Still Gearing Up!

I am about ready to pull my hair out! Teri and I have been working night and day to get all of the forms signed, questionnaires completed, and appointments scheduled. We spent over an hour on Saturday filling out an online form. When we hit submit somehow everything was deleted. It is very tough not to get frustrated, but we know in the end all of the frustration will be worth it. We are so excited to help make a difference.

We are currently working with my brother to possibly do a website and tee-shirt designs! It is such a blessing to have talented family who can help you be creative. We are trying to creatively raise money and hopefully this will be a good avenue.

Thank you all for your prayers. We will keep you updated as we move further into this process!

Love,

Ryan & Teri

Russia It Is

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