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For now, things seem to be moving right along! We were able to complete our dossier for Little Lady #3 last Monday and, on Tuesday afternoon, we sent it on its way: Proof that Richard is a part of this process as well! Here he is with our completed dossier, very happy to be bidding it farewell! "You know we're crazy right!?" "I mean, really NUTS!" Our dossier arrived in Bulgaria on Friday afternoon and, because it has already been translated, will begin the authentication process tomorrow (today, of course, is a Bulgarian holiday). We are hopeful that it will be filed and registered with the Ministry of Justice on Monday (5/31) and we are praying that we will receive our official referral for Little Lady #3 by next Friday (6/4). We learned last week that it is unlikely that we will travel the first two weeks in July as we had hoped, as there will be another family traveling in that time slot. Instead, it looks like we will be traveling towards the middle/end of...

*PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR NEW POSTS* When we began this journey we prayed that we would be able to complete these adoptions without incurring any additional debt. Through the hand of the Lord, a lot of hard work and the support of our wonderful friends, family and even strangers, we have watched, in humility, as the needed funds have always been there when we needed them, without incurring any additional debt! As we near the end of our journey we find that we are once again, just short of the mark. We will be bringing our lovely ladies home in just six, short weeks! We are calling our final fundraiser "Pieced Together By Love." Here is how it works: We have purchased a 500 piece puzzle featuring one of my favorite pictures of the Savior by artist Del Parson: For every $5 donation, the name of the donor will be featured on the back of a puzzle piece. Each donor will only have their name listed once, but every additional $5 donation by the same donor can be made in someone elses ...

Friday was a wonderful day of celebration! We danced, we sang, we jumped for joy, enjoyed some celebratory "sisters" ice cream at our favorite ice cream shop, and of course, got down on our knees and thanked our Heavenly Father over and over again for His guiding hand in this process and the many mighty miracles that He has worked to get us to this point. As Friday drew to a close it was time to put our game faces on once again so that we could focus on getting our third little ladybug home too. We spent today running to and fro getting our dossier certified and apostilled and I am very happy to say that another dossier is COMPLETE! We will be bidding it a fond farewell and sending it on its way to Bulgaria tomorrow and hope that it will be in the hands of our facilitator by the end of the week! Fortunately, because we were able to scan and email the dossier to Toni prior to sending it (and because she translated an almost identical dossier for us just a few months ago) she h...

I just received a phone call from our attorney in Bulgaria and. . . . . I AM NOW OFFICIALLY THE MOTHER OF SEVEN!!! Hallelujah!!! I have to admit, with so little time for Social Services to prepare and mail the requested reports, I was expecting to hear that court would be rescheduled (I know, "ye of little faith") and, when there was no news from Bulgaria waiting for me in my inbox this morning, I was convinced that was the case. But when the phone rang at 9 am and I heard Toni's voice, I knew that the Lord had worked another mighty miracle! And now, I would like to OFFICIALLY introduce my two beautiful daughters: Alayna Svetelina Rieben Lilyana Claire Rieben Is there any doubt that my Heavenly Father loves me!? Not in my mind! Now. . .time to celebrate!

In just a few hours, in a courtroom in Sofia, Bulgaria, the judge who has been assigned to our case will deliver her ruling. This will be the first time that I have not been present during the decision-making process. This will be the first time that I have no say in the proceedings, the first time that I will not be there to explain why we long to make these beautiful little girls a part of our family, to explain to the judge just how much potential they possess and just how loved and cherished they already are and always will be. How I long to be in that courtroom to be a voice for my beautiful little girls. Although we will not be there for the proceedings, we have been blessed with an amazing attorney who knows our hearts and who cares for our girls just as deeply as we do. She WILL be a voice for our family and for our girls and, if it comes down to it, we know that she will fight for us. Still, the fact that the decision will be made while we are sleeping (yeah right!) over 5000 ...

When we first began this process in February 2009, I felt impressed to ask our social worker to approve us for three children. At the time, I felt confident that we would be bringing home two children, but I just couldn't shake the feeling that I needed to ask for approval for three, so I did and our social worker approved. Some of you may recall that, just a few days before our dossier was submitted to the Ministry of Justice, we were committed to bringing three children home- Lily, Alayna and a little boy with arthrogryposis. Just three days before our dossier was submitted, we learned that our little boy's mother had withdrawn consent for adoption and that we would no longer be able to bring him home. The news was devastating. The Ministry of Justice gave us the opportunity to commit to another child prior to submitting our dossier, but, after a lot of prayer and discussion, we made the decision to move forward with the girls. It was terribly hard for me to accept that decis...

I know, I know! I REALLY need to stop with the disappearing acts, but have no fear, I am still here and I am still stressed! In the way of an update, our dossier DID make it to court, and quickly. It did not happen on April 28th as we had hoped, but it was there by the 30th and the potential disaster that we had been concerned about was, fortunately, averted! Last Wednesday morning, as the kids and I were heading out the door for Philadelphia, we received our court date! Our hearing has been scheduled for THIS FRIDAY, May 14th at 9:30 am (Bulgarian time)! We are, of course, ecstatic that we received such a quick court date, however, with the good news, often comes the bad. Though we received a quick court date, the judge that has been assigned to our case has also requested additional paperwork. Fortunately, nothing is required on our part. Unfortunately, the requested paperwork is reports, completed by Social Services in the girls' respective towns, stating whether or not the girl...