Fingerprint Appointment!!!

Yesterday we got our USCIS fingerprint appointments in the mail!  Unfortunately, the actual appointments are not for another 3 weeks, BUT at least I know that our I-600A is being processed and we are taking steps.

(And yes, we did already get fingerprinted and had an FBI background check...this is different.  How?  I am not sure.  One would think that since they are both governmental agencies, we could somehow merge this process...)

I called around a lot and got basically shut down at every place I tried in order to get our I-600A expedited.  Without an official decree from Danil's government about a delay because of the transition, we don't yet have grounds for it.  I still have some irons in the fire, so I am not giving up, but it is frustrating that without an expedite, we are looking at mid-July to get this LAST step done before we send everything overseas.

Another Danil Video!!

Danil shows us how old he is now :)

AND shows superior nose-beeping skills.

Photo and a Video :)

Coming to you live from an unnamed orphanage!!  (Thank you, Amy!)

For some reason, blogger isn't letting me embed the video, so click here to view it on youtube.

Note:
*it is his birthday in this video.
*he likes music and dancing (hope he likes to listen to songs over and over like Chase does!)
*he likes to throw shoes (funny, I was just talking about Chase's penchant for throwing shoes last night...)
*he is not opposed to funny hats (my favorite part about winter).

Happy Birthday, Danil!!

Today you turn FOUR!!  Such a big boy.  It hurts that we didn't get to spend today and every birthday before this with you, but the comfort remains in the belief that we will spend your next birthday with you...at HOME.

We have two presents for you so far today:
1) A confirmation from the Dept of Immigration that your I-600A is being processed (!!!)

and

2) The knowledge that there are two very amazing families ( the Schwenzer family and the Hinz family) visiting your orphanage right now...and they know to watch for you and wish you a very happy birthday.

Happy, happy birthday, sweet boy.  You already have wishes coming true!!!!

Jumping Through The Screen

Thanks to an anonymous comment on my last post, we have some updated information and pictures of our Danil!!  Check him out here!

This family is here visiting their sweet babes- Dusty and Sonya- and will be able to bring them home soon.  I want so much to just jump right through her blog into their "playdate" and scoop Danil up in my arms.  I want to tell his grandparents all about his brothers and his room and his school and all the people who cannot wait to meet him.  I want to reassure them that he is LOVED already, and has SUCH a life ahead of him.

Oh, USCIS paperwork!!  Please be processed and sent back QUICKLY!!

Honey Provisions

Remember the Honey Futures that we auctioned off earlier?  Yeah, well, our bees died.  We lost all five hives to some sort of pest/disease/collapse?  We don't know.  We were really bummed out because of it, but decided that we would just buy some new bees this spring and start over again.


It's SO not convenient, though, as it is more money that we have to put out, PLUS they would have to work up to becoming strong hives again and we may not get good honey production from them if they don't have enough time to build themselves up before harvest- at least not as good a turnout as it would have been from hives that were already well established.  Not to mention that two of our friends have already paid us crazy amounts of money for quarts of the liquid gold...AND we are almost out of our own supply of honey from last harvest.


THEN Bryan couldn't find bees to purchase from anywhere- it's apparently been a bad year for bees everywhere.


But "we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28) right?  Yeah we do, baby.  Because a few days ago, a neighbor (Hi Fortuna!) tracked Bryan down because she had a swarm of bees in her backyard!!!


Bryan went over and boxed them up, and then left the box there until nightfall, when he would go back and get them and bring them back to our yard.


Bad news:  Unfortunately, when he went back to get them later that night, they were gone.


Good news:  They had moved themselves into one of the empty boxes that was already in our backyard.


I love that we continue to have reminders like this to show us that God is completely in control of our situation and will meet our needs. 

Updates, updates, updates:

Time for an update!!  I promise to do more posting now.  My PTA obligations are over now and I have more time to devote to you all :)

1- We have all our documents, except our forms from immigration (I-600A) ready for our dossier.  I'm waiting on a couple of items to be apostilled, but the hunting and gathering stage is over.  Whew.

2- There are definite changes coming in Danil's country, regarding the processing of adoptions.  We don't know if it will affect us or not, but the magic day to be submitted to the government there is June 12th.  We will be pulling all sorts of strings to get our dossier done and submitted before then.  Hopefully if we get it in before then, we will not be affected by anything, and we can get Danil home.

3- Danil has a bed here.  And he has 1/2 a room.  Chase is going to be surprised about this.

4- We met with a couple today from Ukraine who gave us some ideas about traveling and what to expect...it is exciting to start to actually think about this part of our journey...Bryan and I have always said that we'd like to travel...we just never thought that our chance to see Europe would be just a detour from the main event :)