October 12 2004 - changes to Kaz adoption program

Wow, what a hectic last couple of days. We got immigration approval, and are preparing to send a boatload of documents to our adoption agency in Denver. Then the agency calls and says they have to send us a bunch of new changes to the Kaz adoption program. Just spent over an hour on the phone with Karla, our adoption agent, going over all these new changes. Basically, only God knows the following:

- when we will go to Kazakhstan
- if we will be able to adopt 2 kids
- if we will know ANYTHING about our kids before we go, or if we'll have to meet our potential adopted child(ren) on the spot in the orphanage
- how long we'll have to stay in country (the "10-day waiting period" is now 15 days. It used to be waived some of the time, but now it most likely will not be waived, so we have to plan on 6-8 weeks in Kazakhstan as opposed to the 3-5 weeks that we originally planned for.)

So, again, it's ALL in God's hands. We're along for the ride, and the paperwork. We'll be FedEx-ing a large dossier to Denver. Denver will approve it, send it to be translated into Russian. That may take "2-6 weeks" (but again, only God knows). Then it goes to the Kazakhstan embassy in NY for final review and approval. That takes "4-8 weeks", but again, only God knows. Karla said today that the embassy has been much taking about 1 month or less, which is good.

We may leave around Christmas, or we may leave around Valentine's Day, or we may leave sometime in between. Who knows! :-) God knows.

Karla, if you're reading this: THANK YOU!! You are a tireless individual with the patience of Job to put up with the likes of us. We thank God for you every day.

Please pray that God will enable the FCVN Director to get home from India soon so she can approve our final paperwork. Also for the Kazakhstan Embassy representative who gets our case to be conscientious, efficient, and to have a great desire to get our file in and out before the holidays. God knows, and He can work miracles.