Rescuing Victoria

Our Starfish

2012-03-15T14:06:00.004-07:00

Dear Victoria,

The home studies are in the mail to be reviewed and also to apply for our USCIS paperwork. We only need 2 more things as far as our Dossier for your country is together. I'm planning to have everything together so I can take it to the capital the first of next week to get apostilled. Then we can send it in and it can get translated into your language. Once that is done it will be ready to be submitted to your country.

So I want to share a little story that I read back in January when all this started to come together.

The Starfish Story

adapted from The Star Thrower by Loren Eiseley

Once upon a time, there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work.

One day, as he was walking along the shore, he looked down the beach and saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself at the thought of someone who would dance to the day, and so, he walked faster to catch up.

As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young man, and that what he was doing was not dancing at all. The young man was reaching down to the shore, picking up small objects, and throwing them into the ocean.

He came closer still and called out "Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?"

The young man paused, looked up, and replied "Throwing starfish into the ocean."

"I must ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?" asked the somewhat startled wise man.

To this, the young man replied, "The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don't throw them in, they'll die."

Upon hearing this, the wise man commented, "But, young man, do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish all along every mile? You can't possibly make a difference!"

At this, the young man bent down, picked up yet another starfish, and threw it into the ocean. As it met the water, he said, "I made a difference to that one!"

Victoria, you are our little starfish. Though we cannot change the world and rescue all of God's children who suffer and are lost, as much as we wish we could, we can change YOUR world. I wear this little starfish necklace with a heart in the middle everyday to remind me of you. It helps me to press forward and do all that I can to get to you. Whether is tracking down paperwork, saying a prayer or saving every penny I can, this little necklace reminds me that every little thing we do brings us that much closer to you.

Love Mommy

Home study - Check

2012-03-04T08:09:00.005-08:00

Dear Victoria,

The Home Study is DONE!! I can't tell you how great it feels to say that. The official copies are in the mail and should arrive tomorrow or Thursday. When they get here I'll be sending off our USCIS I-1600A form (Petition to adopt a foreign orphan), One to our placing agency for the Home Study Review and two copies will go with the Dossier to your country.

Last night I got a few more forms to fill out and instructions for the Dossier and I'm happy to tell you that they are about all done, just waiting for a few answers to finish them up. I love having tasks I can get busy on, rather than just waiting for things to come in. I know there will be lots more waiting to do, but when there is work to get done I feel good. It means we are making progress and getting even closer to you! Once I get all the documents together for the Dossier we will need to get everything notarized and apostilled up at the State Capital. My goal is to get that done sometime next week. Then we can send everything in to get registered with your country. Once all that is done we can start talking about scheduling our first travel date! So exciting, it's starting to feel even more real and I can't wait to meet you.

So in regards to the home study I have to tell you something, another miraculous piece of this story. The day after we were told we could move forward to adopt you I got on the computer to find someone to do our home study for us. We needed it done quickly, so I knew I needed Heavenly Fathers help to find the right people to help us. I sat down at the kitchen table, said a silent prayer knowing that I would need to be led to the right place. I began my google search for a company to do our home study. The first company I called took down some information and said they would be in touch.

I didn't want to waste any time so I kept searching. I got ahold of an adoption advocacy group or something that dealt more with domestic adoptions, but the really nice gentleman gave me the name and number of someone he thought could help me out. So I called the guy he mentioned. Even though he was on vacation at Disneyland when I called, he still answered and we got the ball rolling. I told him that we needed to move as quickly as possible and he assured me that he would be able to. We scheduled our first at home visit for as soon as possible and got started. A few days after we set up our appointments the person from the first agency I had called got back to me. I told them that I had already chosen another agency and I thought that was the end of the story.

