Apostilling complete!

We thought we would give you an update on the adoption process.  As you can already see, we only post when we have a "news-worthy" event!  A couple of weeks ago, we sent off our initial dossier (formal paperwork for Russia) to be apostilled (stamped with a special seal) by the NC Secretary of State.  All the documents were apostilled except for two forms.  We had sent these items with the attachments recommended by our adoption agency, but nevertheless, they could not be accepted.  Instead, they were returned with us with corrected sample attachments.  We re-submitted the documents and they were apostilled and in our hands by the end of this past week.  (As a side note, our adoption agency said that rules vary so much for each state that it is difficult to maintain the correct templates for each document and country.  They plan to develop a "tips" sheet for prospective adoptive parents that will help them if faced with issues such as these.)

Tomorrow, we will be sending the initial dossier to our family coordinator, who will look over the documents, hopefully approve them, and then they will be forwarded to Russia where they will be registered.  Once registered, the "normal" wait time for a referral is 6-9 months.  Of course, as believers, we know that the Lord is in control of time, so we will just sit back and wait to hear from Him.

In the meantime, we will continue to do paperwork and collect documents for the "court dossier" which will be used in Russia.  The paperwork, literally, will never end!  Even after we make our 1st visit to Russia, to see the boys, there will be documents to be collected and submitted for the particular region in which the boys reside.  Anyway, the sending of the initial dossier is just one more step in the process, but it is significant in that it is necessary to receive the referral...so, we are very excited to have this one "under our belt!"

As always, thank you for praying for our family as we anxiously await to be united with our boys in Russia!

Love and blessings,
Kim, Craig, Taylor, and Leah