Update...

"The head of the American delegation Michael Kirby, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for consular affairs, said the meeting had been "fruitful". "We agree we want to do the best for the children…," he said. But the main document is still not ready. Russia’s children’s ombudsman Pavel Astakhov said that the document will be finished and handed to the US side shortly. Russia plans to include 8 new amendments to the agreement. According to Astakhov, the US delegation will stay in Moscow for another couple of days and continue to form a working group. Both Russians and Americans are ready for this, Astakhov said: "The US party has shown their readiness to continue negotiations and sign the bilateral agreement on adoption. Now it is important to work out this document as soon as possible. The US side understands the delay and Michael Kirby said we are on one side. "

Earlier Astakhov said the Russian side presented all the document’s provisions to the US . They are based on the Hague Adoption Convention which was not ratified by Russia.The main talks on adoption are due on May 12. All the needed documents will be ready by that time.
Report from Dmitry Borisov

Fingerprint Appt!

Yeah, we got it! Less than two weeks after we sent off our application and it was received we got our notice for our fingerprint appt. with the USCIS!! The only bad thing is the date. It is May 21st. That is the first day of our garage sale. :-( But my mom is going to be here, and a babysitter for the little man, and I have some great friends who have volunteered to come over and help while Randy and I are gone. The crazy thing though, is that Randy's appt. is at 9, and mine is at 10. I definately am not going to wait an hour, so two trips here we go!! That way our help doesn't have to stay too long. The get there when I leave 9:15ish, and leave when Randy gets back hopefully no later than 10:30. Things are just moving right along, I know this is meant to be. The delagation is meeting right now, so praying for smooth talks between the two countries.

Paka,
Randy, Denise, and Camden

Dossier 1....

Is in the mail!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Man, that feels good to say. We just spent 2 hours in Kinko's making copies of our Dossier 1 and then recopying all the ones that messed up!! Good thing Kinko's has a refund policy for messed up copies. We didn't notice right off the bat so we had like 51 copies that we had to redo. Oh well, that is a load off our shoulders, along with quite a bit of money too. It is so worth it though. I can't wait until we get a referral. I know it is still many months away, but I am excited.

Paka,
Randy, Denise, and Camden

Apostille's Done!

They are done. Unforunately we live in a state that does not have a cap on their Apostille's. Kansas is broke, so every penny they can get from us they do! So we have the 120 mile trip to Topeka and back round trip, the $2.50 toll each way, and $232.50 check we wrote to the wonderful Secretary of State for less than 30 minutes of work for them, and of course plugging my meter, and I guess I just stimulated Kansas' economy by almost $300. Now mind you I own a suburban and get 14 miles to the gallon.

We will be making all our copies tonight and then tomorrow we are overnighting our package to Indiana!!! BTW Camden was awesome, he is such a good little guy, he sat and colored and ate a snack while we waited and he is a great car rider. Though he is a horrible napper in the car.

Also, if you could keep in your prayers, the U.S. Delagation is meeting with Russian officials on April 29th and 30th to discuss an adoption agreement between the two countries, so praying things are going to go well.

okay here we go...

This week is going to be very busy! These are hopeful deadlines, not set in stone. Hopefully, Monday we go the bank after Randy gets done with clinicals and get everything in Dossier 1 notarized. Tuesday, Camden and I hop in the car to Topeka to get everything Apostilled. I really hope it doesn't take a long time because entertaining an almost 2 year old in a government building should be fun. Plus the $232 fee that is attached to everything will just be amazing too! No, Kansas does not have a cap on their Apostille's that I have heard Texas does at $100. Then when Randy gets home from clinicals again on Tuesday, we go over everything with a fine tooth comb make sure it is perfect, and make all of our necessary copies. Then Wednesday, Camden and I again will hop into the car to go to FedEx to have our "package" shipped overnight to our agency, hopefully they don't send it to Nebraska like they did our I-600A application. With that package, will be a nice chunk of our savings, and then Thursday, we relax.

On other news, I applied for a grant yesterday, so now I have to get all the paperwork for them within the next 30 days for the application process to continue. Luckily they don't need a blood sample, but pretty much everything else personal about us they need. I hope and pray that we get this grant, I have heard ranges of $$ that this particular organization awards, and it has ranged from $300-$3,000. Any amount will help us.

As far as our garage sale, God is good. We have so much stuff that we can not park our cars in our garage. The bad news is, it is going to take me forever to set it all up!!! That is a good thing though really. If you live in KC, stop by our house for some awesome deals on some good stuff. Also we will be having a raffle for a home made quilt made by my aunt. It is beautiful. As soon as I can, I will post a picture of it for all to see her amazing work!

Hope all are having a wonderful night!

Paka,
Randy, Denise, and Camden

The Kindness of Strangers

As all of you probably know, Randy and I are holding a garage sale May 21-22 in order to raise funds for our adoption. We sent out letters to friends and family to ask for donations of items for stuff to sell. We the response has been amazing. We have so much stuff already it is insane. To top it off we got a call from a friend who told some family friends about us and they passed on some estate items from a deceased relative. It filled a 26 ft. moving truck!!!!! We are so amazed at the kindness that these people showed us. It is going to help us out so much that I just know we are going to break garage sale records!!!

Many of you are probably wondering about the possible suspension in Russia. Right now adoptions are still happening and the U.S. delegation is suppose to be on their way over there right now, but a crazy volcano in Iceland decided to erupt which has canceled over 16,000 flights to Europe. So the talks are on hold, and unfortunately for those who were suppose to have court dates this week are also on hold because they can't get over there! Pray that the ash cloud breaks up quickly so flights can resume to Europe ASAP!!!

Paka,
Randy, Denise, and Camden

Are we Suspended, or Not??

The news this morning said we were suspended, now they are saying that we aren't. Your guess is as good as ours.
Denise