God is good!

God is good!  We went to Grand Rapids this afternoon to see if we could get our fingerprinting done before the April 25 scheduled appointment.  There was no one waiting and they took us right away!  It feels so good to be 2 weeks closer.  We found out yesterday that the National Benefit Center needs some clarification on our sibling group parameters that we set for the kiddos.  Our caseworker is already working on it, as it seems to be just a wording issue in the home study and nothing that we need to do.  I believe we will need to update our medical letters one more time before being listed with the country (they are only good for 3 months).  So now we wait for word from the NBC that we are good to go, focus on fundraising, and keep praying that God prepares our hearts to know our children's hearts as family. 

Dossier Translated

 We have a phone call with AGCI every other week to touch base, give and get updates.  We found out this week that our dossier has been translated!  All we have left to do is get our fingerprints done and processed before we can be listed with Bulgaria.  We are considering going rogue this week and trying to get in 2 weeks early.  It goes completely against my "always play by the rules" mantra, but every day we check something off our list gets us to our babes that much sooner!
We also found out this week that the new Ministry of Justice is still learning her job and, therefore, the referral process has slowed down.  There are 34 families ahead of us at AGCI, but we are unsure how many are pursuing sibling groups.  We get weekly email updates on the Bulgaria program and get to see how many familes are in each stage of the process.  Can't wait to get to the Second Trip In Country Group...for now we will be thrilled with the Waiting for Referral Group.

No Idea What I Am Doing

Right off the top, I'll just say that I have no idea what I am doing. This is my attempt to keep folks in the loop with what's going on with us and our adoption journey.  You can catch the back story in the "Our Adoption Journey" tab. 
 For now, we have submitted our dossier and it is currently being translated in Bulgaria. We expect that to take a few more weeks.  We also have sent in our NBC (National Benefit Center, formerly the INS) application and are awaiting that to be processed and for them to send us our fingerprinting appointment (that will be our 4th fingerprinting I believe). That could also be a few more weeks.  Once everything is processed and approved, we will be listed with Bulgaria and begin our "official wait"...as if we haven't been waiting already.  We've been told the wait will be 9-12 months, so sort of like being pregnant and "expecting".  And so we wait, expectantly, and with HOPE.