5 + 1 = 6

No, I am not talking about Ward's addition homework.  Instead, I am referring to another addition to the Holt family through the miracle of adoption!  I have been hesistant to post anything on this blog about it, but decided that it is so much of what I am thinking about these days, and one of the primary reasons why I did not post at all in February, that I just had to share our great news.  So I will just come out and say it - Ted and I are in the middle of the process of adopting a little girl from Russia.  

As most of you know, I had really hard pregnancies, and with each pregnancy my health progressively deteriorated.  After having Ward and Ann Park I bounced back, but after having Sam I was not so lucky.  I went through a lot of testing (with no real answers) and thankfully, I have no internal damage due to the extremely high blood pressure.  And all I have to do to keep it in check is take a pill the rest of my life, so I consider myself very lucky.  However, all my doctors told me no more babies.  As I came to terms with that, my feelings about adoption grew stronger and stronger.  I always thought that I wanted to adopt but knew that I had 3 great kids and would I want another?  Well, the answer was clear and it was yes.

After a lot of prayer and talking, Ted and I decided to contact a friend of the family who is an integral part of an amazing non-profit adoption agency called Children of the World.  We started the process in late January and are moving along very quickly.  The most cumbersome part occurred last month and consumed all of my free time.  We had to assemble a HUGE mass of documents (including fingerprints, financial statements, doctors statements, proof of home ownership, etc.) and draft personal autobiographies.  Everything had to be notarized.  We also had to take 10 hours of education classes via the internet to learn more about Russia, the conditions of orphanages, and the challenges our child and our family could face.  To say it was overwhelming is an enormous understatement.

BUT thanks to a lot of hard work and some luck,  we finished those documents in a little over a month.  Today we had our first (of two) meeting with our social worker which is the last step in finishing our home study.  And the good thing about all those documents is that they were all-inclusive - meaning that they covered not only our homestudy but also all the documentation that we need for our Russian dossier.  Once our homestudy is complete (which will hopefully be by the end of April), we will apply to the INS and our dossier will be sent to Russia.  Then everything has to be translated into Russian (which takes about a month) and then we are assigned a Region (like a state) in Russia by the Ministry of Education.  This is completely out of our hands and can range from a rural place in Siberia to Moscow so we are covering this assignment in prayer.

And then we wait.  And wait.  And wait.  The average waiting is 6-9 months, but can be as quick as 4 months.  The waiting ends with a referral which is a picture and some information about the child (medical and social).  We will send that information to the International Adoption Clinic at Children's Hospital who will help us interpret the information (we are asking for a healthy child).  If we accept the referral, we will then go to Russia and meet our little girl.  We will receive much more information from the orphanage at that point which we will again send to IA Clinic who will interpret it all for us one more time.  If all looks good, we head home and wait for our court date, which is on average about 6 weeks later.  We will then go back, get approved by the Russian judge, and then have an 11 day waiting period.  Then we will be on our way home with another Holt girl!

I really want this to go quickly, but I am not getting my hopes up (which is very hard) because I know that it is all in God's hands.  I am comforted by knowing that He has already picked out a little girl for us. His timing is the perfect timing, but it is very hard to be patient when your mind and heart are already focused on the prize.  She could already be born at this point, which is very exciting, as we are requesting between a 10 and 24 month old.  Odds are, we will be heading to Russia about this time next year!!!  Please keep us and our little girl in your thoughts and prayers.  Pray that she has a kind caregiver(s) who teach her what love is.  Pray that she gets enough food.  Pray for her development.  Pray for her health and for her heart.  Pray for protection.  And pray for our hearts and the hearts of Ward, Ann Park and Sam.  Pray that they will adjust and love this little girl.  There is really more to pray for than I even have words.

So now that I have let the cat out of the bag, I will post updates as we go.  Feel free to ask questions.  I will answer what I can.  We are so excited about the Holt that is in Russia (or will be soon) and can't wait to meet her.  Pray for her and us - please!