My how the time does fly!  I can't believe it has been so long since my last post.  A lot has been happening in our little adoption world.  First of all, Matt and I have been enrolled with Holt International!  Originally, Matt and I had been interested in pursuing a sibling group adoption in India, Philippines, and S. Korea but after many phone calls and emails to the wonderful people at Holt and much discussion and prayer between the two of us, we decided to narrow our search just a bit.  

New standards in international adoption have been put in place in the United States and around the world as of April 2008.  Those standards are called the Hague treaty.  The Hague treaty was established for protection for children, birth parents and adoptive parents while also endorsing the concept of international adoption as a means for homeless children to receive permanent, loving families.   Basically, the Hague treaty prevents abduction, sale, or trafficking of children.  South Korea is not a Hague accredited country.  Because of this and because of some issues between Hague and non-Hague home studies, Matt and I don't feel comfortable adopting from a non-Hague country so our children will be coming to us from either India or the Philippines.  

Other big news...Last week Matt and I were talking about the price of our home study (a big concern for us at the moment) and out of desperation decided to email our social worker, Katie, to ask how most people afford their home study.  We weren't really sure what to expect for a response but we certainly did not expect what we heard.  Apparently, our home study agency had just received a donation of $500 that was to be a scholarship toward a deserving family's home study.  Katie thought we would be perfect!  The meeting to decide who gets the scholarship is scheduled for March 17th.  Now, this is only 20% of our home study fees but every little bit (or in this case, big chunk) helps!  Please pray with us that we receive this scholarship!

We also had an unexpected email last week from the India country program assistant, Mary.  Mary informed us that the India country program leader is currently in India. He told Mary that India will most likely be releasing several more sibling groups to Holt in the next few months and, while they cannot guarantee anything, there might be a sibling group match for us in that group!  We are thrilled and terrified by this prospect!  Even if we were matched with one of these sibling groups it will be months before we know and many months after that before we'd be able to complete all of our country requirements and months after that before we'd be able to travel.  BUT there is still a chance that we could have little ones with us in about a year.  However, don't get excited because it is just as likely, if not more likely, that this is not going to be a match for us. 

So...that's our update for now!  I promise, promise, promise I will be better about more frequent updates!  Sorry about the crazy amount of information in this blog entry :)