Counting Down

We are currently on day 4 of the 20 day wait for our dossier to be approved or rejected. I trust our facilitator that she went through our dossier very well and fixed any errors that could possibly get it rejected, but the SDA sometimes is just in a "bad mood" and will reject dossiers for arbitrary and petty reasons. So, we continue to hope and pray.

I don't know if Saturday's are considered "working days" since many government offices there are open on Saturdays....if not day 20 falls on Monday April 9. So it looks like we will be in Ukraine for my birthday, father's day, and possibly Belle's birthday - depending on how long things take. Our region is known to be "fast" with the court stuff because you are highly encouraged (aka forced) to use a specific lady lawyer to file the papers with the judge. She has a pretty big fee for her services, but I hear she is extraordinary in her speed and service. She even handles the birth certificates and passports for the kids. Also we hope it is fast because we don't have to "find" our kids - we already know where they are and have no intention of turning them down. My only worry is that there will be a problem with their registration paperwork - specifically the older Belle. I am confident that Cinderella's papers are all in order, and there is no reason to think that Belle's are not in order, but you never know. Cinderella's paperwork says she has no siblings even though Belle is her full sib.....

Anyways - We are also continueing to pray for our web-friends for their dossiers and their children. We also are praying that the SDA changes this quota system they are trying to enforce. Some people think that this is all a prelude to ending IA all together in Ukraine, but I disagree. IMO, the foster type homes should only be used for the kids who will never be registered for adoption - ie those kids who still have active parents in their lives, but those parents are unable to care for the kids (usually do to financial reasons). I also think that just because the kids are put into foster homes, they should NOT be removed from the adoption registry! In Guatemala, all the kids are cared for in foster homes and yet they are all available for adoption. Same here in the USA. Foster homes are not meant to be permenant - just more family-oriented and more stable UNTIL a forever family is found. I think Ukraine is just trying to figure out how to do all this - trying different ideas out. Its a hard thing to change people's perceptions and habits - the orphanage system is so ingrained into EE culture as are their ideas and methods to care for the kids. I have a friend who is a pediatrician for a baby house in Kharkiv who is constantly frustrated at the attitudes of his collegues and their resistance to change their medical methods.

Hopefully will get the CD with 120 photos of Cinderella on it in a few days! The German couple mailed it DHL yesterday. I really hope to maintain contact with them as they have been the only "family" Cinderella has ever known - even if it was only for the summer months each year. I hope they will agree to be Aunt and Uncle to the girls once we adopt them.