Still Waiting...

We are still waiting to hear news on our dossier, if it has been accepted, not accepted or if additional paperwork needs to be submitted. We are trying to be patient, but it is so hard! Once our dossier is accepted we will receive our invitation to travel.

We are so ready and excited to meet our son!!

In the meantime, our to do list is a mile long! I have a lot of deep cleaning things I want to get done before we leave, not to mention we need to clean out the other half of Cavin's closet, get his bedroom rearranged and add another bed for Rance!

This week we have been working on getting our carpets shampooed. When I have a chance, I have been working on the boys busy books. They are coming along nicely, I have really enjoyed doing them, but they are a lot of work! I will be glad to get them done!

Speaking of, I need to get back to work! As soon as we hear news, I will be sure to post it here!

Please be praying for us to hear news of our dossier's acceptance soon and to receive an expedited travel date!

Also be praying for Cavin, he will dealing with a lot of changes with this trip, not to mention the addition of an older brother!

Successful!!

Yesterday we heard that our dossier was successfully filed with the SDA in Kiev! It has been taking the SDA 2-3 weeks to review files and accept them -or not, or request additional paperwork. Once our dossier has been approved we will receive notice of that approval along with an invitation to travel. We are praying it takes no longer than 3 weeks--2 weeks or sooner would be great!

Please be praying with us! We will keep you posted as soon as we hear something!

In the meantime we are finishing up some adoption training our agency requires us to take. We have been learning so much from this training and are even more convinced of God's call to adopt. I will share more thoughts on this later.

We have also been looking over our adoption budget and made the realization that we need $25,000. We have raised just at $10,000 in funds, leaving us with the $25,000 balance. This doesn't include the slue of medical bills we will have once we get Rance home. Ugh. This has been and most definitely still is a major stress for us. So this week will find us finishing up 2 loan applications specifically for adoptions and also looking into a home equity loan. So please be praying for us to make wise decisions in regards to this.

And, if you haven't given yet and would like to help us bring Rance home, you can still send in your check to Lifesong for Orphans no later than November 5! Just please follow the directions below.

1.    1. Please make checks payable to: Lifesong for Orphans. You may preference how the donation might be used by writing “preference Richards  # 1448  Adoption” on the memo line of your check. (*Note:  In following IRS guidelines, your donation is to the named non-profit organization.  This organization retains full discretion over its use, but intends to honor the donor’s suggested use.) 

2.    

2     2. Mail checks to:

Lifesong for Orphans

PO Box 40 / 202 N. Ford St

Gridley, IL  61744

Filing Day!!

Today was our filing day, October 28th!

Although its a huge deal, it feels wierd not to actually hear anything. It could take up to 20 days for them to review our paperwork and decide on a travel date. We are most definitely praying it doesn't take them the entire 20 days!

In the meantime, we continue with our fundraising, we still need $18,000, which is more than overwhelming but we continue to trust that God will provide. We are still waiting to hear from one grant organization, we are still selling raffle tickets for two baskets, and my family is fixing to sell key chains. We are also hoping to get more donations through our Lifesong Account, see a post below to find out how you give! Just make sure you get our name and account number with your donation!

** When we receive our travel date we will have to pay the rest of our agency fee, $6,500 as well as the $12,000 Ukranian Program fee, as well as be able to pay for our travel costs. This is stressful in the least! So please continue to pray for us to have patience as we wait for God to provide in his perfect timing.

**Please continue to pray that our papers will be accepted before 20 days and we will receive an expedited travel date!

Dossier!

After a lot of stress and hard work, one trip to Jefferson City and one downtown for apostilles, and we finished our dossier!

Our dossier (all the legal paperwork we stressed over the past few weeks!) began its journey to Ukraine last Wednesday, October 13! When our dossier arrives in Ukraine, it will be translated, notarized and submitted to Ukrainian State Department for Adoption and Protection of Rights of the Child (SDAPRC), the only legal Ukrainian authority for adoptions (under the Minister for Family, Youth and Sports) on Thursday, October 28th!! It will be checked for completeness within a period of five to ten working days. If any mistakes are found, the dossiers will be returned.

**Please pray no mistakes are found! Maria, our social worker with our adoption agency says our dossier was perfect, so we are praying the SDA agrees!!

