News

Well, the good news is that we heard from our social worker today and we are near the top of the Bethany waiting list for Krasnoyarsk. The disappointing news is that we are not expected to get a referral for a few more months, as there are several families from other agencies ahead of us. We were thankful for the update, and at least now we know where we stand. Pray that these other families get their referrals soon!

Homestudy update

Our homestudy update was yesterday and it went well! We feel extremely lucky to have such a great social worker. She always makes us feel really comfortable, and is so patient with all of our questions. There haven't been any updates as to when a referral might be coming, but she promised to at least try to find out something for us. We did get a little more info about our region and travel. A few other Bethany families have recently adopted from Krasnoyarsk and said that the orphanages are clean and the children seem well taken care of. We were SO grateful for that information!
We are going to try to use Mark's flight benefits to fly United from the US to Moscow, but then we have to take a Russian airline from Moscow to Kras. That should be interesting! The agency will put us in touch with someone to help with our travel arrangements, and we will have an interpreter most of the time we are there. We were also very excited to learn that we will have a driver. I can't imagine trying to drive around Russia ourselves!

I just looked at the weather in Krasnoyarsk...the high this week is 7*F, and the low is -15*F. It makes me cold just thinking about it! We just had our third fingerprinting done on Friday, and then turned in some of our homestudy paperwork. I am so thankful that the renewal papers are less than half of what we did for the orginal assessment! Our social worker is coming out for the home visit on November 23rd. Last time I literally cleaned the house from top to bottom, organized shelves, and cleaned out closets. While our house looked amazing, she didn't open any closet doors or look behind the fridge for dust bunnies. :) Needless to say, this time our house will be clean, but not OCD clean!
Say a little prayer for a family who is traveling to China in December to meet their 6month old daughter, Zoey. They have been waiting for a referral for 3 1/2 years!

November is celebrated as "National Adoption Month" in the United States. Hmm...do you think Russia knows that???

I have been super antsy lately, just wanting even one tiny bit of info about our progress. This weekend I got it! There was a new post on our agency's Eastern European blog. 37 children have come home from Russia this year so far! That 37 only includes the children adopted through Bethany, so imagine how many there are total :) I think that is a really good sign.

Still no news...

We haven't heard anything from our social worker in awhile. I emailed her last month about our homestudy paperwork, which we began last September. (It amazes me that we have already been in this process for a whole year!) She said that the paperwork officially expires in December, when the homestudy was approved. We are going to see what October brings before begining the updates. I have been following several blogs of families adopting from Russia, China, and Ethiopia. Many have recently received referrals and/or brought their children home. Mark laughs at me because I don't even know these people, but I read their posts and cry! There are so many children leaving orphanages and finally becoming a part of a family. And, there are so many parents that are looking at their children, thanking God for bringing them together. That will be us soon, and I can only imagine how amazing it will be.

We don't have anything new to report, but wanted to wish everyone a safe and fun July 4th weekend. We hope all of you are able to spend time with family and friends!