BIG NEWS! Finally moving forward!!

We have great news to share with all of you.  We received the ARC approval AND the NOC approval – BOTH IN ONE DAY!!! We are so incredibly excited! These two steps are very significant for a few reasons:

1. The orphanage director will now tell Abby and Autumn that they have a family and are going to be adopted.
2. Our “match” (or referral for those adoption lingo experts) with Abby and Autumn cannot be taken away at this point. It will not fall through. There are no objections at any level in either country's government.
3. We are allowed to send Abby and Autumn a letter and scrapbook introducing ourselves to them! We are super duper excited about this part – it will be their first ever Christmas present!!

So, I am sure your next questions are “what's next?” and “when are they coming home?”. Here are the steps left in the process:

1. Court – Next up is the court hearing where a judge will grant guardianship of the girls to us. This is where we become a family! They will officially be Fraleys. Our case will be filed in court sometime in the next two weeks. Then we will wait for the hearing to be scheduled. Sometimes only one hearing is necessary, but some judges have 2 or even 3 hearings before they rule on an adoption case. We are praying for one and done!
2. Passports – After court, we will need to wait for the written court orders to be issued. These written orders will be used to file for Abby and Autumn's passports. Passports can be done in as quickly as 2 weeks, but sometimes can take months. You just never know. Every family's story is different.
3. Travel – Once Abby and Autumn's passports are ready, we are free to go pick them up!!

We are really really close now! This means we need to kick our final stage of fundraising into high gear. Our agency estimates that we will need $10,000 to completely finish the adoption from this point. That includes all travel costs. We currently have about $6,000 raised/saved. So, expect to see lots of fundraisers from us in the near future and pray for lots of overtime to be offered :)