It's been awhile...

Hey All,

It's been awhile. Sorry for taking so long to update.

Here's the latest information surrounding our adoption journey:

• Our agency has had a great response from the majority of "waiting families". This means things will continue to move forward with our agency. Definitely a good thing :-).
• Everything seems to be picking up it's pace a bit. So we may be taking our first trip sooner than expected (our initial thought is somewhere around September 2009).
• Along with Mom and Dad, Caleb, Micah, and Seth are getting more & more excited about their little sister and her arrival.
• Please continue to pray for our little girl in Russia (her accommodations, her health, her birth mother who has made such a tough decision, etc.), please continue to pray for our family as we continue along our adoption journey, and please continue to pray for other families that have taken a tremendous step in faith and are on their own adoption journey.

Well, that's it for now!

THANKS for reading!

Love, The Kneidings

Adoption Agency Meeting Update

Hey,

For those that are following our adoption adventure. We had our "mandatory" meeting with our agency on Monday, January 12th.

The adoption agency is having financial difficulties due to a variety of reasons... The #1 reason being related to the state of our global economy.

We have been asked to pay an additional fee by February 1, 2009. The "supplemental" fee requirement is needed to help our agency stay open. They, like many companies, have made necessary cuts within their organization and approached us "waiting" families as a last resort option.

They also told us they will be asking for additional supplemental fees in the next four upcoming quarters for a lesser amount.

After a couple days of reflection, we are trying our best to understand their position and the level of stress and anxiety that they must be feeling as a result of the economic situation and the actions they have just taken.

These reflection periods have also provided us with an opportunity to THANK God for all of His blessing upon our lives. He has provided so much and He will continue to do so. We just need to continue have faith in His plan for our lives (we must admit, this is extremely hard to do at times).

As we entered this journey, we knew the road would be long, sometimes bumpy, but would end awesome! In the middle of this journey, it is very easy to get distracted by the "bumps" that come our way. We need to maintain our focus on what will occur in the near future...another miracle added to our family!

THANK God for His Goodness! THANK you for your thoughts, kind words, and prayer!

Have a great day!!!

Keith and Jennifer

Hey All,

We hope everybody had a Merry Christmas and we wish all of you a Happy New Year!

The latest update:

On Saturday, December 27th, we received a letter from our adoption agency calling for a mandatory meeting for all "waiting families".

In the letter they talked about a "perfect storm" for the adoption process. Wait times for available children are increasing, the global economy is in a recession, and the number of available babies is dropping due to a number of circumstances. Bottom Line: This "perfect storm" has potentially pushed our agency into jeopardy (according to their letter they sent).

Please pray for us, please pray for other adoptive families, and please pray for our agency as we all enter this mandatory meeting on January 12th.

THANKS for viewing! Have a Happy New Year!!!

Merry Christmas

Hello Everybody,

Many have been asking us, "What is going on in the adoption process?" Nothing is new. We're still in a "wait mode" and we probably will not hear anything new until Fall 2009.

We THANK everybody for their constant and consistent prayer and support. It has been awesome! Please continue to pray for us and our new child throughout this adoption process.

We would like to take this opportunity to wish everybody a Merry CHRISTmas and a Happy New Year! Please remember, Jesus is the Reason for the Season!

Love,
The Kneidings

Faith

Hello All,

Just sitting here today thinking of our adoption journey and one word keeps echoing in my head - Faith!

What is Faith?

George Michael sang that "you gotta have" it.

Merriam-Webster's dictionary describes it as:
1 a: allegiance to duty or a person : loyalty b (1): fidelity to one's promises (2): sincerity of intentions

2 a (1): belief and trust in and loyalty to God (2): belief in the traditional doctrines of a religion b (1): firm belief in something for which there is no proof (2): complete trust

3: something that is believed especially with strong conviction ; especially : a system of religious beliefs

Hebrews 11:1 in the Bible (God's road map for our lives) describes Faith as "The substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen."

The New International Version (NIV) of the Bible states, "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see".

The Message version of the Bible states, "The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It's our handle on what we can't see."

So, Faith, what is it?

Notice some of the words utilized in the above descriptions. Words like - TRUST, BELIEF, LOYALTY, HOPE, GOD. These words help best describe Faith for me.

People have asked us many "WHY?" questions regarding our adoption journey. Why Russia?, Why now?, Why add another child to your family?, Why? Why? Why?

Well, we believe we have been called to adopt a child (long before we even had our three little guys).

Did we initially choose Russia? No. But God has clearly guided us in this direction and continues to drive home the point that Russia is the place where our new little girl is.

This whole adventure is a Giant Step in Faith for our family.

God continues to make the path and we continue to follow it with Trust, Loyalty, Belief, and Hope!

THANKS for reading!

Biometric Screening

Hello All,

Last week Jennifer and I had to head down to an immigration office in Detroit for Biometric Screening.

This screening is part of the USCIS I-600A process and sounds unbelievably intimidating. Jen and I were very curious as to what Biometrics our government was prepared to screen :)

As we entered, we quickly realized that what our government refers to as Biometric Screening (at least related to the adoption process) is just an extremely fancy word set for fingerprinting.

The process took all of 10 minutes and our Biometrics were screened.

Total Cost for all of this was $830. Yes, that's right, $83 per minute if you're counting. In essence, it cost us $41.50 per finger printed. (20 fingers).

Heck, some would argue that you can get this service done free of charge at your local precinct. All it would take is a nice ride in the back of a police car :-)

No wonder why our government has such a nice name for this process :-)

THANKS for Reading!

Watch your Biometrics or they may get screened!

Love,
Keith and Jennifer

Check out this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3UWiJCZAz8

It's been a while!

Hello All,

I know, I know, it's been a while since our last post.

I also know all of you have been waiting on the edge of your seats with baited breath for the next post :-)

Here it is.

Jennifer and I started taking a Conversational Russian class on Tuesday evenings at the Trenton High School. What an awesome experience!

In the last 3 weeks, Jen and I have learned the Russian Alphabet (roughly 33 letters/sounds compared to our 26 letters), we have learned about 150 words, and we have learned about Russia in general (what to see, how the country's regions are divided up, the country's politics, where to eat, etc.)!

Our teacher, Elena (pronounced Yelena), was raised in Russia and moved to the US when she was in her twenties. She speaks five different languages fluently, holds a few different degrees, and has traveled the world. Talk about making us feel humble and thankful all at once. We leave class every Tuesday very appreciative for being able to learn from somebody as knowledgeable as Elena.

So class is awesome!

In other news...

Jennifer talked to our Adoption Agency last week and they stated that are wait for a Referral may take longer.

We were hoping to take our 1st trip to Russia around September 2009. Now, we're thinking that the trip may be pushed back by approx. 4 more months. Again, this is what we've been told.

As we have committed and admitted from the beginning. This whole process is a BIG step in FAITH for us and we have decided to leave everything surrounding our adoption process at God's feet. He is in control of this entire process and He has our Alexandra already picked out for us. He will lead us to each other in His time.

Please continue to pray for us, for our boys, and for little Alexandra!

THANKS for reading!

Love,
Keith and Jennifer

P.S. Click the link and turn up the volume on your computer. The vide0 is very creative and extremely cool! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CT7x3VnrqbA