Another Step Closer…

Here it is! The document we have been waiting for (the best one yet…but better ones yet to come!)

Yesterday we received our Approval Notice from the US Citizenship & Immigration Service. Quite simply this means that the US government says we are “Suitable” to adopt a child…and this is what the Latvian government wants to see. Our dossier is already over there…but you know that. The translation should be complete and is simply waiting on this approval document. Within two hours from receiving this in the mail, we had it notarized, apostilled and in an overnight envelope. It was then placed in the hands of our good friend Matt…the best “Brown” driver in America.

Tomorrow our papers will be on a plane to Latvia where they will be delivered to the Latvian adoption attorney on Monday. In a few weeks we should receive an e-mail from the Latvian government  stating that we have been approved to adopt Aleks if we wish to. We will send an approval back immediately and then wait for a follow up communication inviting us to come to Latvia to meet Aleks in person. At that time we will travel to Latvia and present our petition for adoption to the Latvian court and spend the next two weeks getting to know Aleks.

Exciting…YES! A little scary…yes, some of that too. It is all moving so much quicker that we could have ever dreamed of…but yet, God knew this all along, and had it planned. (Yes, we actually do believe that) We still have some obstacles ahead of us, but nothing compared to how far we have come in the last three months! We still need to prepare Aleks room with furniture, clothes and boy stuff. Yes, we also need to paint that room because neither he, nor I would feel comfortable with the pink walls that are in his room. We also have a large financial piece of the adoption ahead. We still have about 2/3 yet to raise.

Here are some specific prayer requests we ask you to pray with us about:
~ That God would continue to prepare our hearts for Aleks.
~ That God would prepare Aleks' heart for the changes ahead. That he would learn to trust us and accept that our love is unconditional.
~ For the rest of the finances needed for the adoption.
~ For the finances to finish getting the things we need to prepare our home for Aleks.

Once again words cannot express our appreciation for your continued support and prayers. For those of you who have given financially, again, Thank You!
If you would like to know more about our journey or to help us financially, please visit our blogs.

Thank you from our entire family!
Kevin, Cindy, Kristen, Rachel...and Aleks!