Well the fee and consent agreements are all signed and will go out via FedEx tomorrow. This is a big step forward. From here we continue our Education requirements to complete our home study and hopefully in the next couple of weeks really dig into getting our dossier put together.

Our adoption coordinator has been chosen to attend the Bulgarian Ministry of Justice Conference on International Adoption. Representatives from the MOJ, orphanages, Sofia City Court and other officials will be presenting information on the current and future state of adoptions from Bulgaria. We are looking forward to our coordinator coming back with some first hand information.

One Heart for Bulgaria is an amazing organization that I have come across. This non-profit humanitarian organization is dedicated to improving the quality of life for all ages of healthy and disabled Bulgarian orphans. Check out the site... they do some amazing work. http://www.oneheart-bg.org/index.php

New picture of the boys...

Hello everyone! We took our first online class last night with our agency... very interesting. Everytime we take part in something - we gain so much new information. We received our fees and consent "Agreements" packet yesterday as well. We are working on filling that out and getting back to CAS asap. Also - looks like we should be wrapping up our 10 education hours required by Louisiana - so hopefully the home study will be complete in a couple of weeks. Yeah! See you all soon! Kelly

Welcome to our adoption blog! Most of you are now aware that our family has started the process to adopt a child from Bulgaria. Josh and I both feel that involving our family and friends is important in fulfilling the journey to our daughter. The road to today has been filled with prayer, talks, discussions with Brennan & Noah and our familes, as well as educating ourselves on adoption in general. Making the decision that this was something we felt called to do has been a long discussion that began while Josh and I were still dating... so while we know this might be surprising to some... for us, it's finally happening! We hope this blog will help to keep everyone up to date with the progress of our adoption and open the door to any questions or comments you guys might have. We have already experienced so much love and support from all of you and for that we are forever grateful! Enjoy the blog!

Where are we in the process...

Josh and I are knee deep in the paperwork right now and have been since January. We are working with Carolina Adoption Services and their program in Bulgaria. here is the link to the Agency for anyone interested - http://www.carolinaadoption.org/ Here's what we have accomplished so far:

• Application for Bulgaria with Agency- approved
• Home Study - both visits with our social worker have gone well and we are now working with her to packet all of the documentation together
• Working towards our 30 hours of education required by our agency
• Made contact with a "mentor" family who recently adopted from Russia
• Became Members of LEEAF (Louisiana Eastern European Adoptive Families)
  
• Slowly acquiring passports, certified copies of personal documents, Visa approval for our daughter
• Getting ready for our first "Social Event" with some adoptive families here in Baton Rouge
  

The Process

Here is just a general overview of our adoption process. Each country and agency you are working with can vary the process:

• Apply for Adoption
• Home Study with LA Social Worker- two visits and 10 hours of education
  
• Complete Agreements & Fee packet with Adoption Agency
• 30 Hours of Education
• Visa Application
• Creating our Dossier (the packet of paperwork that will go to Bulgaria)
  
• Dossier Approval from Agency
  
• Dossier - delivery to Bulgaria
• Dossier Approval from Bulgaria
  
• Now we wait... 9-18 Months
  
• Receive a Referral for our DAUGHTER - we will be matched by the government in Bulgaria with our daughter and sent her picture, some videos, medical history, any other info that the orphanage has
  
• Travel to Bulgaria - First Trip (to visit the orphanage, meet our daughter and spend about a week with her)
  
• Travel to Bulgaria - Bring HER home!
• Post Adoption Process...