Just recently I found out that 2 others families that I have met and are also adopting from your country, were working with that company on their home study. It turned out after they had put A LOT of time and money into the process, that the company was not licensed to do international adoptions and sadly they had to start all over. It breaks my heart to know that they went through all of that, but I pray that things will get moving quickly. I think they are both now working with the agency we went through, so I know things will get taken care of quickly. If anyone out there is adopting internationally from Utah I would highly recommend Wasatch International Adoptions to do their homestudy and if possible Josh to be their social worker. They are so on top of everything and have been so great to work with. From start to finish it took us 6 1/2 weeks to finish our home study and 2 of those weeks were just waiting for our background checks to come back from the state. From what I hear this is really fast for a home study.

I'm just amazed now looking back that I truly can see God's hand in lining me up with the correct people to do the home study. I know that He was with me that day while I was searching and calling around. He truly is guiding this process, I'm sure even more than I realize. You are so important to Him and he wants you home with your family. We are coming little girl, we are coming.

Love Mommy

They Came!!

2012-02-28T08:06:00.003-08:00

Dear Victoria,

Our background checks came back yesterday!! So now our Social Worker has all our supporting documents and is hopeful to have a draft of the Home Study finished this week so we can send it to our placing agency to look over to see if there are any changes to be made before we send them the official one to review.

Remember a few weeks ago when I told you about the company that is going to help us with your adoption expenses. Brady made a really nice video that he showed that night to get everyone excited about helping us. Below you can watch it and see pictures of the amazing people that are working hard to help you get home and also pictures of you and your family. The song in the video is one of my all-time favorites. It talks about what it will be like on that day when we return to our Heavenly Father and his Son Jesus Christ and see them again face to face.

Love you little girl,

Love Mommy

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

Our Road to You

2012-02-26T12:09:00.006-08:00

Dear Victoria,

We are still waiting to get our background check back from the government inorder to finish our home study. We were hoping that it wouldn't take too long, but have been told they can take up to 30 days. So here's to hoping that it comes this week so we can get the ball rolling.

I want to share with you in a little more detail how we learned about Reece's Rainbow and the situation many children like you are faced with.

While your little sister Kaelyn was in the NICU we started a blog to keep family and friends updated on how she was doing. Shortly after, we were introduced to the "blog-world of children with Down syndrome". We met many families through blogs both here in our community, across the United States and even in other countries that were just like us. They too were blessed to have a child with Down syndrome. Many of them also faced serious medical circumstances like Kaelyn when they were born. We have all kept track of one another on our journey's and are blessed to be lifted and taught by each other. Early on, we had a mother of twin girls, one with Ds and one without leave a comment on our blog. She is also a NICU nurse and so she was extra interested in Kaelyn's story. She even wrote this really nice post about our family. They were the first ones to introduce us to Reece's Rainbow. They were trying to adopt a little girl from your country and so we followed along and learned about the need for families from the U.S. to adopt the children with Ds in your country, because quite literally they do not have a chance of being adopted in their country. Sadly, things did not work out and they were not able to adopt the little girl they fell in love with. It breaks my heart to think about the pain they endured not being about to bring her home. I know that there is always a possibility of something like this happening to us, and it does make it hard to put our whole heart into this, but I just remember that we are all in the Lord's hands. He has a plan and we will do EVERYTHING in our power to bring you home to our family, while trusting that God is at the helm. Though their story did not end how they had hoped, their journey opened the eyes of many to Reece's Rainbow, and planted a seed in my heart that we would one day adopt a child through RR.

Then there is our dear friend Stephanie, Emmie's mommy. Stephanie has been apart of our journey from the VERY beginning. She left us some very beautiful and inspiring comments starting even before Kaelyn was born. Her little girl Emilia is so cute!! Seeing her beautiful pictures and hearing her story brought peace into our hearts that having a child with Down syndrome really would be a blessing in our lives. Nothing to be afraid of, but something to be grateful for. Stephanie has spent A LOT of time and energy in the past few years advocating for the children on Reece's Rainbow and doing everything in her power to help these children find their families. A week hasn't gone by in the last while that she hasn't written a post about these children that just kept watering the seed in my heart. Her posts truly were constant reminders to me that we would do it someday, rescue one of those children that so desperately needs a family. Thank you Stephanie for never giving up, for continuing to advocate for these precious children.

