Bulgarian Registered

Wahoo! We got the email from our agency today that includes our official registration number for our adoption. This means that we are officially registered in the Bulgarian system and have now taken our place in "line". 

This is the largest adoption happening since we signed our agency application back in November. It feels great to have made it this far, but we know that our adoption gets progressively tougher from here on out. 

Our social worker said the wait right now is 24 months. This will require patience that I don't have. I'm hoping to grow some as the months go by.

We know that it is very likely that our daughter(s) has been born and as we watch Evan every day...watch him fall repeatedly, giggle, play, snuggle on our laps, scrape his knee, it's nearly impossible to imagine that somewhere our daughter is living a very different life. Not necessarily a life where no one cares, but a life where there are too many children and too little time. Too many butts, not enough laps and too much work to be done. 

We know that God's timing is perfect. So until he calls us forward again, we'll be waiting (probably some days better than others.)   

Please let the prayers and patience be plenty…

Rob Gets Riled

Don't mess with Rob. 

Have you ever been so upset, so frustrated, that you threatened to "march right down there."  Rob did that. I don't want to cause a scene, but I just want to point out that as obnoxious and passionate and feisty and all-out-annoying I can get when dealing with adoption stuff (just ask our home study agency, bismarck division), even I was uncomfortable by the events that were unfolding on Friday morning.

It all started at the beginning of last week.

After Rob and I received our NBC approval, all we needed...as in the ONLY piece of papers that were standing between our completed dossier and us, were the letters from our Drs stating that we were disease free (glamorous, i know).

I got my letter last Monday, which then started increasingly persistent calls to his Dr. After not even receiving a returned phone call, Rob called again on Thursday and learned that they were only in a half day the day before, but they would be in again on Friday.

Our whole goal in this week was to get our letters (which had to be notarized) and get them up to the Capitol to be authenticated by Thursday afternoon because we were leaving town on Friday morning and the Secretary of States office is closed on Mondays.

This was looking bleak.

Rob called at 8am on Friday morning and learned that the Dr WAS in, but there was not a notary in the building.

This is where it gets interesting.

So, I'm at work finishing some things up before we leave on vacation and Rob calls me and tells me that when he finally got someone on the phone he told them that I was going to come down there with a notary and the letter all typed out only needing their letterhead and a signature.

Um...what? Where am I going to find a notary at 8:30am who can just drop everything and come with me? I sat at my desk paralyzed...so desperately wanting to make this happen and yet not knowing how it was possible.

Well, as we learned in SKY vacation bible school last week, everything is possible with GOD. (Also, where I learned that "no matter what happens...trust god." I love it when I have more take-aways than the kids.)

I walked to the offices next door. stood at the office door of one of two people there I know reasonably well and said all nonchalantly, "so, do you guys happen to have a notary?" to which she replies, "Yes, me." To which I replied, "you're never going to believe my story..." to which she responded by driving with me down to the clinic and waiting for the Dr. to be free enough to provide us with his signature. Seriously selfless and amazing.

After that I drove up to the Secretary of State's office. Their authentication department is amazing. As I mentioned, they are so busy because of the oil boom that they are actually closed to the public on Mondays and have shortened hours the rest of the week. AND yet, they somehow authenticated the first set of our paperwork in under 24 hours. People!?! That is amazing. I know adoptive parents from states NOT dealing with oil, who wait weeks and weeks for their papers to be authenticated. I know they don't have to be as speedy as they are and I am so grateful.

So the day before, I had emailed up their and explained our situation and she said that if we brought our last two documents up, they would authenticate them on the spot. What a blessing.

So at 10:30am after safely tucking our remaining documents away with the the USPS, tracked package, of course, we were on the road...only 1 1/2 hours after we had planned to leave.

And...as icing on the cake of that great day...our social worker emailed us to let us know that we would be registered with Bulgaria within the next week.

Stand by for more celebrating.

NBC Approved

We were shocked to get our precious NBC approval letter in the mail yesterday, only one week after we had our fingerprints done in Fargo. Thank you U.S. government! This document gives us permission to bring our child back into the U.S.

So this is our final step that is in our control. Will this cause me to be out of control? Probably. Thank the good Lord I have a husband who is not a worrier and grounds me (like not in the grounds-me-and-sends-me-to-my-room sense). We'll send our paperwork to our agency and they'll send it on to meet up with the rest of our paperwork that is already in Bulgaria and translated.

Seems so final. And yet the tough part is still to come. So what will we do while we wait for our daughter(s)? We will, of course, continue to raise two hilarious and amazing boys. We will probably hold our breath every time our social worker calls.  We'll hopefully remember to blog.

We're also excited about an orphan advocacy ministry that we're helping start up at our church. I so desperately want God to take our one or two and turn it into 20...or 50 (but we'll start with 20)...
I want to talk to more people about adoption. I want to be transparent and share our story.

Several people in the last six months have shared with me that they may be feeling the nudge from God to step forward to adopt. I want to talk to you for a second.

I want you to know that this really can be for you. That money is undoubtedly an obstacle, but it is not a deal-breaker. That I know you may already have one child in each room available, but that there is room for more. I want you to know that God has your back in this. He will never leave you (even if you say no to what he asks of you). He has a plan for you. All he asks is that you step out in faith.

I want you to know that I want to help you. I want to walk with you in your process and I want to help you raise the money you need to make this happen. You are not alone. Let's chat or go to coffee.

Orphan Summit - Lessons Learned

So I already rambled incessantly about the feeling of being at the Orphan Summit. 

Here is the meat of it. Well...at least part of the meat...I took 16 pages of notes, people! If you want to hear the rest, take me to coffee. 

