It's official- We are registered with Bulgaria!

We got word yesterday that we have been officially registered with the Bulgarian Ministry of Justice. That means our name goes on a list of prospective families. Here is how the process works now:

Each week, the International Adoption Committee (IAC) meets to review about 10 files of children available for adoption. They work through the list of prospective families, beginning with those who have been waiting the longest. However, it isn't really "first come first served" because each family has specified age, gender, and openness to siblings and special needs. So, the first family on the list might not match the child or children. They continue down the list trying to match the child with a family that is best suited for them.

We are hoping that our openness to siblings and special needs will help to shorten our wait. However, we really have to give up control of this process to the Lord now. We trust that He has the right children picked out for us, and we will meet them at just the right time. If that is a year from now, or 3 years from now, that has to be ok with us. This adoption thing really tests the control freak aspect of my personality. Its a good thing though, because I think children will test it even more!

Next up, I will try to answer some of the common questions we have heard about our adoption story, like "Why Bulgaria?"

Paperwork is FINALLY done!

Today I'm sending off the last 3 documents for our dossier. One document is a simple one page letter from US Immigration Services. To get this letter we had to send in all sorts of papers to the U.S. government back in NOVEMBER! Then we got fingerprints done in December (our 3rd set of fingerprints because apparently the FBI, the state of Florida and Homeland Security can't share).  Then for some unknown reason you have to wait another month or so to get this letter. Only we didn't get the letter, we got a pink letter asking for MORE information from our home study agency. Yep, they wanted more information about the suitability of our home for children. If you have been to our house, then you know it's perfectly adequate. No, we have not put those little plug covers in. No, we have not put locks on the kitchen cabinets. Yes, we have installed a pool fence around our already screened in pool. I have no idea what they were looking for, but they must have been satisfied because we got our letter of approval on February 24th. I did a happy dance around the living room. It is amazing how one piece of paper can bring so much joy.

Now the dossier is complete and is off to Bulgaria to join the rest of the documents already there and translated. The next step will be to get our official registration with the Bulgarian Ministry of Justice. Then we wait for an unspecified amount of time to be matched.

We are so grateful for our wonderful friends who are notaries and have provided notarization on dozens of documents: Alisa, Diane, Charles and Lisa. Our physician's office West Coast Primary Care was ever so accommodating to us in helping with our paperwork. Our friends and family who keep asking how everything is going have encouraged us and made us feel so loved. Please continue to ask, and if I snarl when I say "Nothing has changed, no match yet", please forgive me and keep asking. It is going to be a lesson in patience from here on out (ok it has been a lesson in patience already but I anticipate it is only going to get worse!)

Why Adoption?

Although some people to do choose adoption as their first way to build a family, that wasn't how it happened for us. We had always talked about adopting, maybe after we had our own children. However, God had another plan for us, and after 3 miscarriages in 2 years and stumping all the doctors, we felt like God was calling us to adopt all along.  The seeds of adoption were planted long ago when I visited an orphanage in Honduras in 2000. Though these young ladies were loved and cared for, it was not the same as having a family to call your own. Chad had not had these same experiences, but we have dear friends that recently adopted from Bulgaria and we witnessed together how they became a forever family. We also had a family join our church who adopted from China. The pieces were coming together to point us toward adoption.

Once we decided to adopt, we researched domestic infant, foster care and international adoption. We decided on international adoption because of my experiences with orphanages in other countries, and the lesser risk of a failed adoption. After so many losses we just didn't feel like we could handle a birth mother deciding to parent her child instead of choosing adoption for her baby. Then we researched countries and the varying requirements, costs, and wait times. In the end, Bulgaria was the best fit for us. It certainly helped to have our friends as an example of the process! Then we researched agencies that work in Bulgaria. Again, we felt like our friends had such a positive experience that we decided to go with the same agency- All God's Children International (AGCI).

It hasn't been an easy choice, but it is the right one. Some days I still struggle, knowing the long wait we have ahead, knowing that I will not experience motherhood through pregnancy and birth. But, I always come back to the fact that we really have been called to this and we firmly believe this is God's will for our family. One day, when I was struggling with these emotions I asked God, "God, why don't you love us enough to give us children? Why are we going through this pain and struggle?" And God said back to me, "Do you think I love these orphans any less? If you don't take them into your family, who will?" In John 14:18 Jesus reminds us that:

^" I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you."

James 1:27 instructs us to look after widows and orphans.

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. "

While we know this doesn't mean everyone should adopt- we do believe it means that for the Doran family. We invite you to come along on this journey with us!

Adoption timeline

In 2013

Application in to AGCI 4/14
Personal statements in to AGCI 4/25
Accepted into Bulgaria program 4/29
Orientation call 5/6
First call with Soo Jin our Bulgaria case worker 5/20
Contracts sent to AGCI 5/13
Home study visits 7/20 and 7/27
Home study approved and finalized 11/11
Application to NBC and Dossier to translation!
USCIS fingerprints 12/11

Haiti- August 6, 2013

There is such beauty and such pain in this place. At night, the sky is so clear, so unpolluted by city lights that you can see the milky way. But the streets are full of trash, wandering animals, and who knows what else.

Yesterday we had a VBS at a remote village (Bois de Gallette). We were the only car (big schoolbus to be exact) on the road. At a certain point the road ended in a gravel wash. From there we walked up to the church. Villagers were riding mules, bringing rice, beans and water up to their homes on the mountain. There were about 100 children, so precious. It warmed my heart to hear them singing praises to God, so full of joy and uninhibited in their love for Him.

I just love it here- free from the everyday distractions and able to have eyes wide open to see how God is working in small and big ways.

Haiti- August 5, 2013

Yesterday we got up at 5am to ride 1 1/2 hours into Port au Prince to go to church. Church gets started early here, probably because it is so hot! Though I understood very little of the service, it is not necessary to speak the same language to worship God together. I couldn't help but think that it was a little window into what heaven will be like. All nations and tongues will be gathered, worshipping God. What an amazing experience to feel the Holy Spirit in this place so far from home.

We then went to an overlook where we could see the city stretch out for miles, meeting the sea. We visited a Haitian fast food restaurant, a grocery store and the museum of history. It was a long but enriching day.

Today we do a vacation Bible school (I think). Things change hourly here.

On saturday we helped to build the walls that will enclose the foundation of the Wholehearted Orphanage. The new orphanage will house 100 children. What a privilege to be part of this ministry literally from the ground up. We then enjoyed washing off the dust by swimming in the salt lake. While we were swimming a Twoubadou music group came to entertain us. I have never seen anyone make maracas sound so cool. It was awesome!

I made a friend at the HCM compound. Her name is Paola. We talk every evening- she is teaching me Creole.

San Francisco...the foggy city.

We drove in to San Francisco over the Golden Gate bridge. I wish i could say we had an amazing view of the bay and ocean but the reality was that the fog was so thick we barely saw a fee feet in front of the car. Even later in the day when Alcatraz appeared through the fog, the bridge remained shrouded in mist. We decided to have lunch in Chinatown-so good! Then we walked along the waterfront taking on the tourist sights: fisherman's wharf, pier 39, coit tower, Lombard street, ghiradelli square. We finished our vacation with a nice dinner with friends: my college roommate's sister Erin, who is an opera singer with the San Francisco opera, and her husband Jon.