Timeline

• since 2009-- talked on and off about adoption
• summer 2011--  really started focused prayer and research about adoption and agencies
• September 2011-- told our families we were going to adopt siblings
• last week of October 2011-- signed contract with Adoption ARK for Bulgaria siblings (special needs)
• last week of November 2011-- home study visit 
• Dec. 6, 2011-- received the info and checklist for the dossier...wow! where do we begin?
• Feb 13, 2012-- medical and psychological exams done
• middle of February 2012-- home study completed and received in the mail... huge step! Thank you, Lord! 
• March 6th, 2012-- mailed I-800A US Customs and Immigration application today (usually takes 2 months to get approval back)
• March 7th-- just received our FBI clearance letters back... now have to send them to Washington D.C. for apostilling 
• March 19th-- just received back our apostilled FBI clearances! Wow! That was fast! Thankful for express mail, Caring Hands who hand-delivered our clearances for faster service, and for a faithful God who is in control of it all!
• March 20th-- found out today that we were approved for a Lifesong for Orphans account to do a Both Hands Foundation project to raise money and minister to a widow at the same time. Awesome! 
• May 7th-- received our USCIS approval letter! Praise the Lord! This was the last piece of documentation we need for the dossier. 
• June 1st-- notified from Lifesong for Orphans that we received the rest of the funds needed to be able to submit our dossier ($17K total, $2K this past week)! Praising God! Jehovah-Jireh! 
• rest of June-- made changes to child parameters in regards to age through USCIS 
•  July 13th-- received our updated USCIS approval letter
• July14th -- mailed updated USCIS approval and home study addendum to Juneau for apostilling
• July 19th-- received apostilled documents in the mail-- dossier now complete! Praise God!
• July 24th-- mailed completed dossier plus 4 full copied sets to our case worker in CA
• July 27th-- email from case worker stating she had received it and "very well done" and will be processing it to Bulgaria by Monday (30th)
• July 30th-- dossier sent FedEx to Bulgaria
• August 1st-- dossier was delivered in Sophia, Bulgaria (now it must be translated, which usually takes about a month) 
• August 28th-- received word that our dossier was officially registered with the MOJ... now we wait for a referral! 
• November 16th-- home study update visit... it's been a year, and we have moved 
• January 9th-- received "A"'s file from our agency requesting us to consider adopting him
• January 22nd-- told our agency "yes" we would pursue adopting "A"
• February 19th-- Our declaration of intent to adopt papers sent by FedEx over to BG
• April 12th-- received our official referral for "A"!!!! Next step-- trip #1 to meet him!
• May 19-25 -- our week in Bulgaria with Joshua (his new name)... We are in love! What a wonderful week we had with him! Next step-- updated documents for court to bring this boy home!
• July-- Article 5 and MOJ signature sent to the court!
• October 2-- received our court date of October 22!