UPDATE

HURRAY!! Yulia just emailed me and she submitted our dossier to the SDA!!! She hopes to know our appointment date Friday or next Monday!! I'm so excited and nervous. Please pray all goes well. Excuse me while I go throw up now!! :)

Anxiously Waiting

Lots going on at our house. First, HOPEFULLY our dossier will be submitted today to the SDA. Yulia was translating it this past week and said she would do her best to submit today (Monday). We haven't heard from her so no news is good news right ??!!

Second, I have to share a HUGE praise with you all. We have had buckets sitting out with Laurel's pic on it and our information on it for a while now at some gas stations. We've done pretty well and gotten about $300-$400 with it. Mike put one out on Tuesday at a local gas station and the women working there have really gotten behind our cause!!! So far in less than a week, we have gotten $665!! We were shocked. Also, a little boy made his own bucket with her picture and our story and took it to a local concert to try to raise money. These people don't even know us but they believe in adoption and rescuing these kids. We are so blessed.

Third, I'm asking prayer for a very special friend who is also adopting and suppose to fly soon. The region where her daughter is is in turmoil right now and this threatens their plans to fly and get their daughter. PLEASE pray for the region, the children and peace.

IT'S THERE!!!!

I got an email yesterday from our facilitator and she received our dossier on Monday. Wow!! You go UPS. I mailed it on Thursday!!! She said she would "be doing her best to have it ready to submit to the SDA on Monday. Praying that there are no corrections/additions needed. How exciting is that ?? Here is to fast service and efficient people who believe in what they do. It makes all the difference don't you think.

HUGE NEWS!!

It's official! Our dossier is on its way to Ukraine!!! I NEVER thought I would be done with all of that paperwork. We took it all to be apostilled at the Sec. of State's Office today and they approved it all. We mailed it to our facilitator in Ukraine tonight. She will hopefully receive it by Tuesday. After that it will take approx. 1 week to translate it and if no corrections are needed then she will submit our request to the SDA for an appointment after Aug. 27th. Hopefully we will fly to meet Laurel in September!!

Also in exciting news... the local paper finally called me back and want to do a story on our adoption story and Reece's Rainbow. The young reporter was so excited to help get the word out about Special Needs adoption and Reece's Rainbow. This article should be out towards the end of August.

Prayer Requests:

1. That we will be able to save/scrounge/create/receive --the rest of the funds we need to bring Laurel home. We still need about $14,000 of the $24,000 it takes to get her here.

2. That the SDA will have no problems approving our paperwork.

3. That the Lord's will be done in picking just the right time for us to travel

4. Safety and security for Laurel in the orphanage

Thank you all for your prayers and support as we travel on this journey.

SMALL UPDATE

OK SO PERHAPS I GOT A LITTLE EXCITED ABOUT US BEING IN THE HOMESTRETCH BUT I'M NOT DISCOURAGED!!! 2 OF THE 4 DOCUMENTS HAD NOTARY ISSUES AND ONE THING HAD TO BE REORDERED SO..... BACK TO WAITING BUT IT'S ALL RELATIVELY EASY FIXES. MY TARGET SUBMISSION DATE IS NEXT WEEK. I'LL NOT BE DETERRED!! :)

PROGRESS!!!

Oh My! Dare I say it....... PROGRESS??? NO, you must be joking!! I just checked my email and our Marriage Certificates (which we had to reorder) are scheduled to arrive TOMORROW 7/7!!!

This is a HUGE deal b/c it's the last piece of the puzzle to complete our Dossier.!!!

Tommorrow I will: Fax our coordinator our: Redone (three times now) Rental Agreement, Agency License, SBI fingerprints and our Marriage license!! All of our other documents have the go ahead so these are the last 4. If they come back ok tomorrow then I will get everything Apostilled at the Secretary of State on Wednesday and hopefully off to Ukraine on Thursday. PLEASE pray the Sec. of States office will accept all of the documents just as they are. Either way it's PROGRESS. Thank you Lord for making our paths straight to this little girl. WE'RE COMING LAUREL!!