Why two trips

I've had a few people ask me recently why we have to make two separate trips, so I'm going to give the most basic explanation I can (to the best of my understanding):

The first trip we will go, have an appointment in the capitol city, and officially "choose" our son (even though we technically already have) from their government paperwork. Then we will travel to his region and visit with him for about two weeks. Then we have court again (along with a lot of paperwork mixed into all of this)... then there are about two weeks of court appeals when we have chosen to come home (because that's a LONG time away from our little ones). :) Once that period is over, Jake will go back with a friend (I will stay here with the girls) and Pavel should basically be ours once he gets there. Then he waits a week or two for paperwork and passports to clear, then they can come home!!! So from the time that we leave for the first trip, we're looking at a 7 week (or so) process.

This is the way its done in a lot of countries in that area, from what I understand. Again, a lot of that could vary, and this is all what I have picked up from my dear RR friends who have gone before me. :) (Anyone please feel free to set me straight on anything I may have gotten wrong!)

But I hope that helps our friends and family to understand a bit better how this process will work. I can't say enough how much we appreciate all of your prayers... I hope to update in the next few days with our first travel date! Whoo hoo!!

Parent's Night Out Pictures

As promised! (Thx Brian for the pics!)

Thanks to my RR yahoo group for the craft idea's... we ended up doing a picture of Pavel with a foamy frame that said "Pray for Pavel" (except I think one little girl put, "YOU ARE SO COOL" instead, which hey, thats great too!) and there is a magnet on the back so they can put them on the fridge and remember to pray for our little boy! They all seemed to have fun with it... I think even a couple of our helpers made one to keep! ;)

Approved!!

I just got an update that our Dossier has been APPROVED and now we are waiting on a travel date! YAYYYYY!!!!! *Doing a happy dance!!!!*

Ok I have two very specific prayer requests:

1.) Pray that God would orchestrate our travel date and that it would be no sooner or no later than HE wants it to be. That it would be in His perfect timing.

2.) Pray that He would perform a miracle and we would have the rest of the funds we need. I know it is a large chunk of money that we have left to raise but Jake and I are TRUSTING that God will bring it in. Again in His perfect timing.

Hopefully I can post again soon with our appointment date!!!!

Dossier Submitted!

I just got an email from my facilitator that our Dossier was submitted today, WHOO HOO!!! I'm so excited I don't even know what to do with myself!

And we've officially been moved to the "traveling soon" status on RR! So funny and I don't know why but that makes it feel more official. Its really happening! In just a few short months we will be in the "Already HOME!"

I gotta go clean something!!!

A fun night

Just wanted to report that we had a GREAT night last night! We had 17 kiddo's dropped off and we had SO much fun with them! I was very impressed with how good all of the kids were and our awesome friends and family were such a huge help... playing with kids, baking cookies and rocking babies...

We did get a few pictures (thanks to our friends the Baileys :)) that I will try to post soon.

And we raised a total of $440 to bring Pavel home, yay!!!

Thanks again to everyone who helped and to everyone who brought their children out and donated. We are so thankful to all of you!!!

A little hitch *update*

My little document arrived safe and sound in eastern Europe today, thanks to those who helped me pray it along! My facilitator was somewhat surprised that 3 days after emailing me with an issue, it was resolved and in her hands. :) She doesn't know who she's dealing with!! *insert evil laugh* ;)

So it looks like we should still be able to have our paperwork submitted to the government on Monday! Whoo hoo! And after that... you guess it, we wait. But what are we waiting for, you ask? A TRAVEL DATE! Aaahh!!!

Ok seriously, I'm in a goofy mood right now, but just typing the words 'travel date' brought physical tears to my eyes! Oh my goodness!!!

What a very surreal journey this is. My brain can't even compute that it is almost to the point of us GOING there and SEEING him. (Ok again with the tears!)

I need to go get some rest for our big fundraiser tomorrow night. I will update soon to let you know how that goes! Pray that families are mysteriously drawn from all over and we raise hundreds of dollars! We need it!!!

And the winner is....

The Prize...

The jar of entries...


The drawing...

And the winner IS....

********Katrina from Tennessee!!!!********

Congratulations Katrina!!! Yay!!!!

