Friday, August 19, 2005

Overwhelming humility

There were a couple of things we needed to finish up from Mark's physical. They discovered after we had done all of the lab work that he also needed a syphilis test (according to our official form) and did that at the end of the physical (grand total--Mark: 2 physicals, 2 HIV tests, 2 drug screens, 2 TB tests, 1 syphilis test; Courtney: 3 physicals, 1 HIV test, 3 drug screens, 2 TB tests, 1 syphilis test--everything negative...repeatedly :) ). The results take a few days to come in, so we needed to go back and get the form signed off for that. We also needed a copy of the doctor's medical license, which she did not have with her at the clinic (she works at several clinics around the city so she keeps her license at home--very understandable).

Of course, everything again needs to be notarized. The day went crazy, and by the time we made it to the doctor's office, we had the forms we needed for them but no notary. We prayed that it would all work out, because there was nothing we could do. We got there, and wonderful W. (who recognized us--it's the third time we've been in in 2 weeks) greeted us and called back to the notary to find out that she had received her stamp!! We got all of our paperwork done and notarized without a hitch. Once again, the ladies at BarnesCare have been phenomenal. A very special thanks to W., R., and Dr. L. for their patience and desire to help!

The title of the post refers to the way I felt when all of this happened. God is completely meeting our needs every step of the way, and it never ceases to amaze me. Every time I get worked up over some little detail, He comes through in ways that defy understanding. I know there are many people who believe in coincidences, but the things we have experienced--the meeting of our needs, big and small--go way beyond coincidence. We can see God working in our lives in ways we never dreamed possible. I pray that you will see this in your life as well, for it is an amazing and humbling experience to know that the creator of the universe has you in His heart and mind every minute of every day.

Thursday, August 18, 2005

To the Lone Star State

Yesterday we sent off our documents for a certified copy of our marriage license from Texas. This was actually a much bigger logistical work than you would think! *laugh* We were married in Fort Worth, Texas, and so must request a certified copy of our marriage license from Tarrant County. But in order to get our marriage license apostilled, it must go to Austin. We had two options for how to do this: 1. We could request our certified marriage license, receive it here, and then turn around and send it to Austin, or 2. We could send our request for our marriage license with a request that they send it on to Austin, who would then send it on to us. Hoping to cut down on time and after calling and verifying that Tarrant County would do this, we sent an envelope inside an envelope inside an envelope to Texas yesterday. Each request required its own letter/form and a money order, so hopefully we got the right documents in the right envelopes! Please pray that our request would get to Texas in a reasonable amount of time and that it would make it from Ft. Worth to Austin to us with everything done correctly. Texas was fantastic about getting our certified copies of our marriage license to us for our home study, so we don't anticipate any problems, but extra prayer is always welcome!

And on the note of irony, Courtney had to get a physical for work yesterday. This is her third physical since February! You'd think people could just look at the previous one and see that she is healthy, but each one requires something slightly different. Amazing the amount of paperwork one person has generated with getting so many physicals!

Monday, August 15, 2005

Welcome!

Welcome to our many new readers, as we have recently sent out some emails letting more people know we are adopting. :) Please feel free to email us if you have questions, but try to read at least the FAQ's here on the blog first. ;)

It's been a busy couple of weeks! As many of you have probably noticed, we are not sharing much about what is happening in our personal lives. There are a number of reasons for this, and we would like to keep this blog focused on our adoption process as much as possible. Although you will occasionally gain insights into our lives from the posts, there will generally not be intentional posts about our lives outside of the adoption. That said, we have been so busy and things are going really well!

We have completed a project for our children. We are not posting the nature of the project until we can post pictures (which should be later this week), mainly because no one will believe us until they see it! :) Mark had his physical this past week--whew, what an ordeal. That is absolutely our least favorite part of the adoption process--the medical exams. We can be fingerprinted 20 times and it would be better than having to redo medicals! There are a number of tests that have to be done, and forms that must be filled out in a specific way. The notary's license at his doctor's office had expired last week, so we had to bring in our own notary. The notary we brought was a woman Mark works with and she was so generous to come in on her day OFF and notarize for us! Thank you, L.! We still have to go back on Tuesday and get a copy of the doctor's license. The ladies at the doctor's office have been so helpful in trying to understand what we need and how the need to do it. I certainly hope we have gotten everything medical filled out correctly and that we don't have to do these again!!

Wednesday, August 03, 2005

A time for praise

We have our 171-H! We have actually known that we were approved since last Wednesday, when we called to find out our status. However, we were hesitant in posting until we actually had the papers in our hands. :) We have officially been approved by the US Government to adopt 2 children internationally. So what's next??

A mad scramble to get together lots of paperwork! We are being fingerprinted today to have our state background check done (again). Our first ones were done in February, and there is a good chance they would expire before we travel. If anything expires before the adoption is complete, you cannot complete the adoption, so we have to make sure that we have as long as possible on all of our paperwork. This is why our facilitators didn't want us to get any of our dossier paperwork put together until we had our 171-H. So we will be fingerprinted today, and Missouri has changed their procedures, so we will NOT have to drive to Jefferson City! :) We will have fingerprints done here and they will be sent to the state records division electronically. They will then send our background check to us within 5 business days. This is a big improvement over how the process used to work. Mark needs to get his physical done, Courtney needs to pick up copies of her doctor's license from her physical, we both need to get employment letters, and get a certified copy of our marriage license. Then our paperwork (including documents not mentioned here that just involve our request to adopt) will all be notarized and apostilled and we will send it (our dossier) to Ukraine!