Gratefully both of the reference letters that needed to be re-done are now certified and at the agency. Our adoption specialist did not have time to look them over so we will hold our breath waiting for that news.
We did however receive a bit of bad news, though we really are fine with it as we feel it is better to be safe than sorry. The director of the agency just arrived back from Ethiopia and has decided that it is best to have a more recent copy of our HS agency's license. She was also concerned that the license would expire before the dossier was even submitted to MOWA (Ministry of Women's Affairs in Ethiopia). The good news, according to her, is that if they have it within two/three weeks there really will be little change (maybe none) as to what number we will be on the waiting list.
Now we just have to sit tight and wait for the new license for our HS agency to be ready and notarized (last 2 things we need!). The agency had their site visit yesterday and were told it should be issued and to them by 10/13!
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Monday, September 29, 2008
Exemplified?
Status: Arrival at Unit
Your item arrived at 9:30 AM on September 29, 2008 in HIGH POINT, NC 27260
Just got our exemplified copy of our name change court papers. They are not any better than what we already have AND are done up with cheap construction paper. The document looks just a hokey as the original one we were trying to get to look more professional! Besides being stapled on construction paper, it is a fill in the blank document that has the peoples names who are certifying the document handwritten in. Oh and they forgot to even write what their document was certifying (our name change)! They left the blank for it, well, BLANK! Samuel had to call them and they were very apologetic. Anyway the agency said the document we already have, along with the 2 certifications for it from the Secretary of State's office in FL will be just fine.
Oh and get this so it will have to do. We are still waiting to her back from the courier in Florida about the documents she was taking to be certified.
Your item arrived at 9:30 AM on September 29, 2008 in HIGH POINT, NC 27260
Just got our exemplified copy of our name change court papers. They are not any better than what we already have AND are done up with cheap construction paper. The document looks just a hokey as the original one we were trying to get to look more professional! Besides being stapled on construction paper, it is a fill in the blank document that has the peoples names who are certifying the document handwritten in. Oh and they forgot to even write what their document was certifying (our name change)! They left the blank for it, well, BLANK! Samuel had to call them and they were very apologetic. Anyway the agency said the document we already have, along with the 2 certifications for it from the Secretary of State's office in FL will be just fine.
Oh and get this so it will have to do. We are still waiting to her back from the courier in Florida about the documents she was taking to be certified.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Two down, two to go...
Praise God! Our 2 notarial issues have been re-done, are off to be certified and should be at our placement agency by Tuesday or Wednesday! We are grateful that our dear friends responded so quickly to get these done. After speaking to the agency we decided to move quickly on these as our adoption specialist said the program director might consider using the license as is and go ahead and put us on the waiting list as soon as the other documents were done. We will have to wait until the director gets back from Ethiopia next week to see what she says. Though the thought of finally being on the waiting sounds great we really would rather be "safe than sorry" and not have issues in the court process later. In the end we are all remembering that though we want ALL our paperwork out of our hands this really is only a small bump in the road, maybe a few places difference on the waiting list and THE WAY God has designed for OUR babies to come home to us!
BTW, the director is there working with their present orphanages and looking into a few others they may work with in the future.
BTW, the director is there working with their present orphanages and looking into a few others they may work with in the future.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Keeping this all in perspective...
I just heard back from our HS agency's director. He said the state licensing consultant was scheduled to visit the agency next Monday, Sept. 29th (Avonlea's B-day BTW!) and that there was really nothing that could be done to speed up the issuance of the new license.
So keeping this all in perspective...
We have had several setback each time we adopted and after it all, once that baby is in your arms it really seems so minor. That sweet forgetfulness is really what gets you back in the saddle to adopt again, LOL!
All in all this is no biggie. We have a big holiday season ahead of us this fall so we just want to get the paperwork out of our hands so we can enjoy it! (and our
daughters 15th birthday-15?!, didn't I just give birth to her! Where does the time fly?) So since we are not ready to get on the waiting it must be that our babies are not ready for us either!
Hannah-who tagged her sweetheart to take care of all of this!
So keeping this all in perspective...
We have had several setback each time we adopted and after it all, once that baby is in your arms it really seems so minor. That sweet forgetfulness is really what gets you back in the saddle to adopt again, LOL!
