Some good news. . .and some bad

This day has been filled with mixed emotions, and, staying true to the emotional roller coaster of adoption, we have experienced several ups and downs today. I will start with the good news. We received word today that our dossier was submitted to the SDA as planned! I still cannot believe how quickly things are moving and am excited to think that we could be in Ukraine with our son before the end of the year! This news alone is cause for celebration, but unfortunately we did not have time to focus on celebrating as this news was shortly followed by some, not so stellar news from Uzbekistan.

We were made aware of several changes in Uzbekistan's adoption laws today. It appears that Uzbekistan has decided to adopt travel requirements similar to Russia. When we began this process Uzbekistan required one, short trip that could be made by one parent AFTER the adoption had been finalized. That has now changed. The new law states that parents must travel to Uzbekistan to meet their child and formally accept their referral. The parents are then required to travel back to Uzbekistan at a later date to be present when the mayor signs off on the adoption. There are still many unknowns and we are not exactly sure how this will effect Joshua's adoption since we are so far along in the process, but we are hoping to receive more answers within the coming days. We are hopeful that we will still only need to make one trip since we have already accepted a referral and our dossier has already been processed by the Ministry of Education. However, if both Richard and I are required to travel for the finalization it could present a HUGE problem.

The travel requirements for our simultaneous adoptions from different countries have already been somewhat of a logistical nightmare, however, we had come to the conclusion that, in order to bring Evan home (as Ukraine requires both parents to be present for the SDA appointment and court), I would travel to Uzbekistan by myself (or with my step-dad who had agreed to accompany me) to bring Joshua home. Unfortunately Richard just does not have the ability to take 4+ weeks off from work which is why these new laws may pose such a problem.

I am trying not to panic as we still do not have all of the information, but the thought of putting our adoption on hold, losing Joshua or having to choose between our two boys is absolutely heartbreaking. These boys are meant to be ours. I know that from the very depths of my soul. The one thing that is keeping me from losing it completely is knowing that the Lord is in control. I know that all things will work together according to His will and I am putting my trust in Him completely. If it is His will that we bring both of these boys into our family then we will, no matter how long it takes, no matter how many obstacles we have to overcome.

If those of you who are following our journey could keep us and all of the families in the Uzbekistan program in your prayers I would appreciate it so very much. I want nothing more than to bring my little boy home and I know that, if it is the Lords will, our prayers will be heard!