Next in line is our buddy Jaxon and his amazing mommy Lacey. We were lucky enough to have them live minutes away from us for the past 2 1/2 years, but now they are in California where Jaxon is doing much better at the lower altitude. (I'm sure the sunshine and Disneyland don't hurt either) In 2010 they adopted Jaxon's beautiful little sister Arina from the Ukraine, and we were so blessed to follow their journey here. It has been so amazing to see the transformation that has taken place in this sweet little girl. Every time I read a post about her and see pictures of her I can't help think about the life that she has been rescued from and how lucky her and her family are to have each other. My favorite is when I see her playing with and loving on her big brother Jaxon.

And just in the past months as I watched and read the journey of the Cox family to Mia Kareen, thats when it happened. That's when I knew it was time to come for you. Its amazing to look back on the last couple years and see what Heavenly Father was putting together, without us really even knowing it. I am so grateful to be on this journey to you and of course its not happening quickly enough. I have to keep reminding myself that it has barely been a month since we started the homestudy, it feels like it is taking forever. Not a day goes by that I don't think about you and wonder what I can be doing right now to get to you and to be more prepared for bringing you home. I pray that you are being well taken care of and that angels are watching over you until we can scoop you up and bring you home.

Love Mommy

Heart

2012-02-15T11:56:00.000-08:00

Dear Victoria,

I just read this cute little story in an email from a friend and loved it. Wanted to share it with you.

"Teacher Debbie Moon's first graders were discussing a picture of a family. One little boy in the picture had a different hair color than the other members. One of her students suggested that he was adopted. A little girl said, 'I know all about adoption, I was adopted.'

'What does it mean to be adopted?' asked another child.

'It means,' said the girl, 'that you grew in your mommy's heart instead of her tummy!'"

Love Mommy

More Miracles

2012-02-13T13:33:00.000-08:00

What a perfect little picture of you for Valentine's day tomorrow

Dear Victoria,

Sorry to leave you hanging about what happened in your behalf on Thursday night. I've had a few people ask me about it, anxious to know what the big secret is, so I won't make you wait any longer. A couple of weeks ago I received a comment from Brady Murray asking me to email him because he had a fundraising idea for us. I excitedly emailed him back because I knew that he had raised over $40,000 for two little kiddo's on Reece's Rainbow, Megan & Eli, in the past few months and I knew he would have some great idea's for us. His email back to us was not at all what we expected. Your dad and I were so touched by what it said, that we couldn't hold the tears back. In fact, I get teary eyed whenever I even think about what he has offered to do for us. I want to share part of his email with you;

"I am a managing partner of a financial planning company based out of Boise called Allegis Financial Partners...We are fortunate to have a wonderful group of talented and cause oriented people as part of our company... I called our President and CEO, Jeff Erekson, and presented him with the idea to sponsor a family who will be adopting a child with Down syndrome from Reece's Rainbow. He loved the idea. We went to work and put together a few different ways that we'll be able to help with the high costs that this family will inevitably be faced with. This was a few weeks ago. In the meantime we have been searching for the family that we felt we should help. I'm excited to tell you that we feel that your family is just that family and we'd like to help sponsor your adoption of Victoria!"

Thursday night we were able to attend the end of year awards banquet with their company and they had us tell our story and how we were led to adopt you. Brady talked about his little boy Nash, that is 4 years old and how they have learned about Reece's Rainbow. He mentioned how an adoption like your's can cost anywhere from $35,000 - $40,000 and how there are many families willing to adopt children like you living in orphanages with special needs, but the financial burden is just too great. He also mentioned the heart breaking truth that when children reach around the age of 5-7 they are transfered to adult mental institutions and within the first year 90% of them pass away due to the poor conditions and lack of care. Then your dad got up and talked about Kaelyn and her miraculous journey into our lives. I then shared how we came to find you. It was such a special experience for us, and we are still in awe that they are going to help us pay for your adoption. They have set up a program in their company that is based on the sales of their associates, and with each sale they will make a donation into our adoption fund. What a wonderful company, full of people who reach outside of themselves and help others.

