We received confirmation from Open Arms Adoption that we have been approved for their services. Open Arms Adoption is a ministry from a church in Columbia, South Carolina. They accept donations on behalf of adoptive parents to help them fund the adoption expenses. This is a service that gives tax deductions for people who donate to help fund adoptions. When a donation is submitted, 100% of the donation directly contributes to our adoption fund. If you are interested in helping fund our adoption and help us bring our daughter home you can send a check made payable to Christian Life and write Open Arms-Tygart Family in the memo line to the following address.
Christian Life
1722 Denny Rd.
Columbia, SC 29203
Sad to say, but we still have not sent our application to our translator. Fortunately, we did get the approval from immigration services. As we were doing a final check of documents and getting them ready to scan in and send to our translator, Vernon noticed that the addendum to our home study was signed and notarized the day after their license expired. We asked if they could just back date the letter by a day or so. They said they could not. Even though we had been discussing it for weeks, I did not know that I was supposed to officially request an addendum in writing. I sent the official request in writing on the first of February, so that is the earliest date they can put on the addendum. You guessed it, their license expired the 31st of January. So, we have been waiting for the agency's license renewal for two weeks. Vernon got the call this morning that the license has finally been signed. Now the agency has to update the addendum and call us so we can go pick it up with a notarized copy of the agency's license. We should be able to get the apostille very quickly after we pick up the addendum and license. When we have that we can send our application to our translator. I am hopeful, once again, that we can do that within the next few days.
We had originally hoped to have our application done and in the hands of our translator when the agency in Ukraine opened for business on February 1. We are now not going to have in our translator's hands by the first of March. We had hoped to be traveling by mid-March, but it is now looking more likely going to be mid-April.
It seems that we go from a mountain top of excitement with another completed document to a valley of oh-no, I can't believe we have another glitch. This roller coaster ride is dizzying. I keep telling myself, and my friends keep telling me, it will all happen in God's perfect timing. We know this with 100% certainty. When we were preparing to adopt our son we had delay after delay. We were denied adoption by the Ukraine agency because of a couple of glitches in our paperwork. Then Ukraine quit allowing international adoptions. We questioned if we had misunderstood God's calling. Door after door seemed to be closing in our face. We still knew that our call was certain, but the obstacles seemed insurmountable. We rode the roller coaster of mountain top to valley many times. We waited a while to see if we could confirm deep in our hearts that we were absolutely, beyond any doubt hearing from God. We were still certain. I went to Ukraine with my daughter and a friend in 2008. We went to the orphanage where Josh was at with a missionary friend that we were staying at her house. The director allowed her to take our son Josh, my friend's future son Grisha, and two other boys to her house for the weekend so we could spend some time with them. It was amazing to meet the boy I knew God was calling me to adopt and raise as my son. So, as you can imagine, I talked with Vernon when I got home and we prayed even more to confirm God's calling. We decided to start the paperwork a second time, following what we knew was God's calling. We completed the document trail and went to Ukraine to adopt Josh. We had several mountain top moments and several valley moments, but we made it through. It wasn't until after the adoption was complete and Josh had been home that we realized the role that each delay had played in the completion of God's plan. Josh told us that, if we had completed the adoption paperwork the first time he would not have agreed to come home with us. Josh was still young enough at that time to have been too afraid to come. He would have been too young to have proven to his family that adoption was what he wanted. We had discussed the possibility of him not agreeing to be adopted and had decided that we would choose another child in that situation. But, we would not have Josh with us. I can't imagine life without Josh. He is my son in every way. I don't want to imagine life without him.
Now, here we are again riding the roller coaster of adoption. Mountain top to valley. With each turn of events we may be dancing with joy or fighting off frustration and disappointment. But each turn of events just confirms even more how much we need God's mighty hand directing our paths. Whether it is a mountain top kind of day or a valley kind of day. It will all fall into place in just the right spot on God's timeline. One day we will be able to see how it all fits and can praise God specifically for each delay and each victory as they helped bring God's plan to fruition in our lives.
Have a great week. I will post again when we get our last documents pulled together and have sent the application to Ukraine. Thank you so much for the encouragement in this process. Friends and family are true blessings.
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