Tuesday, December 21, 2004

December 21 2004 - bureaucratic red tape type stuff

Today we learned that our dossier is STILL being translated, and that we made out the cashier's check incorrectly to "embassy" rather than "consolate". Gotta dot those "T"s and cross those "I"s. God's time.

Wednesday, December 08, 2004

December 8 2004 - we prayed for a clear answer...

Angel is in Florida, finishing the renovations on our rental house in Ocala. This morning, Joanne (the CASA worker) called Angel, and told her that the Grandmother of these two girls in Gainesville GA had decided to choose another family to adopt Brook & Mandy. She said she did not want her grandkids raised in the city, but rather on a farm in the country. We're a bit numb at the moment, since we weren't given the opportunity to even meet with the grandmother. We have lots of questions, but the decision has been made, and we have to now accept this as God's plan. It still hurts, even though this whole idea came and went in less than 4 weeks.

God is still good: we prayed that God would provide a very clear direction concerning this opportunity, and He has done just that.

If you haven't already, please read the Dec 6 update, James 4:13-17 and Proverbs 16:9. Truly, Angel and I had come to think that we very well might adopt 7 year-old Mandy and 11-year old Brook, even looked forward to it. How hard is it to NOT come to want something like children when an opportunity so close to home comes your way? I've written it several times in this blog, and will write it again: we have absolutely no control whatsoever over this whole process. It is 100% in God's hands, and God is good. Doesn't make it any easier to just say "ok" and move on.

Monday, December 06, 2004

December 6 2004 - trust and obey

James 4:13-17 - Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." 14Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." 16As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. 17Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins.

Proverbs 16:9 - In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.

Friday, November 12, 2004

November 12 2004

Very interesting week. First, our adoption agency has requested that we seek a formal, legal name change for Angel. Angel's birth name is Giselle Angel Ballenger. When we got married, she dropped "Giselle" from the beginning, and added "Sandlin" to the end, to get Angel Ballenger Sandlin. Her driver's license, passport, marriage license, and social security card all have "Angel Ballenger Sandlin". The agency believes it would be the safer route to have the legal paperwork in hand in case any one questions her actual name while we're in Kazakhstan.

Then, today, we get a call from Angel's sister, Angela, telling us that her business partner is a CASA representative and one of her cases has 2 daughters, ages 7 and 11, up for adoption.

"God, what would you like us to do?"

That is the question, and prayer, of the week. We'll find out more about these two girls shortly, and ask God for wisdom, discernment, and direction on what exactly we are supposed to do with this new information, if anything.

Meanwhile, our paperwork was delayed slightly because the agency (FCVN) director got stuck in India. The dossier has now been sent to Texas for the apostille (anyone know what that word means??), and should be sent to the translation service to be translated into Russian next week. That is supposed to take 2 weeks.

It looks more and more like it will be at least mid-January before we have our referral. We so wanted to have our children home at Christmas. Then we so wanted to be travling by Christmas. Now...well, we are reminded again that it's all in God's hands, His plan is perfect, and there is not a thing we can do to change it. So, just like Angel's original prayer (Psalm 40:1 - I waited patiently for the LORD; He turned to me and heard my cry.") we wait patiently for God to work His great plan.

November 19 2004 UPDATE:

No more info on the two tween-agers who are currently residing in Gainesville, GA. Update on Kazakhstan is that our dossier was, for unknown reasons, delayed at our agency, FCVN. Just this week, the apostille was completed and the dossier has been sent to the translation agency for translation into Russian. This process normally takes about 2 weeks, but next week is Thanksgiving, so we can expect it to take more like 3 weeks. All in God's perfect time.

Tuesday, October 26, 2004

October 26 2004 - slight delays

Just got word today that our dossier has not yet been sent to Texas for the apostille. FCVN's director was stuck in India on an adoption trip week before last, so that has something to do with the delay. It's looking more and more like Christmas when we will get our referral and see a picture of our kids. That means we will leave sometime in mid-January, and be gone till sometime in early - mid March (~ 6-8 weeks) It's all in God's hands. I was just sharing over this past weekend that, because we have absolutely no control whatsoever over this whole process, it has forced us to wait patiently on God's perfect timing. Despite the fact that we firmly believe that being home with our kids by Christmas would have been just peachy, God's timing is always, always better than our simple wants.

