The go-ahead!

As I was typing the title of this blog, a thought raced through my head of my dad always responding to this comment with..."Goat-head? Who's that?"  Ahhh, for those of you who know him, you understand.

Anyway, we received our paperwork Wednesday.  The coveted piece of paperwork we received stated that we were approved to adopt up to 2 children in Eastern Europe, with special needs, under the age of 7.  This piece of paper is called the "Golden Ticket" in the adoption world.   Partly because it's written on golden paper.  Partly because it marks the end of the paper chase for many families.  Partly because it's the last piece of documentation one needs before he/she travels to their child's country.  So...there are many reasons to celebrate this prized paper!!

So next, I drove to Topeka to have our documents apostilled.  Which means we will need our certified documents, certified.  Haha, looks funny writing it.  In short, the Secretary of State has to declare that all the notaries used to notarize our documents are legit.  Then I made a short jog over to the UPS store and shipped our 'paper baby' to Eastern Europe. It should arrive in Eastern Europe Monday  I hope!  What happens next is our facilitator in Eastern Europe will translate everything that we have collected over the past few months proving who we are, what we do for a living, how much we make, where we live, who our families are, etc.  That takes roughly 2 weeks.  Then they will submit this translated stack of papers to the State Department of Adoptions (SDA).  Roughly 2 weeks after that, we will receive a travel date.   There is approximately 2 weeks between receiving a date and traveling.  (some people have been given 1 week's notice, so we'll see!)  So, that is where we are now.

But I want to give credit where credit is due--which is God's Supernatural favor upon us, which is only in part to the prayers of the saints (you all) on our behalf.  What a testament to the power of prayer, right?  What I need you to know is, we need continued prayers as we get farther along in this process.  So please don't quit now.  If anything, we need even more of a prayer front as we begin to get closer to meeting our son for the first time.

Specific prayer requests
1. For God to continue to be glorified through our journey.
2. That our paperwork arrive in Eastern Europe on Monday. (all in 1 piece)
3. That the SDA approves our documentation and gives us a travel date.
4. That my in-laws and my parent's have an unexplainable peace about taking care of the girls' while we are gone.  That Jerad and I have an unexplainable peace about being away from them for so long...(don't even want to go there yet)
5. That our remaining funds to travel will trickle in over the next few weeks.  Through our TV giveaway, Terri's garage sale, and change drive.
6. That God continues to move on the hearts of others to consider adoption.
7. That God's will be done through our traveling, time in country, etc.
8. That you all will be richly blessed for the support, encouragement, fundraising efforts, prayers, and love you have shown us through this journey so far.
Thank you.