A Christmas Miracle: We Have A Referral!!!

Eric and I are so excited to announce that we have a referral of a beautiful little 4 year old girl. We found out about two weeks ago, but we did not want to announce it officially until Christmas. We had the great joy of sharing with our families this morning our wonderful news and sharing her picture. We are not allowed to share her picture or name over any kind of social media, but we can share that she is perfect and healthy and we couldn't be happier. A month from today, we will arrive in Kyrgyzstan to bond with our girl for a whole ten days!! Unfortunately, we will have to leave her, and we are expecting that she will not be home with us until July. We thank all of you for journeying with us, and we hope that you will continue to do so as we prepare to meet and get our girl home! It has truly been a miraculous Christmas and the best present we could ever hope for!!

Christmas Blessings,
Lizzie and Eric

Postal Service Don't Fail Us Now

Hello All,

We received some wonderful news this afternoon. Our dossier was mailed to the Kyrgyz Republic today. It feels like our whole lives are in the package. It should take about 10 days and who knows how many postal service companies for our documents to arrive in the Kyrgyz capitol of Bishkek. Hopefully, the translating process will not take too long, and we will receive news about our wonderful child sometime around the beginning of 2015. What a wonderful way for us to start a new year. Now that we are in the sit and wait patiently phase (or impatiently in Lizzie's case), there might not be as many updates, but we will keep you all up to date as more information is available.

Peace,
Eric and Lizzie

Let's Try That Again

Eric and I shared with you a couple of weeks ago that we submitted all of our stuff for the dossier that was requested. We were filled with joy, hope, and wonder, as we knew that we are basically in the waiting stage. Well, one day later, we got an email saying there were some new things needed to make the dossier complete. Suffice it to say, I don't do the best with that kind of stuff, but I also knew that this is very common in the adoption process, so I tried to not let it get to me. We worked on getting the other documents in order, and this morning I dropped it off into the hands of our social worker. So, we have now given all the requested documents yet again, and we are hopeful that they can be apostilled by the Secretary of State of Wisconsin and then mailed off to Kyrgyz Republic(Kyrgyzstan). If I have learned anything in this process, it is that my time table does not always line up with the process. Yet, I have found myself finding more peace and joy in just living into it. (At least some of the time ;) ) We are imagining our life with our little one, our beloved kiddo, and we know it will be better than anything we can think or imagine. And, we know full well that  it will be difficult too! But, the journey is ours and our kiddo's, and we can ask for nothing more beautiful than that. Let's hope all those papers will be all they need, so we continue to wait....

Excitement

Well, it has been a while since we last blogged, but much has happened since the last time we did. We finally heard from Milwaukee Countty that they completed the background checks, which took 6 weeks for them to do it. My patience was definitely tested during that time. Shortly after the background checks were approved, our updated passports arrived, along with our finalized copy of our home study!!! It was just like magic, Christmas, and any other special event, all rolled into one and happening at the exact same time. After receiving our home study and passports, we were able to complile our paper work for our dossier within a couple of days and go have them all notarized. For those of you who may not know what a dossier is, it is basically a registration file with all important documents that will be sent to the country in which you are adopting.

It seems unreal to say it, but we submitted our dossier materials this morning, which first go the secretary of state for Wisconsin and then off to Kyrgyzstan or it's more official name, the Kyrgyz Republic. All we have to do is mail a form and a copy of our home study to the United States Citizen and Immigration Services Department. After that, we wait. We wait for the referral of our already beloved kiddo.

Again, my patience will be tested. I have never been very good at waiting for something to take place. And, it has already begun to hit me that we are basically done with all that we can do to until we receive a referral for our little one. What a glorious day that will be! I am not sure how much we have shared with everyone, but our kiddo will be in the age range of 0-30 months. We do not know the sex of the child, since we are open to either a boy or a girl.

So, now I begin trying to get kiddo's room all ready. The walls are a pretty yellow. We have picked out the crib and some other stuff we want, and we have decided to have a Classic Pooh themed nursery. We have already started picking up stuff here and there. It has been fun watching Eric throw baby stuff in shopping carts with excitement and zeal. We are very blessed, and we so appreciate everyone's love and support through all of this. It has been quite a journey so far!

Good Morning All,

Just a brief update.

Lizzie and I are continuing our preparations to bring home a child home from Kyrgyzstan. On Thursday we received a rough draft of our home study, and needless to say, it went quite well. Our social worker and agency representative to Kyrgyzstan believe we are good candidates for international adoption.

Also, we had our pictures taken to renew our passports to ensure that neither of our documents expire before we are done traveling to country.