Brady and Andrea are doing some amazing things to raise money and awareness for the children on Reece's Rainbow at his blog; http://onestepclosertohome.blogspot.com The Murray's are such great examples to us and we hope to be able to help other families the way they have helped us.

Even now, 23 days after I wrote the post "Miracles in the Making" on your little sisters blog, I am truly amazed at how things have come together so quickly. Its crazy to think that it has been little over a month since we started this journey. It feels like it has been in the works for years, and I'm certain it has been, its just what we are suppose to be doing and we can't deny it. There are so many people who are praying for you and invested in getting you here. There is no doubt in my mind that we will witness even more miracles to get you home, and this is a HUGE part of that.

I wanted to leave you with my part of our presentation on Thursday.

Love Mommy

"Shortly after we brought Kaelyn home from the hospital we learned about Reeces Rainbow. I just felt like we would bring one of those precious children home someday. Over the past two years that little thought has grown, but was still something we would do “someday”. We were the perfect candidates in my mind. We were already blessed with a child with Down syndrome and weren’t afraid of it anymore. We are well educated on the medical, social and developmental aspects that come with it. We know the blessings of having a child with ds far outweighs any of the concerns others may have. In the mean time we have been able to witness friends who have adopted children from Reeces Rainbow and have seen the beautiful transformation that occurs in both the child and the family they have joined.

Back in September we were blessed with another little girl, Bryn. It was quite the adjustment at first for all of us, but she stole our hearts from the get go. She has been such a sweet little girl and has shown us that we can continue to expand our family and that there will always be enough love to go around. A couple months after Bryn was born, just after Christmas I saw a special on ABC News about the Cox family, from Salt Lake, who adopted Mia from the Ukraine last year. After going through their blog the thought about adopting moved from the back burner to the front of my mind. It was like Heavenly Father was saying “it’s time”. I came up with every excuse possible of why it couldn’t be time now, but each of those reasons were quickly countered with a way it could work out. I have felt the Spirit confirm to me multiple times that this is what we are supposed to do.

After mentioning it to Wayne I got the courage to search through Reeces Rainbow to see if any of the children stood out to me. I searched the girls ages 3-5 because they are the ones that are closer to being transferred to an institution and have less of a chance of being adopted. I found Victoria’s profile and picture and was drawn to her. When I showed her to Wayne he said, “She looks like Kaelyn”. He was right, she does look like Kaelyn, like she belongs in our family. I contacted the agency over her area and after a couple weeks of waiting we were informed that if we were ready to go forward quickly, we could commit to her. We said yes and haven’t looked back.

I guess you could say that we took a great big leap of faith in going forward with this. That is true, but if we have learned anything from Kaelyn’s life, it’s that God is in charge. He is mindful of His children and if we take that step into the darkness of uncertainty, He will be there to guide our path. We have witnessed His miracles in the life of our daughter and we feel this is just a continuation of her journey. We have learned that we can “Do Hard Things” and in the words of James Douglas Percy “Everything is possible; the impossible just takes a little longer”. There is a little girl living halfway around the world, in Russia of all places, that was meant to be part of our family, and we are going to get her.

We are truly humbled and extremely grateful for the kindness and generosity of your company in helping us with the adoption expenses. When Brady contacted us to let us know what you would be doing it was like a huge burden was lifted off our shoulders. We didn’t know exactly how we were going to pay for every thing, we just knew we could do it, and it would be worth the cost. It has been another confirmation to us that what we are doing is right. Once again Heavenly Father is saying, “See, I’ll handle the details, just get to work”. There are times I feel like we are not worthy of such generosity, but I am quickly reminded of the little girl who is, Victoria deserves a better life. A family that loves her and a community that accepts her and recognizes her potential. She is a daughter of God, and He is well aware of her. I know we will blessed as much or more than her, by having her in our family. We look forward the day we can hold this little girl in our arms and see a smile on her beautiful face. With each passing day we are one step closer to that dream. Thank you for helping us bring Victoria home. "

