When will our referral come?

For those of you who voted in the poll to the left and chose March 10, sorry!!! The highest date so far is April 15 (tax day!!) and that is a possibility. I'm still waiting word that the referrals I heard about back on March 3 have come through. Two of my adoption friends (#2 and #3) on the list are now referring to ourselves as Nancy Drew as we try to sleuth out when the referrals are coming and who is where on "the list". We are still #5 as best I can tell.

For those of you who might not understand how this works, I will go over it for clarification.

Once we signed a contract with the agency and sent in our first fees, we were put on "The List". After we were on the list, we started gathering the documents that will be part of our "dossier". This is a package of papers to include things like our homestudy, photos of our home, letters from our employers, police letters stating we are not criminals, etc. Once this document is complete (FRIDAY!!!! yay!) I will send it to our agency and they will send it for translation and legalization. This will be the document that will go to court. However, I am ahead of myself.

"Referrals" are made by matching a family to a child that is available for adoption. Children are not available for adoption in Kyrgyzstan (or to go to court for adoption) until they are three months old. We could receive a referral for a younger child, but her paperwork would not be able to go to court until she was three months old. Once we are matched with a child (our referral), we will get photos and medical information. After that, we are required to travel to Kyrgyzstan to visit with her for 14 days. We will travel to the orphanage each day and spend somewhere between 1-2 hours with her. After this time, we are allowed to accept the referral and the case can proceed to court (assuming she is three months -- if not, the court will not hear the case until she is three months). We will return home to wait. After going to court, there is a mandatory waiting period of 30 days. After that, 10 days are required to get a passport and visa for the child to come home. Typically, families with our agency return to pick up their child in about 8 weeks after the first trip.

We are just barely into our window. I'm still sticking with my original prediction of April 15. God is fully in control of when this will happen. Knowing that He has this taken care of, I'm ok with waiting. I know he has the perfect daughter/sister picked out for our family.

I got my weekly baby fix in at church tonight holding Caleb. I even managed to get him to sleep!! He's a finger sucker and just terribly cute when he does it. His parents, however, aren't AS excited about it as I am -- something about dentists and orthodontists, etc.!! *smile* Caleb is my "practice baby".

Please continue to pray for our journey and for Ellie and her birth mom. There are days I stop and think, "I know there are people praying for us and this adoption -- maybe right now." It helps me make it through whatever is going on and truly keeps us strong. We are continuing to have faith that God is going to provide the remaining portion of finances we need to make Trip 1 and then what's needed for Trip 2. We are so close now but it's sort of like the old saying that close only counts in hand grenades and horse shoes. It's pretty much all or nothing in this case. It's another thing that makes me stop some days and go, "You know, God is working on this. Just because I don't see progress in this area doesn't mean He isn't taking care of it." It's much like the nursery that you all haven't seen photos of yet *smile*. Just because I'm not mentioning it doesn't mean I'm not working on it. I am!!! It's just not quite ready to share yet. Here's a sneak peek of the stenciling I'm doing. Sadly, there's only one line (the last one) done.