Great Book!

Melanie Writes:

We've just recently spent a really great evening with a really great family who are adopting from Ethiopia! We had an enjoyable time sharing stories and talking about the next steps to come. It's amazing to me how God always places just the right people in our lives at just the right time! While chatting, the Cramer's gave us this really great book to read. I had heard about it and was really excited to begin reading it! I wasn't disappointed! These stories are unbelievable, yet all true! The book is entitled "A Treasury of Adoption Miracles" by Karen Kingsbury. I highly recommend you read it, even if you're not adopting!

Nursery Furniture!

We might still be many months from the "big day," but we figured we might as well get ready for it now! As we mentioned before, we are starting to get the nursery and playroom put together. On Saturday, Melanie's parents phoned to say that they had purchased the nursery set that we had picked out (Christmas gift!). The set was from JCPenny's and they had found it on sale for a great price! So as of now, all the pieces are on back order, but we should have it by mid February! Melanie is very excited and can't wait to start setting up the nursery. However, now James has a deadline in which his Noah's Ark mural needs to be done! We'll post a picture as soon as he finishes! In the mean time, here is a picture of the furniture we picked out! All pieces will be in "coffee" color (changer is different below)!

This is our bedding set that we picked out and purchased about a year ago! Melanie fell in love with it when she saw it!

YEAH! Finally Big Progress!

Happy New Year everyone! We can hardly believe it's been a whole year already! One thing is for sure, we never dreamed it would take this long to get everything together. However, we are okay with it and have decided that the timing is working out perfectly!

We have BIG NEWS! (No we don't have our child yet, put we are closer!) All our paper work is complete and our dossier is finally IN POLAND! HOORAY! Our agency turned it in around 3 weeks ago! We are so excited the "paper chase" and frustration of "getting it sent in" is finally over!

Also, we received some helpful information from our agency. Here is what we know so far about the process in Poland.
*We were told we had to be patient. (as if we didn't know that)
*The paperwork (dossier) is being processed in Poland as we speak. The government there needs to review it all, translate it, and official it again in Polish. Lina (agency director) says that this takes about two months)
*Once this is done, it is sent to a panel/group of other government officials (who meet once or twice a month) who look through all the adoption request they have and start placing the children with families. Lina reminded us that they have many request from all over the world to consider and look through. Once again this group only meets twice a month to match families with children. (this is why it takes several months for a referral)
*The children available come from all over the country of Poland. Our agency works directly with the government, therefore is open to three large public Orphanages. The children available are the "paper ready" children. These are children who have all their files complete (ie. known history, medical reports, etc.)
-Because we put down 1 or 2 children, we may be referred only one. This is because sibling groups take longer and when our dossier is reviewed their may not be any available in our age requirement that are "paper ready." Therefore, when our dossier is reviewed, if there is a perfectly beautiful child ready to go, that would be the one we'll be referred. We have decided that we will be happy with whatever God chooses for us!
*Finally, Lina says that the Polish government will be pleased with us. She says that because we are very young, there should be no problems with us getting a child under a year.

*Overall, Lina says we could expect some news in 4-6 months. This isn't bad at all! She also says it could be sooner as sometimes a child will be referred to one family and they will not accept it (reasons unknown) and if the child(ren) fit our criteria, they could be referred to us!

As of now that is all we know! I'll try to keep you posted on happenings, but now that we are WAITING, there won't be to much to report for awhile! We do plan on getting the nursery and play room together in the months to come so please stay tuned (we will post pictures)! We invite your prayers and support! We still need them and from what I hear, the waiting is the hardest part! Thank you and Happy New Year to all of you! We praise God for the loving support of our family and friends!