The Latest

2012-02-08T15:47:00.001-08:00

Dear Victoria,

Just wanted to update you a little on where we are. We just finished up the applications for our placing agency (9 pages) and the home study review (21 pages) and will be mailing that along with a check for the fees on Friday. Then they can get us into their system and everything ready so that when our home study is complete they can get right on with the review. I also filled out the INS 1600A form (Application for advanced processing of orphan petition) today and will have that ready to mail off to the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services with fees when our home study is finished being reviewed. Then they will send us a form that states we can adopt you, and we will take that with us when we go to court. It can take about 40-50 days so we want to get right on it.

Your sisters have been so good and play while I get everything together. They can't wait to meet you!

Something VERY special is going to happen for you tomorrow night. I can't wait to tell you all about it, but you will just have to wait. Just know that it is amazing! Love you little girl.

Love Mommy

Beautiful Baby Contest

2012-02-06T09:13:00.000-08:00

I entered both the girls into a Beautiful Baby Contest to help a couple families raise money for their Reece's Rainbow adoptions. Go here to vote for them. http://www.facebook.com/questions/235687086515807/

**Be sure to pick Kaelyn with "Y" or Bonner for Bryn. The winner gets a Target gift card. We could use it to buy some clothes for Victoria :)

Hands

2012-02-04T17:35:00.001-08:00

Dear Victoria,

The homestudy is officially out of our hands for now. We mailed all our documents to the agency, all the letters of referral are in the mail and our social worker estimated it will take about 2 weeks to get it written up. Then we will send an electronic copy to the placing agency and have them look it over to make sure we aren't missing anything. Once it looks good we will send to them to review and the next step will be to get registered with the government in your country.

It feels so good to have the homestudy on its way to completion. We were able to move things along pretty quickly thanks to Heavenly Father for leading us to the right people. We have truly been guided through everything so far and we know that He will continue to keep us on the path we need to be on to get to you.

One of the most common comments we get from people when they find out we are adopting you is, "You are going to have your hands full". My response is, "Thats what I have hands for". I often think back on the General Conference talk given by an apostle of our church, Elder Neil L. Anderson, titled "Children". This was one of my favorite talks this last conference. In his talk he quoted a mother that said, "Motherhood is not a hobby, it is a calling... It is not something to do if you can squeeze the time in. It is what God gave you time for.”

I've always wanted to be a mother, and now that I am a mom, I love it even more than I could have ever imagined. Yes I have those difficult moments and hard days, but the good and happy days far outweigh them all. I can't wait till you are here and part of our family. We can go to the park and play, read stories, go swimming, the possibilities are endless.

Love Mommy

Miracles

2012-01-31T21:38:00.000-08:00

Dear Victoria,

Let me just tell you that miracles are happening in your's and our behalves. I do not use that word lightly, they truly ARE miracles. I can't give all the details yet, but just know that you are so loved and that Heavenly Father is watching out for you and your new family like we could have never imagined. We are in His hands and he is taking care of EVERYTHING, from the simple to the massive details of this journey. The prayers of many are being answered every day. So many people were praying that your family would find you, I truly believe the promptings we have received to go forward with this are answers to those prayers. Strangers to both you and I, prayers that we would find each other were answered.

Today was a very productive day on the adoption front! We completed the interview portion of our home study. Daddy and I both had individual interviews with the social worker, they both went well. Also Dad's social security card came so we were able to send off the background check. We just finished up the last course of our adoption education course. We pretty much have all our homestudy work documentation ready, just waiting on a few things. The goal is to get it all in the mail Monday. Our social worker said he could get the home study written up in a couple weeks from the time we got all the paperwork in, so we are well on our way to you.

We love you and pray that you will be kept safe until we are able to bring you home.

Love Mommy

P.S. Victoria's button is on the side of the blog. Please feel free to add it to your blogs to help raise awareness for her and other children in similar circumstances. We need all the prayers and faith we can get to bring this little one home quickly.

