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).
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!
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.
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!
I love blog posts with pictures, so I thought I would post some pictures of gifts that our girls have received ALREADY from some thoughtful friends! They deserve more than this simple thank you.
Others have given, too, in so many ways, but more on that later! ;o) On to the pictures!
They include (but not in this order!):
1. Some gifts that Sam and I bought on our last anniversary. I just couldn't wait to get them something!
2. My sister in law gave them this pretty reminder of God's love for them. It was one of the first presents they got when we announced we were adopting.
3. These cute little stuffies were from two of Sam's students in his programs. So thoughtful of those girls!
4. My coworker gave us these BEAUTIFUL paintings of scenes from Peter Rabbit for the girls' room. I was very touched because they came from her son's nursery - very special and hard for her to part with, I am sure. I will certainly treasure them (and they go with the room perfectly!).
5. Lastly, this is a picture of a few wrapped presents we bought for the girls this Christmas. I couldn't let the season go by without that concrete reminder that they are out there, waiting. I am so thankful that God came into this world and adopted US to be His sons and daughters. I hope the girls can open them sooner rather than later!
As always, thanks for reading, praying and being part of this journey. It means so much to us.
We are excited to announce some progress! We have gotten all of the paperwork done for our Home Study! A Social Worker has been assigned to us and we hope to have appointments with her set up in the next few days. For the curious among you, here is an explanation of what this all means:
Home Study
The Home Study is a report completed by a licensed Social Worker that basically says that we have enough character and means to support a child. This is done through about four face to face visits and loads of paperwork.
Paperwork
Many have asked about the timeline of the adoption and why it takes so long. The short answer is Paperwork. Paperwork takes many different forms, is completed in many different ways, and is obtained through various means. Here is a short list of what we had to assemble JUST for the Home Study to begin:
Letter from our Employers with our salary and a statement that we are both employees in good standing. Notarized.
Physical Exam. Thorough Physical Exam. Notarized
Financial Statement. Assets, monthly budget, debts.
Life Story. Four to five pages each of our lives from birth to today (there were almost two pages of questions to answer!). I actually enjoyed this because I was reminded of how fortunate I was to have such a loving family and life of abundance. I’m thankful for those high school teachers that helped me learn how to write a paper! You do use those skills later in life!
Online Parenting Classes. 12 Hours. We actually learned a lot from these seminars that we watched online and then took tests to see if we were paying attention. It would have been simple except for the fact that we don’t have internet access at our home and you can’t watch them on our tiny phones (we tried).
Background Check. Almost forgot about the trip to the courthouse to get fingerprinted! That was a new experience for us both!
Letters from family and friends. Our parents (read: Moms) had to write a letter explaining that we had a somewhat normal childhood and would make great parents ourselves. A few friends did the same. Thanks!!!
Hopefully you will understand why we have been working on this since late October. It’s a lot when you are working 40 plus hours, running a farm and just living day to day. But…… we are done with this step! Bring on the next set of paper work (that would be the Dossier Building)! The good news is that as we were getting our physicals, etc. we were also getting them to fill out the very similar (but not identical) paperwork for the next phase. There will be more documents than listed earlier, and they will not only have to be notarized, but also certified by the Alabama Secretary of State’s Office AND authenticated by the Chinese Consulate in Houston, Texas.
When we get all the Dossier paperwork and the Home Study notarized, certified, and authenticated we will send it to our Agency, who will then send it to China. By then it will probably be a stack of papers over 3” thick!
It’s a long journey. There are times that we are exhausted with all the paperwork. But we press on, knowing that our children are waiting for us. Thank you all for joining with us as we seek to bring our children home.
“I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:14 NKJ