Thank you SOO much to everyone who entered. We had entries from as far away as Washington State and Florida!! And you all helped us raise another $115 for our adoption! Every DOLLAR helps to bring home our little boy.

And I'd like to thank my special assitant's Ashley and Emily for helping with the drawing today. :) I wish I had a webcam to do it live... or even a camera (both much needed before we leave to get Pavel!!) but I figured the camera on my phone was better than nothing... sorry for the blurry pics! :)

Give Away Reminder

Just a reminder that today is the last day to enter for the Honeybaked Ham Co. Gift Certificate Give Away!! Only three people have entered, so get your entry in today!!! Every $5 you donate through the Chip-in link on the right puts another ticket in the hat with your name on it!!!

For more info click here, or if you have any questions at all feel free to email me at spencerchics@yahoo.com.

Please help us raise the money we need to bring home our little boy!!!

A little hitch

Found out this morning that I need to resend another document to eastern Europe... shouldn't be a big deal, I think I can get it, apostille it, and mail it today... but please pray that there are no hang ups and it can get out of the US today. If I mail it today and it gets there by thursday, it should be fine and everything will still be submitted the 27th. I'll letcha know! :)

Parent's Night Out

Ok, so, I was really hoping to get way more registrations for our Parent's Night Out fundraiser THIS Friday night (for more info click here) today at church, but we only had a couple of sign-ups.

SO THERE IS STILL LOTS MORE ROOM TO SIGN UP YOUR KIDDOS AND HELP US BRING PAVEL HOME!!!

Please email me at spencerchics@yahoo.com so that I can know how much pizza to get. We have LOTS of friends and family volunteering to help us babysit, and just a few kids signed up, so there is plenty of room for you!!! Don't miss this great chance to have a night out while your child(ren) enjoy games and crafts... and DINNER FOR THEM IS INCLUDED! If you'd like to sign your kids up or have any questions at all, email me today!! ;)

And tell your friends!!!!!!!

YARDSALE UPDATE

PRAISE THE LORD!!!

The Harpers had their yardsale yesterday and raised $1686.70 to BRING PAVEL HOME!!!

'Thank you' doesn't even cover how amazed, humbled, grateful, and blessed we are to have friends like you. I can't wait to see our families together when we bring our SON home. :) Sid, Wendy, Lacey, Sydnie, Baylie, Jojo, Tate, Emmy, and Kenlie... and the rest of the Harper clan... we are blessed to call you friends. And the next question is... how are we going to get together you so you can meet him in a few months?! :D

Reminder for those in Texas

Just a reminder for anyone in the Midland/Odessa/Lubbock area that our friend's, the Harpers, are having an adoption fundraiser yardsale THIS saturday, the 18th... so if you are in the area, head on over! This yardsale is for OUR PAVEL! What a BLESSING.

For more info, you can go to their blog by clicking here. For directions, I'm sure you could post a comment to them with your email address and they will get back with you. Wish we could be there ourselves!!!

Update

Our dossier successfully arrived at its destination! And our facilitator said that everything looks good and it will be submitted April 27th! Exciting. :)

Not sure yet where that puts us for a travel date, but should definitely give us a little more time for fundraising... which is a good thing!

Thanks to everyone for your prayers. Please continue to pray for God's perfect timing, that the funds would be there when we need it, and that I would have the strength to continue to get our house in order.

Much love!

Wow...

... that little package is moving FAST! Its already in France!! Go little Dossier, Go!!

Personal Matters

Ok this is your disclaimer: This is me pouring my heart out. When I write on my blogs, I don't see it as pouring my heart out to the world, its more like journaling. I remember reading adoption blogs long before we ever committed to adopting (or even considered it!) and remember how cool it was to see the vulnerability and the 'realness' in peoples lives and to understand what its really like adopting. Now going through this myself, yes, I'm using this as a resource for fundraising and raising Ds awareness, but there's so much more than that to me. This is an outlet for me to write. To bring some perspective myself, to look back at how far God has brought us (I encourage you to look back over older posts as well), and to bring encouragement and maybe even understanding to those reading. This is our journey. I'm honored that you are reading along.

