Multi Cultural Family

    Kevin and I attended a training class on international adoption issues last Saturday.  Anyone wanting to adopt internationally is required to take so many hours of classes.  The topic for this class was how to celebrate your child's birth culture once she is home with you.  We will be a Polish American family!
We got tips on buying souvenirs to put in your child's room. Buying traditional clothing to celebrate holidays.  Maybe even getting presents to give to our child every year on her birthday from her birth country.  Each couple at the class studied some books about the country from which they are adopting.  We want to know as much about the culture as we can when we go over there and would like to bring items home that might have some importance to our daughter as she grows up.  We also learned tips on how to address questions our child might have about why she was in an orphanage and why her birth parents couldn't take care of her.
    Kevin and I really enjoy getting together with other couples that are adopting internationally. We learn from each other and support each other.  We even met some people who know a Polish woman that might be able to help us out and would like to come visit our daughter when we bring her home! Maybe she will help me fix a traditional Polish meal.  I've included some pictures on this post of Poland and some Polish kids in traditional garb.  We will try to get our daughter an outfit like this when we are there.

    On the paperwork front, out previous agency is sending our documents to our new agency.  Our new agency has accepted our application and is sending us an agreement to fill out and return. Hopefully we will be able to have our home study in mid-March.  This is the part of the process where we start to spend a large chunk of money.  I will be applying for grants from various agencies and relying on God to fulfill our needs. Most of the grants require your home study to be completed before you apply.  I am going to go ahead and collect what I can so that we can be ready when the home study is complete.       

    I want to thank those of you who have sent cards and well-wishes.  Thank you for praying for us during this process. We appreciate it more than you know.

Moving along

    Things are starting to move along again. Slow and steady wins the race, right?  We have completed the application for the our new agency, St Mary's.  We just have to get our signatures notarized and I will be able to send that out today.  Once they receive that and get our application processed, they will send us an agreement to sign and then we can schedule our home study.  I am also working on a release so that the paperwork we already sent to Hand in Hand can be sent to St Mary's.  I am so glad we don't have to collect all of that again!
    We are heading up this weekend to our first agency to complete our second training class.  All international adoptions require a certain amount of training hours for the families.  Adopting children can present some unique challenges and these classes help prepare and equip the parents.  Our first agency provides classes that we can attend and if we still need more hours, our new agency provides online classes for those that are out of state.  St Mary's is located in North Carolina.  I would love to take a trip out to North Carolina if needed though!
    We are warming up to the idea of adopting from Poland.  I look forward to learning about the culture and people of Poland.  I already heard they have good sausages...
    Please pray that this process goes smoothly and that we can bring our daughter home soon.  I look forward to the day when I can post her picture on here and all of this waiting will be worth it.  Thanks again for coming on this journey with us!

And the winner is.....

 

    I know it has been a while since I have updated you on the latest development, but I really didn't have much to say.  This process had been moving along at a good pace when suddenly we were stopped in our tracks and it was a little jarring.  The ban on adoptions from Russia really took the wind out of our sails, so we didn't want to jump into a big change without stopping to catch our breath.  We had a lot of praying and researching to do.  Since this is such a big decision, we decided to stop and wait a while. 
     We have spent the last few weeks just praying and waiting.  And in that time we decided that unless God closes another door,  Poland is the country that we are going to find our daughter!   I still mourn for the orphans in Russia, but we are adjusting to this new idea and we are looking forward to the adventures we will find there.  
   We will be staying with our current agency to do our home study this month, but we are in the process of filling out an application for our new agency.  We will be using St. Mary International Adoption agency from North Carolina. One fourth of all children adopted from Poland for the past 3 years (2011, 2010, and 2009) were adopted through Saint Mary’s, so I know they have a lot of experience here.  I have been in touch with them a few times in the past few weeks and they have been very helpful.  I'm confident that they will help make this a smooth transition. Poland is a much smaller country so the wait will probably be longer than we had anticipated, but we are clinging to the hope that God has a child waiting for us. 
     Our next steps are getting in touch with our current agency and transferring our documents to the new agency.  Hopefully most of our paperwork will work for Poland. I am in the process of filling out the new application and will be sending that off this week.  We are also working on scheduling our home study with the social worker from Hand in Hand. 

Hold On.  Never Let Go.  Keep Climbing.

    So we now are climbing a new mountain in this journey.
You can help us by praying for us as we make this transition and praying that we will have peace with God's timing. 

This song has meant a lot to me in the past few weeks and I find myself singing it often.

Be My Everything  by Tim Hughes

God in my living
There in my breathing
God in my waking
God in my sleeping

God in my resting
There in my working
God in my thinking
God in my speaking

Be my everything
Be my everything
Be my everything
Be my everything

God in my hoping
There in my dreaming
God in my watching
God in my waiting

God in my laughing
There in my weeping
God in my hurting
God in my healing

Christ in me
Christ in me
Christ in me the hope of glory
You are everything

Christ in me
Christ in me
Christ in me the hope of glory
Be my everything

If you want to see the you tube video of this song you can go here.