Keeping Busy

Nothing new to report, although I wish that there was. I'll be calling and/or emailing the agency later today to try and get an update. In the meantime, I'm keeping busy homeschooling our current youngest who's a senior in high school. I'm also still a Stampin' Up! demonstrator (although that may be changing this month) and I've started a new hobby -- digital scrapbooking! I've even gotten into designing my own elements to use in my scrapbook pages. You can check them out at www.digicyberscraps.com if you are so inclined.

I'm hoping to be able to use this digital scrapbooking knowledge when I go to scrap for our Zambian born children. I want to work on ABC books for them that use lots of pictures from our stay in Zambia when we finally get there. When that happens, I'll even post some layouts here so that you can see the pages and our children!!

So, until that time, keep checking back for updates. Hopefully I'll have some good news for you shortly!

Carolyn

We're Still Here . . .

. . . and waiting! No news is not necessarily good news. We still have no update. I have put in phone calls and emails to the agency basically begging for some update, but nothing yet. Keep praying for us! We so want to bring our children home and the longer this takes, the older we get. You'll be the first to know when we get our referral!!

Carolyn

Some Good News, Finally

I heard today from our Adoption Agency that the Minister of Community Development in Lusaka (head over all children in Zambia) will be lifting the adoption ban in 3 months. What has this ban meant? No adoptions have been taking place in Zambia -- not international or even in country adoptions. Having the ban lifted means that adoptions will once again be taking place, both in country and internationally.

What exactly does that mean for us? It means that we could receive our referral in 3 months or so. After we receive and accept our referral we will have a 3 month wait before we can travel. So, what it really means is that we could be traveling to Zambia at the end of September or early October at the earliest. Still keep praying, though. Nothing is definite until it happens, although the minister did make this announcement publicly. I was told that this information was even printed in the Lusaka newspaper, so I'll be looking online for that bit of news.

Needless to say, we were very excited to receive this news today and wanted to pass it on to those of you that read my blog. I can't wait to post pictures for you all!!

Still Here and Waiting, again

We're still in the waiting phase. We have not heard anything particular to us concerning the adoption. There's a lot going on, so please keep praying for Faithful Adoption and Zambia. There are so many children that are in need of homes and we have a home just waiting for them -- well not all of them! LOL! We're still hoping that things will begin to happen and we will have our child(ren) home this year. I know that December seems a long way off, but it will be here before we know it (sorry if I seem to be rushing through this year; I just know how the time seems to fly by). So, just keep praying for all involved. Believe me, when we have news to share, we WILL share it! :-)

Still Here and Waiting

There's not any news to share; we're just waiting for the agency. But please pray for Faithful Adoptions (FA) and Zambia. Things in Zambia are somewhat at a stand still for various reasons. FA continues to work with those in Zambia who are in charge of international and in country adoption. Pray for Diana, in particular, who is in charge of new programs. She has a lot on her plate right now and needs to be upheld in prayer. Diana has worked tirelessly on this new program. I know things can get discouraging for her when there doesn't seem to be any progress. God knows what is needed in Zambia and for all those involved in the program. We believe that God has called us to this country, so we await His leading.

Thanks for sticking with us throughout this process. We appreciate your prayers for us, FA and Zambia.

We're Paper Pregnant!!

I noticed that it's been a while since my last update, but that's because there has been nothing to update you on. However, today we found out that we are pregnant -- paper pregnant, that is, as my cousin would say. We have received approval to bring an orphan into the country. Needless to say, we are very excited!!! :-)

We were fingerprinted on December 20. That means that the approval took just slightly over a month. That's amazing no matter where you live, but especially so here in NYC.

What's next? More waiting! Our waiting now is for our referral and that's up to the agency and the country of Zamiba. Please pray with us that our referral will come quickly.

Thanks so much for sticking with us during this whole process. Lord willing our family will be all together sometime this year.

It's Done -- the fingerprinting, that is!

