- Soon You'll Come Home

I wonder if Sebastian loves music like his big brother? I bet he does,
I can't wait to see them together.

Merry Christmas

Dossier update

We got our Dossier back from being apostilled yesterday.We now are going to send it off with another family who is going on their trip to pick up their son on the 5th The The Sutton Family. They will hand deliver it to our facilitator and she will translate it.All we will need is our USCIS  letter and our Dossier can be submitted for Sebastian. Then we will get the date for our first trip the trip where we meet him WooHoo! 

The one thing is that we don't have the funds yet, we have to pay our agency $5,500 once we send that USCIS letter. We do have over $5,000 in our RR family FSP but we can't use that until we get a date for our first trip and it will be used for airline tickets, hotel and food while in country.We will have another agency fee of $4,500 due before our 2nd trip as well as airline tickets, hotel and food again.and Sebastian's passport and medical done so he can leave the country.
So I guess I am saying that even though we have some great progress going on and things are going well we still need  help , you can donate to our adoption to help with the agency fees over on the side of this blog  using the chip in.

 Thank you for all of the love prayers and support we have gotten from you all. I will have to say this time around it has been so much less stressful.I think it is because I have learned to fully trust in the Lord, I know that he wants Sebastian home with us and the funds will come.
Hope you all have a Merry Christmas!!

Katrina mom of 8 treasures!

Update on Expenses

Expenses Paid up to now all by us so far no money that has been raised or donated for our adoption of Sebastian has been used yet.
$425 homestudy update
$25 RR application fee
$3500 agency AAC application fee
$40 FBI finger prints taken
$36 FBI background check
$40 to apostille documents
$31 in all for shipping for documents, checks, ect.
$55 online 2 hour class for special needs.
$20 Amanda fingerprints
$40 medicals copay for Mike and I
$16 FBI letters to be  apostilled
$18 shipping for FBI letters
$975 USCIS
$90 apostille of dossier documents
$15 Josh fingerprints
$30 apostille fees for medical letters and I-800A
 Total already paid $5,356.00

Expenses before first trip still need to be paid.
$500 Hague certificate
$5000 first program fee to agency AAC  has to be sent when Dossier is sent.
Total needs to be paid before 1st trip $5,500.00
we will need around $5,000 for travel fees in country fees and anything else we may need while visiting Sebastian this may be a little high but we need to be safe and take more then what we think we may need what ever is left we will use for our 2nd trip.

We will need another $5,000 for our 2nd trip.
as of now we have $5,301.00 in our FSP and $390 in our chip in
leaving  $9,809.00 to be fully funded for our adoption.

If there is anyone out there that needs to make a tax deductible donation for this years taxes you can do that by donating to our adoption. You will get a tax receipt from Reece's Rainbow to to claim it, please think about donating to our adoption and help us bring our baby boy home, Here is where you can donate

http://reecesrainbow.org/48525/sponsornine-2

Urgent prayer request: 3 judges in B ruled the old director of the orphanage at Pl*v*n did not do anything "significant" to the children and so, she will be reinstated as director of the orphanage, which also makes her guardian of all the c

hildren. This ruling has already been made public in the news. PRAY for the other branches of Bulgaria's government to step in on behalf of the CHILDREN. PLEASE PRAY! This is where Sebastian is.. This is were, under her watch, children weighed 1 pound for each year of their life, broken bones were left untreated, children were left in cribs, wet with their own urine all day. Please, pray for ALL of these children. IF you feel led, IF you are looking for a place to make a tax deductible donation before the end of the year, please consider our Reece's Rainbow FSP http://reecesrainbow.org/48525/sponsornine-2 we need to get him home!

We are having a new auction for our butterflies

ornaments and clips auction

Please go check it out, help us bring our boy home.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.287548471366048.68782.264751216979107&type=1

Dossier done

We have our Dossier all done just waiting for the I-800a from USCIS  but everything else is done. We are getting it all notarized tomorrow then we will send it to be apostilled and scan it in to send to our agency so it can be translated. Maybe it will speed up  things for us a little  so that when we get the I-800a we can just send that and the rest will already be done.
We need $500 for the Hague overview certificate and $975 to send to the USCIS we can't use the money in our FSP because we don't get that until we get our first travel date. So if you could donate to help us out it would be so great:) 
 you can donate by using the chip in on the side also you could order butterfly clips from us too if you would rather do that. 
it all helps. THANKS SO MUCH!

