In the Beginning

Today, I have raised the flag on our mailbox to mail a stack of letters to family and friends to share our great news. I have actually been meaning to send these letters since sometime in March, but I would get the letter completed and then want to add pictures. Well, then as you know life kinda takes over and so the letter must be edited from the last time I touched it. So today, those letters will finally get picked up and out to you all.

Now, I have this new medium to play with -- my first blog! Sure it is exciting now! I hope it does not end up like my exercise program. -- You know, good for the first couple of days, weeks if I'm lucky, and then after a while the space between gets longer and longer. I actually feel a bit guilty. Yesterday, I started searching other blogs, and I am so impressed. I wish that I would have begun this months ago, so I would actually have a good chronology of the entire journey. I suppose that starting now is better than not starting at all.

I have actually been thinking about joining the scrapbooking world to record all of our thoughts and events through the journey. I must say that I am a bit intimidated by the whole thing. Yes, I almost have a doctorate and I am intimated by scrapbooking. I am overwhelmed by everything that can be done. I'm afraid that I would want all the bells and whistles and as a beginner; it would turn out more like a hodgepodge of everything than a cohesive book. Well, I think this blog will help satisfy some of my creative needs. Maybe in the future, I'll start that scrapbook.

Oh yes, at this point you are wondering what is this great news that you have been talking about blogging and scrappbooking?

We are adopting a child from Russia!

Slade and I are so excited to begin the process of bringing another child in our home. It has became clear to us over the past few months that we should consider adopting a child. I think it was sometime in January that I e-mailed -- yes, e-mailed, Slade and asked him what he thought about adopting. He had actually heard a radio program that morning that put the idea in his head as well. It must have been divine intervention! After much consideration, research and prayer, we have taken the step to begin the adoption process. We have been approved through Children’s Hope International (CHI) who will facilitate our adoption of a little boy in Russia. He will be between 8 months – 30 months old when we are able to bring him home.

International adoption is filled with trials. Please pray for us during this process. The laws in Russia are changing and our agency is awaiting news of reaccreditation. In fact, some agency received news of their reaccrediation on July 4th. We hope that our agency will follow soon, too. We have submitted our dossier (documents to present to the Russian government) to our adoption agency and have now begun the long process of waiting for a referral. Depending upon many constantly changing variables, this time will be 10 months or more. Please, pray for the Russian officials as they are reviewing the documents and that the process of re-accrediting agencies will progress smoothly.

I have inlcluded a timeline on the page. Actually, when I created it yesterday, I couldn't believe that we had already been in the process as long as we have. I try not to be a day counter because the process goes a little quicker when I just let life take its toll. It lets us know how far we've come -- and just how long we have to go until our child is home.

The adoption will be emotionally and financially draining for us. We will make two trips to Russia and will have to leave our new child for several months before returning for the second trip. There are also considerable costs to the adoption agency and for the trips to Russia. We, however, are confident that this is God’s will in our life. Please, pray for us that we will not grow weary and that our needs will be taken care of throughout this process. While the adoption can be stressful, please, pray that it will bring our family closer together and allow us to grow. In the end, we know that we will be blessed with a new son and brother for Tori!

For those of you who will receive you letter in snail mail in a few days -- you will see most of this information. To the rest of this world -- welcome to our journey!