The fingerprinting is completed and went off without a hitch, almost. It was an interesting experience to say the least. We got to the application support center in downtown Brooklyn relative quickly. We had enough time to stop for a cup of coffee and a bagel. We were able to finish our bagels and still walk in 20 minutes before our scheduled appointment time. (The appointments actually mean nothing -- it's just a way of getting people to arrive scattered throughout the day.) We filled out forms (almost identical to the ones that we received with our appointment letter) and were given a number. That's when the almost glitch happened.

Since Edward is 18 he had to go with us and be fingerprinted. He's the one that almost ran into the problem. His name is legally Ralph Edward Snyder-Ritter, but goes by Edward. When we got his non-driver's license photo ID, he decided to have his name on it as R.E. Snyder-Ritter. They couldn't put R. Edward since the program the DMV uses wouldn't allow for middle names. That's where the problem arose. He had filled out his application as Ralph Edward Snyder-Ritter and since the ID and application didn't match, even though the ID was a photo ID, he was sent to the opposite side of the room that I had been sent to, to await a conflab with the manager. Fortunately the manager okayed everything and we were good to go (Edward said that the manager had that look of "this is not worth my time"). From there, we had no problems.

Now it's a matter of waiting for the fingerprints to be processed before we receive our permission to bring an orphan into the country. PTL!!

Fingerprinting Time

It's been quite a while since I've updated and with Christmas coming, I've been soooo busy I haven't gotten around to posting.

We received our finalized home study report in the mail on December 1. So, on December 3 we mailed the appropriate copy to USCIS (immigration). We had already sent in our application and the fee for the fingerprinting. I was ready for quite a wait for our fingerprinting appointments. The website that I had been checking for time frames was saying there was a 3 month wait. Okay, I was prepared for that. However, I wasn't prepared for the time frame that is taking place.

Let me explain. As I said, we mailed in our completed home study on December 3 and by Saturday, December 8, we had received our fingerprinting appointments -- less than 1 week later. And, the cherry on top of this sundae is that our appointments are for December 20!!!! The real answer to prayer is that the appointments are for the day after Edward's college finals are finished. He finishes on December 19 at 5:00 pm and our appointment is Thursday, the 20th, at 10:00 am. I have to admit that I was concerned that our appointments might conflict with his college class schedule in the spring, but God is good and arranged for that NOT to be the case.

Once the fingerprinting is completed and we are approved to bring an orphan into the country, it's just a matter of waiting for a referral from our agency. Please pray with us that the referral comes quickly and that we can travel during spring or summer next year. We are hoping to have our child(ren) here by Christmas 2008 at the latest. Please pray with us!!

This is an amazing journey that we are on and we so often see God's hand at work in this whole situation and our lives. We look forward to sharing pictures with you when we receive them!! :-)

Merry Christmas to you all. May you experience God's blessing this holiday season and in 2008!!

One Step Closer

It's been a while since I had any updates on our adoption. We are one step closer. Yesterday we received, via the US postal system, our completed home study report. So, on Monday, one report gets sent to USCIS so that we can get approval to bring an orphan child(ren) into the country. The second report gets mailed to our agency and we get to keep 2 copies of the report.. The rest of the process is then out of our hands and into the hands of our government and Zambia.

Once we receive USCIS approval, we then wait for a referral and travel. Please keep praying with us that this process moves along quickly. The Zambian program has some details that need to be ironed out; pray that these things will be taken care of quickly and efficiently.

We will continue to update you when there is news to report. Thank you so much for your prayers on our behalf and for all the support that we have received. We love you all!!

Final Yard / Flower Sale Update

I haven't updated in ever so long because there has been nothing to update. However, we have the final tally on the fund raiser that my aunt and cousin organized. Are you ready for this?!? Drum roll, please . . . . the final total is $1,800!!! Yes, you read that correctly, one thousand eight hundred dollars!! Isn't God great!?! We are so excited because we can now send in the forms to USCIS (immigration) and get pre-approved to bring an orphan into the country. Those forms will be mailed later today or tomorrow.

So that's the latest! Thanks so much for praying for us during this journey. Please don't stop!!!