Wednesday, October 13, 2004

October 13 2004 - all the paperwork has been sent...whew!

We sent off the equivalent of a college biology book worth of paperwork today to Denver. This 1.5" thick stack will now be known as our "dossier". Always wanted to have a dossier. It was an administrative ordeal putting this whole thing together, an event that causes me to again thank Jehovah Jire for providing me with a wife whose natural gifts are complementary to mine. That's another way of saying that Angel basically did this whole thing because I am incapable of properly doing paperwork. It's on it's way via FedEx to Denver for approval, then translation, etc., etc.

Tuesday, October 12, 2004

October 12 2004 - changes to Kaz adoption program

Wow, what a hectic last couple of days. We got immigration approval, and are preparing to send a boatload of documents to our adoption agency in Denver. Then the agency calls and says they have to send us a bunch of new changes to the Kaz adoption program. Just spent over an hour on the phone with Karla, our adoption agent, going over all these new changes. Basically, only God knows the following:

- when we will go to Kazakhstan
- if we will be able to adopt 2 kids
- if we will know ANYTHING about our kids before we go, or if we'll have to meet our potential adopted child(ren) on the spot in the orphanage
- how long we'll have to stay in country (the "10-day waiting period" is now 15 days. It used to be waived some of the time, but now it most likely will not be waived, so we have to plan on 6-8 weeks in Kazakhstan as opposed to the 3-5 weeks that we originally planned for.)

So, again, it's ALL in God's hands. We're along for the ride, and the paperwork. We'll be FedEx-ing a large dossier to Denver. Denver will approve it, send it to be translated into Russian. That may take "2-6 weeks" (but again, only God knows). Then it goes to the Kazakhstan embassy in NY for final review and approval. That takes "4-8 weeks", but again, only God knows. Karla said today that the embassy has been much taking about 1 month or less, which is good.

We may leave around Christmas, or we may leave around Valentine's Day, or we may leave sometime in between. Who knows! :-) God knows.

Karla, if you're reading this: THANK YOU!! You are a tireless individual with the patience of Job to put up with the likes of us. We thank God for you every day.

Please pray that God will enable the FCVN Director to get home from India soon so she can approve our final paperwork. Also for the Kazakhstan Embassy representative who gets our case to be conscientious, efficient, and to have a great desire to get our file in and out before the holidays. God knows, and He can work miracles.

Friday, October 08, 2004

October 8 2004 - immigration approval!!

Today, I sent a fax over to immigration to politely check to see whether they had actually received and processed the papers that we dropped off last week. Just like last time, someone called right back, this time to Angel's cell phone. So Angel calls me right away to give me the news:

Angel: "You know how I've had this feeling that this whole adoption thing just isn't going to happen?"
Kevin: "Yes."
Angel: "I just got a call from immigration."
Kevin: "AND??"
Angel: "We're approved!"

God is good. So, based on the schedule that has been communicated to us from our adoption agency in Colorado, approximately two months from now, we should get our referral. That means we'll have 2-3 weeks from getting the referral to when we have to be in Kazakhstan. Do that math: that means we'll be leaving for Kazakhstan on or about Christmas. Ahh, Christmas in Kazakhstan. Smile

Please pray that the person who gets assigned to our case in the Kazakhstan embassy in New York has a special motivation for processing our file quickly.

Thursday, October 07, 2004

OCTOBER 7, 2004 - immigration red tape...

We got back the same information we sent to Immigration on Setp 22 with a note from Immigration asking for our "file number" or "alien registration number." Having no idea what that was we tried to contact Immigration here in Atlanta. Their web site offers only their fax number, so that's what I did. I sent a very cordial fax begging for help. To our great surprise, I got a call back the next day, explaining that we had no file number or alien registration number, but that we should just write "Adoption / A600" in that space. So Angel braved the deepest parts of downtown Atlanta to take the paperwork back down to them, only to find out that the only way into that office is with an appointment. Angel called me from her cell phone, and I went to uscis.gov to setup an appointment for that day. Nope, earliest appointment day was like October 12 or something. But God is good, and He provided a very helpful and nice man at the front desk who walked Angel right up to the proper office and told her where to leave the information.

