travel dates for Gotcha trip!

Yesterday I received the email I have been hoping for. I will be leaving on Wednesday March 20th. and arriving in Bulgaria on Thursday March 21st. And, Gotcha day will be Friday March 22nd. Bohdan Chase Proctor will walk out of the orphanage forever. I still cannot believe this is really happening. I have learned so much on this Journey, but that is for another day. Because I am going with such short notice it was tricky to get flights. It will be an adventure! with a really short lay over in Frankfurt that will require some running to get to my next flight, and an 8 hour layover in Munich on the way back which requires entertaining a child or like my friend suggested chase him around the airport for 8 hours so he will sleep on the long flight I like that idea. We will also be spending the night in Chicago we couldn't get a flight into Salt Lake City until the next day. We will be getting into Salt Lake City at 3:04 pm. Saturday March 30th. Everyone is welcome to come to the airport and meet us. I will keep face book and hopefully the blog updated while I am there. I am very excited because there are a few other families going at the same time so I will be able to meet them! and we will be able to get together and do some fun things while we are there. Thank you to everyone who prayed, donated, and supported us to give our little boy a family!

Court Date!

We have a court date! On February 26th. At 9:30 in the morning Bulgaria time a judge will decide to grant our adoption. The rest of the adoption process will maybe go like this. It is hard to predict when things will take place. That is one thing I have learned about this journey. Expect delays! so after court if the judge grants the adoption there is a  seven day wait period. After the seven days it takes 3-5 days to get the signed court decree. then it takes five days to get the birth certificate. Then we will get a travel date to bring him home. So, it could take 6-8 weeks from the court date to travel. This is average it could take longer or it could be sooner. I am praying for sooner. Longer is getting to close to Miranda's due date. But God is and always has been in the details of this Journey. Today is Valentines day and so many of us focus on roses, chocolate, maybe a nice dinner or a valentine card and though these things are nice I am reminded in scripture of God's definition of love. How he loves us and how we should love others.  

John3:16- God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

Romans 13:8- "Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law."

Galations 5:13-" For, brethern, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion of the flesh, but by love serve one and other."

Ephesians 4:2- "With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love."

1 John 4:7- "Beloved, let us love one another:for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God."

the last one is long but a very powerful scripture

John 15: 9-17 "As the father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
vs. 10 "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even  as I have kept father's commandments, and abide in his love."
vs. 11 "These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
vs.12 "This is my commandment that ye love one another, as I have loved you."
vs.13 "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."
vs.14 "Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you."
vs.15 "Henceforth I call you not servents; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
vs. 16 "Ye have not chosen me but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you."
vs.17 "These things I command you, that ye love one another."

Quick update

I don't have much to update on. We have been waiting and waiting and waiting. Our Dossier was submitted to the MOJ for the minister to sign since January 23. It usually takes three weeks. It will be three weeks on February 13th. After the minister signs it will get sent to court and then we wait some more for a judge to be signed and a court date to be issued. Then the judge will approve the adoption, ask for more information or not grant the adoption. This usually does not happen so I am really not worried about that. After the adoption is finalized we wait about two more weeks then we will receive dates to bring him home. So as you can see a lot needs to take place in the next few weeks. It seems that every step of this adoption has taken the longest time possible. We haven't been the ones where the MOJ signs quickly or travel dates have been issued quickly. If anything we have had some extremely long processes. USCIS really put us back a couple of months. We could really use your prayers that these last steps go quickly. I want to have him home and settled before Miranda has her baby. I am not sure that is going to happen. I have faith that God is in control and that this is his perfect plan. But, sometimes it doesn't make waiting any easier. I will update again when we have a court date.

A late Christmas Present

On December 26th. Our previous approved I800a and our I800 was approved! I was so happy to get that email! Now we wait for it to be received at the National visa center then they will call our facilitator in Bulgaria and she will attend our Visa appointment. They will issue an article 5 letter and then our dossier will be complete. It is then resubmitted to the MOJ and has to be signed by the minister. Then it is submitted to court. We will be assigned a judge and a court date. My Guess is "Gotcha day" will be in April. I always guess wrong but, that is a good guess. Happy New Year!

