We're Leaving, On a Jet Plane

Welp!   It's finally time!  Things are coming together really quickly now and we couldn't be more excited.  We will be leaving for our first trip next week, probably Saturday.  All I can say is IT'S ABOUT FLIPPIN' TIME!

Dossier submission

Last week we finally sent in the Dossier to our adoption agency.  Upon their approval it'll be sent to Armenia to be translated into Armenian.  I feel a huge weight lifted off my shoulders having that all taken care of and sent in.  The packet I sent into the agency was literally 2 inches thick.  I was nervous to put it in the mail because if for some reason it didn't get where it was headed I promise I would have cried like I had lost my first born.  Okay, maybe that is an exaggeration.  However, that was hours and hours of hard work.

I get a lot of questions, but mostly people just want to know WHEN we will be getting her.  I sure wish I knew!  It's very frustrating having so little information.  My children are getting so excited to have her in our family.  They pray for her.  She is constantly in our prayers.  We pray for her caretakers as well.   We pray that they love her and are taking good care of her.

I have been thinking a lot about how this will affect her.  When you start looking at the waiting lists of all of these children without parents and living in orphanages, you think about how much you could change their life by bringing them in.  I found myself wanting to save them and how much these poor children are looking for a place to live and people to love them.  It wasn't too long ago that I had the thought that really, they know no different.  There is a good chance that she will not want to leave her orphanage.  There's a chance that she has fallen in love with her caretakers and her friends there.  I have worried that she will resent us at first, that she won't like us because we are taking her from everything she knows.  You know what?  I really wouldn't blame her!

I remember when we did foster care growing up.  My parents would take in these children who had been abused in every way imaginable.  They didn't know when their next meal would come.  They were not living in great environments.  They were each different in their own way, but they had one thing in common- They all wanted to go back to their parents, no matter how they were treated or where they lived.

That's my concern for our sweet girl.  She may not see us as "saving her from an orphanage", but rather a couple of weirdos who are ripping her away from where she is comfortable, from friends and other people she loves.  It is very possible that it'll take a while for her to adjust.

I feel so blessed to have so many people in my life who I KNOW will love her like their own.  I only hope that she will feel that love.


That's all for now!  Hope to have an update soon.  I wouldn't count on it though ;-)

Nothing

Unfortunately I have ZERO news to give you.  We have sent in our paperwork to immigrations and are waiting to get our I-797, which in English means that we are waiting for permission to bring a child into the United States.  Once we receive our I-797, our paperwork will then be sent to Armenia for it to be translated into Armenian.  Once they do that, they will inform us to come to meet her.  It seems like forever away, however, I understand that to the adoption agency, things are moving "quickly".  Or so they say.  They don't seem quick to me, but that is what they say.

Anyways, I'll keep you posted.

Stuck in the mud

Just a brief update... IT IS TAKING FOREVER.  Kinda annoying.  I can see why it takes a year or more!  People move so slowly, especially the government.  I don't know how anyone does this multiple times, I'd go NUTS.

The homestudy has been completed.  He came and said that we are qualified to be parents.  (Good news after 4 children.)

Also, there are people who are getting locked out of this blog and I'm not sure why.  I'm sorry if I've had to send you multiple invitations.  At least you're reading this now!  :)

This is why we haven't made it completely public, because otherwise we have a lot of people asking us for an update and we don't have one.  It's very frustrating.

Gag order has been lifted

I feel like I've taken a breath of fresh air.  Keeping all of this between Marc and I has been SO hard.  I was able to tell all of my family tonight the whole story of our sweet girl.  We shared with Marc's family last night.  It makes it all the more exciting!

I feel so blessed to have such incredible families.  I know that my family would do ANYTHING to help us.  Marc's parents told us last night that they were willing to help us in any way they could as well.  Why does Heavenly Father love us so much?!

On top of how excited I am that I can finally talk to people about this, my cousin Paige introduced me to a couple who served missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Armenia.  We were able to chat about the country.  I think they will be a huge help in this transition for her.  One thing that I've been so worried about is bringing this sweet girl to a new country, new people, and new language.  I can only imagine how scared she'll be.  I am excited to learn more about the language and the Armenian people from them.

We have decided to name her Brielle after the Angel Gabriel, who came and told Mary and Elizabeth they'd be having a child.  We feel like she is our angel who we've been guided to by the Holy Ghost.  At this time we have not been informed of her Armenian name.  She has a screen name that they give her to put on the internet, but because of privacy rules they cannot post her actual name online.

Nowhere to be found

I forgot to mention a while back how we decided that she was the one we wanted to go after.  There were so many sweet faces on the waiting list.  We inquired of many of them.  They tell you their age, the country they're in, and what special need they have.  There's everything from missing limbs, to blindness, to down syndrome and everything in between.

Back in January I inquired of the little girl who we now are after.  I had seen so many emails with so many faces that I kind of forgot about her.  At the time we weren't really interested in going Armenian.  When Armenia was thrown out in the beginning of March, I had the thought to look through my emails.  During my search I saw this girl again.  I wondered how I ever passed her up in the beginning.  I went to the waiting list and she was GONE.  Nowhere to be found on the waiting list.  I went the agency's website and looked on their website, which should have for sure had her on there.  I wasn't surprised that someone swallowed her up in one bite-- she's that cute.

The thought crossed my mind to just send an email and see if she was really gone.  I knew she would be, but decided I had nothing to lose by asking.  I got an email back saying that she was still available.  I thought there had to be some kind of mistake because, like I said, she had been taken off of all waiting lists and their website.  I emailed this lady back to clarify.  I told her that she was no longer on the waiting list.  She emailed me back saying that she was not sure why she was taken off of all of the lists, but that she was available.

That's one of the reasons we thought that maybe she was waiting for US.  Why else would she happen to be missing from waiting lists?

Another coincidence?

Hold 'er

I spoke with our sweet girl's social worker today.  She informed me that the Armenian Government has been informed that there is a family interested in her.  She has been put on hold for us.  She is no longer considered "available".  The only way we could lose her at this point is if an Armenian family came forward and said that they wanted her.  She warned me of that but let me know that it seldom happens, but could.  It makes me worry.

I've said to Marc before that if this all doesn't pan out with her, it is obviously pointing us in the direction of the little sweet one we are suppose to have.  There are just too many conveniences!