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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.