We are so blessed...

...by all the wonderful people the Lord has put in our lives. Thank you all for your support, encouragement and help as we continue on this, at times, daunting adventure! Please continue to pray for us and for our girl. We have been strengthened because of your prayers! Many of you have been asking for an update, so here goes.

We received our approved homestudy packet a few weeks ago and submitted our USCIS papers (applications for our travel visas and asking permission to bring a child home with us). We have now been scheduled to get our FBI fingerprints done...and advised to ignore the appointment time given and just go in so that we might expedite the whole process. Please pray for us. We like to know what the rules are and to follow them closely. That brings us a sense of security. I feel like we're planning to rob a bank! Ok, it's not really that bad, but we are uncomfortable with confrontation. We'll probably have to get over that by the time we go overseas to fight to get our daughter! (Her country does not allow preselected adoption due to the high rate of human trafficking in that area. However, many children are successfully adopted after being hosted in the States thanks to the "gifts" given to government officials and caregivers.)

Once we get our approval from the US government, hopefully within a month, then we'll have all our papers apostilled (kind of like an internationally-accepted notary). Then, our packet (dossier) will be sent to our girl's country to be translated and submitted to their government for approval. If it gets accepted the first time, we could make the first of three trips in early December. We won't hold our breath. We'll just keep praying!

Lord, watch over our sweet girl.