All in all this is no biggie. We have a big holiday season ahead of us this fall so we just want to get the paperwork out of our hands so we can enjoy it! (and our
daughters 15th birthday-15?!, didn't I just give birth to her! Where does the time fly?) So since we are not ready to get on the waiting it must be that our babies are not ready for us either!
Hannah-who tagged her sweetheart to take care of all of this!
Monday, September 22, 2008
Still working at it...
Well we got word about our dossier today. The good news was that it looked very nice and professional. The bad news was that 2 of the notarial signatures were under the limit (expiration date must be at least one year away), one document had the wrong date, and our HS agency's license was about to expire. I guess since we had originally submitted it with the other agency and then switched we had overlooked these documents getting "stale".
We are sure two of the issues will be taken care of very quickly but as far as the agency license (about to expire AND notary expiration date too soon), well we have no idea. It expires 10/31. so we at least know it will have to be re-done before then. We have a call into the director of our HS agency for more information. Time to pray... (is it ever not time to pray?)
We are sure two of the issues will be taken care of very quickly but as far as the agency license (about to expire AND notary expiration date too soon), well we have no idea. It expires 10/31. so we at least know it will have to be re-done before then. We have a call into the director of our HS agency for more information. Time to pray... (is it ever not time to pray?)
Friday, September 19, 2008
Matches made in heaven...
Just got an email from our adoption specialist.
"Hi guys. I got to look at your dossier a bit today. I'm not finished yet, but so far so good. You really did a good job on it- it looks very nice and professional."
I was so blessed she took the time to give us an update. Hopefully it will be completed by early next week.
Earlier today I also found out from her that the "matching" of parents and children is done by the agencies US staff. Of course we know who puts the solitary in families and will be praying for His match making!!!
"Hi guys. I got to look at your dossier a bit today. I'm not finished yet, but so far so good. You really did a good job on it- it looks very nice and professional."
I was so blessed she took the time to give us an update. Hopefully it will be completed by early next week.
Earlier today I also found out from her that the "matching" of parents and children is done by the agencies US staff. Of course we know who puts the solitary in families and will be praying for His match making!!!
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
It's review time...
I just spoke to our adoption specialist and our documents are at her desk! She told me it takes about 5 days to review the documents so we should be hearing something by next week. As far as the change of name documentation, after speaking to an attorney we are convinced it would be quite difficult to make a change BUT we will continue to check. We are having the document exemplified (it is a certification of the judge) and then will wait on our specialist to see (per her) if we need anything else.
It's there!!!
10:16 DELIVERED
Delivered to receptionist/Front Desk
Signed for by S. Torres
Ship date Sept. 16, 2008
Delivery date Sept. 17, 2008, 10:16 AM
Status-Delivered
The packages were delivered! Praise God! Now to wait for the director to review our documents and tell us what we need to do. In the meanwhile Samuel is looking for an attorney and I am busy filling out paperwork to have our name change judgment amended to look more "professional".
Delivered to receptionist/Front Desk
Signed for by S. Torres
Ship date Sept. 16, 2008
Delivery date Sept. 17, 2008, 10:16 AM
Status-Delivered
The packages were delivered! Praise God! Now to wait for the director to review our documents and tell us what we need to do. In the meanwhile Samuel is looking for an attorney and I am busy filling out paperwork to have our name change judgment amended to look more "professional".
Waiting...
This morning we have prayed and gave this entire situation to the Lord. As with each other hiccup God has used it to bring incredible insight into our lives and HIS word has brought healing and direction.
While we are waiting for the decision about our documents we can still rejoice that everything else is done and on its way to our agency in Colorado. Of course we are tracking the packages! Each time I refresh the page to check the whereabouts of those 2 precious envelopes and it goes through another step an incredible excitement hits the air because we know we are that much closer to the reality of meeting and parenting our children.
Here is our tracking information.
Sep 17, 2008
8:08 AM On FedEx vehicle for delivery LITTLETON, CO
7:20 AM At local FedEx facility LITTLETON, CO
3:39 AM At dest sort facility DENVER, CO
3:43 AM Departed FedEx location MEMPHIS, TN
Sep 16, 2008
11:04 PM Arrived at FedEx location MEMPHIS, TN
9:41 PM Left FedEx origin facility GREENSBORO, NC
8:53 PM Picked up GREENSBORO, NC
While we are waiting for the decision about our documents we can still rejoice that everything else is done and on its way to our agency in Colorado. Of course we are tracking the packages! Each time I refresh the page to check the whereabouts of those 2 precious envelopes and it goes through another step an incredible excitement hits the air because we know we are that much closer to the reality of meeting and parenting our children.
