Disappointment

There was a mother induced this past Wednesday who had expressed interest in finding a family for her child. We were told we were the only family that stepped forward. To make a long story short, we knew the odds of sharing in this blessing was very low, but I was hoping. It is now Sunday, the required 72 hour wait has been and gone, and there was no call. Your will, Lord. I ask for Your will for our family. And I pray a special blessing on that precious life. Please be with that mother. Amen.

Entering Domestic Program

Hello All,
Holt came back with answers from Vesta regarding whether we can pursue a domestic adoption while we wait for our Bulgarian adoption to come through. The short answer is that yes, we can adopt within the US without forfeiting our Bulgarian adoption. Yippee!!! So our family profile that we will show expectant mothers is heading to the printer today. I will put it on file at various places. And we'll see if God chooses to bring a newborn into our home. Because Holt requires a year between placements, we would have to be chosen pretty soon. In other words, this will have to be a complete "God-thing." I am doing my best to not wear my heart on my sleeve- but its still very vulnerable. Philip said last night that he is excited too. Any and all prayers we can garner on our behalf are greatly appreciated, desired, desperately needed.

Where are we in line?

Information I found explaining how families move up in line for Bulgarian referrals compliments of Tree of Life:
"The order of registration is not the only condition that determines when you will receive a referral. The parameters of the child you have requested will affect the time: each matching meeting attempts to refer children to families from each country that has registered families along with pulling from all groups of children. There will be primarily a portion of families considered who are requesting healthy children: within that group their will be typically more referrals for boys than girls as there are more boys waiting. There will be a portion of families matched who are open to an older child (typically age 7 and above), some that are open to sibling groups and some that are open to children with identified needs. The needs of the children are to be considered first and primary so the number of parents ahead of you will not be the only measure used to determine 'when' for your family."

To view Bulgaria's Ministry of Justice's website, go to google.translate.com and enter this address:
http://www.justice.government.bg/new/Pages/Adoptions/Default.aspx
Our registration number is 16-00-311.

Now, I have several questions for those Bulgarian pros out there. If you have the answer, PLEASE please help me understand!

1. How do you get updated information from Vesta regarding the dossiers registered? I've seen reports ordered by country and how many each country has registered.

2. I am trying to figure out how to gauge where I am in line using the MOJ site. I understand I can't tell simply by my number because they pull families based on several factors. But, I would expect my number to be MUCH larger than the numbers of those families being shown as receiving referrals on their site because I was only just recently registered. However, I see families just above and below my number being matched. How can this be?

3. Is there a page that actually shows a list of waiting families- not just those being matched?

4. Is there some way, using the MOJ site, to see progress beyond just certain numbers got matched during a certain meeting? It is almost too "zoomed in." How do I compare those numbers with all the rest who are waiting. How do I see who all the rest are?

Recent statistics reflect the following pattern for visa issuance to Bulgarian orphans adopted by American citizens:

2001 - 295
2002 - 257
2002 - 198
2004 - 110
2005 - 29
2006 - 28
2007 - 20
2008 - 5

Approximately 80% of the children adopted have had medical conditions. An adoption Council at the Ministry of Justice reviews the applications and matches children to a proper family. Priority is given to parents wishing to adopt a child with a medical condition.

***Update***

Here is the info from Vesta that I referenced:

Petitions in the Register Active March 10, 2009
(These are "adoption petitions of prospective parents, ... which can be discussed at a meeting of the Council on International Adoptions, following the order of their entering into the Register and the required characteristics of a child.")

Italy 226
France 88
USA 74
Greece 68
Germany 62

It says US dossiers make up 10.31% of the Registry. There are several other countries that also have dossiers registered (Cyprus, Canada(in case anybody here is Canadian, there are 26), Spain, Norway, Sweden, and about 10 others), but US dossiers make up the 3rd largest group at this time. It also says the total number of dossiers active (as of March 10, 2009) is 718.

My baby is two?!

Happy birthday, Ian! This is our son, whom we dearly love:

Get down, Ian!
No, Ian!
Ian! Get down!
That is a no, Ian!
Ian!
Down, Ian!
Ian Christopher!
No! No! No, Ian!

Phew! He made it to his 2nd birthday!!! And this is a fraction of his "busy-ness!" I do need to tell Philip tonight that Ian smelled really good today in his cologne before his bath. And I still haven't managed to wash all the A&D Ointment out of my couch. And if climbs up and re-programs my thermostat one more time, I think I might just lose it.

In all seriousness, we are so incredibly thankful and blessed to have been given this little boy. He is treasured beyond words and we wouldn't have him any other way :)

Holt Advises Against Dual Adoption

Hello All,
What a roller coaster few days. After receiving Holt's blessing and Counseling and Family Services' blessing to proceed with a dual adoption by adding a domestic adoption in the meantime, Holt mentioned Bulgaria might oppose our actions. We responded by asking Holt to verify for sure if we have the Bulgarian government's approval or not. We were also asking specifics on the required year between adoptions. Below is what we received in response.

Hi Charisa and Philip,

The year time frame is the time between the physical placement of children in the home. A family who has been placed with a child domestically could accept a referral before a year has passed, if we felt confident that the actual placement wouldn't occur until a year after the placement of the child domestically. I hope that makes sense.

Regarding your question about Bulgaria approving a dual process, that's a little more complicated, due to Bulgaria being a Hague Country. I will need to talk a little further with our management to determine how we can get more clarity on this. I'm not sure anyone can really answer that question right now. We'll need to explore this more with Bulgaria, USCIS, etc. If you don't want to risk the BUL adoption, probably better not to proceed too far with the domestic adoption. Or, if you do, know the domestic adoption could jeopardize the placement of a BUL child.

I'll let you know as I learn more. Thanks, Angie

While I knew we were just in the information gathering stage, it is now clear to me just how much I let my heart believe we were suddenly going to be bringing home a child in the very near future. I knew better and actually thought I was doing a good job of staying "logical." Anyway, I've shed my tears much of last night and asked my "why's" of God. Today, I am back to just being resolved to wait. What else can I do? And if Angie surprises us by coming back with a green light from Bulgaria, then WONDERFUL (I already have the birthmom letter written :). But for now, we are still just waiting for our Bulgarian Girl and trusting God that He is truly the one orchestrating these events.

Please pray, pray, pray for wisdom!

Hey everybody,
Our adoption agency talked with the Bulgarian Ministry of Justice when they were in the states, and it turns out that the Bulgaria adoption timeline has stretched out to as much as 2 years (very possibly more) from dossier registration. That means that we have a long time to wait before our referral and subsequent adoption. In fact, our agency is no longer accepting new dossiers for Bulgaria because of the timeline issues. Sooo, Charisa and I are talking about re-using our existing home study and adopting domestically in the mean time. We have already been talking about multiple adoptions for a while now, so it fits our plans in an odd and unexpected sort of way. Anyway, the domestic adoption could be completed and still leave the requisite one-year interval before the Bulgarian adoption would occur. It all seems very insane and unbelievable....but then again, we serve a God that is capable of handling insane and unbelievable things. So, please just pray for wisdom and leading.

Philip

Send Recipes Please!

If you have a Bulgarian recipe, can you please share it with us by posting in the comments area? We would GREATLY appreciate it.
THANK YOU!!!