Having solved all other problems in the state, Texas legislators have moved on to this: http://beta.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20050420/ts_alt_afp/usjusticegays_050420173703

Now like the title of the post states, I don't usually comment on things like this. That being said, it seems to me that Texans should have more to worry about than the sexual orientation of parents. We all know that there are too few foster parents to go around as it is. To further tighten the pool of prospective parents doesn't make sense to me. The are just as many heterosexual people (if not more) that shouldn't be parents. Am I wrong on this?

We received news from AIA that they received all the paperwork for our initial dossier. Once the dossier is translated in to Russian, the documents will be sent. From the various reports that we've heard from other people, the wait time for a referral was about 4 weeks after they sent their dossier. We can hardly wait for a name and face to go with the concept of "child". Wow, it's seems like we've waited so long for this and now it's finally upon us.

In other news we started to paint and decorate the 'baby room' last weekend. We decided on "Tinkerbell Green" and "Anchor Blue" for the walls and will be doing some cream colored bead board along the bottom. Once it's all finished, I'll see if I can figure out a way to post some pictures here.

I am so proud of my husband for being so positive. I really need that right now. He wrote this wonderful post that said we would be sending off our paperwork this afternoon. Apparently that was not meant to be. We found a few errors on the homestudy that are very minor and we are taking care of. But we had a very interesting experience getting something notarized this afternoon. Have you ever asked a notary when their commission expires? Did you even know that a notary's commission expires? Well it does, and the Russian government won't let you use a notary whose commission expires before you courtdate. Since we don't know when our court date will be we have to use a notary whose commission is valid for a long time. We went to the bank today to have the last piece of paper notarized and her commission expires in July. So no apostille today. We will have to try again on Monday with the notary in Derek's office. What a headache!
So please keep praying that I will keep my sanity. It is fading very quickly.
Happy Weekend!

We received the homestudy from our social worker this morning! Yeah! Lisa will be on her way down to Olympia shortly so that she can have all the documents for our initial dossier apostilled (or in human-speak, notarizing the notary). Once that is completed will be sending the paperwork up to AIA. We received an email from Olga and she expected to have group of children that were coming off the national registry (in Russia) soon. Once the children come off the registry it means that they are available for referral. So hopefully the time is drawing near when we will get a name and picture to go along with the child that's already in our hearts. Thanks for all your continued prayers and support so far, we'll need lots more in the weeks and months to come.

Every so often you have these days. The kind where no matter how hard you pray it never seems to go right. You wake up and think ok, today is going to be different. But no. It is the same old thing.
I have been reading countless numbers of websites for grant applications. It really is amazing how many there are out there. But when you get down to it we really qualify for very few. We don't live in the right state. We are with a different agency. We aren't adopting a "special needs" child. We have to give a written statement about how we will teach our children about creation. (yeah right, try getting an anthropologist to say that evolution didn't happen). There are so many, yet we qualify for very few.
This gives me a new outlook on things. You may have heard me talking about the fact that I want to start my own charitable foundation when our own adventure is over. Today is one of those days when I am thinking that I am really going to make this happen. Why should parents be overlooked because they make too much money. Sure we may make good money, but it isn't in a stable flow. Why should the parents who are able to parent a "special needs" child get the priority? I find it rather hypocritical that a grant foundation should say that money shouldn't be the obstacle that stands in the way of our children and then disqualify you because you are not adopting through their "approved" list of agencies.
I will start a foundation for everyone. No matter of financial background, religious affiliation, health of referral or whatever. There are so many of us that just want to be parents. We pray every day for the Lord to give us a child to love. We see so many other who are granted children and we ask, "Why not us Lord? We will make good parents."
Pray with me please. Pray that we will find the resources to bring our child home. Pray for patience in waiting for our child. Pray for the families waiting and asking the same questions. Pray for the children, that they may be safe and healthy while they wait.
All we can do is "Pray to God, but continue to row toward shore."

As I was reading what Derek has posted previously I realized that the majority of you may not know what some of the abbreviations are for certain things. The US government is notorious for acronyms, as is most of corporate America. So I thought I would define a few of the terms for you.

USCIS - United States Citizenship and Immigration services
BCIS - Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (formerly the INS)
I-600A form - Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition (application to be a parent)
171H - Approval of Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition (approval to be a parent)
I-600 - Petition to Classify Orphan as an Immediate Relative (form to say, "Yup, this kid is mine!")
SW - Social Worker (the guy officially stating we will be fit parents)
AIA - Alaska International Adoptions (the agency facilitating our adoption)

There are so many others. I will keep you updated as they arise.