If the dossier conforms to all requirements, an application will be approved and we will receive a confirmation of registration along with an appointment letter from the SDAPRC. We will then receive an invitation to visit the SDAPRC on a specific appointment date. On our behalf, Yuri, our facilitator in Ukraine, will be requesting the earliest travel date available. This could be as early as 7-10 days from the approval of our dossier to a month later. Although we are requesting an expedited travel date, that doesn't mean the SDA will comply.

**Please pray that the SDA will accept our request for an expedited travel date and join us in praying we will be in Ukraine by November 15th!

Trivia Night in Review

Our trivia night on October 1 was a huge success! We had 14 tables of 8 people and the 8 raffle baskets were a hit! We had contest for the best dressed tables, and it was a hard decision to choose the top two! It was so fun to see each team's creativity! We played 10 rounds, with each round containing 10 questions. I think people had a lot of fun and I sure was impressed with their trivia knowledge!

We asked people to write a note to Rance for me to put in his "baby book." It could be a prayer, a Scripture, advice, anything. We want Rance to know how many people were a part of bringing him home. As we read the notes Matt and I were both brought to tears. What a powerful testimony this will be to Rance of the love surrounding him! If you would like to write him a note, it is not to late! I would prefer handwritten, but will accept typed as well!

Fundraising Update:
We have been so blessed by the generosity of others. We raised about $4,000 when it was all said and done from the trivia night alone! Put that with the donations sent into Lifesong so far, and we have raised a grand total of just over $8,000!!

The adoption as a whole will cost us $30,000-$35,000 so we obviously still have some work to do, but we are so thankful for how God has begun to provide! We can't wait to see how God continues to move in the hearts of others to help us bring Rance home! We are still waiting to hear from one of the grants we have applied for. We will also begin to look for a no interest adoption loan to help cover the costs. We will have to have all of the money paid before traveling to Ukraine, hopefully in less than a month!

It is not to late for you to help us financially. You can still send in donations to Lifesong for Orphans with the information given below, you can donate online through Lifesong as directed below, or you can donate directly to us (no tax deduction letter this way) and we will put it in our adoption account.

To Donate to Lifesong via Check:

1. Please make checks payable to: Lifesong for Orphans. You may preference how the donation might be used by writing “preference Richards # 1448 Adoption” on the memo line of your check. (*Note: In following IRS guidelines, your donation is to the named non-profit organization. This organization retains full discretion over its use, but intends to honor the donor’s suggested use.)

2. Mail checks to:

Lifesong for Orphans
PO Box 40 / 202 N. Ford St
Gridley, IL 61744

To Donate to Lifesong Online:
Follow the link below, click on donate and make sure you put "Richards #1448 Adoption" for the purpose! http://www.lifesongfororphans.org/donation.html

If you would like to donate to us directly, you can email me for our address!
 

Trivia Night: Help Us Bring Rance Home!

Reserve your table now!!

A Fresh Breath of Air and a Broken Heart

We have been overwhelmingly busy the past few months, I feel like we've barely had time to breath. July was a busy month and I am still not sure what happened to August!

The labor day break couldn't have come at a better time! We left Thursday evening, later than we had planned due to some issues in the church and with our fridge/freezer. But alas, we make it to my parents house in the middle of no where Missouri.

Although the weather was cooler than we had packed for, we couldn't have asked for more beautiful weather. We played outside all day, and Cavin loved it. We helped out around the house some, but it was so nice to relax and get away from the hecticness. Cavin got to go on his first tractor ride (don't worry Papa Richards, it was a John Deere!) with his Papa and he loved it!

Even though we live in an area with lots of large trees and there are lakes right behind our house, I forget how quiet and peaceful it is out in the middle of nowhwere. It was just what we needed.

We came home late Saturday night and crashed, gearing up for another long Sunday, one we knew would be brutally difficult.

This past week we had a 10 month old baby in our church pass away, and the funeral was Sunday afternoon at 3. So after church and quick nap we headed out to drop Cavin off at some friends.

I walked in, saw the precious little boy in his casket and walked right back out, trying to pull myself together. Through blurry eyes I found a bathroom and curled up in a ball in the handicap stall and wept. I wept for the loss of this precious baby boy, for his family, and for the loss of my own three precious babies. I managed to pull myself together to get through the rest of the service crying quietly and praying for strength, peace and comfort for the family.

