Friday, August 12, 2011
To Russia With Love!
Passports, check. Visas, check. Gift for Hope, check. Everything is just about packed and ready to go. Our passports and visas finally made it here yesterday. Our wonderful neighbor and friend literally chased the Fedex truck down the street for us so she could sign for it (we were at the sheriff's office getting fingerprinted for our dossier and missed the delivery) -- now that's friendship! :) So, we are all set to leave for Russia today and just about 24 hours from now, we will be checking into our hotel! We are still in awe at the events of the last 7 days. It seems so surreal. God has been truly gracious to us through all of you! And, while you are sleeping Sunday night, we'll be meeting Hope for the first time (it will be Monday morning there). Thanks again to everyone who helped us get ready with just one week's notice! We will post an update soon!
Monday, August 8, 2011
Thank you!
We just wanted to let everyone know that we now have everything on our needs list met -- God provided ALL of it in under 4 hours yesterday! A huge THANK YOU to everyone who responded! We are in awe at how the Lord is bringing together all the details and using each of you to help. We will keep posting updates on our blog over the coming days. This time next week, we will finally be face-to-face with our little girl!!!
PS - We can still use frequent flyer miles and hotel rewards for our second trip, which will likely take place in 2-3 months, so if you have any that you wish to donate, please let us know!
PS - We can still use frequent flyer miles and hotel rewards for our second trip, which will likely take place in 2-3 months, so if you have any that you wish to donate, please let us know!
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Things we need for our trip!
Hello Friends and Family,
We have 5 days until we leave for Russia and are still working through a mountain of paper, tasks and our list of things to pack. We have most of what we need to travel, but are in need of the items below. To avoid the extra expense of having to purchase them on top of our travel expenses, we are asking if anyone can loan or donate any of the following items to us on short notice (on or before Wednesday). If you live out of town, there are still a few items on the list (like phone minutes or frequent flyer miles) you can help us with. Please let us know if you can help!
Phone minutes (Verizon)
Frequent Flyer Miles (Delta, Air France, Aeroflot)
Digital Camera (ours just stopped working unexpectedly this week!!!)
Digital storage (SD card 4 GB or more, preferrably 8 GB)
***need to use digital camera for videos and photos to send to international doctor while we are there so it needs to be good quality and large storage***
Luggage (2 carry on size with wheels and pull handles) -- we are going to try to travel light with carry on bags only!
***each bag must be no more than 55cm x 35cm x 25 cm***
200-watt auto adjust converter for converting power on our devices to 220-volt (we have one but two would be great as it only has one outlet)
Ink cartridges HP 56 (black) and HP 57 (color) for an HP 1200 printer (we have been going through lots of ink printing documents)
Marriott rewards (for one night hotel stay in Moscow)
Cash
We have one more really unusual item that we need. We are looking for a dual micro usb cable to charge both cell phones at the same time. Since our outlet capacity will be limited, we thought bringing something that could charge both cell phones at once would be a great way to consolidate. If you have one you are willing to loan (or donate to) us or if you know where we can find one quickly and cheaply, please let us know.
Also, please pray for our visas and passports to get back in time. I literally walked into Fedex at 8:57 p.m. (three minutes before they closed) to overnight our visa applications on Thursday so we have them back in time for our departure this week. I called on Friday to confirm that everything was done correctly and they said it looked good and that they would take it to the consulate on Monday. However, I noticed last night that I made a mistake on Chad's. I am hoping I caught it in time and can have it corrected! I am calling in the morning to try and fix it. Please pray there would be no delays in the processing and delivery/return of our visas and passports due to my error!!!
Thank you to anyone who can help us with any of these items and to everyone who is, was and will be praying for our trip! We appreciate it so very, very much!!
We have 5 days until we leave for Russia and are still working through a mountain of paper, tasks and our list of things to pack. We have most of what we need to travel, but are in need of the items below. To avoid the extra expense of having to purchase them on top of our travel expenses, we are asking if anyone can loan or donate any of the following items to us on short notice (on or before Wednesday). If you live out of town, there are still a few items on the list (like phone minutes or frequent flyer miles) you can help us with. Please let us know if you can help!
Phone minutes (Verizon)
Frequent Flyer Miles (Delta, Air France, Aeroflot)
Digital Camera (ours just stopped working unexpectedly this week!!!)
Digital storage (SD card 4 GB or more, preferrably 8 GB)
***need to use digital camera for videos and photos to send to international doctor while we are there so it needs to be good quality and large storage***
Luggage (2 carry on size with wheels and pull handles) -- we are going to try to travel light with carry on bags only!