Add $80 to that I forgot about the apostille fees for the Dossier documents. :(



 closer little boy closer!

Some great things today

we got three great things today ,first we got an email tellling us that someone has donated $3000 to our FSP woohooooo! 2ND we got our FBI letters back all appostled and ready to go. And 3rd got our Home study draft to look over. Should have things ready to go to USCIS sometime next week. WooHoo getting closer sweet boy!

where we are

Mike and I got our Medicals done yesterday so we can check that one off the list.
 We found out that since Amanda turns 18 in July she had to have her fingerprints done and a state  background check done on her. That will take from 3 to 6 weeks to get back. That means our homestudy can not be finished till we get that back so it puts us back a few weeks. We can't send in the USCIS forms without the Homestudy.The USCIS can take up to 3 months to get back and we have to have that to send in the dossier.We also sent in our FBI background checks a few weeks ago and they take some time to get back they also have to be in the dossier.
 So now  we just wait! wait! wait! that is the game in adoption nothing new to us and I am taking this much better this time around lol. I know in the end when ever that may be he will be home with us and we will have forgotten all of this waiting and paperwork and such. I guess maybe I did learn something from Vahnya's adoption to just trust in the Lord and all will be fine.

WooHooo!  little update since I posted this. We just got our FBI letters and they are all ready to be Appostiled so now we send them into the US Department of State and that will take about 15 days we have the time though since we have to wait for other things. One step closer Baby boy Bashgy!

Video of Sebastian

Vahnya is going to be a good big brother

There was a 3 year old little boy today at the NWDSA  that Vahnya just loved. He hugged him and read with him and talked to him showing him things. It was so sweet and the little boy made me think of Sebastian. I think Vahnya is going to be a great big brother.

I MISS YOU TODAY!

I MISS YOU TODAY ! 
Dear little treasure, little boy that we have named Sebastian,little love that I have never met, never held, never felt your sweet cheeks on my lips,never felt you little fingers around mine,never heard your cry or giggles.
I MISS YOU TODAY!
 Sweet little treasure I know that people who have never adopted will not understand this but I love you! I love you just as I loved my other children as I felt them growing inside of me. You are not growing inside of me but it does not make you any less mine or any less real. 
I MISS YOU TODAY!
You are growing older and older each day. When I meet you you will not be that little baby that has just learned to hold his self up I see in the pictures and videos. You my be crawling or even walking by the time I meet you. I am sad that I will miss that part of your life.
I  MISS YOU TODAY!
Little treasure it is the first time I have felt this for you and it is a good thing it means my Mommy's heart is bonding with you, even from so far away you are mine and one day I will hold you and kiss you and never let you go .I love you my little treasure boy!!!!!
I can't wait for the day that I no longer have to miss you.

Butterflies

Butterflies  $6 each we are going to be doing a craft fair on the 19th, we have done two auctions now plus have had two  orders for 6 and 15 butterflies. We are so excited about this and it feels so good to be able to offer something so pretty and at the same time make some money to bring our boy home.We  will be adding pictures of the ones we have for sale as we make them .If you see one you want to buy contact me at katrina9@clear.net shipping is $2 no matter how many you get.Or if you want to place an order for 5 or more shipping is free.
                                                                               1

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                                                                          18

                                                                           19

                                                                      20

                                                                           21

22 larger than most

                                                                     23 smaller than most

                                                               24 larger than most

                                                             25 larger than most

                                                                          26

                                                                27 smaller than most

                                                      28

                                                     29

                                                    30

I also made Christmas Ornaments they don't have clips but instead have a nylon wire so they can be hung on a tree in a window or where ever you would like to hang them. Selling them in sets of 6 for $20. Each one has a different color bead body. Or if you would like all one color we can do that too.they all have the same silver body.