Here is our tracking information.
Sep 17, 2008
8:08 AM On FedEx vehicle for delivery LITTLETON, CO
7:20 AM At local FedEx facility LITTLETON, CO
3:39 AM At dest sort facility DENVER, CO
3:43 AM Departed FedEx location MEMPHIS, TN
Sep 16, 2008
11:04 PM Arrived at FedEx location MEMPHIS, TN
9:41 PM Left FedEx origin facility GREENSBORO, NC
8:53 PM Picked up GREENSBORO, NC
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Not so soon...
The good news is that Samuel was able to get almost all of our documents done. The bad news? He was able to get ALMOST all of our documents done. Unfortunately this time around (they did it for our last adoption) the office would not certify the copy of a document that was generated in FL. It was a copy of a Report of Legal name change. We were using it, along with our certified change of name, because the certified document is handwritten and phony looking. Our only way of getting a type written original document would be to petition the courts in Hillsborough county to re-open our case and amend the court order. Not fun , or expedient but even though my heart is aching and I am hardly able to understand a delay like this, faith is rising up in my heart as I KNOW that THIS adoption is not our PLAN. It is the Father's work and it will have to be the HIS work from start to end! GRACE, GRACE!!!
I just heard back from our caseworker who says she will check our dossier tomorrow and see if they can use what we have. Our desire, of course, is that it be good enough to pass court. So I guess we will be sending in the dossier tonight BUT we will wait to celebrate until we hear back about all this! Abba open doors!
I just heard back from our caseworker who says she will check our dossier tomorrow and see if they can use what we have. Our desire, of course, is that it be good enough to pass court. So I guess we will be sending in the dossier tonight BUT we will wait to celebrate until we hear back about all this! Abba open doors!
Dossier in hand...
Samuel left for Raleigh this morning to get all the paperwork certified. The girls and I stayed home and will join him to go to FedEx tonight to mail our dossier to our adoption agency.
When Samuel arrived at the SOS they told him it might not get done today but we know God will work it out in our favor. You are supposed to get documents in by 10am and he got there at 9:50am so it should be fine. In our favor is the fact that, though we have 20 documents, there are only 3 notaries for them to certify. I'll keep you posted...
When Samuel arrived at the SOS they told him it might not get done today but we know God will work it out in our favor. You are supposed to get documents in by 10am and he got there at 9:50am so it should be fine. In our favor is the fact that, though we have 20 documents, there are only 3 notaries for them to certify. I'll keep you posted...
Monday, September 15, 2008
A movie or an adoption?
Every good adventure movie has to have several suspenseful moments. Well in international adoption it is no different. On today’s marquis was “Dr. Stranded in Cincinnati”. What you say, you can’t believe it? No joking here. The doctor, who's office had been closed since the 5th and who was heading back to NC to open his office today, got stranded in Cincinnati, Ohio! We were headed out to his office early AM when after prayer Samuel felt he should call the office. After calling, and calling, and calling and getting no answer we figured something must be wrong. Samuel then called the cafe they run and was able to get someone who told him they were about to board the plane back. They must have told the doctor about our call as he called us back and promised to take care of it TODAY! Sure enough he did keep his promise, though I must admit it was too close for MY comfort! Oh, how God is ever dealing with me!
Saturday, September 13, 2008
My God is good!
While reviewing the goodness of God in the previous week (something we like to do during our Sabbath meals)I was moved to look at the date that our application for the 171H was approved. I was amazed to see that it had in fact been approved the day of my prayer about our 171H, September 8th. See my entry for that date. God's goodness will never cease to amaze me!
Friday, September 12, 2008
They have names!!!
Catchy title, huh? I am now going to be totally cruel and tell you we will wait to share it until later!! But I will let you know that both their names mean "favored" (GRACE, GRACE)!
These were some of the runner ups:
Addison
Emerson
Edmond
Andrew
Aiden
Pierce
Pierson
These were some of the runner ups:
Addison
Emerson
Edmond
Andrew
Aiden
Pierce
Pierson
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Sore fingers, happy hearts!
