The Cost

Here is a breakdown of our cost to adopt...

Home Study $ 1,800
Commitment Fee to agency $ 2,000
Agency Placement Fees $ 4,500
Dossier $11,363
In Country Costs $ 1,699
Ground Travel/Medical/Visa $ 980
Post Placement Fees $ 2100
Total Estimate: $24,442
Estimated Airfare: $ 5,000

Friday, January 30, 2015

Traveling!

Today we begin our long travel journey to see Little "V". We won't actually meet her until Feb 1st. We've been waiting a long time (a year exactly) for this. Prayers are appreciated as we travel for both our kids staying here, Brad and I as we travel, and for "V". We don't know if she's been told we are coming but I pray God's been working in her heart to prepare her for this major life disruption. I'll try to keep you posted as we go.

Friday, November 28, 2014

Little V's Birthday and Happy News

Thanksgiving Day fell on Little V's birthday this year. She turned 6 years old! 6 years in an orphanage. Praying that this will be her last birthday and her last Christmas in an orphanage without a family. We're coming little girl.

Exciting news: Today in the mail we received our I800 approval. This means that our lawyer in V's country can contact the US Embassy on our behalf and get approval to then move forward in the courts. We are hoping that next week sometime we will be assigned a judge and court date and we can finally answer the question "when are you going to get her?"! If I had to make a guess at this point I'd guess that travel will likely be in early February but nothing seems to have gone the way I thought it would with this so we're keeping an open mind.

In the next few days/weeks please keep our family in your prayers. The holidays are just around the corner and with it comes a lot of activities. We also have a few major adoption related bills upcoming (our last agency payment and then our travel expenses). As always please keep our health and Little V's health lifted up. God is amazing and he's got this. :)

Friday, October 31, 2014

And she has a name....


So we just filled out the paperwork to officially name our newest addition. She will be named Vanessa Ruth Willock. If you put the meanings of the words together it actually means "Beautiful Butterfly". We will be filing our I800 paperwork either today or tomorrow (as soon as I get it approved from our agency) and then we wait again for more paperwork from the US government. I have found that adopting is an act of patience. There is a lot of hurry up and wait. We were sent some photos of our girl this week. Here she is in therapy playing with the OT equipment. From all the reports we've read she is being well cared for and she getting the therapy she needs. We've been told she is a girly girl who loves the colors purple and pink and loves having her hair done. Elizabeth will love having her here.

Thursday, October 2, 2014

A Visit to our girl

We just got word that our social worker in little "V's" country has an appointment to meet her Monday morning. We are very excited to be able to get more information about her, both personally and medically. We are also hoping that we will get more pictures and maybe even a video. This is really the first time in this whole process that we've been able to ask questions and hopefully get answers about her before we go meet her in person to bring her home. Please pray for us during this process. We also have a few applications in for some grant money to help offset the enormous cost of all of this, please continue to pray for God's provision for us. And as always if you'd like to give please visit this website or if you just want to see her cute little face. http://reecesrainbow.org/?s=willock 

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Matched!

The news we've been waiting for. We are officially matched with our little girl. This means that the Central Authority in her country will no longer take other families into consideration for her, she's ours. In the next few weeks we should be receiving more information about her, her medical needs and hopefully a new picture. This is a huge step forward in the adoption process. Once we receive her proposal from the CA we can file yet some more paperwork here and then get a court date and go see her. We are still cautiously optimistic that it will be in November in time for her birthday (Thanksgiving) but we'll see, its in God's hands. To my prayer warriors, thank you for praying for this match, next we are praying for a grant that we've applied for, this will go a long way in helping to cover some of the costs. We are also praying for a quick turn around on the CA's proposal, it could take weeks (and weeks) but we're praying God will open doors and it'll be sooner. Please continue to pray for our family as we prepare to bring this little treasure home and pray for little "V" during this time to prepare her heart to accept this big crazy family as her own. Thanks for all who are praying for us! As always if any of you feel led to donate to help us cover costs please visit "V"'s Reeces' Rainbow page, she's listed as Temperance (obviously not her real name) and there is a paypal link there where you can give tax free. http://reecesrainbow.org/?s=willock

Monday, August 4, 2014

USCIS Approved!!!

Big news today. We received our USCIS approval today! That basically means the US government is ok with us adopting internationally. Tons of paperwork went into getting this approval. This is the last piece of our dossier to be sent to Lil' V's country. Once their central authority gets our dossier they can review it and hopefully match us to her. We are one BIG step closer today. Still no real great estimate on a timeline but we are hoping to be there by her birthday in November. Please keep praying for us, for her and that the process goes smoothly.

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Finger Printed!

So good news! Our Dossier is nearly complete, the only thing it is lacking is our USCIS approval. We just got finger printed for that yesterday. Fingers crossed we'll get the approval in 3-4 weeks and then our dossier can be officially submitted to the Central Authority of Lithuania. Things here a are chugging along in the looooong adoption process. We are still hoping to see our daughter by her birthday in November.