Thursday, November 3, 2011

Changes with SDA

Well, yesterday was 3 weeks since our dossier was submitted to the SDA in Ukraine.  At the time of submission, we were told the SDA legally has 3 weeks to review the dossier, so we were expecting to hear something by yesterday.

We did hear something, just not what we were expecting.

The SDA is not assigning adoption referral appointments at this time because they just switched up which department is in charge of processing adoptions, and they're not equipped yet to complete any official adoption proceedings.  We knew this was a possibility back when we committed to adopting Vlad and Dima, but things had been rolling right along so beautifully that we thought God just might allow this adoption to be completed before Ukraine made their department changes.

We know that God is sovereign, even over the Ukrainian government, so we trust wholeheartedly in His perfect timing.  Since Ukraine requires all documents in the dossier to be no older than 6 months, it's likely that we will have to re-do the entire dossier if things don't start moving quickly.  Plus, we'd LOVE to have Vlad and Dima home for Christmas, of course.

Our facilitator is hoping things will open back up within a couple of weeks.  We would be so grateful for your prayers during this time.

This little delay just gives us more time to fundraise.  We have an awesome adoption fundraiser to announce soon.  We are trusting God to raise the ransom for Vlad and Dima.  We originally thought we would be able to fund this adoption (as He has generously enabled us to do with our other adoptions), but it's apparent that God wants us to ask His people to partner with us to bring Vlad and Dima home. 

I love the way the adoption community rallies around adoptive families.  In fact, it seems that most adoption funds are raised through the donations and advocacy from fellow adoptive families (who happen to also usually be the ones with the least money to give, but the biggest hearts for orphans).  We still need to raise an additional $15,000.  (The Chip-In button in the sidebar of the blog doesn't show donations that were mailed to us or given to us in person.)  We've been so very blessed by our local friend, Sheila, who has given generously and advocated boldly for our family.  Thank you, Sheila! 

Check back this weekend to see the awesome adoption gear we'll be selling, and, if you're local, plan to come out December 3 for a fundraiser yard sale.

Thanks for your support!

PS  Happy 18th birthday, Emily!  We love you!

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