Thursday, April 03, 2008

Court Petition Sent!

Good news!  This morning we met with our coordinator at CHI to sign our court petition. What does this mean?  Well, first of all it means...more paperwork.  Today we felt like we were back in December 2006 (that's the month we completed our dossier).  Thankfully, we did a series of paperwork updates this past November, so we're not completely overloaded, but today we kicked it into high gear.  It's time for new physicals, a new letter from our bank that says we are able to buy a house (we need this since we currently rent), an extension for our I-171 (a form from CIS giving us permission to adopt two international orphans), a psychological interview and a couple other updates.  We don't think we're crazy, but we might be after all this paperwork.  Honestly, this is nothing compared to December 2006 and getting together the dossier.  It will take time and patience, but we can get it all done.

Secondly, filing our court petition means that we're getting closer to receiving a court date.  We're trying to get the above documents together as fast as we can.  There's no guarantee that that will make a court date come sooner, but it's always good to get it all done as quickly as possible, but also done correctly.  Some of the documents only have a three-month life, so we're confident that we'll return to Vladivostok, go to court, and bring home our boys before the three months are up.

We ask for your continued prayers, especially that we could get back to our boys in Vlad as soon as possible.  We miss them so much.  Since our court petition was headed off to Vlad today, we went ahead and included two new cards for the boys.  This week's cards included pictures of their finished room (if you haven't seen it check our previous post).  We're so ready to have our boys home!  So are the other 20 or so families who are also waiting to go back to Vlad for their children.  If there's one thing this whole journey has taught us, it's to look beyond ourselves and recognize that so many families are waiting to be reunited.  It's really all about the wonderful, beautiful children God has picked out for us all.  We pray that He would bring each of us together with our children at His appointed time.  We'll keep you posted as we know more.  The Lord be with you all.

Love,

Clarion & Joel

P.S. - Thanks, Mom, for chasing down marriage documents for us!!!  What would we do without you!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Many people in Houston are praying that everything moves along quickly and you can bring your little ones home.

Love, Mom

Bill and Myra said...

I found your blog on another family's website. We are also with CHI. We traveled to Vladivostok one week after you. We just turned in our petition to adopt too. We may be having court around the same time (I am praying). You can email me at toeppe@gmail.com and I will send you a link to our private blog.

Good luck to you! We may see you in Vladivostok!

Myra

Troy and Rachel said...

I hope you get that court date soon and so glad the petition came in!! Hopefully it won't be long now.

Carey and Norman said...

Congrats on sending the Court Petition. I think most in Vlad wait about 2 months after filing the Court Petition. We filed ours around Nov. 15th and our court hearing was Feb. 22nd. Of course, the holidays caused ours to be delayed.

Good luck on completing your documents.

Anonymous said...

I caught your blog connection from Kathy and Shane Gebhardt - very close friends of mine. I believe you are friends with Josh and Cheryl Krage as well! I wanted to wish you God's richest blessings on a SPEEDY return to Vlad unlike Shane and Kathy! Nichole Kuerschner

Wade and Amy Williams said...

I found your blog today as I was looking for blogs to add to my own. I'm leaving on Friday for Moscow, then on to Astrakhan to meet my little girl! I saw your post that you are a pastor for LCMS, I am a LCMS 5th grade teacher! I teach for Messiah in St. Charles. Congratulations on your adoption as well as your acceptance of the call in SW MO. I student taught at Springfield Lutheran School which is in Southwest Missouri as well, so I was wondering if your new church is associated with them. I will continue to watch your blog! Ours is adoptingsister.blogspot.com

The Greens said...

Hello Joel and Clarion. Our thoughts and prayers are with you. We wait in anticipation to hear that your court date has been set. Once you have your little dudes with you, you will be amazed at how fast your boys will adapt and grow. We are sooooo happy with our little rascal Roman. Thanks for the notes you leave us. When you return to Vlad you need to ask the caretakers as many questions about the boys and their routines, likes and dislikes. We asked a lot of questions but not enough. I know it is hard but be patient. Soon enough the boys will be in their wonderful new home with their cool parents and awesome bedroom and pets. Take Care.