1 down, 2 to go. . .

Guess what we did today?!?!


For those of you who have been immersed in the international adoption world, you may understand from the above pictures that our day was spent notarizing, certifying, apostilling and mailing our COMMITMENT APPLICATION for "Sofia!" After 7+ months of waiting we have FINALLY received her file and, at this very moment, the documents that will place her on hold for us are on their way to Bulgaria! Can you say HALLELUJAH!! We all threw up our hands and cheered today as we walked out of the UPS store, victorious!

I have not shared much about "Sofia" other than to say that we were waiting for her file, but she is a beautiful 7 year-old girl with lower limb differences (she is missing her right fibula and has a shortened right femur (she was also born with her left foot clubbed, but it has been surgically corrected) and scoliosis (all issues that we are very familiar with). She is very independent, smart and social and she is able to get around well with the use of a wheelchair. Her doctors in Bulgaria feel that she should be able to walk with the help of prosthetics and/or forearm crutches if that is her desire (and we think that our doctors here will likely concur). She shares a birthday with my mom. Some may feel that is a coincidence, but we would argue that it is not! You see, Joshua shares a birthday with Richard (something that we did not know until after we had commited to adopt him) and Evan's birthname (Valera) is the male form of my name, so, when we learned that "Sofia" shared a birthday with my mom (after requesting her file), we knew it was just another confirmation that she was meant to be a part of our family! She is a beautiful little girl and we cannot wait to bring her home!

As some of you may have noticed from the title of this post, our news about "Sofia" isn't the only thing that we have been holding back (yes, we have been sitting on this news for over a week. .I know, I know!). Some of you may recall the little boy with arthrogyposis that we were considering earlier this year. I had felt so strongly that this little boy was meant to be a part of our family, but Richard did not feel the same way. His file was returned to the Ministry of Justice and given to the next agency on the list and I knew that that door was closed.

Two weeks ago, as Richard and I were enjoying lunch together for our Anniversary, Richard asked me about this little boy and then asked if I could inquire about whether he was still available. I will admit, my first thoughts were not positive. It has been months since this little boy's file had been returned to the Ministry and I knew that it had already been sent on to another agency because I had seen him listed elsewhere. I just knew that the chance that he was still available or that we would be able to obtain his file was probably very slim, but I also trusted my husband's impression that we should inquire about this little boy again. Imagine my surprise when my facilitator contacted me a few days later to let me know that, not only was this little boy still available, but his file was scheduled to be returned to the Ministry just a few days later and she would be the next to receive it. We decided then and there that, if she was able to obtain the file, we would make the commitment to bring him home!

I had been devastated when we made the decision not to bring him home earlier this year, but I knew it was the right decision. I now realize that, if we had commited to him earlier this year, we would not have been able to adopt "Sofia" (we would not have received her file). The Lord's timing is PERFECT!

We are still waiting to learn if his file was returned on time and if it is ready to be given to our agency, but we are hopeful that we will be able to bring him home. We are also still waiting to learn the ruling of the Adoption Committee in the case of "D" (they will be resuming their weekly meetings in the next week are two so we are hopeful that we will hear something by the end of the month).

After we had our homestudy update interview earlier this year, I felt prompted to ask our social worker if she would approve us for three children. At the time, I just assumed that it would be good to be approved for one more "just in case" (you can always adopt fewer children than you are approved for, but you cannot adopt more than you are approved for, so it is better to play it safe). I was sure that there were two more children waiting to join our family, but I also trusted the feeling that prompted me to request approval for three. We are firmly committed to "Sofia" and, if we are fortunate enough to receive the file of the little boy and the adoption committee rules in our favor for "D," we have decided that we will bring all three children home! Can I just say, the Lord works in mysterious and wonderful ways!

So, there you have it! Finally some AMAZING adoption news to share!