Friday, April 22, 2011

Wooooa-oooah, Livin' on a Prayer!

Wooooooooa-oooah, we're half way there!

Eh, sorta.

The paperwork is getting easier and coming to a close, but emotional difficulty and uncertainty is taking its place.

We just submitted our I-1600a to immigration (petition to immigrate an orphan), which will take a minimum of one month to be processed and returned to us for our dossier, but up to 90 days (at the low, low price of $890!). Assuming the best, we'll be able to submit everything to Fletcher's country in late May, which would likely result in an appointment between mid June and early August. Big window.

Our boy's country has some big changes coming for their adoption program. They were signed into law a week-ish ago, and these changes will take place in mid-June. As of yet, no one knows exactly what these changes will look like. International adoptions may end for a period of unknown length, and/or the paperwork requirements may change.
If adoptions are put on hold, even if there are no paperwork changes, we could end up having to re-do much of our dossier (to fulfill the requirement that all documents be less than 6 months old at time of submission).
Now, if adoptions are halted, there's a chance we could be grandfathered in if we've already been given an appointment. Maybe not though.

Complicated, right? Those scary possibilities are just a sample of the entirety of my worries right now.

I keep catching myself referring to "our boys", and then struggling to awkwardly correct myself without either a.) becoming insta-sad about losing Eli, b.) feeling guilty for letting go of him so quickly, or c.) assuming that we've already decided to replace him with a different boy. Lose-lose.
His picture is still on our wall.

Deciding on whether to now adopt a 2nd child or not has been at the front of my mind. Nothing is more heart-wrenching than "shopping" around for which baby you want (because honestly, that's what it feels like). No matter what, we're leaving a child behind for intangible reasons centric to what feels right for our family (but what about their needs, ya know?). Three days ago I cried like a baby in Donald's arms because my heart wanted so badly to bring home a baby whose needs are beyond what we could reasonably handle right now.

And the what-if's? Like if Fletcher's country closes altogether and he dies of AIDS at 12 because they stop medicating him? This single scenario crosses my chaotic mind 17 times a day. There are others.

Then I find myself worrying about the comparatively trivial things, like the thousands of dollars we'd be out if this all falls apart. Worse than that is the guilt of thinking about money when my son's life is on the line. And suddenly I realize I'm being dramatic... but what else can I be right now?

So let's hope for a miracle. Finalizing our adoption before mid-June is unrealistic, so I'm praying for something within God's realm of workability, and that we'll be given a travel date before mid-June, and then be grandfathered in under the current process.

Saturday, April 16, 2011

I-600a

Mailing it out Monday morning!

A woot woot!

Thursday, April 14, 2011

New Pictures!

On the paperwork front, we're just waiting for Donald's Californian CPS clearance (which was requested of us rather last minute, grumble grumble) to come back and then our homestudy will be DONE! :-)
Our social worker said that within two days of receiving it we'll have a draft, and within days of our facilitator approving it we'll have the hard copy!

Then, the next darn day, we'll be submitting our paperwork to immigration.


A HUGE thanks to Jodi for sending me these pictures of our little guy. They're wrapping up the adoption of their beautiful 3 year old boy, and they'll be home soon. Our boys are in the same groupa, so she snapped these beautiful shots of him while visiting.








He's so cute!

Saturday, April 9, 2011

One Less Orphan





We lost the referral for Kirill.

The boy known as David on Reece's Rainbow, who we named Eli, has found a forever family in his home country.

Without a doubt, this is God's will.
From the moment I laid eyes on Kirill, I knew that the Lord had huge things planned. Please believe me, I don't say this in poetic retrospect. I could see potential in the face of every child in their orphanage, but God had laid it upon my heart, from the moment I saw Kirill, that this little boy was destined for absolute greatness.
His paths were being divinely directed, I could feel it, and I was grateful to be a part of it.

That knowledge has made this easier.

Since January, he has been prayed for by name. Prayers for specific blessings have been sent his way, and angels have been guarding over this little boy. I'm so grateful that, although he'll never know it, he had someone loving him during his last months as an orphan.

Kirill, already a full head taller than any child in the orphanage, was facing imminent transfer to an institution after his 5th birthday, only two months from now.

It is rare for a family in his home country to seek out an HIV+ child of his age to adopt. So while I may never know his family's complete story, I'm at absolute peace about his future.


You'll always have an American lady who loves you very much, Кирилко!








"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."
- Isaiah 55:8-9

Background Code