Our Dossier is on its waaaaaaaay!!!

Our Dossier was actually "suppose" to go out yesterday but 3 documents from our social worker did not pass inspection at the Secretary of State's apostille department. It was actually an error on the notary public part. So our social worker had them redone and had them overnighted via FedEx straight to the state capitol. Today was full of lots of downs in the adoption world of "ups and downs". I'm told it is so normal for things to not always go smoothly. For the first time I had a strong thought of quitting but it didn't last long as I know there is a little innocent boy who is waiting for us to come bring him home. I knew it would all pass because God is on our side even if there are more bumps in the road...down the road. It's those "bumps" that make us who we are if we are open to "listening" to what we are trying to be taught. Most times I find the lesson to be how to persevere...to keep trusting...to keep your faith...or even better yet...strengthen your faith. It's OK to feel weak and fall at times but don't remain down in the "ditch" too long...get back up on that "road" and keep moving on.

My experience today and the thoughts going through my head reminded me so much of how my pregnancy with Joey went. All the trips to the capitol...all the home study meetings...the Fargo trip for fingerprints...all the trips to the notary...are so much like all the doctor appointments with a typical pregnancy. But I had to make extra trips to the capitol and extra trips to the notary as I had to make extra trips to the doctor when I was pregnant with Joey. Things weren't going smoothly with all the tests for him and things weren't going smoothly with the "pregnancy" for Isaiah. But just like I couldn't give up on Joey I can't and won't give up on Isaiah. No one said adoption was easy...at least I haven't heard of a story where it went smoothly from start to finish.

Here are some of our "doctor appointments".

Our fingerprint appointment forms we needed to take to Fargo for the USCIS office. Darrell, Steph, and Josh (because he is 18 yrs. old).


After all 30 of our fingerprints were cleared by the FBI we received this...the I-171H which is the approval by USCIS for us to proceed with our adoption. When we sent in our application (I-600A) to the USCIS we were requesting to adopt ONE child and the home study that accompanied the application also stated ONE child. MUCH to our surprise and to those in the "adoption world" we were approved for TWO. Not sure what God has planned for us in the future but it is kind of exciting.

These are from the 6 visits to the Secretary of State's office at the capitol.

The MUCH awaited visit to this place finally happened today.

Here it is...the whole 1st and 2nd trimester for Isaiah...preparing and finishing the Dossier...all 37 documents...notarized...and apostilled.

37 documents minus these 2 because these travel with us to Ukraine...

...equals this stack...

...weighing in at 1.10 pounds...

...for a total of $159.59 to travel and make it to Kyiv, Ukraine in 2 days.


The status on the Traveling Dossier...

Billing Information Received 05-05-2010 6:26pm US
Origin Scan 05-05-2010 6:39pm
Departure Scan 05-05-2010 7:24pm Bismarck, ND, US
Arrival Scan 05-05-2010 8:10pm
Departure Scan 05-05-2010 9:44pm Sioux Falls, SD, US

It won't be long now Isaiah...but until then...our daily thoughts and prayers go out to you for your safety and good health to continue.

(((hugs))) and ***kisses***

Dad, Mom, Josh, Ryan, Austin, Noah & Joey
ps...Oy, Oy, what are you going to do with all those brothers??

Fundraiser.

Scroll down to see details for the prize giveaway. Less than one month to go.

Fingerprints....DONE!

It has been a loooooong month of waiting. We got our final copies of our homestudy in the mail on March 22nd. We mailed the I600A (Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition) to USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) on March 23rd. The application was for Darrell, myself, and Josh. Anyone 18 and older living in the household needs to be FBI fingerprinted. A week later we got a letter stating the application was received and forwarded for further processing...which would be in St. Paul, MN. A few days after that we got our fingerprint appointments...but not all of us...Josh's was missing. So I spent lots of time on the phone trying to get to the right person. I was given an email address...wrong one. I was given another email address...PERFECT. The gal I was in contact with was soooo very helpful. The reason Josh did not have an appointment was b/c in the homestudy it stated he is a college student. I explained how he comes home some weekends and will be living here for the summer. This gal got him an appointment but it was for a week after ours. That seemed like forever. She suggested we take Josh with to our appointment and explain what happened and ask if they would do him also. THEY DID! Thank You God!!! Getting up at 3am to make it in PLENTY of time for our 8am appointment in Fargo was so worth it. Oh, and satan was really trying to cause trouble like he always tries to do when something good is happening. He would love more than anything for Isaiah to remain an orphan but he lost...again. All the "little" things he tried throwing our way were thrown right back at him. When we got home I sent an email to the gal who was helping me earlier and told her Josh was able to get fingerprinted and I told her my concern about our file getting "lost" on someone's desk. She reassured me that SHE has our file and she had been checking the system for our prints to come through. So I pray this part of the process goes fast as that means there still is a chance we can travel mid to late June.

There is only ONE more little document we are waiting for...the I-171H which is the USCIS' approval for us to proceed with our international adoption. Now it is time to "hurry up and wait" again.

Fundraiser.

Scroll down to see fundraiser prizes.

Happy 2nd Birthday Isaiah!!

