WE GOT OUR REFERRAL!!

*jumping for joy*

We FINALLY got our referral today!

I am kind of skipping ahead from the last post, sorry, I am just so excited. :) We were I-800A approved on May 9th, and ever since then we have been waiting for our referral (which is a letter from Hungary officially referring Arabella to us).

Today the I-800 document has been sent off to USCIS with the referral. The I-800 is a petition to classify Arabella as an immediate relative once she is adopted and as a Convention adoptee from a Hague Convention country. It can take about 2-4 weeks to get the approval, and then we get to travel! Our case worker said that they are hoping to get us over to Hungary in a month!!!


More good news: We are a CMomA grant recipient! CMomA has awarded us a $5000 medical grant that will go towards any and all of Arabella's medical expenses. We are beyond blessed and thankful that we have been awarded this grant! Thank you CMomA and many thanks to those who wrote recommendation letters on our behalf.


Stay tuned for baby shower announcements and pictures of Arabella's room being decorated. I am now beginning to feel like a pregnant Momma, and I love it!

If any of you moms have suggestions for things to buy or add to a registry for a toddler I would love to hear them!

USCIS Fingerprints

Another thing is checked off of our list!! When we went to get fingerprinted last week for our biometrics appointment, it took all of about ten minutes. Thankfully, we did not need to travel far for the appointment. There is an office for the Application Support Center in downtown Baltimore, so Nick and I were able to walk over there quite easily. We just filled out a short form, waited about one minute until they called the number we were given, then they took our fingerprints (no ink here, these prints are digital). We were given a receipt, and then we were done, easy peasy. This little part of the process has probably been the easiest by far. haha

We are one step closer to getting our referral for Arabella!

It has been toooooo long

I know, it has been forever since I've posted. It is completely my fault, and I am sorry. Things have been really busy, BUT we have exciting news.

After a lot of prayer and discussion we have switched countries again, and are now in route to adopt from Hungary....AND....we have a baby girl in Hungary who we are currently pursuing!!!!!  I wish we could share her pictures/videos over the internet, but we will not able to until we make the adoption official. Let me tell you, Nick and I were in love at first sight. She is the cutest little two year old in the world. My heart sings every time I watch her videos and look at her pictures.

*This awesome picture of Budapest, Hungary will have to do in the meantime. 

A short bio of Arabella (that name is just adorable on its own): she will be two years old in May, and was diagnosed with leukemia in November 2013. According to her doctor in Hungary she is doing really well with treatments, and currently undergoing her second round of treatment.

In other news, our home study was approved about a month ago, which means that the sanitation and Fire Marshall inspection went flawlessly just fine despite the nerves and frantic cleaning. Thank you Jesus! We are  now in the process of being approved for international adoption by USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services), and have a biometrics appointment on the 28th, where we will basically get fingerprinted and a background check done again. Other than that we have just been waiting, applying for a few grants, and doing some paperwork here and there.

Thank you to everyone that has kept us in your prayers (please keep praying ;). We have truly been blessed and humbled by your support.