Sunday evening was a nice reprieve to a very difficult day, BBQ with some great friends. It was nice to sit back, relax, laugh at the boys and enjoy hanging out. We ended the night with some great conversation aroudn the firepit and of course, S'mores!

Monday was back to the grind, somewhat for us, running some errands and gearing up for the week ahead.

One Year--Already!

We still can't believe our baby turned one last week! He is so big now yet still so little!

Stats:
Weight: 18 pounds 10 ounces
Height: 29 inches

He was in the 25th percentile, but with his latest stats, he has dropped to the 5-10 percentile, so he's a little guy, long and lean like his daddy!

Cavin has 7 teeth now!

He is not walking yet, but is a very fast crawler and cruises around all kinds of furniture!

He already has several words in his spoken vocabulary! He says mama, dada, ball (of course!), bye-bye, kitty, no and one of the cutest, uh-oh!

He still loves to play by himself, he is very independent and into everything! He loves to get into his snack cabinet and get himself a snack! He pulls the sack out of the box and then helps himself! Its so cute I can't say no!

Balls are his most favorite toy. I joke in saying he can enter a room and spot a toy like my dad can enter the woods and spot a mushroom! He also loves books and to read!

He is such a happy little boy, full of smiles and laughter. What a joy he is! This past year has definitely been the best!

July 23

Two years ago, this day was by far the worst day of my life. It was Wednesday. Tuesday morning I was told by my specialist that we could take a deep breath, that we'd made it out of the danger zone since I hadn't went into labor again or gotten an infection. Tuesday night Matt accepted a job offer. Then Wednesday. Everything happened so fast its a blur yet each detail is so very clearly etched in my heart.

I have typed so many words this evening, trying to express what is on my heart, but it is all so jumbled right now.

But in brief.

We miss our babies. Eli, Isaac and our precious baby girl Micah every day.

We serve a faithful God who heals the broken.

I don't know what I would do without Cavin. He brings so much joy to our lives with his cuteness and orneriness.

I am so thankful for friends who took time out of their life to spend today with me so I wouldn't have to be alone while Matt was at church camp.

Bittersweet

I volunteered to be the VBS director at our church this year, mainly because I didn't want Matt to have to do it by his self. It was June 27-July 1, and let me tell you, it was a crazy week! Our theme this year was Hero Headquarters, talking about unamed children heros of the Bible. It was perfect. What kid doesn't want to be a superhero? It was also a lot of fun, and most definitely, a lot of work! We had over 280 kids register!

Anyways, my niece and nephew spent the first part of the week with us, and they are so fun and so cute. One night while I was feeding Cavin we began talking about their new baby brother or sister who would be joining us very soon, and how there would be three kids in their family now. My 5 year old niece then told me if I had two more babies then I would have three babies just like before (referring to the triplets).

My niece forgets NOTHING. Which can be quite annoying sometimes because even if you distract her away from an idea, she'll come back to it eventually. Its nuts. But I LOVE that she doesn't forget her cousins Eli, Isaac and Micah. I love how randomly throughout the past two years she brings them up in casual conversation. I love her perfect faith and acceptance of them being with Jesus. I love that they are still in her heart.

Throughout the next week I dreamt of my babies, of holding them and being with them. They were on my mind more than usual after talking with my niece about them, and with the two year anniversary of their death approaching.

Friday morning, July 9 we headed to Columbia to wait for a niece or nephew to be born. I cried most of the way there. We drove into the parking lot of the hospital where I walked out empty handed, and I fought for control. We went inside, took the elevator up to the floor where we were two years prior, a floor full of memories that made my heart ache. I held Cavin close and shifted my mind to the forthcoming arrival of a new baby into our family.

While we waited my doctor from the triplets walked by. He is easy to spot beings he looks like Santa Clause! I wasn't sure if he would remember us, but we walked out and asked at the nurse station to speak with him. I had wanted to show him our miracle, our happy ending. He was thrilled to meet Cavin and glad to know the outcome of the pregnancy I started with him.

We waited what felt like forever and then we finally got the news we had been waiting for all day, we had a new niece, Ruth Ann!! I will never forget my niece and nephew's reaction when they found out they had a baby sister, it was priceless. They were so excited!! She is a beautiful baby girl and I can't wait to spoil her rotten!

Now, a place I always thought of with sadness has become a place I can think of with joyfullness.