On to Russia

We received notice today that our dossier is on its way to Russia. We have a new set of hands to pray for now. When it arrives in Russia, it must be translated from English into Russian. Please pray for our translator, for both speed and accuracy. Also pray that the translated version of our dossier meets all of the requirements of the region. The next step after translation is registration of the request in the region. Once that happens the timer will start. We really don't know how long it will take to get the referral, but it will only happen after that registration. Please continue to pray for the kid/s as they wait for us to come and meet them.

Bryan and Leigh

On to Dallas

Part 1 of the Dossier is off to Dallas!! I made it down to B.R. and got all 24 of the documents apostilled and the 2 pound package off to Dallas. Hopefully everything will be right when it gets there tomorrow, and it will be on to Russia soon. Thanks for all of the prayers.

Don't forget to to keep praying for it as it goes on from here.

Bryan

UPDATE FROM FRIDAY
The dossier arrived Friday morning. They haven't called to tell us to fix anything, so we are hoping that is good news. Thanks for the prayers.

Paperchase continues

While I was gone for a couple of days shooting birds with one of our suppliers, Leigh chased down most of the documents we have to have for our dossier to be sent to Russia. Hopefully we will be able to meet the notary tomorrow. If that can happen, I will take them to Baton Rouge Thursday to be apostilled. Then drop it off with fed-ex straight to Dallas. If everything looks good, then they will send it on to Russia next week. After all of this time, it seems like we really are moving in the right direction. The other family that will be registering in Khab got their paperwork to Buckner today, so if ours get there Friday, they will travel together. Leigh is hoping that means we can travel together with them when we get our referrals.

So here goes another prayer request. Please pray that we really have everything right this time, and that I can get to Baton Rouge on Thursday. Then, pray for every set of hands that will touch this dossier as it moves from here, to Russia. Once it is in Russia, pray for the person that will translate this ream of paper into Russian. And please don't forget our biggest and constant request is that this child will feel the hand of God as it lays in its bed in Russia.

Oh the Places you will go...

Oh the places you will go... Who would have ever thought where all we would go with God to get our kids. We have known from the beginning that adoption was God's plan for our family. And we knew after visiting Russia in 2005, that God put this country in our hearts for a reason. It has been a long time since our first visit to St. Petersburg with SAC in April of 2005, and it has been along time since we started our paperwork to adopt. During the last almost 4 years God has continuously blessed us. He has given us patience as the landscape of international adoption has changed, peace knowing that all of this is part of His plan for us, and perseverance to stay the course during all of the changes. In December, we learned that, if we were willing, our agency had a new to them region that could really change our time frame. So now we are no longer going to be adopting from St. Petersburg, but from a region in far east Russia, Khabarovsk. The time from registration to adoption could be 7-8 months sooner than in St. Pete. And in God's never ending sense of humor, we already know somebody from that region.

Please bare with us as we learn to blog. Neither of us are the best at opening up, but we want a way that you our friends and family can keep up with our progress, and know how to specifically pray for us. One of the things that we will need you to bare with us on is that our child or children, (yes, we are approved for 2 if they are available) will have their own story to tell. We won't be able to share their given names with you until they are ours, so please don't ask. We will come up with something you can call them in your prayers.

Now, where are we, and how can you pray. Where we are is completing phase 1 of our dossier. Once it is approved, it will be sent to Khab where it will be translated and registered. Based on the information we have regarding our timeline, it is very likely that our child has been born. The overriding prayer is that as they lay in their beds in Russia, that our kids feel the hand of God. There typically are not enough hours in the day for care givers in the orphanage to give each child all of the attention and contact that they need. So we pray that God will do that for us.

We will share more as we can. Thanks again for praying for us, and our kid as we await our first trip to meet them. Oh the places we will go...