2016.9.30

The days settled down this week. Documents are on a plane destined for Bulgaria, due to arrive October 5th. The fall is still summer here. October is a night away.

 Miriam's quiet nook under a pine tree at the new place.

Sara Groves writes,

"There are different kinds of happy. It's a sweet, sweet thing, standin' here with you and nothing to hide- light shining down to our very insides."

"Patience in our suffering, perseverance in our prayers. For good reason this joy is in our hearts. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Christ our joy and strength."

,

2016.09.23

We drove to Olympia on Tuesday to get 9 out of the 10 documents apostilled. Check those off the list. Justin has one more doctor's appointment and we are still waiting on an FBI clearance to go through in Washington D.C. which is the 10th apostilled document before we can send everything to Bulgaria. Beurocratic page turning on a national level always seems slow in the states. I guess that is why the sloth's office in Zootopia was so funny.

Life at home this week has been stressful, more stressful perhaps than any we have known. Justin and I are feeling the overwhelming pressure of paperwork, end of the fiscal year assignments, housing remodels, closing dates, moving details, and wondering how large financial needs will be met. Justin put in an overnighter last week to finish up on a due date. This week with travel, notaries, appointments, remodel overseeing, rental showing appointments and the like he again has not been able to fully concentrate or get the hours in at work necessary. After October 6th the levels of change should calm down and we then can focus on settling into the new place, adoption training modules, and travel plans. Although closing is only 2 weeks away it seems like 3 months away! Miriam also is feeling the pressure stemming from her mom and dad and showing negative signs.


But! Miriam had her first cross-country meet this last weekend. She did well and finished strong for a beginning runner. I am very proud of her.

We also were able to spend a day with Justin's brother Ryan and his beautiful family. It was refreshing and good to reconnect.

Pray for us. It has been a tough week. Shabbat shalom will be very welcome in our home tonight.

2016.09.15

The time is getting closer and we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. I hate to say it, but my sleep patterns are getting a little off, I think because of so many things on my mind. Thankfully I have a really easy term currently in school being in a drawing class. It is much more peaceful and relaxing to draw for a couple hours a day than read psychology books and write sciencey papers, plus there is much less time involved, or at least it feels that way. This update will hopefully give you fuel to pray with and some pertinent items to know.  

The first one, and most urgent. All of our dossier documents are due today really but in actuality October 1. But they all need to be apostilled which is a process that takes Justin and I to Olympia WA to do that. So the papers needed to be done today. They mostly got done except for the doctor. We are about as clean cut and healthy as 30+ers get but the current problem is that our original doctor is only a nurse practitioner and not an MD. He filled out the forms back in February, but we need new forms filled out for the dossier. All the MD's in the house were on vacation, doh! This detail bit us on the backside. Our established care is supposed to call today to see what we can get done. We tried a new doctor, but in order for them to sign, we have to go through the rigamarole to establish care which will take a minimum of two weeks.   Small detail, but we don't know how much of a stickle Bulgaria will be about the due-dates.

Our government background checks, and the like all went through in good time and are in the hands of the social workers, which is fantastic, although we are still waiting on an FBI check. Bulgaria's government has been super and on top of all the paperwork in a timely fashion, so I would expect them to pull through efficiently.

October 1 is the cut-off date for the papers. We expect to travel late October or early November for the first time. The second trip will most likely be January.

Justin's job is stressful as always in Septemeber because it is the fiscal year end, and he always has big due-dates now, and this year is no different. Miriam has started Liberty Academy Online, which actually so far (2 days) has been super. She is also in x-country at the local high-school and really enjoying the friends she is meeting there. 

Things are looking good, and the calendar is hopping along. Looking at it straight in the face, I am going to be meeting these kids in just a few weeks. It seems surreal.