knew something was special about her. Justin even said "can we keep her?"

Because of her Osteogenesis Imperfecta we had to do some research to make sure we could be good parents to this little girl. Jeny suggested we talk to the director of the agency who has several members of his family (children included) that have OI so we could get a first hand opinion of what life is like. After talking to him we felt encouraged but still wanted to make sure. The more we thought about it, and the blessing of our insurance, we realized that if God is able to make all this happen, that we will be incredibly happy with this little girl.

So that is how we "found" Anna. We just keep moving forward with this process with a mountain of paperwork for our homestudy ahead of us.

She's On Hold For Us!

Yay! Today when I got home from a CRAZY day at school (aka a day with a class with the crazy lady!) Justin and I were cuddled on the couch as I was checking my email while dinner cooked and we got an email from Jeny at the adoption agency.

They got our application today and Anna is officially listed "on hold" for us! Now, while this again... does not guarantee that she will be coming to our family, it is a big step. This means that no other families in the US will be applying for her.

Like we said, our next step is the home study, which is the biggest portion of our dossier (the packet of info about us that gets sent to Russia). We are so happy!

Now we just need to pray that the check that went along with our paperwork doesn't try to clear our account until Thursday... they got our paperwork faster than we thought they would.

It Has Officially Begun

Well, today on my way to Men on a Mission at church, I stopped by FedEx and sent off our adoption application packet, complete with a check for $250 to begin the process. Like Lindsey said earlier, the next step is the home study. Once the agency receives the check (which will be soon!), the child we have in mind will be placed on hold for us. While this won't guarantee us her, it is the first step of many that will eventually bring her home.

Okay, have we kept you in suspense long enough? Well, here you go. This is the girl, Anna:


Cute isn't she? She has a genetic disorder called Osteogenesis Imperfecta, but it is commonly known as brittle bones. We have done some research on it, and considering my excellent health insurance, we feel that we can help her live a full, happy, healthy life.

Like I said, the home study is now the next step. That is going to cost us about $1,300. The adoption overall is going to cost upwards of $20,000, but we will be eligible to apply for grants once we have the home study completed.

There will be more pictures of Anna to come, and a few videos as well. Keep posted for more updates!

Home Study woes

Epp... waiting is SO hard!

I made some calls today to set up our home study (the process where a licensed therapist or child services type person talks to you and checks out your home to make sure you are mommy and daddy worthy) and the first agency I called said it would take 4 to 5 MONTHS to complete on top of the three week wait to even get an appointment. Eeep! I don't mean to be impatient... but we have a little girl in mind (more posts about her later) and she needs medical care... we can't wait that long.

In tears I called Justin to tell him the news. But he reminded me that our friends who have adopted told us about their agency, and that they were based in Atlanta (I couldn't find them locally,no wonder). So I called the agency, Family First, and they are emailing me the documents and mailing the rest and it should only take 6-8 WEEKS to complete! YAY! Praise God for having Justin think clearly when I'm in "pout" mode. Had he not convinced me to call the other people, I would have just assumed they all take that long.

So prayers please that we are able to get all of our documents they need and our fingerprints etc. Today was the first time I really grasped how overwhelming the process of adopting is. I always knew getting our child and raising them will be overwhelming and new... but just the application process is daunting at times.

Waiting Children

So as Justin and I had been researching various adoption agencies, we became very familiar with the term "waiting children". This term applies to lists of children who have some reason they are not the most "desirable" by some to adopt. These reasons vary drastically from very minor medical conditions (even as simple as diabetes) to major medical conditions (where the child will need life long full time care) but it also includes sibling groups and any child who is a little older than the baby/toddler phase as most people adopting want an infant.

Justin and I spent a long time discussing if we would be comfortable adopting from a waiting child list, at first we knew that we could love a sibling group and we were fine with a slightly older child, but not too much (it doesn't make sense for me to have a 10 year old). We also decided that based on the medical condition, we could be comfortable adopting a child with medical needs... after all we are very lucky that we have nice health insurance that will cover an adopted child and any needs he/she will have.

Once we decided that, I began searching Waiting Children sites like crazy. I think by this point I have seen every child available for adoption that is listed online. Our search included children from every state and countries around the world. One of the unique differences between the United States and other countries when it comes to these waiting children lists is that most countries restrict the posting of pictures along with the information on a general public website. So while it was "fun" to look at all the babies and children that we could actually "see", we also spent time reading pages and pages of listings with a quick two sentence bio about a child half a world away. It's hard to think that from those few sentences we will find our child, it is just such limited information on which to go, but we have faith that the right child will be clear to us.

Thanks everyone for your prayers and support during this adventure.

The Background

Why did we decide to adopt? Well, it all started last February just after we moved down here to Augusta. Lindsey and I had heard about a concert tour called Winter Jam on our local Christan radio station. We went, not because of any knowledge about adoption or anything, but because we could see six or so of the biggest acts in modern Christian music for the low price of $10 per person.

The band that is the main host every year of Winter Jam is a group called NewSong, and one of the members showed a video about a recent trip they had made to China to an orphanage there. They gave information about an organization called Holt International and they had a booth in the lobby area of the arena. I felt a strong compulsion that God was telling us we had to adopt a child that night. Lindsey was in the restroom during part of this presentation and I sent her a text message that said "Was God telling you it was time for a kid?" We also purchased a CD at the MercyMe booth, which I opened months later and inside was an insert that showed one of the members who had recently adopted a baby and had information about another agency, All God's Children International.

Really what kickstarted it into gear, while Lindsey was gone with her mom on business, I opened the MercyMe CD, visited the AGCI site, and requested information. We began getting emails and an information packet from them that had a DVD, a book, and other information. The emails had photos of waiting children and we began to look into them, but at the time, none of the children were right for us. So, we kept reading more and more about it, and eventually put it into the back of our minds, as something we would do in the future when we felt the time was right.

Well, fast forward six months later, it's the future, and the time must be right, because we feel like it is our calling. So, that's where we are now. More posts in the future will have more information about our journey through the entire adoption process.

We appreciate everyone's prayers through this process. We believe that God has a baby out there for us, and we just want Him to lead us to him or her.