The process

As you can see, we're probably not going to be updating this daily--maybe more like once or twice a month. Last Wednesday we had our individual interviews with our social worker (SW). It was quite an interesting experience. To back up a bit, here's how the process works...

We are working with a group of facilitators out of Louisville, KY. They will help us get our paperwork together, get our documents translated, and they have contacts in Ukraine for places to stay and interpreters while we are there. We had an initial meeting with them in February, at which point they told us how the process would work if we worked with them. The week before we met with them, I had started calling SWs in Saint Louis, checking prices and timelines. There is a huge difference in cost between SWs and we wanted someone who is familiar with Ukraine adoptions and can do homestudies relatively quickly. When we got back from Louisville, we chose our SW. We met with her for an initial interview and got a list of the paperwork required for our HS. We also paid her $675, half of the total fee for our HS. We had to gather certified birth certificates and marriage certificates, which for us required 3 different states!! We really should stop moving around so much. :) Luckily for me (Courtney), I was able to get my BC here in Saint Louis, since I was born in MO. Mark's parents went and got his and mailed it to us (thank you!), and so the only one we really had to wait for was our marriage certificate from Texas. But Texas, being the friendly, helpful place it is, was very prompt and sent us copies of our marriage certificate right away (I'm pointing this out because there are certain states that seem to move much slower--taking weeks to get documents to people for their HS--and I was very impressed that TX was so quick!).

I'll continue with the process a bit later. Please pray for us as we continue fulfilling requirements for our HS, that everything will work out as God wills, and that we will have patience for His timing!