New Agency

It is official! We have a new agency and a new country! I have to say however, this was a very hard decision to make. How does one even go about trying to decide where their child is located? It's such a monumental decision! We came to this decision through lots and lots of prayer/communication with God and secondly through lots and lots of research. Here are some reasons why we changed and why we chose the country and agency we did.

-Our previous agency called us and said that they highly recommend us changing from Kazakhstan to Russia. Kazakhstan they said was giving out blind referrals and they said they had trouble with perspective parents arriving in Kazakhstan to find their child to have some severe medical problems. Enough so that the parent has to turn down the child :( This doesn't happen everytime, but was something we would have to think about.

-Why not Russia? Our agency said that Russia was going through some changes, thus causing the waiting/referral time to go up to 2 years. They are right, Russia is going through quite a bit of changes and have closed the doors on many agencies around the country. However, the other agencies we researched showed the referral time was under a year.

-Why did we change agencies? Well, through all our research, we found that CHI's (our previous agency) waiting times were much longer then other programs. We believe they are a very good agency and we wish we could've stayed with them. But I'm not sure we could wait 2 years if we knew that there were other agencies who could move the process along faster! I'm not sure why CHI seems to be moving slower. Possibly due to an influx in applicants maybe. They are a very good a reputable agency.

-Why did we change countries to Poland? Well, hearing the information about Kazakhstan scared us and Russia seems to be really unstable, so through our research we found the Poland program! After reviewing all the information we could get on it, we decided that Poland was a good match! The country is more stable than the others (hopefully it stays that way), when you get your referrals they are filled with a lot of information on your child, the orphanages are well cared for and maintained, and we could possibly get a child under a year!

Our new agency will be called Saint Mary International Adoptions. They specialize in adoptions in Ukraine, Poland, and Bulgeria. The owner and founder of the agency is actually from Bulgeria and is said to have a good relationship with these countries. We have just sent in our application, so hopefully everything will workout. We had to reschedule our Home Study because our new agency needed contact with them before we began. However, our new agency (whom I've had contact with now for about 3 weeks) is smaller and more personable. I know we won't be lost in the shuffle. We are very confident with them and with Poland.

We're trying to be patient! Keep praying for us! I know it's working! God's Blessings to you all! We'll keep you updated!

Did We Change Countries?

It may appear from our site that we have changed countries. Well, we think we might have! However it is not set in stone (James just wanted to know what the time and weather were like in Poland). We are still comparing programs and agencies, but are seriously considering Poland. We are still in prayer about this decision and will keep you updated about what we decide!

Thank you to all of you who have given us feed back. We really appreciate it and have checked out all the agencies.

Making Decisions

Of course things can't go smoothly, that would be to simple! God is definitely trying to teach us patience and how to put all our trust in Him! We are facing a big decision which has really been stressing us out. We found out a week ago that Kazakhstan gives only blind referrals, which means you don't know anything about your child until you get there and meet them. Our organization said that many people have traveled there and have found their child to have some severe medical problems. Therefore, the couple has to get matched with another available child while their there, or they go home without a referral. This usually means that they wait some more and the waiting time is already up to 12-15 months. Frustrated we asked what they (CHI) recommended, they said we should switch to Russia. However, that is a 2 plus year wait and we should put that we will accept a 24 month old. We of course were hoping for a child under 18 months (or infant). Needless to say, we were very upset. We couldn't imagine waiting another 2 years! So, we decided to look around at other organizations to compare programs and wait times. What we found is that many programs are moving much faster (as per web site). I plan to make some calls on Monday to talk to these other organizations. If times are shorter, we may end up switching agencies and possibly countries too. I am disappointed however, because I really like CHI. I feel that they do an excellent job and I believe that is why their wait times are so long. Their are a lot of families adopting through them!

So next time you read this, hopefully we'll have our minds made up about where were adopting from and who our agency will be. Any ideas or advice for us, please let us know! Pray that God will give us insight, patience and trust! God Bless you all!

Home Study Update 2

Good News! Thanks to an angel named Susan at Lutheran Social Services, we already have a home study scheduled! And it's in two weeks! Thank goodness! How we found her is a long story, but she is out of Moline, IL. I told her our dilemma and she said that all I have to do is get all our things together (CHI is sending us back all our papers) and she will accept them as they are! We only have to fill out a registration form for Lutheran Social Services and were set. As long as everything is in (fingerprints, DCFS documents, etc.), it shouldn't take long to complete our home study! I'm so relieved. Thanks for all your prayers and support! It looks like things will finally get under way!

I also want to thank everyone who has left us such kind and thoughtful messages! I'm sorry I haven't had a chance to visit your sites, but I plan to soon! It's nice to know we're not alone in this "very long" journey! God Bless!

Home Study Update

Well, we finally have some news to share with you. Unfortunately, it isn't that great, but at least it's news. I was beginning to think we were going to be stuck in the same spot forever. As some of you know, our agency (CHI) had some problems with some of their employees this past summer. The employees were doing some illegal things (don't know specifics) with home study paper work and pretty much got our agency in trouble with DCFS (yes, the employees were let go). Therefore, CHI has been under investigation the last 7 months. They were supposed to have been cleared by the new year, so that they could continue with the home studies! This is what we've been waiting for since October! However, if you know anything about DCFS, nothing ever goes fast. So, today I found out that CHI will not be able to do any home studies until after June 1. So now, we need to find a social worker here in town, or close, to give us our home study. This is a problem only because we had everything done for CHI. Which means, we might have to do several things over again. I'm not looking forward to that at all. However, CHI was very kind and are returning all our documents to us, including our money. So the only thing we really lost was precious time.

On a brighter note! Children's Hope International is still fine to do our adoption and I am still pleased with them. Also, we are remembering that everything is in the Lord's timing. And as James said, "Maybe the children we are meant to adopt, aren't ready to be adopted yet. And this time that we're waiting, is meant to match us with "our" children created just for us!" Thanks again for all your prayer and encouragement. God Bless!