Frances Chan

• If 1 out of every 4 churches found ONE family to adopt domestically, there would be no orphan crisis in the U.S.
• Your faith means little if it's not demonstrated. 
• Don't only pray about something - DO something. 
• The U.S. spends more on Black Friday than the gross domestic product (GDP) of both Haiti and Liberia combined for the entire year. 
• Does your life make sense in LIGHT of scripture? If you believe the Gospel, you should do what it says. Plain and simple. 
• We don't have to cram our passion, ideas, cause down people's throat...let the spirit move people. PRAY that he moves people. 
• The largest predictor or incarceration is growing up without a family. 80% of mid-20 males who age out of the foster care program will go to jail.  
• We need to rally around foster and adoptive families. 
• Success is not measured by the $ given, but by family involvement.
• There are 2.4 BILLION Christians and 168 MILLION orphans. The goal is to END the orphan crisis and the only way to end it is through adoption. 
• Saddleback's goal for their church is 500 domestic adoptions and 500 international adoptions. What is Charity's number? 
• If we are anti-abortion we need to be pro-adoption. It's estimated that 93% of couples who find out their child has down syndrome abort. We must prepare for a whole new level of adoption and involvement when Roe vs. Wade is overturned. 
• The churches finest hour is yet to come! 

Rick Warren gave a great talk the second day on eight reasons while global problems can't be solved without the church. I think it's worth sharing.

THE CHURCH HAS...

Rick Warren

1) The largest participation - 1/3 of the world's population attend church. More people attend church in one weekend, than all sporting events for the entire year. 

2) The widest distribution - Africa tribes might not have anything, but they do have a church. Churches in rural and remote areas are used for social gatherings. The church IS the volunteer base of the world. 

3) The longest track record - For 2000 years the church has done global missions. 2,000 years from now Google, Apple and the U.S. won't exist, but the church will. 

4) The fastest growth - 6,000 people come to know Jesus every day.

5) The highest motivation - and that is LOVE. The gospel tells us to love. Love outlasts, love never fails. 

6)The strongest authorization - We are authorized by Jesus himself. When God sponsors something, he doesn't sponsor flops. 

7) The most simple administration - It's the "your it" principle...you see a need and you fill it. 

8) And finally...We know how it ends - WE WIN. 

Orphan Summit

Geoff Moore: Christian music artist &Summit MC

A couple weeks ago, I had the opportunity to attend the Orphan Summit on behalf of our church. The Orphan Summit is sponsored by the Christian Alliance for Orphans and has sessions for church ministries, pastors, social workers, adoptive parents, etc. There's a small-but-mighty group of five at Charity that's working to put together an orphan advocacy group that will not only raise funds to help families overcome the financial obstacles of adopting, but also to help people understand what a beast the issue is. We're looking for people who want and believe they can make a difference. At the Summit, we were gathering information and tools so we can do it up right. 

The conference was blow-your-socks-off good. The kind that leaves you excited to return to the family you miss so much, but also sad because you know that what waits for you at home is life and everyday life is a giant time-suck. Every day life can also lead a person to forget (or ignore) the direction God has laid out.

Kay & Rick Warren

We heard so many great speakers. The conference was hosted by Saddleback so, of course, we got to hear Rick Warren speak. If you remember, Rick is the author of the best-selling book, Purpose Driven Life. Charity went through the series as a church several years back and I'm disappointed to report to you that Rick did not even wear one Hawaiian shirt the whole time we were there. Those Hawaiian shirts were a staple on the videos we watched as part of the series.

Kay Warren, Elizabeth Styffe & Mary Beth Chapman

In addition, we also got to hear best-selling author, Francis Chan,  Kay Warren (Rick's wife) and see Steven Curtis Chapman in concert. It's no secret, that we feel the seed for adoption was first planted at a concert we attended before we were even married. (You can read about it HERE) Although I love his music, I love his humor and his mission...it is really his wife I relate to. If you haven't, check out her book "Choosing to See."

So, you can imagine my thought when I opened the conference book and saw that Mary Beth Chapman was going to participate in a panel discussion before the concert. Up until this point she had been in none of the pre-conference materials. So, Here I am, 20 feet away from a woman I have respected and looked up to for a long time. I was ecstatic.

Steven Curtis Chapman in concert. 

Dawn and I made plans to go up afterward and talk to her, but as we were walking she got whisked away...but before she did...she turned and looked right at us and waved and said "I'm so sorry." That was plenty for me. I have a bad track record for meeting people I view as celebrities anyway. None of my words come out right and I usually can't stop crying. Yes, sometimes it is embarrassing being me. I was so grateful to get to see her.

The first day we were there, I stumbled upon our agency, All God's Children International and had the opportunity to meet with our inquiries coordinator (the person we worked with first question through country selection), Tiffany. She took one look at my name tag and instantly remembered me from our talks eight months ago. I was impressed. She invited Dawn and I to dinner with other adoptive families from AGCI. We had a great time and enjoyed meeting other people who are in the process and who had their adopted children with them. It is good for my heart to see people with their completed families...at this point I see no light at the end of our long tunnel.

The Warrens were presented with this beautiful painting.

 I don't know if I can explain how beautiful it was to be in the presence of people who care so much about adoption. Everywhere, people were whipping out their phones and showing each other cell photos of the children they had just brought home or children they were waiting on travel orders to go and get. People so passionate about giving voice to the smallest who have none. People who believe that every small step will make a huge difference.

That was a mishmash of info, proving my original thought that it would be hard to put the Orphan Summit into words. I had several take-aways from the conference, but I think I'll list them out for you in the next post.

Adoption update: We got our fingerprint appts from the USCIS so we'll be heading to Fargo on May 29. After that, it should be 3-4 more weeks to be approved.