Vahnya's adoption blog

I was thinking that some of you that have just met us may like to go and read our story of our adoption of Vahnya. If you go back all the way to my first blog post you can read all the way through  from the start of his adoption.
 here is the link.happy reading
http://bringingjosiahhome.blogspot.com/

Expense

Expenses Paid up to now
$425 homestudy update
$25 RR application fee
$3500 agency AAC application fee
$40 FBI finger prints taken
$36 FBI background check
$40 to apostille documents
$31 in all for shipping for documents, checks, ect.
$55 online 2 hour class for special needs.
$20 Amanda fingerprints
$40 medicals copay for Mike and I
$16 FBI letters to be  apostilled
$18 shipping for FBI letters
$975 USCIS
$90 apostille of dossier documents
 Total already paid $5,311.00

Expenses before first trip still need to be paid.
$500 Hague certificate
$5000 first program fee to agency AAC  has to be sent when Dossier is sent.
Total needs to be paid before 1st trip $5,500.00

This is where I will stop for now I would like to work on the first expenses first and then we will move on to the others.That way it will not feel so overwhelming.

If there is anyone out there that needs to make a tax deductible donation for this years taxes you can do that by donating to our adoption. You will get a tax receipt from Reece's Rainbow to to claim it,I know some of you wait until the end

 of the year to make your donations, please think about donating to our adoption and help us bring our baby boy home, Here is where you can donate
http://reecesrainbow.org/48525/sponsornine-2

About today

We don't know who but someone donated $2000 to our FSP today WOW! thank you to who ever that was what a huge blessing.http://reecesrainbow.org/48525/sponsornine-2

   We had our homestudy visit today .It was only two hrs Long unlike six hours for our first one when we adopted Vahnya plus we know Bev our social worker by now after all of her visits for post placement for vahnya . We were still stressed out getting the house clean not sure why lol I don't think Bev cares that our house is clean she knows we are a loving family and will give Sebastian a good life.
  So that is done now and she said she should be done with it in two weeks or less.we have to then send it to our placing agency to look over to give it a hague certificate and that is $500 Mike and I have to go get a updated check up on the 20th then after that we can send the Homestudy to the USCIS to get our fingerprint appointment  and then clearance to go forward with Sebastian adoption. That will be $840. All though we did just get a big donation in our FSP we don't get that money until we travel so we will be continuing to sell butterflies and try to raise funds for all of these things that need to be paid for before that first trip. We are well on our way though and this is so exciting!
OH also today is our little guy Vahnya's 5th birthday his 2nd with us HAPPY BIRTHDAY sweet boy we love you and are so blessed that God has chosen us to be your family!Soon you will have a little brother to celebrate with you.

Butterfly auction

We are having our 2nd auction for  butterfly clips that we make. we  made $175 on our last auction lets see if we can match this one . each bid starts at $2 each plus $1.50 shipping. They are each one of a kind hand made by us and can be used for so many things.
 Here is the link to the pictures.If you want to bid on  one just click the picture and put your comment saying your bid. You can pay using the chip in on this blog after the auction is over.
Butterfly clips $5 each click here for pictures

Thank you for helping us bring our little treasure home.

thank you

I had two people tell me yesterday Thank you when I told them we had adopted Vahnya and were going to adopt Sebastian.One was a lady at the dentist the other a lady at Amelia's school. 
  It feels strange to me for them to say thank you to me, congrats  yes but thank you just felt strange. We are the ones to be thankful  we will get the joy of having this boy in our family. I will get the privilege to be his Mommy. God is giving us this wonderful blessing as he has with all of our children. So Don't thank me,  Thank him!

His new name!

So do any of you care to know what we have decided to name our little treasure? His Reece's Rainbow name is Linden and his birth name is too hard to pronounce. So we are giving him a new name, his daddy picked it out and I think it fits him perfect.
   Here is the catch I am not going to announce his name until our FSP  or our chip in on our blog  reaches $100 what ever one hits it first. Our FSP   is at $30 right now and our chip in at 0 :(   

As soon as one of them hits $100  his new name will be announced. So anyone want to play along and get one up to $100? 

Our chip in is to the right of this blog.

Here is the link to our FSP

http://reecesrainbow.org/48525/sponsornine-2

                                       This is how we announced our adoption to everyone.

New pictures!

We got new pictures of our baby and he looks a lot better then what I had thought he would look like. Look at his sweet little face I love his nose. we are getting closer to him got things going got some paperwork done and it feels real.We still can not tell anyone yet though ugggggg!

Here he is.