This whole process is in God's capable hands. Everyday, we see something else that we have absolutely no control over, and yet God provides a solution. We can't wait to see how He provides for our kids' clothes, toys, books, beds, and all the other things that we can't yet shop for because we don't know anything about our kids! What a walk of faith.

Please pray that God would send wonderful caregivers to the orphanage(s) where our children are living today, and that our children would be warm, well fed, well-loved, and taken care of with the gentlest of hands. All these things are in the hands of our great God.

Wednesday, September 22, 2004

September 22 2004 - Beginning the adoption process

Hi Folks! This web page is our not-so-frilly diary of our progress towards obedience to God's calling for us to adopt children. If you're reading this, then you already know the basics, but here they are again.

We've not been able to conceive naturally, or through modern drugs or IVF. So, with God's blessing, we are proceeding with the international adoption process to adopt 2 children from Kazakhstan. We don't know anything about our children, except that they will be somewhere between 6 months and 3 years old when we adopt them.

Below is a log of sorts which documents our adventure to date, starting in May 2004.

Earlier this year (2004), we contacted a friend of a friend of Angel's from her Bible study (BSF) in Denver. This friend, Karla, works for "Friends of Children of Various Nations, Inc." (FCVN, for short), which is an international adoption agency, and Karla specializes in the adoption programs of Russia and Kazakhstan.

We made the decision to go forward in early May, and God confirmed this decision many times between then and Father's day, which this year was June 20. We have avoided Mother's Day church celebrations for the past few years beause it was simply too painful. We didn't think anything about Father's Day at Church of The Apostles, but that's when God made it very clear that we no longer had to avoid such celebrations.

"Somewhere in Kazakhstan there are kids of some age waiting for their mom and dad to come get them. We don't know who they are, how old they are, or where they are, or where they are from, but I am their Daddy and Angel is their Mommy. We must now wait for God's appointed time until we meet them, but we already love them."


Since then we have prayed simply for God to love, protect, and provide for our children.

We started the Home Study the next day, and were approved for the adoption of 2 children on July 2, 2004. We now have an enourmous folder (well organized by Angel) full of paperwork for various governmental agencies, who now know more about us than we really want them to know.

We also had to conduct some trickery, since we didn't want to tell certain family members over the phone, but rather in person. Angel had to tell a little white lie to get my Congolese birth certificate from my mom. Well, we ARE going to put together a serious family album! We finally visited Midge & Roscoe in Lenox, MA on the weekend of our 11th wedding anniversary, and dropped the news on them over dinner the first night. Though they've been grandparents for twenty years, they took the news very well.

We tried to use similar trickery to get in front of Caroline, but we may have gone too far there. The conversation went, "Caroline, I just stayed with our parents for three days...and we REALLY need to talk!" Well, she didn't sleep much for a couple of days, and I couldn't be the source of more stress for her, so we did tell her on the phone. Now she is very excited to be Auntie C-Line!!

We submitted our full application to "Immigration" (formely INS, now DHS, CIS) in early August. Last week, Sept 15, we got a letter from Immigration. My youthful indiscretions have finally come back to haunt me. The first thing they ask when you start the adoption process is, "Have you ever been arrested?" You can say no, but if they find out otherwise, your adoption application stops right there. So, I 'fessed up, and completely documented my arrest for Possession of Alcohol by a minor in the fall of 1985 in Conyers, GA, at a high school football game.

Interestingly, the state of GA, from whom we had to collect a criminal background check three different times, shows no arrests at all. Even more interestingly, the City of Conyers, where the offense took place, purges their records every six years. Since my idiocy occured 19 years ago, there is no record of it at all. So, when Immigration demands a "Certified Court Disposition" for the arrest, we thought we were stuck. God provided an old friend and neighbor in the Conyers records department, and we were able to get a notarized document that affirms the official lack of record of my arrest. That letter was sent to Immigration on Sept 22, so we expect a slight delay in the processing of our adoption application.

As of today, Sept 22, we expect to receive our "referral" from Karla around the end of November, depending mostly on when Immigration approves our application. We will spend 4-6 weeks in Kazakhstan, and come home with our two children.