We are so grateful to all of you who encouraged, who created space / time for us, and who gave financially (and in other ways) so that we could meet our deadline. The hard-fast ultimate deadline for all updated appointments and documents (and for their corresponding fees) was 31 December, but we were able to collect nearly all that was needed by mid-December, and officially submitted everything about a week before the deadline.
Actually, due to travel and crazy holiday season scheduling, we found ourselves at a clinic in Tbilisi securing the final components yet to be gathered in—our medical check-ups and certificates—at 09:00 sharp on Christmas Eve morning!
The clinic staff even gifted us some locally sourced mountain-flower honey. (დიდი მადლობა, AMC-თბილისი!) Brad's veins fritzed out and got him all woozy during the blood draws, but the nurses gave him hot tea and chocolates, and it was all for a great cause! There aren't many better ways we would've wanted to spend our Christmas Eve.
Thanks to so many people's generosity, we also had enough to pay the remaining balance on our homestudy update fee, and we have enough to take the next couple of steps forward.
Speaking of next steps forward, as we start 2025, we will be submitting our USCIS application (immigration approvals) within the next month or so.
We are so glad to be able to continue our adoption journey and are hopeful to be able to match a couple of young faces/names to our prayers and to these updates very soon.
The next 2 weeks are pivotal for our adoption process. We're on a tight deadline (think mid-December) to collect and fulfill all the required appointments/documents/funds necessary to proceed in our adoption process.
For those gracious followers who've been able to share of all kinds of resources toward this endeavor—so innovatively, generously, sacrificially—we are deeply grateful to you. Your interest and various types of investments in this journey have meant the world to us.
These handmade stockings (knit from locally-sourced wool by Azeri artisans) were purchased specifically with our future adopted children in mind, nearly 5 years ago now.
Of course, we are actively, concurrently working on grant and scholarship applications, but we do have several looming fees that are due more immediately and that are beyond our reach.
If anyone would be open to and in a position to consider helping us via an interest-free loan, we view that as a low-risk yet highly helpful way to accomplish a few things at once, considering the timeframe we are working within. Please message Joy privately about details.*
In fact, anyone with any questions or concerns at all about our situation, please feel free to send a message anytime! (*Private-message us here, by phone, on Facebook, and/or [email protected], etc..)
Again, we are just so thankful for all of you, who have already engaged in this journey and who are part of the community to whom we hope to introduce our adopted children one day, sooner than later.
#gohomecoming #adoptingabroad
It's actually been a while since this photo was taken; we need to take a new photo! Likewise, it's been quite some time since our last update here about our adoption journey. And a lot has happened, especially in the past 10 months.
Brad got a new passport; his previous one was too full and didn't have any pages left to stamp. His visa (temporary residency permit) expired in June and was renewed in July for 5 more years, which is wonderful.
Our house was reappraised (with a substantial increase in value!). Our health insurance provider has changed. Our criminal background checks expired, so although we haven't committed any new crimes lately, nor plan to in the near future, we do need to update those.
Basically, allllll the documents need to be checked and replaced if applicable. Once we finalize the homestudy update, we can officially apply for USClS (immigration) approval and continue preparing to accept a referral for a sibling set.
Today was a big day...not just because we split it between the US embassy (to renew Joy's passport) and the vet clinic (attempting to start the ball rolling on spaying our veteran breeder 'doodles so they can live out the rest of their "retirement years" like the happy-go-lucky puppies they are in their hearts).
Today was a big day because it marks the end of a 6-month hold that was put on our adoption process. So we have worked hard to be as well positioned as possible now to move forward with next steps!
Hello, giving friends. With the help of some of you who have given online, we have been able to apply $2200 to our next fee that's due soon ($5700). We still need to come up with $3500 in order to move forward with next steps in our adoption process.
We are so grateful to have the homestudy document completed, and have already begun the work of searching out and applying for adoption grants and low-interest adoption loans.
We're happily anticipating that, through these adoption aid resources and through other measures we're taking to recover some of our personal savings that had been earmarked previously for adoption, we will come to rely less and less on our community's generosity!
That being said, please know that we're in NO danger of forgetting our community's generosity!
It's been such a whirlwind lately--we needed to make some adjustments to our documents when Brad's father passed away recently and there've also been some changes made necessary due to the Rus/Ukr war and accommodations we've had to make in our businesses and efforts to help refugees. But slowly and surely, things have been rolling along, and our homestudy document is indeed now finalized and accepted! Now that the homestudy is completed, we are able to begin applying for financial aid and interest-free loans to help cover the next set of fees. Thank you so much to all of you who have helped us to get this far!
