Dossier Submitted

We are so excited to share that we have submitted our Dossier for Russia.

It took about 4 months of work to complete, but now we are waiting for translation and to be added to the list officially in Russia.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers. We are very excited to begin this next phase of the journey.

Russia Bound!

It has been a while since our last blog and a lot has changed in the last few months! God continues to show us how much He is in control and has everything mapped out so perfectly. Ryan and I continue to grow in our love as a couple, which is preparing us for parenthood.

Through prayer and family and friends counsel, we have switched gears and are now working with Russia instead of Lithuania. This was due to realizing with our parameters, the wait time is around 3 years for us in Lithuania and considerably less in Russia. As most of you know, Russia was the original choice for us, so it is interesting and amazing to see how we have been led back to this country.

Over the last year, we have also developed a strong friendship with a couple from our church that have traveled to Russia for 2 of their beautiful children. So we have been blessed with their experience and wisdom which helped us with our total journey. In addition, God has placed so many friends in our life over the last few years that have experiences with their own children that applies to this time in our life. Their transparency and love for us has made an impact on where we are today in our journey. We are amazed by God's grace and love.

In easy terms...the transition to Russia simply means we need to update our Home Study and complete the Dossier for Russia. We are in the process right now and hope to have everything complete by the end of March. After that we will be added to the list in the region we have identified as the best option for our family...it is the Moscow Region. Once we receive a referral for a child, we will travel to Moscow 3 times before bringing our sweet child home to Tennessee.

Ryan and I have also updated our parameters in our Home Study to reflect where God is leading us as parents. This means we will more than likely not bring home a sibling group, but will hopefully go back to Russia for our second child later. This will allow us to focus on their needs and the transition before adding another child to our family.

For now, we are just focused on paperwork and getting everything ready for our Dossier! Please continue to pray for us and for everything to move just as God planned it.

We are so thankful for all of our family and friends that have supported us through prayer, encouragement and financial gifts. We are so blessed and continue to pray for your families as well.

We will send an update once our Dossier is submitted!!

Love,

Teri

On the List!!!!

It is official...we received word from Bethany yesterday and we are officially on the National Registry of Waiting Families in Lithuania!

Now we truly wait for our referral and to be matched to our child or children.

Keep us and our future family in your prayers.

Much love,
Ryan and Teri

Dossier Submitted!!!

This Thursday we submitted our dossier to our adoption agency! It was a very exciting day and a big sigh of relief to turn over the tall stack of paperwork that we have been compiling for 7 months. Ryan and I are so grateful to everyone for their prayers and words of encouragement during this journey. We have been so blessed in the process.

Next steps...the dossier will be translated and sent to Lithuania and the wait begins. :)

Thank you to everyone who purchased a puzzle piece! We had an overwhelming response and reached $5,000! As you know we were trying to raise 25% of the total cost of the adoption and the gifts we received from the puzzle truly contributed to that goal. We will continue to build the puzzle until it is complete or we bring our child or children home!

We will continue to update you on the process.

Much love,

Teri & Ryan

Adoption Help!

Family & Friends the time has come that Teri and I have to raise money for a portion of our adoption. We have been so blessed with the prayer and support from all of you. As many people know adoption can stretch you in many areas. I can say that my patience and faith have been tested since we have begun this journey, and now our finances are being stretched. We had several ideas of how we wanted raise money for our adoption, but nothing seemed personal until last week. Teri and I decided that we would buy a puzzle for our adopted children's room and ask our family and friends to sponsor as many pieces that they would like for $10 a piece. We will write everyones name who donates on the back of each puzzle piece. Upon completion we will put the puzzle together and seal it so it can be hung on their wall. This will be a symbol of your love that will hang in their room. Again, we thank your for your prayer and support. Please visit our link and help us bring our children home. www.fromanfamilypuzzle.com

Love, Ryan & Teri

Teri's first blog

I am officially making my first entry. Ryan has done an amazing job capturing our journey so far, so I thought it would be a great time for me to share my thoughts as well.

I do not even know where to begin. It has been an incredible 2 ½ years from our wedding night thru today. I am astounded every day to see what God has revealed and how much we have grown. My heart is so full of love for my sweet husband. This has been such a wonderful process of growth for both of us…as individuals and a couple.

Ryan has captured where we are in our journey to find our sweet children, so I want to share how our hearts have opened for all orphans around the globe. It is so interesting to look back and see how every step led to the next one and each step led to where we are today.

When we first began the process I was a little confused by all of the classes, tests, and paperwork we had to complete in order to be approved in this process. It felt so time consuming and over the top.

But now we know why it was necessary…

You see…adopting a child from an institution (orphanage) is so very different than anything you could ever imagine. I grew up in a church and have been surrounded by people in missions and charitable roles my entire life, but I have never heard the truth about orphans. We have learned the truth and it has changed our lives.

Because of that we are so grateful that our journey led us to this place.

It is going to be my life’s mission to make an impact in this country through education and speaking to move people into action so we can change lives. Our foster care system in this country is very poor. In addition, there are so many millions of orphans around this world that are waiting for homes.

There is so much we can do…

We can pray.

We can give.

We can serve.

We can adopt.

We can foster.

We can educate.

Our goal is to move people into action and have everyone pick 1 thing they can do to make a change.

When Ryan and I think about the children longing for homes, it hurts our hearts. Ryan and I have been fortunate to learn specifics and we think most people just like us…would be blown away.

Did you know most babies in orphanages drink from bottles where the nipples have been cut off so their formula flows faster? And the average orphanage in Ethiopia has 400 children? And our prison system and homeless population in this country is full of children, men and women that were raised in foster care?

We recently read one story about a baby that was adopted from an orphanage. The mother was concerned because she only played and moved her right arm. The parents and caseworker quickly went back to photos they took from her orphanage to try and understand why this was taking place. The photos revealed the baby’s crib faced the wall and she would lie on the left side of her body so she could play with a toy that was hanging on the wall…she did this all day.

This is just a taste of reality. I think to myself…what if that was me, what if that was my sister or brother or friend?

Ryan and I both realize adoption is not the right fit for everyone. And adoption from an institution can be a long hard road. But there is something for all of us to do and it can be as simple as educating people around us. You never know when a simple conversation can lead someone to give financially to support an orphanage, a child in foster care, a family that would like to adopt but cannot afford it or take there family to an orphanage for a week to love on babies.

Beginning soon, we will provide links to websites to help educate those who would like to learn more. Please pass it on so we can have more awareness and extend love to those who need it the most!

Thank you all for joining us in this beautiful journey!

Children find a home

I wanted to send an update on the children that we had targeted. As you know we moved from Russian adoption to a Lithuanian adoption. We had targeted to beautiful children from Lithuania and had been waiting for word. During this time Teri and I have been praying for God's will. We received word that both Viktoryia and Little E have been placed with other families who were further along in the Lithuanian adoption process. This was very difficult, but we know that God has a plan for us. We are comforted in knowing that these children have found their forever homes. We continue to pray for our children wherever they are right now. We know that we serve a awesome God and he has an amazing plan for us. Thank you to all of our friends and family who continue to support us through this journey!

Love, Ryan & Teri