Blaschke Family Adoption Journey

Passports? Check. Travel Visa? Check. Adoption Travel Approval? Check. Airline Tickets? Check. Place to live? Well ... we're working on it! We are officially counting down the days to take off. Once we get to Brazil, the kids will be with us for a 30 day "co-habitation" period before the adoption is finalized. We are taking all of our girls with us, so it will be the full house for our whole time in country. Photo by  Johan Van Wambeke  on  Unsplash I have absolutely been humbled and impressed by all of the social workers, court representatives, and others who have served us and taken care of the children through this whole process. They have been a joy to work with and throughout every step it is clear that they care about the kids and put the needs of the child ahead of their own. Working in the system to facilitate care for orphans is such a beautiful ministry and service. These are angels on earth and deserve our prayers and support. Speaking of prayers

It has been less than a year since we said "yes" to God's call to adopt and started our application process. Life will not - can not - ever be the same. We are probably 2-3 weeks from travel at this point. Our day is filled with a) trying to act normal and do school and clean house and maintain laundry like everything is fine, b) juggling forms and travel plans and priorities while never knowing what's next exactly, c) laughing and crying and bouncing from one emotional extreme to the next as we enjoy counting down the days and try to get as much done on our to-do list as we can. We were blessed to be able to buy a new car (new to us!). "Big Bertha" is a 15-passenger 2017 Ford Transit van; big enough for everyone plus a few more! We have been working on home renovations as well. Our garage is enclosed now. The dining room is expanded and a new bedroom is framed in. The large area allows for a nice school room as well and will let the "office/school

Each passing day brings new excitement and joy as we look forward to being united with our Brazilian kids for the first time. Erica was able to update the photo wall in our room with pictures of the kids and the visual of seeing all 9 of us on the same picture collage is exhilarating. (Sorry we can't post them yet, we will share pictures ASAP!) The reality of traveling is hitting us hard. We know it will be soon ... but not exactly when. It means coordinating multiple flights and a lengthy stay at a rental house in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil. Another of our grant application was reviewed and approved! This one if from Gift of Adoption. They are contributing $7,500 to our final adoption expenses! We are simply speechless as we receive grant awards from these organizations and continue to be supported by family and friends alike. The generosity of the family of God around the world is overwhelming. Our family is also knee-deep in our next and (hopefully) final fundraising effor

Waiting If there was a single word to sum up July 2019 on our adoption journey it was this: WAITING! It felt like the doldrums of the dog days of summer. Every day we worked on another grant application or another piece of education or another step in remodeling our garage to expand for more kids. Every day it felt that we were no closer than we had been the previous day. Three times we heard back from one particular grant agency ... "we have you scheduled for review." But after we updated our info and we were still waiting for our Dossier to be approved by CEJAI, the response "you have been rescheduled." After the first set of our Dossier had been translated and submitted in very early July, I had hoped that we would hear back from Brazil that we had been approved by mid-August and then; possibly, that we had been matched by September. Great News! Yesterday (Aug 16) we got a phone call from the Help Us Adopt grant agency. They were pleased to tell us that

Adoption To-Do List 1. Homestudy 2. Dossier Preparati on 3. Approval 4. Match ing 5. I-800 finalization 6. Travel I keep thinking we can cross more things off the list, but then we look and we are only 85% or 99% of the way done with stuff. The Dossier, for example. We have 22 of 23 items crossed off. The last item is completed, but pending a final approval before getting notarized here and then submitted. The whole packet of original documents had to be Notarized in New Mexico and mailed to our Adoption Service Provider (ASP). The ASP is having the entire file apostilled into the state of Alabama (a legal process for certifying that thing is indeed the original thing of the thing it is). Then it will be translated into Portuguese and submitted to CEJA (Brazil's Central Adoption Authority). Or the I-800, which we were delighted to hear has been approved by US Customs and Immigration. But I guess there are some outstanding specifics once we have been officially matc

I remember the day that we found out we were expecting Nesira. I was so young. We were so not ready. Suddenly being a grown up and adult wasn't just a hypothetical someday, it was right now. The "honeymoon" phase with my darling wife was over and it was time for the "parenting" phase. There was joy mixed with fear, excitement with intimidation, it was a wonderful time. Now I sit here on Father's Day 10 years later, and my heart aches because 4 of our 7 kids are not at home. At least, that's how it feels. I should be celebrating with my girls. Enjoying the breakfast they made for me. Playing outside. Going fishing. But I'm just relaxing and feeling a little bit sad. L's birthday is June 18. He will turn 7. I wonder if he is watching the Copa America in the group home? I wonder if he is outside pretending to be Neymar and playing with his brothers and sister, or with neighborhood kids. I wonder if I'll be a good dad for them. Being a