***each bag must be no more than 55cm x 35cm x 25 cm***
200-watt auto adjust converter for converting power on our devices to 220-volt (we have one but two would be great as it only has one outlet)
Ink cartridges HP 56 (black) and HP 57 (color) for an HP 1200 printer (we have been going through lots of ink printing documents)
Marriott rewards (for one night hotel stay in Moscow)
Cash
We have one more really unusual item that we need. We are looking for a dual micro usb cable to charge both cell phones at the same time. Since our outlet capacity will be limited, we thought bringing something that could charge both cell phones at once would be a great way to consolidate. If you have one you are willing to loan (or donate to) us or if you know where we can find one quickly and cheaply, please let us know.
Also, please pray for our visas and passports to get back in time. I literally walked into Fedex at 8:57 p.m. (three minutes before they closed) to overnight our visa applications on Thursday so we have them back in time for our departure this week. I called on Friday to confirm that everything was done correctly and they said it looked good and that they would take it to the consulate on Monday. However, I noticed last night that I made a mistake on Chad's. I am hoping I caught it in time and can have it corrected! I am calling in the morning to try and fix it. Please pray there would be no delays in the processing and delivery/return of our visas and passports due to my error!!!
Thank you to anyone who can help us with any of these items and to everyone who is, was and will be praying for our trip! We appreciate it so very, very much!!
Friday, August 5, 2011
We are going to Russia!!!
It's official: We are going to Russia! We got the call this morning and have spent most of the day on the phone, working on our travel arrangements, and completing our visa applications. WE LEAVE IN 9 DAYS ... AHHHHHH!!! Needless to say, it has been a whirlwind of a day and my head is already spinning with all the things we need to do!
We will post updates as often as we can over the coming weeks. Right now, though, we are simply basking in the joy of this moment and thanking God for His faithfulness. If all goes well, we could have Hope home by Christmas. And what a Christmas present she would be ...
"Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life." ~ Proverbs 13:12
We will post updates as often as we can over the coming weeks. Right now, though, we are simply basking in the joy of this moment and thanking God for His faithfulness. If all goes well, we could have Hope home by Christmas. And what a Christmas present she would be ...
"Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life." ~ Proverbs 13:12
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Thursday, June 30, 2011
New Region Assignment!!
Well, it is official! After six long months, we finally have a new region assignment! You may recall in January that we lost our region assignment because the region we were assigned to closed. We had been watching the region's progress last fall/winter very closely as the waiting list got shorter and shorter until we were next in line to receive an invitation to travel and receive our referral. Instead, we were placed back in the general waiting pool (with those without a region assignment) behind 4-5 other families to wait for our dossier to be requested by another region, which we were told could take 3-6 months.
Then, last month (May), we were asked if we were willing to increase the age limit in our dossier and possibly meet a little girl in June. At first, we wanted to do it because it meant we could travel sooner. But we quickly realized that we had our hearts set on a younger child so we declined. I expected it would take a long time since we declined a possible referral of an older child, but apparently not! If the new region where our dossier is now finds our paperwork in order, it looks like we will be invited on our first trip in July!
Anyway, we are soooooooo excited!! And even though we know that having a region assignment is no guarantee that we will travel now, or that we will even be able to accept this referral when we get there, we are still celebrating being one step closer to meeting and bringing home our little girl!!!
Then, last month (May), we were asked if we were willing to increase the age limit in our dossier and possibly meet a little girl in June. At first, we wanted to do it because it meant we could travel sooner. But we quickly realized that we had our hearts set on a younger child so we declined. I expected it would take a long time since we declined a possible referral of an older child, but apparently not! If the new region where our dossier is now finds our paperwork in order, it looks like we will be invited on our first trip in July!
Anyway, we are soooooooo excited!! And even though we know that having a region assignment is no guarantee that we will travel now, or that we will even be able to accept this referral when we get there, we are still celebrating being one step closer to meeting and bringing home our little girl!!!
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Update on Bilateral Treaty
Here's the latest news from the Russian perspective on the bilateral adoption treaty between Russia and the United States ...
Russian-U.S. adoptions to adhere to Hague convention
Note: Regardless of what the article says, international adoptions between Russia and the United States were not suspended last year. I know many parents through our agency who have successfully completed their adoptions in the last 14 months.
Russian-U.S. adoptions to adhere to Hague convention
Note: Regardless of what the article says, international adoptions between Russia and the United States were not suspended last year. I know many parents through our agency who have successfully completed their adoptions in the last 14 months.
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