The deed is done

Simple news: After some issues this morning, we were able to get the Petition notarized (2x). Drove to Tallahassee. Got the apostille. Overnighted it to our agency. Got back home at 9:30pm.

Finished, Finito, законченный, fini, beendet, the end.

FINALLY!

WE GOT THE PETITION!

What does this mean? We now have a relative estimate of traveling in 4 - 6 weeks!!!!!!

What about the home study update? Still have to do that since it will expire while we're there.
How do I feel? Unbelievably amazing! Indescribable! This brings an even greater reality that we will be parents to a wonderfully adorable little boy.
What am I doing right now? Jumping up and down in between typing these words! (I'm a little dizzy so I think I need to stop.)
What's next? We sign and notarize this document and then I drive to Tallahassee for it's apostille. I will then send it to our agency who will then send it on to Russia. Takes about a week to get there. After it's translated our regional facilitator will submit all of our paperwork to the judge on a Wednesday (submissions only happen on Wednesdays). If it looks good, then the judge will assign us a court date and then we head over there about 5 days before that date.

Thank you, everyone who has prayed for us. We know that God is still working out things perfectly on our behalf. He is awesome!

The Pediatrician

We had our first ever Pediatrician consultation yesterday evening. I won't go into details but it was interesting and comfortable. I can't wait to be able to bring our little boy in to see the doctor because that will mean we actually have our little boy!

There hasn't been any news of that Petition yet, but we're continuing with the Home Study Update paperwork. It can be discouraging at times. We really thought we'd be traveling this week. It will be at least 2 months before we return with Jack. As you can imagine, we're frustrated and tired of all the rigamarole.

That said, we truly appreciate your prayer and know that God is working on Jack's and our behalf.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Well, the good news is that we're next in line to get our 'petition' so that should happen any day now. (does that sound familiar?) The bad news is that it was recommended we complete the Update to our home study, rather than just do an amendment. This is where the ugly comes in, if you know what I mean.

Yes, we knew we were cutting it close with our Home Study expiring Feb. 28th. We were advised, way back in October that it wasn't necessary to go through the hassle to update the home study, probably because they thought we'd be over there by now. (so did we.) With court being as tough as it is, I understand it is best that we complete the update so everything is current and there's no chance of anything expiring while we're there. It's a high price to pay, literally, for this security. Thankfully we've been blessed with a financial gift that covers our home study update fees. What an awesome God!

So, my latest "freak out" moment has been due to a concern that this Home Study Report Update, which could take a while to complete, could be required to be submitted with the Petition. (Remember, we need the 'petition' in order to get a court date. The court date will determine when we go back.) I don't have a final answer, but we're figuring and hoping this won't be needed since it won't expire until after we arrive there. We're hoping the judge won't need it to set our court date.

Ok, you have now been updated.

No Sign

We are through Day 2 and there hasn't been any sign of our Petition yet this week. We've still got a few more days though. I've really been learning the concept of Trusting in Jesus. It's like I'm taking a college class on the subject and every hour of the day I'm doing home work! It's a good thing though. I'm praying nothing hinders our Petition from coming through, and I'm also relying on Jesus to work things out for our good and also that things will happen at the perfect time. God is so gracious. We've been so blessed and still are every day, over and over.

Just wanted to give you a heads up. Keep praying! Thanks!

More Paperwork

Update: We were advised to complete one more piece of paper that extends our age range parameter, for the sake of the US Embassy in Russia. I just found out that in order to get this extra sense of security we have to complete even more supporting paperwork. With more paperwork comes more fees and more time.

We're also still looking for that pesky petition to arrive in our email's inbox. I think part of the delay has been due to their Christmas (on Jan. 7th) and New Year's (the 13th) holidays.

This past week has been my most difficult week emotionally thus far. God is so Faithful though. This scripture has really helped me so I thought I'd share:
Psalm 29 (the whole chapter is powerful but here are the last two verses)
10 The LORD sits enthroned over the flood; the LORD is enthroned as King forever.
11 The LORD gives strength to His people; the LORD blesses His people with peace.

Thanks and keep praying!

Thank you, everyone, for your continued prayer. I've heard good reports about how things are still moving along in the usual fashion in Russia, concerning adoptions. We still need to pray, though, that it continues.

We have another urgent need at this point. It concerns our court date and our paperwork. In our paperwork filed with the US government we have been allowed to adopt a child up to 18 months old. Jack's going to turn 18 months in the middle-end of February. We really need our court date to be scheduled before that. I'm not sure, with our petition not having come yet, if that is even possible. Though, with God all things are possible. If it doesn't happen in the specified time frame, we will have to spend more money and more time updating our paperwork. NOOOOOO.

Please continue to join us in prayer for this matter. Thank you all so much. To God be the Glory!

DESPERATE FOR PRAYER

Please take a moment and offer up prayer for all the American families who are in the process of adopting from Russia. Many might not know, last summer in Virginia there was a father who forgot his 21-month old son in his car while he worked all day. The boy had just been adopted from Russia three months prior. The boy died and just recently the court found the father not guilty. I'll post the links below to a couple of news reports, but it is very clear that many in the Russian government are extremely unhappy, outraged really, with this verdict and can potentially halt, or prolong the adoption process if they get their way.

As you can understand, this would devastate us after already having met and bonded with who we expect to be our son. Please, please stop and fervently ask God to intervene in this situation. We were hoping to be on a plane back to Russia by end of January. At this point that doesn't look likely, and it's possible it could be longer than even the middle of February.

When reading these articles, you will be able to pick up the irritation for the situation from the Russia media.
http://english.pravda.ru/society/stories/18-12-2008/106849-hot_car_death-0
http://en.rian.ru/world/20081217/118913479.html

My heart is so heavy. Please help us pray.

Happy New Year!

Still waiting to hear of our Petition. Can't wait to fill the spot in between the dogs. :) All is well though. We are looking forward to how different 2009 will be from any previous year!

We are patiently waiting to hear any news of our return to Russia. We know God is working behind the scenes. I've begun collecting our travel supplies and it's starting to get more and more real that we will be going back in about a month or so. woohoo!

We hope you had a wonderful start to this new year. We wish you a wonderful and blessed year!