So much to do!

We have started filling out the applications, forms, and gathering information. We have so much to do! It's incredibly overwhelming and I just want to get it all done now. I have to remember that this is a process and I have to slow down. It's not going to get "Luke" to us sooner if I rush, because we'll be waiting on other various organizations to process all this stuff.

I want to celebrate every step of this journey and hopefully learn more about myself through it. Just looking up all my old addresses of everywhere I've lived since I was 18 was almost fun. Thinking about how Dan and I fell in love and transitioned from home to home. How far we've come just in that way!

Please help me by praying that I can slow down and appreciate this walk through our past and use it to start this new future with "Luke" in it. That I can find value in the most menial of tasks going forward with this process.

Many of you have asked how you can donate to the adoption process and we can't tell you how much we appreciate your generous hearts! We will be heading to Fort Worth, TX this week for training and we are hoping to learn the best way to accept donations so it will be beneficial tax-wise for all of us. We will keep you posted on that as we learn more information. For now you can support us with your prayers and listening to us ramble about how much paperwork we have to fill out! 

An Amazing Journey Begins...

There is a beautiful and precocious young man, almost 13 years of age, who lives thousands of miles away in Eastern Europe. We've never met him, except on paper, but we already love him. I've been trying to think of a way to say that without it sounding insane. Maybe a metaphor or an analogy, a poem or song, perhaps something allegorical? I thought that if I just put some solid effort into it, I could accurately express and explain how and why we feel so strongly for this little guy. Truth be told, I've given up. For now, it's inexplicable, and if that means that we sound a little crazy (more than usual), then I'm okay with that. 

We've finally received word from the Bulgarian Ministry of Justice (MOJ) that they have officially matched us with "Luke". This is a huge step and a cause for celebration. The entire adoption process comes to a screeching halt, waiting for this news. Their decision took almost 5 weeks, which is about 4 1/2 weeks longer than it was supposed to take. I wish I could say I've been waiting patiently, but I can't. Despite that, we've managed to remain faithful, with the belief that whatever happens, it will be what's best for "Luke".

So now it really begins. We have just 6 short months to construct a dossier of our entire family. It will essentially document every aspect of our natural born lives. It will be tedious, frustrating, annoying, and so completely worth every tear and drop of sweat if it means that this little guy has a permanent family to call his own. Yes, even if he isn't part of our family, which is still a possibility. We can't know what lies ahead, for us or for him. But for now, we're taking it all in stride, with the hope that if we are fortunate enough to meet him, that he will decide, as we have, that we are his forever family.

Here is what I know. If reality in any way reflected our emotion, this boy would already be a member of our family. He would be living in our home, in his new room, playing and laughing with his siblings and throwing the ball for his new dog. That's obviously not possible, but it's just a fraction of all the hope we have for him. If only. 

Please pray for "Luke's" protection and comfort, that his life will be infinitely improved and enriched, no matter what happens with our adoption. Please pray for us, and him, that this highly bureaucratic and laborious process will go as smoothly as it can. Finally, please pray for provision. It is an expensive process and we have yet to strike gold, oil, or grow a proper money tree :). We remain confident and faithful that all will be provided for, and that this is merely one chapter at the beginning of an amazing story that we are truly blessed to be a part of.

Matched at last!

Yesterday we heard the great news that the Ministry of Justice in Bulgaria matched us with "Luke"! What incredible news! We still have a ways to go, but after waiting so long it feels like fresh air. We are able to share the great news of our adoption now and it's been wonderful to tell friends and family!

Chapter 7 - still waiting

We are still waiting to hear back from the Bulgarian Ministry of Justice about our match with "Luke". Last week, I checked in with our adoption agency and they said the MOJ received the paperwork and just needed some clarification on a few things. It's hard not to get nervous about that, but we are staying positive.

I spoke with our home study agency today and even though we are waiting to pay until we have the match, they are letting us get started on some stuff. It's encouraging to feel that they are on our side and helping us through this. We gave them non-family that will give us recommendations and they will send them out letters. The training required by the CO home study will be satisfied by our Gladney training and our Hague training, so more good news!

Chapter 6 - Language Learning

We are attempting to learn Bulgarian. We are starting small with greetings. Bulgaria uses the Cryllic alphabet, and we are not sure if we'll ever be able to read or write it, but we will try to learn to speak it using the phonetic words.

First, to say hello, you would say "zdrasti". If you were speaking to just one person you would say "zdravei". These are both informal. If you were speaking formally, you could use greetings depending on the time of day. Good morning = dobro utro. Good day = dobyr den. Good evening = dobyr vecher. We are mostly going to be learning the informal to speak with "Luke", but we may need some formal when we go to Bulgaria to meet him.

Zdravei, az se kaz vam Kate. Priyatno mi e da se zapoznaem. Hi, my name is Kate. It's nice to meet you. I can't wait to say these words to "Luke"!

When saying goodbye informally, you can say "do skoro", which means "see you later". You can also say ciao which is one of the words Bulgaria has adopted as their own. If you are speaking formally, "goodbye" is "dovijdane".

A little bit of Bulgarian at a time is easy for us so far. Hopefully we can retain and build our vocabulary of relevant words for being in Bulgaria and for speaking with "Luke". 

Chapter 5 - still waiting

We are still waiting to hear from the Ministry of Justice in Bulgaria if we are matched with "Luke" or not. We have decided to go with Nightlight Agency for our home study and have filled out the application and submitted it. We start the payments and the process after we hear about our match. It's tough to get the timing right on everything here. Once we find out we are a match, we have 6 months to get our home study, training, and dossier done and submitted for everything to be valid still. Plus we have to pay all of our fees and be ready to travel to Bulgaria to meet "Luke"!

It feel strange to be sitting around waiting for all this stuff to start. We have all the paperwork completed and ready to submit, but we can't go on any of it.

The craziest part is that "Luke" doesn't even know about us! He's just over there living his life and we already love him and think of him as our son. He won't know anything until we get the official referral from Bulgaria which won't be for another 4-6 months. When we meet him, after doing all the paperwork and preparations, he could decide he doesn't want to be with us. That is so scary and hard to think about.

Joe and Bella are as excited as ever about "Luke" joining our family. Hopefully we will hear soon about the match!

Chapter 4 March 1, 2015

The waiting is the hardest part.

There is so much to do and we can't do any of it yet.

We have to start our home study, but have questions about certain home study groups that we have to wait to have answered. There's a lot of hurry up and wait so far in the adoption process. We get a bunch of stuff to do, frantically finish, hand it in and wait... wait... wait...

Right now, we are waiting to hear back from the Bulgaria Ministry of Justice to see if they will match us with "Luke". If they give us the green light, we can start our home study. If they give us the green light, this blog goes live and fundraising begins! It's amazing the peace we all feel about this crazy ride we are on so far.

We have told some family members and close friends little by little what's going on. The support has been wonderful. Everyone wants to help us prayerfully, financially, or even by encouraging us in different ways. It's overwhelming.

We have training in a month in Fort Worth, which we are so excited about. It'll be great to have a lot of our questions answered and learn more about the process.