The climb

 International adoption is like wanting to climb the tallest mountain in the world. And  you stand at the bottom looking up and wondering if and how you will ever make to the top. You realize that it will take faith, trust, and Patience. You know that there will be things along the way that will set you back from reaching the top. Money, paper work, and somethings that are just out of your control, you may start the climb and everything seems to be going smoothly until something causes you to lose your footing and you fall all the way back down and you find yourself looking up again from the bottom of the mountain. That is where I am. Things were going smoothly for us, fundraising was difficult but, God provided for our needs. When I got back from the first trip, I was anxious to get the second stage documents done and get our I800 sent in to USCIS(you have to get immigration approval to bring a specific orphan into to United states.) I waited for the approval notice to come so that we could move forward, but that is not what happened. I received a phone call from our immigration officer, telling me that she couldn't approve our I800 because "T"(our foster son) was turning 18 and is now considered an adult. therefore he would have to meet the immigration requirements. I knew he would be turning 18 when we sent in our I800a so I called immigration and asked them what we should do because "T" is like a 15 month old child. He doesn't communicate by talking, signs, or pictures, he only understands simple things that are part of his routine and you have to use gestures. If I say "Its time to eat" he will just sit there. If I point to the table and say its time to eat he will go to the table, if I tell ask him to go get his shoes he will bring me his shoes, or his back pack or his coat. or all of it. They told me on the phone that he would be exempt from the requirements and all we needed to do was to put it in the home study and get a letter from the doctor stating his cognitive level. So, I was surprised when she told me that I was told wrong and that he would need to meet these requirements that consisted of back ground checks, answering questions about any criminal history that he may have,  a few other questions, plus he would need the biometric finger prints done as well. I panicked, I tried to explain to her that he could not do this. I asked her how he was supposed to answer the questions? or sign the papers he can't sign his name you hand him a pen and he uses it as a "flippy" I didn't know how I was going to get him to do finger prints, I went on to explain that he has sensory issues with people touching him, he doesn't like things on his hands, cutting his hair is hard, he will block you and cry and hit himself, I told her he has to be sedated to go the dentist or if a doctor is doing something. She told me that it was the rule and that she couldn't give me advise but that I needed to do it. I then got a phone call from the supervisor telling me that I would be getting a letter in the mail, with the intent to revoke our already approved I800a because we didn't put in the home study that he has such severe behaviors, and therefore they can't approve us to adopt. That is when I fell down to the bottom of the mountain, I found myself looking up and wondering how I was going to climb back up to the top. I am not even" T" guardian legally I could not do anything. In order to get the BCI on him he needed to have picture ID, in order to get the picture ID, he had to have a certified copy of his birth certificate. It all seemed so complicated. But, I know with all my heart that our Father in Heaven answers prayers! He didn't take this problem away but, he helped find a solution. Tim's mom had his birth certificate, we got the ID and the back ground check. I was able to get letters from social workers, teachers, and his behaviorist that explained his behaviors, and that he was not aggressive. I am so grateful to his DCFS worker, my social worker who worked so hard to get the BCI done quickly, and to my officer who was able to get us a biometrics appointment before the paper work was processed. This saved us at least a month's worth of time. Everything has been sent back to Immigration and now we wait for processing which will take about a month before we hear if what we sent was sufficient enough to meet their request for evidence. Once again we will get back up and  climb  until we reach our son. I don't know the outcome we may fall again but, I do know that I will get back up as many times as I have to bring him home. I also know that our Father in heaven hears our prayers, he knows our needs and he is with all of us who have chosen to be a family to his precious children who have been deemed unworthy, unwanted, unlovable by so many. Oh how I miss his squishy little cheeks, his little giggle and mischievous smile when he realized he could get me to pick him up and carry him down the streets of Bulgaria. I even miss chasing him from room to room as he threw stuffed animals at the curtains to knock them down just to see a reaction from everyone. A friend of mine that is also just starting this journey said that God must be trying to teach her patience. Same goes for me, but apparently I am not a very fast learner. So, as it stands now, if they approve us, it will be sent to Bulgaria which will take a couple weeks, then we will get a visa appointment and issued an article 5 letter this will complete our file, it will have to be signed off by the minister and then sent to court for a date. Then our attorney in Bulgaria will go to court and hopefully, we will become the parents to a very energetic, very much loved and wanted  little boy by April. which means our pickup trip will be in May right when baby boy my first grandson (I am starting to get used the idea just don't call me the "G" word yet) is due to enter into this world. Please pray that we sent in what they are looking for, that the officer will see Tim for who he really is, and that the rest of the process goes smoothly and quickly. It is so hard to not be in control, and it is even harder to just be still and know that God is in control.

                                       

Our journey to Bodie

Here is a video of our first trip to meet our son!

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Day two

 when we got to the orphanage this morning he was not happy that he had to leave school to come with me into a little room. He stomped his feet the whole way. They gave him a water bottle to play with and he would bounce it at hard as he could I think he liked the noise it made. I didn't know water bottles could bounce. I was able to get him to play a music game on the Ipad. He would only do the activities if I had crackers. I taught him to sign more crackers and he would sign it every time. He is very smart and learns quickly. after awhile he took all of the activities and pushed them back out of the way and started putting the mr. potato head back in the bag. the crackers were gone and he was done! Then he became very wild running down the hall, throwing a bowling pin and wanting the facilitator to swing him by his arms. He did not like that we told him "no more" he threw himself down and had a little tantrum. definitely a morning of testing limits. The evening went better we took him outside with the other kids, he wanted to swing. I taught him to sign "more swing" he caught on very quickly and would sign when the swing would stop. Then he got off and started throwing sand. After a few times of being told no and removed from the sand he stopped. When it was time to go in he wanted me to carry him again, I know that he was totally manipulating the situation but, I did it anyway so I could get some cuddles. He had leaked through his diaper but, I held him anyway :) they don't seem to work on potty training with him at all so that is something that needs to change once he is home. Tomorrow we will visit him during school although I won't get one on one with him I think he will be happier there instead of making him come back to the orphanage side where there is nothing to do. here are a few pictures from today

signing more

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silly boy

cleaning up in hopes that we were done!