There are moments (and they grow more and more in frequency and strength) when almost hurts to look at Pavel's picture. I feel that I have walked down a road with him and he doesn't even know it. I first met him on RR sometime last fall... his picture along side his buddy Oleg. I thought he was cute (and Oleg too) and felt compelled to pray for them, nothing more. So I prayed. And prayed. And put them on the wallpaper of my computer. :) I felt this draw but honestly tried to ignore it. Then it became almost a game. I teased that I wanted to adopt them to my husband. I would send him pictures and scriptures. Somehow in my subconscious, if I made light of it, then that's all it would be. Amy being goofy about these two boys. Then in November, my world fell apart. I very clearly heard from the Lord that WE were supposed to adopt them. Which kind of excited me but kind of horrified me at the same time.

Then when we found out that Oleg was transferred, I was so confused. And so heartbroken. Part of me wanted to scrap the whole thing and hide. The other part of me wanted to fight for Pavel with a vengeance! He still needed us! I was more determined than ever!

When my friend was getting her child from the same orphanage last month, and was able to get a picture and video, it took things to a whole new level of difficult. He was real. And waiting there completely unaware of his future... either being transferred to a mental institution which is worse than any nightmare or... a family in America. A mommy and daddy. He doesn't even know what that is. He only knows the world he's lived in for the last 3 years.

Every day my mind pictures him with us. When we go to church. When we get up in the morning. Bathtime. Taking Abby to therapy. I imagine doing his laundry. Brushing his hair. I feel like he's here now. We're so ready for him. The girls ask me all the time... "When is Paaaah-bel coming?" (You know in that same tone as "Are we theeeeere yet?" :) They too are tired of hearing about it and just want to see him. They want to play with him. They ask to see his picture periodically. And they grin. When I see it I cry. I feel physical pressure in my chest because I want to be done. I want to hold him and kiss him. How can you look at a picture and feel such a STRONG motherly love for a child you've never met?

Right now it looks like we will travel mid-late May. But God is good and has given me lots of distractions for now. I'm trying to balance anticipation for him with understanding that it will still be a while. But I'm afraid that it will only get harder as we get closer. In the last month of each of my pregnancies, I didn't know how my stomach could possibly get any bigger without popping! That's how my heart feels.

Dossier is outta here!!

Our dossier has officially been mailed and is on its way to eastern Europe! I can't believe its actually GONE and out of my hands!

It was a CRAZY day... hit a few 'bumps' that I didn't expect, but 7 hours, 90 miles and $240 later, my dossier is gone!! This is a day I will never forget. :)

Please join us in praying this thing across the Atlantic! I'll keep you updated!

Its here!

My homestudy documents are HERE!!! They came in Thursday very unexpectedly and they have already been looked over, they are GOOD, and I'm taking it all to Nashville to be apostilled Monday morning!!! Aaahh!!!

Please be in prayer now that the apostilling process all goes well... if it does (and since we've already had our USCIS approval form for what feels like forever) we can mail everything to eastern Europe that same day!!

I will update soon!!!

Honeybaked Ham Certificate Give Away!

***This Give Away is over***
Its time for the next give away! And this time it is a Gift Certificate to

The Honeybaked Ham Company!




This will work exactly the same as last time. But I'm changing the amount to $5. For every $5 donated to our adoption through the Chip-in link to the right, your name will be put in a hat for a drawing on the 22nd. The more you enter, the better your odds!! ;) And EVERY DOLLAR counts towards bringing Pavel home. We are in the final stretch of paperwork here and need to raise some money!!!! (You can check out the "goals" section on the sidebar to see our progress.)

This gift certificate is for "One 7lb. Honeybaked Ham", an estimated value of $49.95. It has no expiration date (I called the company to confirm that) and is redeemable at any of their over 400 locations nationwide! For a complete list of locations, click here. The gift certificate is in their Honeybaked Ham Co. gift envelope.

If you've never had a Honeybaked Ham, you're in for a real treat! They are amazing. And the winner will receive their certificate in plenty of time to order before Mothers Day!! You pick it up completely ready to go from their store and no one has to lift a finger on Mothers Day! In their own words "Each HoneyBaked Ham is hand-selected for leanness, smoked up to 24 hours, then spiral-sliced to the bone so each tender, juicy slice is easy to serve." Yum. To go to the Honeybaked Ham Co. website, click on one of the above pictures.

