Riding the Roller Coaster

It has certainly been an interesting journey the last few weeks.  After we were told that our home-study wasn’t being approved and then finding another social worker that agreed to do a new one, the first social worker called and told us that she had a change of heart.  She agreed to complete our home-study with the change of two boys ages 7-11.  Needless to say we were very surprised to hear this new information!  We were thrilled to be back on track.  The next step was to then have the home-study authorized by an agency.  This proved to be another coaster ride because at first we thought this was going to be the easy part but as we are learning, there is no easy part.  The approving agency was hesitant to approve because they thought that we would have our son or sons in our home for three months before the adoption would be final and therefore the agency would be “on the hook” in case we then decided not to follow through with the adoption.  This was cleared up, which then paved the way. Our adoption will be final when we leave Ukraine, no turning back. 

So as of now we are approved to be adoptive parents!  We are working with Ukraine to find an appropriate time to and way to let Vitalik know that we are adopting him.  We have not made a decision yet as to whether or not we are also planning on adopting a second child but at least the possibility is open to us now. 
We are still going to have to re-acquire some of our documentation, mainly our marriage license and physicals, but overall this is a small step.  We are thankful for each and every step forward!

Our Funding Update:  So far we have raised a total of $17,823 and we have already spent $8568.02 on fees and documents.  In the next few weeks we will have to spend almost $6,000 on more fees and documents.  We want to continue to be transparent with the expenses. We have a fund-raiser for a swing dancing class on Feb 17th here in Italy and an on-line auction site on FaceBook, the page is Bring Vitali Home.  Check out this FaceBook page for opportunities to auction and to purchase items being auctioned.  

Thank you for your support and prayers.  Your prayers are greatly appreciated and are being answered.