Fed Ex arrived in Samara today!!!!

WWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOO HHHHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Our Fed Ex package arrived in Samara TODAY!!!!! Two days earlier than required!!!! So, the translators are off and running............about 1 week for them and then about 2 weeks for the officials to send us back a letter inviting us to come and see her.

Yesterday I got updated medical information (measurements)........I took them to the dr. today and hope to hear GOOD NEWS quickly!!!! :):):) I can tell by the measurements that I definitely think I won't have to worry about the "possible" hydrochephalous diagnosis...........I didn't think I did with how cute her picture is!! :):):)

Terri for the Casebier's

Update on paperwork to Russia

Hi everyone.........in case you've been following the Fed Ex paper route with me, I wanted to let you know that it's in Russia and I found out today that the Fed Ex site will have it listed as "in transit" from now until it reaches it's destination (by THIS Friday!!!! 6/29/07).

At that point, it has to be translated (about 1 week) and then it goes to the officials and they have to decide to send us an "invitation" to come and meet our daughter...............we've been told that it's roughly 2 weeks for them to send out that invitation...........

SOOOOO, that means that we should be hearing from them within the next 3 1/2 weeks and then travel within 1/2 to 1 week after that.

Just wanted to let you know........keep us in prayers for 1. Donations for the orphanage, 2. Gifts for the orphanage workers and all those involved in our adoption, 3. Finances for plane, food, and hotel, 4. Finances for paying the remainder of the adoption costs (traveling money needs--not hotel, food, & plane related), 5. Traveling mercies.

Thank you everyone!!!!

Terri for the Casebier's

Paperwork Update

Ok.....as of yesterday, I received my receipt from the USCIS for the 171 application.....they got my homestudy WITH the application, but for some reason didn't send us a fingerprint sheet..........so we are waiting on that response for now.

Today, we received the FBI fingerprint cards back. Now they will be overnighted (received by Monday a.m.) to our agency so that they can priority mail them to the West Virginia Secretary of State for apostilles. I'm hoping that all of this travel for them will have them back in the agency's hands by July 6th.

The only other paperwork that we have to get done is our medical paperwork. We can't get that done until we're really close to going because it expires too quickly.

None of this paperwork is required for our 1st trip...........and I found out that the "word" comes back to our agency via email..........so now the 1st trip timeline COULD be 10 days to get there (IT'S IN RUSSIA AS OF TODAY!!!!), 7 or so days to get translated, then another week or so for the government to issue the invitation and give us a date for travel. Considering that the 10 day wait to get to Russia is already well under way, that means we could be hearing something and traveling for the 1st trip as soon as the middle of July!!!! :):):)

That really puts me more at ease because we need to be totally back here before August 13th, when Gary will HOPEFULLY be starting a new job.......plus we'd like a couple days to rest before going back to work!! :):):)..........AND, I think we can get the doctor stuff done as soon as we back from our 1st trip.......so we need a day or so to get that done (the dr. office doesn't have a notary IN it, so we have to go when the notary for the dr. office is in -- they're across the street in an actual office type position).

As you can see, this is going pretty fast........Please pray for us to be fully ready and for our finances. The 2 people that were trying to get tickets for us will not be able to..........so we need to figure that out as well (besides the orphanage donations and gifts for those that help us out while we are there).

This is definitely not the same as our China adoption........lol :):):)

Terri for the Casebier's

IT'S ON IT'S WAY!!!!!

Here's the email I just received from my agency!!!!

Hi Terri,
I wanted to let you know that I received your home study today. A copy is attached. Your dossier will go out today to the region. I am sending it Fed Ex and the tracking number is 8597 4559 2378.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Kind regards,
XXXXX


I'll be tracking it each step of the way..........but she said it should take about 10 days just to get to the region (so much for next day delivery........lol).

I figure 10 days in, 10 days out, and about 7-14 days for their paperwork process........so it should be about 27-34 days before we hear anything.

Until then, the blogging will mostly consist of my feelings, packing, and of our fund raising efforts.

Until then.............

Terri for the Casebier's

Confusion?...........or a blessing?

Well,

Here it is................yesterday I contacted my agency........they told me that the Moscow clinics had closed, but we were still doing medicals "in region"..........so we shouldn't be delayed at all.

AND, after talking with this same person on Friday about the medical information we have on Isabelle and her telling me how "accurate" it is.......she told me yesterday that sometimes it IS better than what is listed..............which is what I asked about in the first place.

Now, the real kicker, the person online that told me about the doctor closings, etc..........she's with MY agency and MY agent is who told her about the closings and started this whole mess...................clarity is apparently not a strong point for her............. :(

This just teaches me that I have to make sure I ask LOTS of probing questions to get to all the details and ask things MANY different ways so that she understands what I am looking for.

However, it's also WONDERFUL to be able to still hope that Isabelle will be ours and that time will come soon...............we still hope to travel by the beginning of August...........

