Moving Right Along

Well...we have been very busy getting all of the paperwork ready for the home study. We have almost all of it completed and returned to Teresa. She emailed on Christmas Eve and said that she will contact us this week to schedule the home visit. We both still have to have our doctor's visits to complete the medical form. my statement from my employer (have, but have not mailed yet), rabies vaccination for the cats (who live outside), a photo of ourselves (taken, but not printed) and the dimensions of the bedroom for the child (done, but not sure if Tim included this in the last mailing.) We still have at least one or two personal reference checks waiting to be returned to Teresa as well.

Next, we have to apply for our passports. After we receive passports and home study, we can apply to the INS. Most of the other paperwork that needs to be included for translation has been already obtained while working on the home study. Some just need to be notarized which will not be a problem. There will be a lot of duplication!

Will update when there is something else to tell.....

Social Worker Chosen & New Requirements

Not much to report. We have decided on a Social Worker for the Home Study. We will be using Teresa Smith of SC Adoption Home Studies. We had narrowed down to two and even though there is another person who lives closer and cost a little less, we feel good about Teresa and after prayer, we decided to go with her. I have just emailed her and hope to receive a packet from her soon so that we can get to work obtaining all of the necessary paperwork.

I received conformation from our Adoption Advisor, Cathy Harris today. There have been some changes in the Ukraine, effective today. We have to have additional copies of some of the required documents and now a deed to our home that shows how many bedrooms and total square footage. I am not sure this is on the deed, but we will get that information from the tax records and include, as well as a photo of the home and the room for the child(ren.)

Keep the prayers coming!

The beginning

In the past year, God has blessed us with many changes in our lives. Almost one year ago, we were led to re-affirm our faith in God and have found a wonderful. loving church home. (Thank you to those who prayed for this to happen. You know who you are. After years of infertility and a short round of failed treatments, we felt that if we were to become parents, the Lord would show us the way. I (Rita) have always been open to adoption, but it was just one month ago that Tim told me that God has answered the prayer and that we should adopt from Ukraine and that we should do it soon.

Our families seem to be thrilled and we are excited, but scared at the same time. We have always been around children and have 2 nieces (ages 25 & 18) and 7 nephews (ages 16, 14, 13, 12, 12, 5 and 1 1/2. They will all be one year older by the time we are blessed with our child.

So, from there, we have signed a contract with an advisor, Cathy Harris or Ukrainian Angels and are almost ready to make a choice on the Social Worker for our Home Study. We have completed our paperwork for passports and need to have the photos made, then make an appointment at the Post Office to officially apply. We may do the photos at the PO as well.

We know that we have a mountain of paperwork to complete and will begin on that as soon as we "hire" our Social Worker.

Please pray for us as we travel through this journey.