Dossier Success!!!

We have been silent for the past month but only because we have been very busy.  Sam had his 3 week adventure in the mountains for work.  Michelle was busy keeping the farm running and had family visitors to keep her company.  In the middle of all the travel our I-797 finally came.  This is the most important form we received.  It basically says that US immigration has approved us to bring our children home to the US. 

Michelle received it and the next day got it and the other 18 documents overnighted to Houston where they were hand delivered to the Chinese Consulate.  They reviewed all our documents and put a sticker on each one that tells the Adoption folks in China that it is legitimate and not forged, etc. 

Today we received the documents back and will now send them to our Adoption Agency for review. If all check out they will be sent to China next Friday and walked in to the CCCWA that Monday!  It will take 2-6 weeks for them to process the paperwork and get us in their database.  We will then get a log in date, which will mean we are eligible to be matched with a child. 

What's next after that??  Waiting....

We could be matched the next day, next month, a year, two years, who knows.

After we are matched with our first child we will have only about 4 months to find our 2nd child.  At some point time will run out on us being able to get them both in one trip. 

The paper chase has been a real test of our patience.  We really thought we would be done months ago.  God has reminded us that He is in charge, not us.  We know that His timing is perfect even if we think otherwise. 

We are very thankful for our family and friends who have encouraged us along the way. 

The pic below is the final stack of papers that we are sending off.

'That's a lot of money for a bunch of JUNK'

...that's how my (Sam's) dad summed up our yard sale.  We raised about $1,000 towards the adoption expenses!  It was amazing how much better it went with so many people involved.  We had some leftover stuff from our last yard sale, but the 'good' stuff came from our friends and from a local business who held a consignment sale a few months ago and gave us all the stuff no one came back to pick up.  And let me tell you, it was a  LOT.  Because this was part of the World's Widest Yard Sale it was a Friday, Saturday, Sunday affair.  I took it all to my parent's the weekend before and they got it all put out and some-what priced.  I have an aversion to spending lots of time pricing stuff for a dime.

Beverly Hillbillies?  All we needed was Granny

Even though it was a bunch of junk, God used it to not only allow us to raise some funds for the Adoption but also talk to folks about our adoption.  We were beyond blessed and so thankful for our family and friends who helped out.

Who is excited about finger prints???

We are!  Our appointment notice arrived today.  On June 11 we will have our finger prints taken (again) so the government can ensure we don't have an FBI record, etc. 

We are excited to be making progress! 

The big Yard Sale is next weekend in Troy (see previous post about that). 

I800a received!

We received confirmation that our application to US Immigration has been received and forwarded to the processing center.  We should receive an appointment to get our finger prints taken.  Hopefully this will be smooth and we will get our approval back in mid June. 

Yard Sale
We were rained out on our last attempt at a yard sale.  We will be joining Sam's parents on the weekend of June 1st.  It will be part of the World's Widest Yard Sale.  We have LOTS of stuff from our house, friends, family, and a consignment store.  Hope you can come join us!

Home Study complete! I-800a mailed!

If you look at our last few posts you will wonder why we have not written about the Home Study being complete.  Well, we got a final copy at the end of March, however our agency wanted some changes made.  One thing led to another and long story short we got the final, notarized copies in the mail Saturday!  We aren't sure why it took so long but we are trusting in God's perfect timing. 

Today we mailed the I-800a.  It is a 9 page document (that has 11 pages of official instructions, plus a full scale example).  This form goes to US Immigration and seeks approval for us to adopt children and bring them to this country.  We will also be finger printed, again.  This form is only valid for 18 months so we will be racing to finish when we get our approval letter back. 

We still have a few letters to collect and get certified. As soon as the paper work is all together we will send it to Houston to the Chinese Consulate for to be authenticated, then off to China they go!  At this point we hope the documents are
In China by the end of June. 

The Yard Sale (that wasn't)
we had scheduled a Yard Sale for Saturday, however the weather did not cooperate. Not only did we get 1.5'' of rain but it was one of the coldest days on May on record. But we have LOTS of stuff and we will participate in the World's Widest Yard Sale on June 1st.  Not sure where we will setup on the 300 mile route but we will be somewhere. 

Winter Review and Spring Preview!

Sam and I haven't posted much on the blog these past few months.  It is not that we haven't wanted to update you on our progress, but with our work, farm life and the demands of our adoption paperwork, the days end with us tired and falling into bed.  Despite the busyness, I feel like we are in such a sweet period of life right now!  I wake up daily with a quiet sense of joy each day (Sam probably wouldn't call the days I wake up with energy and an off-key song "quiet joy," but that's ok!). 
I thought I would share a few snapshots of what's been going on day to day for the last three months.   We've taken on some wonderful equine boarders, have been trying to enjoy our sweet, little farm and all of God's beautiful creation, spent fun time with each other, enjoyed all types of weather that winter in the south offers, been making great strides to be healthy, have begun planning our garden for the summer and have bought a little something here and there for some special little girls....  See?  Life is sweet!

Home Study Wrapping up!

Greetings Friends!
It's been a while and we wanted to give everyone an update.

We are proceeding SLOWLY through the process...but we are making progress!  Our Social Worker has met with us four times and asked a lot of questions about our background, parenting styles, etc.  She also educated us a lot on the process, including issues related to attachment  which are very important in children who have had 'less than optimal care.' It's all been very helpful.  So, that part is done and she is writing a 12+ page report just about us, our home, family, and stating that we meet all the requirements from the state.

Take 'Note'
Who ever knew that a Notary Public was such an important thing?!  We have to have every document Notarized. This means that the person signing has to do it in the presence of the notary.  However, because of all the scrutiny these documents will be under, it also has to be done exactly  right.  This includes:

• All dates must be the same date.  This includes the Date on the document, Date signed, Date notarized
• Needs to be signed with a blue pen
• The Notary’s commission must be valid for at least six months from the day it was notarized.
• Notary must include:
• Their stamp/seal (Must include the notary’s name)
• Their signature (Must match the seal/stamp name EXACTLY, for example if seal says Mary Jane Smith, do not sign Mary J. Smith)
• Commission expiration (no sooner than six months)

That's a lot to communicate!  We have had a couple of documents that must be redone. We've learned from these mistakes and are back on track now!

After we get items notarize the Notary Seal has to be Certified at the County Courthouse in the Notary's home County.  Then we will take them to the Secretary of State's Office so that they can certify that the Probate Judge's certification is authentic.  We will then bundle all of these documents together and send them to Houston, Texas to the Chinese Consulate where they will look at all the State certifications and attach  another piece of paper to each of them saying that the State certification is authentic.  If you are counting that is 4 steps including notarization.  Our agency will then bundle all these documents and send them to China where they will be Logged In to the system.  

We hope this has helped to explain why the paperchasing process takes so long. We have so much to be thankful for.  God has continued to bless us and show us His Great Wonders.  Thank you for keeping up with us and praying for us during this process.