Peace,
Eric

Excitement

As Eric and I learn more and more about Kyrgyzstan and the adoption program there, we find ourselves getting more and more excited. We received some information from our social worker this week, and it sounds like after we finish our home study/dossier/governmental paperwork, which might take 2-3 months that we could receive a referral only 2-6 months after that. So, all that being said, it is very possible we could have a referral by Christmas-time. It all is beginning to sink in for us. Going into kiddos yellow room, imagining the long plane ride to Kyrgyzstan helps us to realize that it is all real and our child  will be coming to us before we know it. It is so nice to share all of this with everyone. Everyone's support and love has been so wonderful, and we could not be happier.

Oh, and yes, the name of the blog now reflects the new country from which we are adopting. :)

The Decision

Hello All,

We have made a decision between continuing with the Bulgarian adoption program or switching to the program from Kyrgyzstan. After many heartfelt conversations between Lizzie and I, our families, and our social worker we have decided to switch to the program in Kyrgyzstan. We made the decision for many reasons, but one of these is the possibility of receiving an infant. Lizzie and I both have a strong desire to experience the joys of raising a child from infancy. The decision was hard because we had ourselves prepared for the process in Bulgaria, but we are excited for the new possibilities to be found in Kyrgyzstan.

On another note, Lizzie and I met with our social worker this morning for what Lizzie and I thought was the first home study interview. To our surprise, this was in reality our final interview. We did not realize that the various other requirements we had completed were a part of the home study process. This means that by the end of July we should have a final copy of our home study report and can submit our documentation to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. While we wait to hear from USCIS, we will work on our international dossier folder for the Kyrgyzstan foreign ministry office.

We are both excited with our decision and the pleasant surprise we received today.

Peace be with all of you,
Eric

Oh the possibilities

Late last week Lizzie and I received some interesting news from our social worker. In what seems like our daily email conversations with Emilee (social worker) she asked Lizzie and I if we would be interested in being a pilot family for their new program in Kyrgyzstan. This was quite a shock to both of us considering we have focused on learning as much as possible about Bulgaria over the past several months, including purchasing each other gifts on Etsy from the country. This possible change brings with it various difficulties and definitely joys. The obvious change is the location of the country. As many of you know, I am a West Wing fan and converted Lizzie as well, and my immediate response was to recall the episode where Sam mistakes Kyrgyzstan for Kazakhstan. While I found this to be an amusing correlation, I was woefully ignorant about the location of what is officially called the Kyrgyz Republic. As I imagine most of you do not know its global location, so I have provided a map.

I am also including the link for the country from wikipedia (against my better judgement as a teacher and scholar).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyrgyzstan

Other changes include the type of children available to Lizzie and I as well as the possible timeframe for completing the adoption and bring our child home. First of all, most countries that participate in international adoption generally have available children from about the age of 2-3 or older with physical and mental special needs. Whereas, with the program in the Kyrgyz Republic has infants who are relatively healthy, keeping in mind the mental and physical issues of institutionalization. The timeframe is significantly different as well. The Bulgaria program can take 2-3 years while in the Kyrgyzstan program we are looking at 12-24 months from the adoption application (we submitted our adoption application at the beginning of February) to our final trip to adopt our future child. This is a lot of information for one post, so as Lizzie and I learn more, and more importantly, make a decision, we will keep all of you informed through this blog.

Peace,
Eric

The Joys of Moving

Eric and I are about to move yet again. We have, sadly, become used to this ritual  of packing and unpacking, and we find ourselves going through the motions. Yet, this time, we are finding some new joys and excitement in this chaotic time. This time we are having fun painting kiddo's room and preparing a place that we know we will share with our child. It is hard to share the joy we have in our hearts. The expectation and anticipation is building, and we find ourselves imagining what could be, what will be. A house full of love, laughter, toys, and boo boos. We know it will not all be easy or sunshine and daffodils, but preparing our home, our hearts, and our lives is filling us with a joy and hope in and for life that we have not known til now.  It is wonderful to share it with you all. :)

The day that changed everything...

January 15, 2014. That is the day that changed all of my days to come. It is the day that Eric and I officially decided to adopt. We sat in the comfy seats at the adoption agency, nervous, anxious, and very excited, and we knew in our hearts that this day would be unlike any other. Deciding to adopt a child, our beloved son or daughter was an easy decision. Even though we knew that the process of adopting is one full of ups and downs. It is one that is rich and so beautiful that we feel it is important to share with everyone. One that is changing us day by day, as we find that our kiddo, even though we have not met him or her already shapes our days. Already moves us to tears. Already fills our hearts. January 15th it all became real, and I find my heart drifting to 1 Corinthians 13:12-13. "For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love." We see clearly and are known fully, and our hearts are filled with love. Love for a God that brought our kiddo into the world, and love that will lead and guide us in this journey, and a deep love already for a beautiful child for who we are waiting to share this great, deep love.