Family & Friends,
First of all thank you for your prayers and support. We know that without your encouragement and love none of this would be possible. We had our second official meeting today with Bethany Christian Services. We met with our case worker (who is awesome) to lay down the road ahead of us. When I say road I should I actually say I-10 during Houston rush hour is ahead of us. We still have allot of paperwork, physicals, mental evaluations, home study courses, online training, classroom training & at least two trips to Russia before we receive our waiting children. By the way did I mention we are learning Russian as well? We are very excited about learning a second language as this has been a goal since we have been married. I(Ryan) have already begun to do some research online about the language and we have some work ahead of us!
Teri and I have prayed about what God wants in our lives. We believe that God has called us to adopt a sibling group with ages ranging from 0-6yrs of age and no more than 3 children. We have been told that with the parameters that we have requested we are looking at 9-12 months before placement. Let me say that the first thought of 3 children straight out of the gate about made me fall out of my chair! With that being said we did have one request and that was that we would like at least 1 girl and 1 boy in the mix.
Obviously the big question on my mind and I am sure everyone else's mind is cost. Our case worker was great and reassured us that God always provides, but again it is much easier said than done. We have already begun to brainstorm on how to raise this money. If anyone has any good ideas we are open so please feel free to send them to us. We are excited about our trips to Russia and want to say anyone that would like to join us is more than welcome! We will probably have to break some of the trips in half as Teri will be there for a portion and I will be there for a portion. As soon as we have dates we will let everyone know.
Again, thank you all so much for your prayers and support. Please keep us in your prayers as we move through this amazing journey. We ask that you specifically begin to pray for the children that God has for us as we are doing the same. Please keep checking back as we will update our journey every time we learn something new!
Love,
Ryan & Teri
What an amazing journey you guys are embarking on!! We are so amp'd about being Aunt and Uncle to these beautiful children, and are praying for them, and for you all.
ReplyDeleteKyle, Michelle and Micah
Soo excited for you guys. Marty and I will pray for Gods divine protection over the whole process and for the special provisions you guys need. You will be great parents! Please keep us in the loop. Blessings,
ReplyDeleteMarty, Sheri, Bishop, Seth and Ryken
This is super exciting! Please keep us updated on everything...I'll be thinking about you!!
ReplyDeleteHow exciting! Thank you for letting me know about your blog. I'll definitely "stay tuned" and keep you guys in my prayers.
ReplyDeleteGood luck on your journey;-). My husband and I are adopting from Vladivostok, Russia and we are waiting on a referral for either gender. This would be our first child for both of us. It has been over 4 months since we send the dossier so now we are just waiting which we find both very hard. Good luck to both of you and I will definitely follow your blog on this journey.
ReplyDelete-Maggie
Good luck and God bless! Have you thought of having a yard sale to raise money? A friend of mine did that for her IVF treatment, and she had a bunch of friends donate items. She was able to make some money to cover some of her costs and clean out her house to welcome her babies. Just an idea. Can't wait to follow your journey.
ReplyDeleteHI!! Found this link on fb. How fun to follow the journey of a fellow adoptive family!! We adopted two children from Vlad..unrelated..in June 2008. God blessed us with a boy and a girl. What a blessing they have been to us! We are currently in the process to head back to Russia again...about the same stage that you are in right now. Can't wait to see where God sends you. His blessings on your journey~
ReplyDeleteJody