If you have any questions, please feel free to comment or you can email me at spencerchics@yahoo.com

Parent's Night Out Fundraiser!!

*I heard that there was a little bit of confusion when people read the flyer from church... WE ARE ACCEPTING KIDS OF ALL AGES, NOT JUST 2 AND UP!!! We have lots of friends and family coming to help us babysit, so there will be 'teachers' in every first chapel room. I'm putting Pavel's new Grandma's on baby duty. ;) And some of our youth workers will be there to hang out with the older kids!*

For those in the Middle Tennessee Area:

Spencer Family Adoption Fundraiser:

Parent's Night Out

Friday Night, April 24th

5:30pm-10:30pm

Grace Chapel, Leipers Fork, TN

(First Chapel and Jr High rooms)

$25 per child

First sibling $15

$10 for additional siblings after that

Your child(ren) will enjoy games, dinner, craft, movie and more while YOU enjoy a night out!!!

****Pizza and drinks included!!!!!!!****

To sign up please contact Amy at

spencerchics@yahoo.com

Drop in's are ABSOLUTELY welcome, but if you can, please let us know ahead of time so we know how much pizza to order.

And the winner is......

The winner of the first Spencer Adoption Give Away is....



****STEPHANIE from Kansas!!!****



Thanks to everyone who participated! We were able to raise an even $200 to bring Pavel home! Watch for the next give away, I will announce it either today or tomorrow. Congratulations Stephanie, I will put your $100 Kroger gift card in the mail today!

$100 Kroger card give away!

**This give away is over**
You could get $100 Kroger gift card!!

We're doing our first give away!!! For every $10 donated to our adoption, your name will be entered into a hat for this gift card! I know a lot of grocery coupon fanatics out there... c'mon girls, this is a great deal!!

Our paperwork is really moving along and we are so close to being ready to travel, but we have a LONG way to go to bring our boy home, your every dollar counts! We need YOU! And who couldn't use a grocery store gift card?!

Please use the Chipin widget on the sidebar to enter. THANK YOU!!

This card has a $100 value that is redeemable at the following: Kroger, Kroger Marketplace, Barclay Jewelers, Baker's, City Market, Dillons, Food 4 Less*, FoodsCo, Fred Meyer, Fred Meyer Jewelers, Fry's Food and Drug, Fry's Marketplace, Gerbes, Hilander, Jacy-C, King Soopers, Littman Jewelers, Owen's, Pay-Less Supermarkets, QFC, Ralphs, Scott's Food & Pharmacy, Smith's Food and Drug, Smith's Marketplace, Turkey Hill Minit Markets, Kwik Shop, Loaf 'n Jug, Quik Stop, and Tomb Thumb. *Good at Food 4 Less in So. CA, NV, IN and IL only

Last day of the give-away!

Just a reminder that today is the LAST day to "enter" for the give-away! If you've wanted to have a shot at it, but were waiting for the last minute, THIS IS IT! I'm going to draw a name in the morning! And thanks to everyone who has donated toward this gift card so far! Good luck!

Timing

I feel a strange mix of emotions today.

On one hand, I really couldn't be more frustrated about our homestudy paperwork. Our Dossier is done. DONE. (Even the medicals... some of you KNOW what a miracle that is!) And its ready to go. Ready to be appostilled in Nashville and sent on its merry way. And I've even emailed our facilitator in Ukraine the homestudy copy that I do have so that she can begin translation, which is cool. But ugh. If it weren't for this homestudy, EVERYthing would be on its way.

AND I'm frustrated about our lack of funds. Lets just be honest here. :) I wish that I had the faith that my husband does; he's not worried about it AT all. But when I think about how much money we have to raise in a pretty short period of time... and how slowly its coming in... I seriously get kinda dizzy. But I'm trying to trust. A friend and I were saying the other day, adoption is the best cure for a control freak. :)

But on the other hand, I feel a stange peace. That peace that can ONLY come from God. :) I've been cleaning my house today and go back and forth between really frustrated and then really peaceful. I think its because there is physically nothing I can do right now. I can't make those papers come any faster. I can't make money appear. And stressing about it isn't going to do anybody any good. I JUST have to trust that they will both come. In His timing. I think it's more like: JESUS is the best cure for a control freak.

Please pray for me. :)