Meet Megan

2012-01-29T20:35:00.000-08:00

Dear Victoria,

I want to help a little girl in your country find her forever family. She was just transfered to an institution and it is so important that her family finds her NOW! Miracles have been happening in the past few months for Megan. There is $23,630.50 in her account to go towards her adoption. THAT IS HUGE! One of the biggest obstacles for families wanting to adopt these little ones is the financial burden. This grant will almost completely wipe out that burden! Especially when combined with the adoption tax credit. Its not stated on the IRS page right now but from what we have heard, it has been extended into 2012, with some differences, but still available.

If there is a family out there reading this that are feeling that nudge to adopt a little one with Down syndrome I encourage you to consider Megan

MEET MEGAN

Megan 2H

Girl, born December 2005
Eyes: Blue
Hair: light brown
Temperament: Active, assertive, social

UPDATE, January 2012: Sadly, we will not be able to get anymore photos of Megan. She has already been transferred to the institution, not a good one However, we were able to get more thorough medical information about her, and she REALLY needs a family.

From her medical records: Down Syndrome, mental defficiency, deformation of musculoskeletal system, day and night enuresis (incontinence), strabismus, farsightedness, Atrial septal defect, anomaly of aortal mitral valve, delay in physiologic development.

PLEASE HELP US FIND A FAMILY FOR MEGAN. She has nearly a full grant for her adoption. Single moms welcome, families should be home study approved to commit for her now that she has been transferred

Victoria,

As your Daddy and I read the information above about her medical records we both feel like they sound a lot scarier than they are. Just about everyone of the conditions listed are very common with children with Down syndrome, and in our minds and those of our friends, not a huge deal. I like to refer to them as the price to pay to be blessed with a child with Ds. Totally worth it! Of course we are not medical professionals, but we have been around the block with your little sister Kaelyn and are quite familiar with many of the terms. So here is our play by play of what each of the things listed are. (**Of course this is in our words/experience and we are not medical professionals)

-Down syndrome & mental deficiency - Learns at her own pace. We have learned with Kaelyn that she has her own time frame for reaching milestones and that is just fine with us. We are so proud of everything she is doing, regardless of when she gets there.

-deformation of musculoskeletal system - Not exactly sure what they mean here it is very common with children with Ds to have loose joints, thats why they are so flexible. Her's may be more complicated than that, not sure, but that is just what we have experienced with Kaelyn and her friends. She makes the Chinese splits look like a walk in the park :)

-day and night enuresis (incontinence)-Not potty trained. Very common, and something that can be worked on I'm sure, when the time is right.

-strabismus- Lazy Eye

-farsightedness- Needs glasses. Kaelyn is also farsighted, just not too interested in wearing her glasses yet. The eye doctor assured us that her vision is not worsening because she is not wearing glasses. She will just be able to see better at distances when she wears them. Until she realizes that, she will not leave them on for longer than 2 secs.

-Atrial septal defect & anomaly of aortal mitral valve- I'm guessing that she would need heart surgery for these, but not really sure. If she does it IS NOT as scary as it sounds. Yes open heart surgery is a big deal, but there are amazing surgeons out there that do these surgery's EVERY SINGLE day. Kaelyn's heart defects were even more complicated than this and she was home from the hospital 2 weeks after surgery. Her heart is doing great now and we just go into see the cardiologist every 6 months or so. Yes surgery and hospitalization are expensive, but they are covered through insurance.

-delay in physiologic development- Also very common with Ds and like stated above doing things at her own pace. Children with Down syndrome are most often smaller than children with out, and even have their own growth charts.

So what we are saying is that Megan needs a family and we don't want them to be scared off by the medical information on her profile. Kaelyn's medical history is far more extensive than this and we wouldn't change a thing if it meant we could not have her here today. Having her as our daughter and the joy and happiness she has brought into our lives, far outweighs the 140 days/nights she has spent in the hospital. We mean that with all our hearts and hope that someone will open their hearts and home to this sweet little girl Megan. Please help us spread the word about this little angel and pray that her family will find her SOON!

Love Mommy & Daddy

Adoption Friends & Why?

