Submitted!

Our dossier was submitted TODAY!

That means that all of our paperwork was translated and submitted to their government's Dept of Adoptions!

YIPEE!!!!

We should find out within a couple of weeks the date which we will be able to go and meet the girls. It is entirely possible that it will be the beginning of November! That's coming quickly!

I have a LOT to do! Cold weather clothes to buy. And snowsuits for the girls?! The orphanage will not let us take them outside without being fully bundled and suited for the cold weather. This Texas girl has NEVER been snowskiing and I don't think I've ever felt any air colder than 15F, unless it's coming out of my deep freezer. This will surely be an experience!

And please check out our latest fundraiser with

Mabel's Labels

http://www.reecesrainbow.mabel.ca/

Mabel's Labels will contribute 20% of the sales through this link toward our adoption grant.

If you have never seen or heard of Mabel's Labels, you MUST go check it out! These labels are designed for kids! They have labels for clothing, labels for shoes, labels for water bottles, lunches and school supplies, tags for your backpacks or bags. All their labels are dishwasher and laundry durable. You can put a cute little label on the tag inside your kids' coat or jacket and it won't have to stay in the lost and found bin at school! You can label shoes so they don't get mixed up! Check out their combo packages, too.

If your kids go to camp, these are great for labeling their clothes and all their gear that goes with them. I even have a friend that labels their pool toys so they don't get lost at the neighborhood pool. The uses are ENDLESS!


TTFN,
Carrie

It Arrived!

I just checked DHL and our packaged was delivered!

Oh my!


Please continue to pray for our childcare arrangements. There are A LOT of details to work out and decisions to be made.

TTFN,
Carrie

It's On the Way!

Our dossier has been shipped to Eastern Europe!  

If all goes well, it should arrive this Friday, the 23rd!

Once our facilitators receive it, we will wait for the documents to be translated. Then they will be submitted to the government department over adoptions. They will review our documents and, if all is found acceptable, we will be issued an appointment date to come and accept the referrals to meet the girls.

By my best guess, it will likely be the very end of October to early November that we will travel there.

I'm still working on childcare arrangements here at home, so if you could please pray over this, we would appreciate it.

TTFN,
Carrie

Thank You! And Moving Forward!

I just want to take a moment and to thank those that have donated toward our adoption grant. We received another $100 today into our FSP! I don't know who it was, but I do know that donations of any amount bless us so much!!!

We have received the final approvals on our paperwork, so we will have the State of TX to apostille each document tomorrow in Austin and then the whole package should be sent over to Eastern Europe on Wednesday. We're moving forward!

For the next step, the dossier will be translated by the facilitating team in-country and afterward it it will be submitted to the government agency that handles adoptions. At that point we will wait for word on an appointment date to travel to meet our girls!

It is entirely possible that we could be traveling to meet them by the end of October!  There are still quite a few things we need to do around here, so our energy and focus will be on completing preparations on the homefront!

Please continue to pay for our family and our new girls.


TTFN,
Carrie

"I've got a Golden Ticket!"

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is one of our favorite movies around here (the old one with Gene Wilder, not the newer remake) and I've always liked the song when Charlie and Grandpa Joe sing, "I've got a Golden Ticket!"

Well, we're singing it loud and strong today!

Because.... 

I'VE GOT A GOLDEN TICKET!

That's code in adoption language for the US government's approval to adopt a foreign child.

This is the last piece of paperwork that we needed to complete our dossier. I will get this last document signed and notarized, we will be able to send our complete package off to Eastern Europe. When it's received we will request an appointment for permission to adopt the girls!

WOW! 

It's coming together fast now!

Hang on for a wild ride!

So here are our next Prayer Requests:

• Getting childcare lined up for our kids while we are traveling. We will be gone 3-4 weeks on the first trip.
• For great airfare rates and travel expenses.
• For God to provide the remaining funds we will need for the in-country expenses.
• That God will prepare the girls' hearts and minds to meet and receive us.
• For a quick court date and a judge that has a heart for adoption.

Just One More...

Just one more little piece of paper.... that's all!

Well, I have pretty much completed all the paperwork that I can, up to this point. There are only 3 more pages that are printed and waiting for notarized signatures, and I plan to finish those this week. All in all, it's pretty much DONE!

We are now waiting on the USCIS (Immigration) approval that gives us the US authorization to adopt and allows the girls to become US citizens.

Will you please join me in praying fervently that the immigration officer will process our application quickly?

We need that "Golden Ticket!" 

It was explained to me today that they have some folks from other areas or departments coming in to process applications. Well, we've been assigned to one of the new folks. Our guy does not have a desk phone or voice mail extension that I can contact him directly to find out where it is.  I have sent an email to the general inbox, and all I can do is wait and pray for a quick reply. So all I know at this point is that our application is still "under review."

At least I know God is still in the Miracles and Mountain-Moving business... So I'm praying for a little miracle here....

The sooner we get our approval, the sooner we can travel and meet Shawna and Lindsay.

 TTFN,
Carrie

What Does it COST?

Where Are We?

$29,710           Total Estimated Costs for Adopting Shawna and Lindsay

$5938              Reeces’ Rainbow Grant Funds (as of Sept 1, 2011)

$611                Other donations/funds given directly to us

$23,150           Remaining needed to be fully-funded

Our grant funds with Reece's Rainbow will be made available to us when we get our appointments and travel dates.We're so very close!

What Does It Cost to Adopt Where We Are Going?

$1,400             Homestudy  (includes all additional fees for  training, certified documents and medical exams)

$890                USCIS (I600a Application and fingerprinting fees)

$720                USCIS - second child’s application to be paid at US Embassy

$11,000           Facilitator Fees * (for two children)

$6,000             Flights - International, 2 trips for parents, 2 one-ways for the girls

$2,100             Lodging/Food/Other supplies (first trip, 3wks)

$1,500             Lodging/Food/Other supplies (second trip, 2 weeks)

$1,200             Passports for 2 children

$1,100             Visa and Medicals for both children

$3,000             Transportation in-country/region

$800                Assorted costs for Dossier preparation (postage, copies, apostille fees, criminal history reports, international delivery service, etc). These have been paid out of pocket by us.

$29,710           Total Estimated Costs for Adopting Shawna and Lindsay

* Faciliation Fees include:  Review of all dossier documents, translation of all documents submitted to SDA & courts, notarization fees, submission of dossier to Adoption Authority in country, working with adoption authority through completion of adoption, representation before all government agencies and courts in-country, in-country bureaucratic and legal fees (including expediting fees), translation of documents required for US Embassy visas, orphanage donations. Fee is $9000 for adoption of one child, $2000 for adoption of an additional child in the same orphanage. There are several people that work on the facilitation team to assist our adoption - from those behind the scenes translating our documents to representatives going before the SDA and courts with us.

Getting Oh, So Close!!!

Oh, boy! We are getting so close to completing the paperwork!!!

We've just finished 3 of the last 5 documents we need to complete our dossier! One of those two documents we need is out of our control and in the hands of the US Citizenship and Immigration Service.

So here's our BIG Prayer Requests for now:

1.  That the officer will process our application and we'll get our approval letter QUICKLY!

2.  That God will provide ALL the funds we still need for this adoption before we travel. It's very possible we could travel sometime in October.

Right now we have $5939 in grant funds with Reece's Rainbow. This grant will be available to us when we get our appointment to visit their country and start making travel arrangements. We have another $615 that was donated toward our up-front expenses. At this point, we are needing approximately $23,000 to be fully-funded to travel without worry. I will post another page on here that will outline what just where the money and expenses go.

I can hardly wait to go and hug on these little angels!

TTFN,
Carrie