I love birthday celebrations of little ones. Don't get me wrong though...I think ALL birthday's are great. I have no problem getting older and never try to "lie" about my age...haha...as I am so thankful to have been blessed with another year. Life is a gift...it is sure better than the "alternative" unless you are ready to "go". Now for the aches/pains that come with aging...hmmm, we'll save that for another day :)

When our kids had their first few birthday's it was always so exciting...even the days shortly before the Big Day. I would ask them over and over again how old they were while putting up 1 finger or 2 fingers...trying to teach them their new age. Or when they were first starting to talk then I would try to get them to say "happy birthday". The decorations, presents, family, fun, food, and of course the cake. For their first birthday we had no rules. They had their big piece of cake or even their own smaller cake (everyone was different) and they could eat it however they wanted. I normally don't care for food messes but this was one time I let it go and let them have their fun. In fact, some of the kids were very picky at first and didn't want to get dirty so we, the parents, helped them dig in causing part of the mess.

I have no idea how birthday's are celebrated in orphanages...if they even are. I would imagine, however, that in the mental institutions they are not celebrated at all. The thought of that breaks my heart. There are most likely many many orphans who have no idea what a birthday even is. I don't know how your kids are but all of my kids when they were between the ages of 5-10 birthday's were so important...not only just theirs but their friends also. We have one child in that age range right now so we are still hearing about all these birthday parties coming up. There have been times I look over my calendar and someone wrote in a friends birthday coming up. How about the "you are not invited to my birthday party anymore"? Months before the child's own birthday if you were not nice to him you were uninvited to his party. Me, the mom, has been uninvited many times between all the kids. When I reminded them of who makes the cake and gets the party organized they would quickly change their minds. Oh...the simple, innocent, fun, little joys in life that so many innocent children have to miss out on.

Well, Isaiah, this will be the last birthday you spend without a family...God willing. Although you turned 2 years old today we will still celebrate with you when you come home...even if it is 3 or 4 months later. How cool would it be IF you were home in time to celebrate with your older brother Joey on July 22nd!?!?

Fundraiser.

We had some awesome prizes donated to help with a fundraiser in hopes of helping with the travel costs of "Bringing Isaiah Home".

Here's the scoop...

Go click on the "ChipIn!" button over to the right of the screen.

Donate $5.00 to be entered ONE time or $10.00 to be entered THREE times into the prize drawing. All donations are tax deductible!!

Put your name in the "instructions box" on the paypal page so I know whose name to enter.

What are the prizes??

iPod Nano with a $25 iTunes Gift Card (value $175)
Uppercase Living Wall Words (value $150)
Mary Kay Skin Care Gift Basket (value $250)
Handmade Quilt (value: someone's precious time)
Creative Memories Gift Basket (value $100)
GPS Navigation System (value $150)
Samsung Digital Camera (value $100)

All names will be entered into one big basket and there will be 7 winners. You can win more than once but your name also has to be entered more than once. The drawing will be held on May 25th at 10:00 AM.

All prizes will be mailed via USPS if you live farther than I can hand deliver.

Thank you for helping to make a difference in one of God's orphaned children. Isaiah is only one of 147 million of them. Thanks also for your support as we continue to go down this "road less traveled".

God Bless and Good Luck.

If you have a prayer to spare...

please send one up for Isaiah. We were informed today that he is in the hospital. Alisha, the angel who's been volunteering at Orphanage #19...Isaiah's, went to visit him today and was told by the nannies that he was in the hospital. All they told her is that he had a cough. She doesn't know how long he has been in there but I do know it was after March 20th because I got a video of him from Alisha on that day. The nannies in Isaiah's group (10 groups in the orphanage) do not like it when she comes so she is not always allowed in.

This past month there have been a few families who lost the child they were going to adopt due to another family adopting them. We were told in the beginning that there is the chance of this happening but the chance is very low. This was one of Darrell's first questions..."What are the chances of someone else adopting him?". So with it happening to 3 families within 2 weeks I could not help but to let some worry set in. I kept reminding myself, however, that IF Isaiah was truly meant to come live with our family...to be a Becker...then God will make it happen.

Yesterday Alisha emailed with an update about the nice weather in Ukraine, how the snowsuits have been switched out for heavy coats and hats, how some of the kids have been enjoying the outdoors, AND that there was a couple there looking to adopt a child from Orphanage #19.

Since this has been a fear of mine the first thing I thought of when I got her email today while I was reading the first words..."I'm sorry, so very sorry to tell you Isaiah..." was that he was being adopted by another family. My heart fell to my toes and I instantly went numb. Then I read..."is in the hospital." Hearing "in the hospital" is better than hearing "is no longer your son".

Alisha said that the hospitals there are not like here in America. There you are admitted for very minor things. She herself was sick a while back and they wanted to admit her and her husband needed stitches and they wanted him to spend the night. So I pray that Isaiah is in there because of a minor cold and that they didn't want him in the orphanage spreading germs.

Now the wait is only going to be harder and seem longer especially since Alisha will be leaving the Ukraine on Tuesday to go to Ethiopia where her and her husbands 2 future sons are living. They just got the referrals a few weeks ago...a 4 month old boy and a 14 month old boy. It will be a few months before they are legally theirs.

I will not be getting anymore updates on Isaiah. I will not know when and if he was discharged and if he has something more serious than a common cold...until Michelle http://allabouttheenskats.blogspot.com/ goes to Ukraine to get her THREE kiddos...all who are in the same orphange as Isaiah. One is currently in the hospital being treated for Leukemia.

I'm not sure what God's plan is for me to get this news right before Alisha is leaving Ukraine. He knows all too well how I tend to worry so maybe it is a test. I will do my best to pass this one as I have failed many in the past and that didn't get me anywhere but ...NO WHERE! I will focus on FROG. Fully Rely On God.