2012-01-28T06:15:00.000-08:00

Dear Victoria,

This is a picture of you when you were younger. It is the first picture I saw of you on Reece's Rainbow. The picture that touched my heart and prompted me to ask about you. When I first showed this picture to your daddy his response was, "Wow, she looks like Kaelyn". He was right, you look a lot like your younger sister.

Last night we were able to meet some other families that are also adopting little girls from your country through Reece's Rainbow. We had a great time sharing our experiences and what led us to do this. Two of the families already have experience in adopting internationally, so they had some great advice and experience to share with us. We all look forward to the day we have our girls home and we can have a play date with you all!

The Grove Family are adopting two little girls with Down syndrome and the Fillmore family adopted Anya last year and are now going back to adopt little Hazel. They are both very inspiring families and wonderful examples of going forward with faith.

Sister Grove shared something that I really resonated with, as to how to explain to someone WHY we would do this. Why we would go through so much work and expense to bring you home. We are fully aware that this will not be an easy process, and that your country is one of the hardest and most expensive places to adopt children from. I probably won't say it as beautifully as she did, but I will try my best.

"Imagine someone taking one of your children and sending them an orphanage halfway across the world and they were next in line to be institutionalized. What would stop you from going and getting them and bringing them back home as quickly as possible? Money? Paperwork? Fear? What others might think? Long flights? Going to an unfamiliar foreign land? Leaving your other children while traveling? No, none of those reasons would stop you, that is your child we are talking about. All the reasons for not doing this seem very insignificant when you look at it this way, right?

Victoria, that is how we feel about you. You are OUR daughter, you were born halfway around the world and we are coming to get you, because that is what any parent would do for their child. You belong in our family and our love for you grows each day.

In the last couple days we have been able to get documentation from our insurance agent that proves you will be covered in our health insurance plan, ordered Daddy a new passport and contacted a few people that are willing to help us out with some fundraising ideas we have. **A call out to anyone reading this that would be willing to share of their talents to help us by donating something for an auction/raffle of some sort. There are a lot of crafty/talented people reading this, we just know it :) **

Every day we are getting closer to you and we will not stop until you are home.

Love Mommy

P.S. Your little sister Kaelyn has been trying so hard to write you a message this morning, so I promised I would let her when I was done, so here you go.

Kaelyn says, " mnn inn6bnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn cv" (Pretty sure that means, "I love you" :)

Attachment & Fundraising

2012-01-25T21:57:00.001-08:00

Dear Victoria,

Last night when Daddy and I were studying our adoption education course we learned about Attachment and Bonding. We learned that attachment is "the reciprocal, affectionate enduring emotional bond between individuals." and bonding is the process in which attachment is achieved. This is something that I've never though much about, because its usually something that just happen's with children and the their parents from the time they are infants. Like with your sisters, we took care of their needs and showed them love and affection from the very beginning.

We learned that this is something that is very important that we are aware of when we bring you home. That is may be really tough for you to understand what a family is all about, and that you can trust us to be there for you always. As we were studying last night I just kept having the thought that everything will be okay. I know that it will be a process and that it will take time, but I just feel like it will work out. Heavenly Father will help us through any challenges we may face, he will guide us and bring us all together. We need to trust in His plan for our family.

I spent a few hours brainstorming fundraising ideas today. I have a few things up my sleeve, but would love any ideas anyone reading this may have. Soon I will write about the costs that are involved in an international adoption like this, that is a big piece of the pie. I just have faith that it will all come together, because you know what girl, YOU ARE WORTH IT!!

There are so many people that are praying for you and for us. Many have been praying for a long time that you would find your forever family. Those prayers have been answered and many more will be throughout this process. You are a child of God and he is very aware of you and your situation. He wants more than anyone for you to have a loving family and the life you deserve, the life you were sent here to live.

Love Mommy

P.S. THANK YOU TO THOSE WHO HAVE DONATED TO VICTORIA'S FUND! We know times are tough for many of you and we appreciate every penny.

