Process/Timeframe: On September 17th, our agency director sent our dossier to our in-country facilitator and we wired the money for the translation of the dossier. When we first started the process (in April), the estimated timeframe from dossier submission to travel was 1.5 months. Unfortunately, there were layoffs in Ukraine that have caused the process to slow down a bit. Most families are now seeing a 3 month timeframe from the date they submit their dossier to the date they travel. If that holds true for us, that would put us in Ukraine around Christmas! We are still praying for a quick timeframe, but trusting that God's timing is truly perfect (easier said than done).
Telling the Boys: We are hopeful that the orphanage director will tell the boys about us soon (receiving the dossier has been a trigger for other families). We did find out from our facilitator that she told the boys they had a family pursuing them (she said she had to ask them to make sure they wanted to be adopted and wanted to move to the US) and in her words "they WANT to be adopted!!" She said they know nothing about us personally--just that a family from the US is pursuing them. That gives us a better peace of mind, especially considering...
More Friends Being Adopted: As many of you know, there is a couple from Alabama who is in Ukraine right now adopting 2 boys who are friends with our boys. They have been staying in the orphanage for the past 3 weeks while the court process has taken place, and have spend a LOT of time with our boys. As of last Friday (Sept 20th), they passed court and their boys are officially theirs (in Ukraine)! That means that they are moving out of the orphanage today and taking the boys into Kiev while they finalize all of the remaining paperwork (new birth certificates, passports, and Visas). With more and more of our boys' friends being adopted and leaving the orphanage, we are SO thankful that they at least know someone is coming for them!
{Try to even imagine what it might be like to be an orphan getting closer and closer to "aging out" and not knowing if a family is ever coming for you. Can't even imagine!}
Choosing to be Grateful: While it has been extremely tough to have 3 of our kiddos across the world from us, we are choosing to be thankful!
- We were blessed to have 3 straight weeks of getting frequent pictures and updates on our boys from the couple from Alabama!
- Our boys know that a family is coming for them!
- We know that they want to be adopted and move to the US!
- We have connected with several families (most in Alabama, one in Chicago) who adopted boys from the same orphanage--boys who are close buddies with our sons! And we are already making plans to go visit them once the boys are home and settled!
- We have connected with the Honorary Consulate of Ukraine who is here in Houston and excited to offer help (language classes, culture classes, connections with other Ukrainian teens, etc.) when our boys get home!
Praying for a magical Christmas for our family!
1 comment:
Oh sweet boys! I almost cried on the phone yesterday but today I really am crying thinking of the defenses Valik has to be protecting his sweet heart with and now for him to know that someone is coming for him - that someone is PURSUING him and his brothers and LONGING for him and his brothers and that they will have a HOME! It's too much. Oh how I love them and you!
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