Hello everyone,
I hope you all have enjoyed a WONDERFUL, extra long weekend! :) It was a gorgeous weekend here in Indy. We really enjoyed the extra day off. We visited and barbecued with friends, Boomer was in the Danville open horse show on Saturday (I'll post pictures soon, he looked SO handsome!!), we were able to get some spring cleaning done, relaxed, etc. So on to the updates....
VIETNAM:
Well this Vietnam update is short and sweet. Vietnam continues to move right along; contrary to what the MEDIA says. Families continue to travel and receive referrals. FTIA has referred a few children to families in the last few weeks, which is wonderful news!!! We remain cautiously optimistic and will continue to keep you posted on any new information :)
RUSSIA:
Russia is very different than Vietnam. It is a flowing program and therefore every week we hear of families on first and second trips to Russia (yes, Russia requires two trips). The wonderful news that we got this Friday is that FTIA just received their reaccreditation in Russia! It was wonderful news because that means that there are a few more Regions that will be open to placing children to families from the U.S. Prior to the reaccreditation, FTIA was working through 2 Regions only. We are getting very excited because we are rapidly approaching the waiting list!!! We continue to wait for our fingerprint appt from USCIS and then aside to a few last notaries and apostilles to be done (which should take us a couple of days) we are FINISHED! I'm hopeful that we will be on the list by mid June-ish. Our agency continues to project that the wait time (after being placed on the waiting list) is 2-5 months for a referral of a baby and then 1st trip travel to Russia is 5-12 days after we receive our referral (that is when we will meet Hadley Jo). Second trip travel (when we will bring little Hadley home) is approx 2 months after the first trip. We are really hoping and praying that we will be done traveling by October because November in Siberia is -19 degrees!!!! And "I" thought it was cold here in the winter!!! YIKES! All I can say is...UNDER ARMOR here I come!!! I imagine I'd be wearing cold gear upon cold gear upon cold gear ;-)
Last and certainly not least...My sister Kristen is coming in this weekend to visit and help decorate Hadley's room. I promise to include pictures of her room on my next post. Also, Brandon's mom and Auntie Carol are throwing us a baby shower in Chicago this weekend. We are SO excited!!! :)))
As always we ask for prayers for Hadley. We just can't wait to meet her!!! :)
Have a great week!
Love,
Robin & Brandon
Monday, May 26, 2008
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Getting Closer
Hello!! :) I apologize for the lack of updates recently. Brandon and I have been busy as bees these days! We have been very blessed, especially with two adoptions in the works to have Brandon's business booming more than ever before. We both are seeing the flood gates open!! I have been busy with traveling, presentation for work and adoption paperwork. All of this to say, we are overdue on our updates to you all.
I'll start with Vietnam...Our agency has reaffirmed that Vietnam is NOT closed, regardless of what the media has to say. They are still taking the stance that this is all political posturing. Matches, referrals and traveling are still occurring for families in the Vietnam program. Our dossier is in Vietnam and until we are told otherwise, we are still awaiting a referral and then travel in about 20 months. Of course things are very uncertain, as is all International adoption but we cling to our faith in God and HIS plan for our lives!!! :)
On to Russia; since my last post we have submitted our I-600A to USCIS (as a refresher this is the document that gets us our fingerprint appt and preapproval to adopt an "orphan") So we are waiting for our fingerprint appt which will hopefully come in 2-3 weeks. Our final home study (in home) visit was yesterday! We spent 5 hours with our social worker. We were of course a little nervous but we had an absolutely wonderful visit. Our social worker was amazing and very informative! She will now write our home study, send it to us and our agency (FTIA) for us to look it over and then the final will be sent to us and USCIS to finish processing our preapproval. I have completed the majority of our paperwork with a couple notaries and state apostilles still needed. The last major hurdle we have is to finish our 10 hours of education which we will be working on finishing up this evening. When we finish that, we take a couple of test online and then our agency receives a certificate saying we have complied. Until that is done we cannot bring our lil one home. With all of the above still to do, I anticipate we will be on the list and waiting for our referral in 2-4 weeks. Anytime after we are on the list we can get our referral and then 5-10 days after we receive it, we TRAVEL to meet our daughter!!!!
LAST BUT CERTAINLY NOT LEAST!!! We have decided on a name for her....Hadley Jo Leese. Until we meet her we just continue to pray and request prayers for her health, nurturing and safety. We KNOW God is holding her in His hands!!!
LOVE AND HUGS TO EVERYONE!!!!
xoxoxoox~
Robin and Brandon
I'll start with Vietnam...Our agency has reaffirmed that Vietnam is NOT closed, regardless of what the media has to say. They are still taking the stance that this is all political posturing. Matches, referrals and traveling are still occurring for families in the Vietnam program. Our dossier is in Vietnam and until we are told otherwise, we are still awaiting a referral and then travel in about 20 months. Of course things are very uncertain, as is all International adoption but we cling to our faith in God and HIS plan for our lives!!! :)
On to Russia; since my last post we have submitted our I-600A to USCIS (as a refresher this is the document that gets us our fingerprint appt and preapproval to adopt an "orphan") So we are waiting for our fingerprint appt which will hopefully come in 2-3 weeks. Our final home study (in home) visit was yesterday! We spent 5 hours with our social worker. We were of course a little nervous but we had an absolutely wonderful visit. Our social worker was amazing and very informative! She will now write our home study, send it to us and our agency (FTIA) for us to look it over and then the final will be sent to us and USCIS to finish processing our preapproval. I have completed the majority of our paperwork with a couple notaries and state apostilles still needed. The last major hurdle we have is to finish our 10 hours of education which we will be working on finishing up this evening. When we finish that, we take a couple of test online and then our agency receives a certificate saying we have complied. Until that is done we cannot bring our lil one home. With all of the above still to do, I anticipate we will be on the list and waiting for our referral in 2-4 weeks. Anytime after we are on the list we can get our referral and then 5-10 days after we receive it, we TRAVEL to meet our daughter!!!!
LAST BUT CERTAINLY NOT LEAST!!! We have decided on a name for her....Hadley Jo Leese. Until we meet her we just continue to pray and request prayers for her health, nurturing and safety. We KNOW God is holding her in His hands!!!
LOVE AND HUGS TO EVERYONE!!!!
xoxoxoox~
Robin and Brandon
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