It's Been A While...

I know it's been a while since our last post but not much happened while we were away in the States for 5 weeks. We had a great time going around to various people in various states as well as spending a week of vacation in North Carolina in the beautiful mountains. We spent time there with Mark's brother, Forest and our good friends, John & Mary Concar from Ireland came over to spend the week with us exploring the mountains and going to a couple of Bluegrass Concerts. (This was a stretch for me, Brenda). We are back home in Ireland now and getting ready to receive our next interns that arrive on Sept 12 and we're very excited!

As for what is happening now in regards to the adoption we are getting closer to finding the right people in Ireland that we need to conduct our Home Study. This has been more of a challenge to find someone than any of us thought. Please Pray that we have now made the right contacts and that they are able to schedule the Home Study very very soon.

The last several people that we (the Rays and our agency rep, Jacqui) have spoken with have all said no they won't be able to do our Home Study or that they were the wrong people to contact or that we would have to also go through the Irish Adoption System which is currently around a 4 year waiting time. The frustrating part is that no one really knows who we are to go to since we are...

• American citizen
• Adopting through an American Agency
• While living in Ireland
• Adopting from the Ukraine (International Adoption)
• Sort of in the same category as a Military Family

So please pray along with us that this bump in the road will be smoothed out and completed soon. We don't want our son to have to stay in the Baby Home (orphanage for babies) one day longer than he has to.

Thanks for all of your love, support and comments!

Moving Right Along...

(Click on Ukraine map to see enlarged view!)

If you can pronounce any of the names on the map other than Kiev or Odesa, then you're way ahead of me!

Things are moving right along!
We are still in the paperwork stage and hope to have our home study (that's the part where they check out your house, and basically put you under a microscope). The agency was having a bit of a time locating someone in Ireland to conduct our Home Study that would meet all of the requirements/certifications from the US and Ireland. But after some great searching by Jacqui Leonard, our wonderful program director for our adoption, she was able to locate a place in Lanesborough which is about 25 min from where we live. Once again... what a blessing!

June 20th will be 2 months

since we started the adoption process. It seems so long but at the same time it seems so quick... but things are moving right along and going smoothly. Praise God!

Please pray for our son
as he is in an orphanage right now in the Ukraine, which is called a "baby home" if they are under 4 years old. It is tough sometimes for me (Brenda) to imagine any child having to grow up in an orphange let alone our own son starting off his life their. My prayer is that he is being loved, cared for properly, fed well, and free from any long-term medical conditions as a result of being in a baby home. Among so many other things that I pray for him about.

Please pray for the care takers in the baby home
They have an incredible amount of responsibility to take care of all of the children that live under their care. I pray that they would have patience, love and a tender heart for these children as they raise them the best they can each day.

Thanks for all your prayers and comments!

The Dossier (aka: Paperwork Land!)

They (ever wonder who "they" are) say that the paperwork stage is equivalent to labor! The process is more tedious than difficult (which sounds the opposite of labor to me), and you have to simply plod your way through it one form at a time. I will say that I think our new best friend is going to be the Notary Public guy in Athlone. You can only imagine all of the forms and legal documents that have to be notarized. Right now it seems like a million but that might be a slight exaggeration. I'm convinced that they have all of this paperwork so that you have something to occupy your mind during the beginning process.

A Dossier is a collection of papers giving detailed information about a particular person or subject. It includes things like birth records, marriage certificate, fingerprinting, FBI background check, medical history, taxes, etc. So we are having fun collecting this information and getting things back to the agency as soon as possible. They say you can complete your dossier anywhere from 1 to 6 months. We're aiming for the one month completion date!

I (Brenda) had another dream...
We were in the orphanage with some other parents who were ready to bring thier child home. As I looked around the room everyone had little tiny 6 week old to 6 month old babies wrapped up in these cute little blankets laying in thier bouncy seats. Then we came to our son who was 2 years old and he was also laying in a bouncy seat but he was huge. Compared to the other little infants our son was a giant. I was so confused as to why our son was so big and asked the ladies in the orphanage... and then I woke up.

Dreams are a funny thing sometimes. I'm sure Fra will have a good interpretation of this dream! (It's a Ray household joke!)

Application Completed

FIRST, we sent in the initial Application that gets you in their system.

SECOND, we filled out the Application for Adoption and Home Study.

Then... trying to find a Notary Public in Ireland was a bit tricky but thanks to Mary Concar (our good friend here in Ireland) she gave me the suggestion to go to a Solicitor (Lawyer) to find out their contacts. (Who would have thought) So I did and I found one located 40 min. from our house. Not too bad since we thought we were going to have to go to the US Embassy in Dublin (2 hours away) every time we needed to get something notarized. Whew!

So the mounds of paperwork begins and will be well worth it! It's funny the things you thought you knew about yourself until you're filling out a form... like what's the name of the hospital where you were born? I realized I didn't have a clue. Well, we keep moving forward - it's one form and one day closer to bringing our son home!

It's Begun...

So, the sleepless, restless nights wondering and thinking have begun for me (Brenda). I have a great book that I'm reading about international adoptions that was given to us by Grandma Pat, called "The Complete Book of International Adoption" by Dawn Davenport. (If you know someone who is adopting internationally please get this book info to them.) But since reading through this book it makes me think about the millions of details that we will be covering through this process. (Which will all be worth it!) Of course I started reading at the END first... the part about when we get to bring our son home and it brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it. I had a dream, after reading this chapter, that we brought our son home and I wasn't use to having a son yet and when I woke up I couldn't find him. He wasn't in his room, he wasn't outside, he wasn't watching TV... so I frantically ran around the house and eventually I found him sitting in a closet because he didn't know where he was. I pray that this never happens and that our son will always know, when he walks through our doors, that he is HOME!!!

Oh I have a feeling this is going to be a very irregular year of sleep... I guess it will be good preparation.

Ready or Not Here We Go...

We are very excited to announce that we have officially started the adoption of our son! We are looking to adopt him from the Ukraine. And yes, we are ready and very excited!!!

On Friday, 20 April 2007 we made the final decision to officially start our adoption and have submitted our application. We are going through Homecoming Adoptions in Orlando, Florida. You can view their information or information on the Ukriane at www.homecomingadoptions.com. We will keep you updated on all of the steps along the way on this blog.

Please pray along with us and for us as well as for our son through this process of becoming a family.