~Welcome to the story of our journey to save another Eastern European princess with down syndrome and an older child! In 2010, we traveled half way around the world to adopt a twenty month old (now three years old) precious girl with down syndrome, Gabby. Now, less than two years later, we are on a mission to adopt another precious little girl that is in the same orphanage Gabby was in, Ava. Not only Ava, but yes....one more "Elaine". That means we are trying to adopt two more children!!!! If you are unaware of the situation in most, if not all Eastern European countries, please continue to read. In these countries children with down syndrome and special needs are most often placed in orphanages and if not adopted by the age of four or five (depending on circumstance), they are transferred to institutions where the likely-hood of them ever seeing outside of the institution walls remain slim to none. Many will live very short lives due to lack of appropriate care. Please don't allow this to happen to our sweet Ava! "Elaine" was fortunate enough to escape a very bad institution but nonetheless is in an institution and is an older child whose chances of coming home if we can't adopt her are not good. Having adopted and fully funding ourselves the previous adoption such a short time ago, we will need all of the help we can get to reunite these two angels and bring their big sister home. We utilized all extra resources with our first adoption and so fundraising is essential with this adoption. Whether it be from your prayers, helping to fundraise, buying from fundraisers, donations, etc...your help is much appreciated and is very much needed in order to make this dream a reality. Thank you so much for following our journey~

~Adoption Timeline~

Thursday 8-23-12
Dossier Submitted!!!!!!!

Friday 8-17-12
Dossier received in country.

Tuesday 8-7-12:
Recieved the actual official
I-171H Approval from USCIS
in the mail!
WOO HOO!

Thursday 8-2-12:
Got an email confirming we were
USCIS approved!

Tuesday 7-31-12:
Biometrics appt/USCIS fingerprinting.
Apostilled entire dossier with the exception
of the I-171H Approval.

Wednesday 6-22-12 through 7-30-12:
This time was spent gathering all
of the dossier documents,  notarizing them,
and certifying them. We also spent this time
fundraising of course.

Tuesday 6-21-12:
Mailed our i600a application
to the USCIS ! Big Step !
Monday 6-11-12:
Received the final notarized
and county certified copies of
our home study in the mail. Next
step is USCIS.
Tuesday 5-29-12:
Received first
draft of our home study!
Reviewed it and emailed
it to our facilitator for review!

Tuesday 4-10-12:
Second home study visit!
Completed the TBI clearances
and paid $52 for this. Completed
the KY and TN child abuse clearances.
Paid $1,100.00 for the home study!

Monday 4-9-12:
First home study visit!
Gave our social worker original birth
certificate copies for Jason, myself,
and Gabby, court decree for Gabby's
adoption, medical certificates from
exams, financial forms from the bank,
our accountant, letters from our employers,
letters of recommendation were in the
process.

Monday 4-2-12 through 4-8-12:
Spent these days gathering paperwork
for required homestudy documents and
getting medicals done for Jason, myself,
and Gabby!

Sunday 4-1-12:
Ava (Yulia as known on RR)
now has a family sponsorship
page (FSP) and is listed on
the "new commitments" page!
This means she is now eligible
for tax deductible donations.

Saturday 3-31-12:
Faxed the disclosure and
Application to RR! Sent in
the commitment fee, application
fee, and PayPal fees $1,305.00

Friday 3-30-12:
She is listed on the my family
found me page but we cannot
technically announce our intentions
to adopt her until we have sent in
our disclosure, application, and
committment fee to RR. Went
and had the disclosure notarized!

Thursday 3-29-12:
Completed home study application
and paid $50 application fee.

Wednesday 3-28-12:
Inquired about getting our little
Ava listed with RR so we can begin
fundraising and starting the adoption
process for her. Also found a home study
agency!

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