Home Study Day & Your Song

2012-01-24T18:26:00.000-08:00

Dear Victoria,

The home study went great today! We are pushing along in getting all the documents together so we have everything turned into them on our end. Our physicals also went really well, we are both healthy and according to the doctor, "very capable of adopting a child". We meet with our Home Study Social Worker again next week to do individual interviews and then he can start writing it up while we finish getting paperwork together. The thing that will take the longest is getting the background checks done, so hopefully Dad's social security card gets here quickly so we can turn that in.

I feel such an urgency to get everything in and taken care of. I know we will have lots of waiting to do and patience to be learned, but I just want to get everything we can do, DONE! Just knowing that you are there waiting for us to come get you motivates me like crazy.

Tonight Daddy and I are going to start the adoption education courses that we have to do for the home study. We will learn lots of great things so we can be good parents to you and be more prepared for the day that we get to bring you home.

YOUR SONG

I want to play your song for you tonight. It is by one of my favorite singers, and she is actually from Utah. Her name is Mindy Gledhill. I've listened to her music for a while now, but this song never stood out to me until a couple weeks ago.

When I first started feeling like it was time to find a child on RR and adopt, I would wake up every morning wondering if I would still feel the same way. Without fail, there was always an experience each day that would confirm that what I was feeling was right and true. On one of those morning while getting your sisters their baths we were listening to our Mindy Gledhill playlist. I heard this song and thought, "did that song just say what I think it did?" I had never noticed it before, in all the times we've listened to her songs. So I looked up the lyrics and read them while I listened to it again...and again...and AGAIN. It was YOUR song. This was before we found out that we were chosen to adopt you by the agency we were working with. I didn't want to get my hopes up that you were the one, but I wanted it to be you so bad. While we were waiting to find out, I would look through the Reece's Rainbow site to see if any other little girls stood out to me, and when I would think about asking about them, I would just cry. I just had to wait until I found out if you were ours, the "Long lost child" we were searching for. The one that Heavenly Father was telling me to find.

The first verse makes me think of the pre-existence, before we came to this earth. I can't help but wonder if we all knew about this all along, that we would be a family someday.

Mindy Gledhill - Long Lost Child

Love,

Mommy

Homestudy Prep

2012-01-23T17:09:00.000-08:00

Dear Victoria,

I want to keep a good record on your blog of everything we do to get you here. In the past few weeks I've poured over blogs of other children like you that were brought home to their families and it has been an invaluable tool for us. It helped us know everything that will be involved and showed us we can do it too. Maybe some day your blog will help do that for someone else, and another child will be rescued because of you.

Today Bryn and I drove to Ogden to turn in the application to the Home Study agency and pay for that and the post-placement reports that they will do after you come home. Your country requires 5 post-placement reports; 30 days, 6 months, 1 year, 2 years & 3 years. Bryn was very patient for the long drive, she is doing her part in bringing you home. Kaelyn got to spend the afternoon napping at daddy's work.

Tomorrow is our home study. A social worker will come to our home to meet us, ask us lots of questions and check out our house. He wants to make sure we are a good family for you and that we will take good care of you. We are also getting medical physicals done tomorrow to make sure we are healthy and strong.

In the meantime we will be sending in the documents to get our background check. We just remembered that dad needs to get a Social Security Card because his was stolen. (Scary, I know, that's why they tell you not to have them in your wallet). He is going turn in his application for that first thing Wednesday morning. The background check can take up to a month to get back, so we need to get it sent in as soon as possible.

I'll let you know how the homestudy & physicals go tomorrow.

Love Mommy

We are coming

2012-01-22T21:48:00.001-08:00

Dear Victoria,

Well the word is out, we have started telling everyone that we are coming for you. We pray every night that you are kept safe until we get to you. That everything will work out. Every time we start to get overwhelmed with all there is to do before we get to bring you home, we just say, "she is our daughter, she is a child of God and she is worth it, no matter the cost, she is worth it". We love you and can't wait till we get to be with you.

Love Mommy, Daddy, Kaelyn and Bryn

Your Forever Family