Official SDA Appointment

This morning, Jason calmly walked up the stairs from his office and asked, “Have you seen the e-mail?”  The smirk on his face widened as I realized “the e-mail” meant that we finally got our official SDA (government agency that oversees adoption) appointment.  He said, “I figured you hadn’t seen it because I haven’t heard you ‘Wahoooing’ upstairs.”

Our official SDA appointment is May 21^st.  We will need to be in country a few days early (probably leaving next Friday).  Our excitement level is WAY up there.  It’s hard to believe that we will finally be heading to Ukraine next week!

God’s timing is perfect.  It looks like the work on the house will be mostly done before we leave- allowing us put our house back together again (it is literally a wreck, pun intended).  The mess is starting to get to me, but knowing that we can get things ready for Ira puts my mind at ease.  This adoption journey is coming to an end, but I have a feeling that the true adventure is just beginning.

Puzzle Update #6

It’s been a long time since our last update. The only adoption news to share is that we hope to travel to Ukraine sometime in May. We’re hoping to hear about a definite timeline either this week or next week. Last week, our Ukrainian facilitator sent us this message about Ira: “all good, Ira received letter and package, very thankful, coming to director all the time asking when she will be adopted... very much waiting....”

The waiting is rough for us too, but God has given us several distractions this month. I had the privilege of helping direct the drama that our homeschool group produced. I’m so thankful to have had this opportunity to make great memories with Hayley (this was her first year in our homeschool drama).
The second distraction has come in a rather unpleasant form.  On April 5^th, someone crashed into our house.  While this has made a huge mess and an insurance nightmare, it has certainly given me something else (other than adoption) to obsess over. Lord willing, the mess will be cleaned up by the time we leave for Ukraine.


We celebrated Jason's birthday on April 8th, and Hayley, Collin and Micah had earned and saved up $275 that they gave to him towards the adoption of Ira. This week, we also received a generous $200 donation as well. This weekend, Jason, Hayley and I spent several hours working on Ira’s puzzle. It sure has come quite a ways since our last puzzle update, but we have a long way to go! Thanks so much for helping us bring Ira home.

Dossier Submitted!

Wahooo! Our dossier was submitted to the SDA in Ukraine today. This is the e-mail I received moments ago:

Dear Jason and Stacie:

Your dossier was successfully submitted today! The next step will be the Ministry's in-depth review of your paperwork. If everything is acceptable to the Ukrainian authorities, we should hear back in about 3 weeks, with an invitation to travel. The most recent invitations have been for SDA appointments about two weeks away...so you COULD travel in about five weeks, with 14 days' notice.

Hooray! Congratulations on completing this next step!

Leigh

We are so thankful to finally reach this step. We still have a LONG way to go as far as raising the funds. A friend of ours is a photographer and is volunteering her services to help with our adoption. On April 21st from 12 pm to 5 pm she will be doing photography sessions and 100% of the proceeds go to our adoption fund. The sessions and prices are $45 for a 30 minute session and $75 for a 60 minute session. E-mail courtney@courtneyhowellphotography.com to reserve a time.

What a week - guest post by JB

As you may remember, last Thursday, we had posted that we had sent all our paperwork over to our adoption agency for copying and forwarding to Ukraine for processing. Well, this past Monday, we received an email stating that there were additional things needed, as well as some different documents. I then devised a "foolproof" plan to get the required documents to our agency by Friday at the latest, then on to Ukraine.

• Monday: Gather 3 documents and get one notarized
• Tuesday: pick up deed from courthouse, take all paperwork to the post office, overnight mail to Indy with additional overnight mail to Georgia
• Wednesday: Secretary of State receives, apostilles and ships overnight to adoption agency
• Thursday: Adoption agency receives documents, is able to turn them around same day and ship out to Ukraine

Tuesday:
I worked from home so that I could go to the courthouse a third time to get the correct deed information that the SDA in Ukraine needs. After that, I headed to the post office to overnight the documents to the Secretary of State in Indianapolis. On the Express mail package, delivery is guaranteed by noon of the next day.

Wednesday:
After checking the USPS tracking site all morning, noon came and went with no status update of "delivered". I called the INSOS office and got put on hold for about 15 minutes while people were coming back from lunch, I assume. When I finally talked with someone, I was told that they did not have the package, and that it may be somewhere in a different building waiting their internal mail delivery system. I also called USPS and they said they'd start tracing the package. I received a call close to 1pm from the INSOS and they told me that they received the package, processed it, and had put it in their outbox to be picked up close to 3pm. I received another call from the USPS about 3:45pm, stating that the package had been delivered about 10:10am.

Thursday:
I've been in touch with our agency, and they have already received the envelope, made their photocopies, scanned and emailed overseas, and repackaged the documents and sent them via FedEx out to the translator in Ukraine. On a side note, as of 3pm today, the USPS site shows the package as “At the post office".

Our adoption counselor in Georgia was happy that everything has worked out, and in true A-Team fashion, said in an email: "Don't you love it when a plan comes together"

I've been thinking that my plan was wonderful and that everything worked according to my plan, however, I have to sit back and realize that this whole adoption is truly GOD's plan for us. Everything is in His control and is being done according to His will and His timing, not ours. It's really easy to be thankful and content when things work out "according to my plan" but when things don't go perfectly; it's a bit more difficult.

May we all continue to strive to be more content, thankful, patient, and truly wait upon the Lord.

One Year Anniversary

It’s so hard to believe that it’s already been a year since we first applied to adopt!  Things sure have changed since then.  On March 20, 2011, we applied to One World to adopt a baby girl from Congo.  Now, a year later, we are done with our dossier and waiting for our court date to adopt a teenage Ukrainian girl! 

God has shaped our path in ways we could never have imagined.  We are so grateful for His leading in our lives.  Please pray with us that God will continue to work on Ira’s heart.  It won’t be long now, Lord willing, until we “Become the Bower 6.”