Fingerprints Done!

We left home at 7:00 am on Saturday and arrived at the processing center at 9:15 am for our 10:00 am appointment. There weren't many cars there, so we went on in at 9:20. We had to complete a form and then were taken straight back for our fingerprints. They got Tim's right off, but had a problem with one of my "pinky" fingers because it is bent. I noticed about a month ago that I cannot straighten it completely. I know...I am getting old.

Anyway, we were finished and out of there by 9:45. We headed back to Gaffney to hit the Prime Outlets and hit the storm about the time we got there. We shopped a little and then headed home. We got home around 2:00 pm, just when the hard rain hit here and the thunder and lightening followed about 30 minutes later.

We are still waiting on my passport which I applied for on 02/25/09. Tim applied about a week earlier and receives his about a week ago, so it should be here any day now.

After that, we just have to mail those copies to INS and then wait for their response from that and the fingerprinting, etc.

We have been tossing some names around, but nothing settled yet. We will most likely follow what most people do and give the child(ren) and American first name and keep their Ukrainian name as the middle name.

Will update when something new comes along.

In my last post I asked for prayer for Cornethia and Jim Bob as they were going to their 3rd referral. They are applying to adopt the 7 year old boy & 8 year old girl that they met at that referral. Please continue to keep them in your prayers.


God bless

Fingerprint Appointment

We received confirmation of our INS fingerprinting appointment last Thursday. We are scheduled to go on 03/28/09 at 10:00 am. The office is near the Charlotte Airport. We were surprised to get a Saturday appointment because we had expected to have to take a day off work to go.

Our pastor recently returned from a mission trip to Ukraine. They visited the Zhitomir region and said that at one of the orphanages, there were several children ages 3-6 who were available. He also said that last year, that area only had 10 adoptions, but had already had that number adopted out so far this year. It was explained to him that last year, Ukraine had an "International Year of Adoption" in which they focused on adoptions withing the country, but that this year, there should be more children adopted to parents who reside outside Ukraine.

Thanks to everyone for your support and prayers. Thanks to all of those who are currently in Ukraine or have adopted in the past and who are sharing their experiences via blogs. A special thanks to Staci and Damon for their account of their adoption of precious Wesley. Please keep them in your prayers as Wesley faces surgery in April. Thanks for the email, Staci. Also, please keep Cornethia and Jim Bob in your prayers as they are in Ukraine now and about to go for their 3rd referral. Your faith is an inspiration to me.

Until we have something else to update......

And the waiting begins

Our information was submitted to INS approximately three weeks ago. We now wait until they notify us of an appointment for finger prints which will be in Charlotte, Atlanta or Charleston. We requested Charlotte since it is closest and we can do that in a day, no problem. I, personally would love to go to Charleston, but I do not want to use any un-neccessary ETO time. I need to save it for the trip and for bonding time when we get back to good ol' USA.

Speaking of fingerprints.... we had a SCLED background check and a DSS background check, plus a medical form completed by our physicians which included testing for HIV and Syphilis, but no drug screen. I just find that extremely odd. I would like to think that they US and Ukraine would like to rule out drug use in adoptive parents.

I will update when we get the finger print appointment. Until then, we wait..........