approval!

For those wanting to follow the process, today was the day our home study was approved by our adoption agency.  We have four notarized copies coming to us, and our immigration paperwork (the I-800 A form) will be at UCSIS this week.

We will have to wait anywhere from 30-60 days for approval from USCIS.

What happens next?

-We get USCIS approval;
-Once we receive favorable determination, we send off our dossier to our adoption agency (during the wait for approval, we will be finishing up apostilling our documents so that we are ready to submit our dossier when we receive approval)
-The dossier gets sent to Bulgaria and is translated;
-The dossier is registered with the Ministry of Justice
-We receive the written referral for our future son - and travel dates for our first trip!
-We go on our first trip
-We come home, wait 2-5 months (depending on a host of factors), submit MORE paperwork, and then wait for court to happen (in Bulgaria)
-Court happens, hopefully favorably for us;
-We get dates for second and FINAL trip to Bulgaria
-We come home, and then the REAL work begins as we attempt to undo years of neglect and delay as a result of our Little Dude's stay in the horrid Bad Place.

Of course, throughout this, we owe money at various stages.  Naturally, for those who have been reading, you know that we have paid all of our adoption expenses ourselves (meaning, out of our pockets) and we have some additional funds to continue.  This is our money.  Those who suggest that all people who adopt do is "beg for donations" are not correct, though the people that say this honestly don't take the time to read anything.  They just type, spewing mostly illiterate venom.  The truth is that we have paid, and will continue to pay, for our future son's expenses.

But at some point, it is true, the money will run out.  That is why we fundraise; because at some point, there is going to be a bill that comes due and we won't have the money.  This is why Mulligan Stew was so important and so very needed, and why we are so grateful for the support we've received.  No child deserves to be in that Bad Place, and we are working as quickly as we can to redeem him.

I want to steal, for a moment, from one of the people I admire so much; one who adopted from The Bad Place and has literally changed (SAVED!) a life from The Bad Place.  Her entry's title was "No Redemption without Sacrifice".

Redemption with sacrifice.  Redemption takes sacrifice.  The most well known story of redemption was Jesus' work on the cross.  He died to redeem us. 

Thankfully, no one is asking us to die to redeem our Little Dude.  For that, I am grateful!  But we carefully save what we can, put our Little Dude's needs above our own as we wait on a new washer, or dreams of a new car, or a trip to Orlando.  It is sacrifice.  The sacrifice will not stop once he comes home to us, but he will be redeemed.  There will be redemption with sacrifice. 

"Do not do anything with rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only on your own interests, but also to the interests of others." Phillipians 2: 3-4.

As you (hopefully!) continue to think about our family, pray for us and share our blog, consider that verse in your life.  Think of ways you can look to the interests of others.  Can you consider adopting a child? Can you consider helping someone else adopt?  Can you think of a way to help orphans through missions, donations, or child sponsorship? (We sponsor two children through Compassion International and one directly from an orphanage in Honduras)

We are entering the Easter season, the season when the most costly sacrifice was paid for our redemption.  We, too, will sacrifice to redeem our Little Dude from the darkness of the Bad Place.  One more step toward that goal happened today!