Our last document will arrive in the Oregon office today from the Secretary of State!!! It will go to Russia today as well!!!!..............the countdown starts to getting our letter of invitation..................I REALLY hope that we are told to make the entire 1st trip before the 13th of August (when Gary starts his new job, new school, new career) so that Gary can go with me and not have it interfere with his job..............

Thanks again for all the prayers!!! Our "Hope" is renewed!!!!!!!!!

Terri for the Casebier's

Great is YOUR faithfulness oh Lord............YOUR mercies are NEW EVERY morning!!!! Your STEADFAST LOVE NEVER ceases!!!!

The end???? or just a new direction........AGAIN???

The Saga continues...............it's amazing what happens when we all start
saying how things are going really fast and God is so obviously in
it.................

Tonight I received an email from a NEW member (introduction) in the Russian
group............she's waiting for her court date (already made 1st visit)
and has to have the "8 doctors" give her baby the check up. Apparently
there are 2 sets of offices you can go to..............1 shut down a month
ago and the 2nd shut down on the 15th............................the reason
according to her agency..............to slow down adoptions.

We haven't sent our paperwork (or money) to Russia (though we have to the
agency) because of the glitch with the 1 other
paper........................now I don't know exactly what to think. I'm
sorely depressed.

We can change to another country, but we can't afford to switch to another
country (we couldn't really afford Russia, but the fees were reduced for
her) and even then, they all seem pretty shaky to me right now. The agency
won't return fees............only allow us to change countries or keep with
this one.

So, that means we're 0 for 3 now..............applied to Ukraine,
closed.......applied to China, slow down happened (lucky if we'll get her
within the next 3 years).............applied to Russia, closed.

And now we don't have Hannah's money AND we don't have the money to do a
domestic adoption.

I've emailed my agency to ask them questions and should hear back tomorrow.
If it doesn't go well, I probably won't be online for a pretty long time.
This is too depressing for me right now.

Here's the email's that I received.........

"My agency just told me last week that the 2 clinics that complete the '8 dr. medicals' have been shut down for 30 days apparently to intentionally delay the completion of adoptions. One was closed earlier in the month and the other was closing on the 15th of June. They are trying to get more information and see if there are any alternatives. I'm hoping something can be worked out!"


> Are you saying that they are intentionally shutting down the dr.'s so that
> adoptions can't be finished?

"Yes, that's what my agency told me (on Wednesday of last week)... I don't
have any more information than that. I'm hoping that it is a
misunderstanding and that adoptions are continuing. But it has me nervous
since I'm waiting on my court date."


Thanks, I really do appreciate all of your previous and new
prayers.................

Terri for the Casebier's

Our Hiccup begins..............

This last few days has been kind of a downer for me. First, our agency,
being small, had a person out for family issues and so she didn't take care
of our home study update like she was supposed to. Then, when she got to
it, it was dated incorrectly (because we'd already taken her other papers to
be apostilled) so we had to get it reapostilled. As of tonight it's still
sitting in the Secretary of State's office (has been there 2 days now with a
Fed Ex envelope attached). Who knows when and or where it is in the office
building (handed to the mail room) and if they've even touched it yet. The
agency was "HOPING" that Oregon would have it by Monday, but now there's no
chance of that. It's all that I'm missing for my documents to go to Russia.
I've not only done those currently necessary, but those that aren't due
yet................and my agency is dropping the ball!!!

Then, we finally got word from a doctor today about Isabelle's medical file
(actually both doctors finally got back to us today). The prognosis really
wasn't that great. She "COULD" have hydrochephalous.................and
possibly cerebral palsy according to what was written. I know that some
countries put the "worst case scenario" down to help the child get out
sooner, but this is ridiculous. It may not be what she has. Her head,
according to both doctors, looks fine..............she was premature
though............probably 2 months because of a problem her mother had (not
because of anything she had going on). So, we've requested updates on her
numbers, her current developmental abilities, and a video...............the
video is a long shot. They basically quit doing them in Russia a little
over 2 years ago. I'm all about the cleft palate stuff, but I don't think I
can handle the other stuff if it's real. If we get there and it's true, we
can choose to not accept her and they'll match us with another
child...............but I don't want to do that. However, I don't want to
not accept her and not fully know that she has it..............I don't know
what to do. I am torn. I've already seen her face and started falling in
love with her. Dh has already started planning for her. Dh has some
classes in occupational therapy, so developemental delays (not Cerebral
Palsy) are really right up his alley..................that doesn't bother
me. Cleft lip/palate/nose is totally correctable so that doesn't bother me
either...................and then there's the whole issue (for me) about how
can I not accept a child just because of a birth defect..........I mean, the
child still deserves a mom & dad..........that's just horrible to not accept
her because of it. If I birthed her, I wouldn't turn away.....................and possible defects are always a possibility with your own births (though we can do things to try and prevent them, we can't always prevent them).

So, please pray with me that I can be at peace and that God is able to give
us some information for the doctors that leads them to believe that she is
ok.

Thanks,

Terri for the Casebier's