Today we woke up excited knowing it was the day to get our dossier documents signed and notarized. With a file folder full of documents (two copies of each) Samuel, Avonlea, Olivia and I headed out. When we arrived at the bank I must admit I sheepishly entered the notaries office. I mean there were a ton of papers to notarize. I said a prayer that she would be willing to do it all in one sitting and was blessed when she did. As we went through each document and signed the excitement of our next adoption grew. I could almost see those 2 boys with us.
Everything signed and notarized, and with a sigh of relief, we headed off to AAA to have our 16 pics done for the dossier. Interesting note here. When we adopted Annelise we needed 2 photos each and our AAA Plus plan included that for "free". Later, while adopting Amelia, we needed 4 each and our plan then included that. This time we needed a whopping 8 photos each and, you guessed it, the plan now allows for 8 each per year! Isn't God good!!
Pictures in hand we then took Avonlea and Olivia out for lunch to celebrate AND as a thank you for all their help during the process. We could not have done it without them.
Once home we were delighted to see that our documents had arrived from Florida. We also found out that the process had not been without a bit of drama. We had called the FL SOS to ask how much the total cost would be. We asked about a particular document which I felt would be $20 instead of $10. We were told that it was indeed only $10, which would make our total $30. Of course you know what happened. The document was in fact $20 to certify and our check did not cover the entire cost. We were so grateful that the courier caught this, and after explaining the situation and getting nowhere, she kindly paid the extra $ to get it done. Praise God! Had we have sent it via mail they would have returned it un-certified. We will send the courier a $10 check and a BIG THANK YOU!
The last order of the day was to make copies of all the dossier (minus the medicals we are waiting on) and get the NC documents in order to take to the capitol to be certified. We are soooooo close!!!
Everything signed and notarized, and with a sigh of relief, we headed off to AAA to have our 16 pics done for the dossier. Interesting note here. When we adopted Annelise we needed 2 photos each and our AAA Plus plan included that for "free". Later, while adopting Amelia, we needed 4 each and our plan then included that. This time we needed a whopping 8 photos each and, you guessed it, the plan now allows for 8 each per year! Isn't God good!!
Pictures in hand we then took Avonlea and Olivia out for lunch to celebrate AND as a thank you for all their help during the process. We could not have done it without them.
Once home we were delighted to see that our documents had arrived from Florida. We also found out that the process had not been without a bit of drama. We had called the FL SOS to ask how much the total cost would be. We asked about a particular document which I felt would be $20 instead of $10. We were told that it was indeed only $10, which would make our total $30. Of course you know what happened. The document was in fact $20 to certify and our check did not cover the entire cost. We were so grateful that the courier caught this, and after explaining the situation and getting nowhere, she kindly paid the extra $ to get it done. Praise God! Had we have sent it via mail they would have returned it un-certified. We will send the courier a $10 check and a BIG THANK YOU!
The last order of the day was to make copies of all the dossier (minus the medicals we are waiting on) and get the NC documents in order to take to the capitol to be certified. We are soooooo close!!!
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Truly a miracle!
Our 171H is here!!! Yes, you just read right, our 171H, the approval we have been waiting for from USCIS is here! That's right the one that should have taken, by my observations and conversations with our HS agency, at least another 5 weeks. Though getting it this soon was a surprise and blessing beyond words, the greatest blessing was the how it was an incredible answer to prayer.
If you remember I had asked God to work a miracle and have it here before the end of the month. I asked this as that is when I thought we would have the dossier done. Well seeing how quickly we had put the documents together this morning as I prayed over the 171H I felt a nugget deposited on my heart, "before your dosser is done." Figuring we were done with the dossier on Monday or Tuesday pf next week I saw how impossible that would be and dismissed the thought. Oh faithless heart look at the miracle your GREAT and MIGHTY Elohim has done!
I let our caseworker, Courtney, know that our 171H had arrived. She too was amazed. She said it was standard procedure to check in a month or so to make sure it had been sent to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia?! We are really heading to Africa!
If you remember I had asked God to work a miracle and have it here before the end of the month. I asked this as that is when I thought we would have the dossier done. Well seeing how quickly we had put the documents together this morning as I prayed over the 171H I felt a nugget deposited on my heart, "before your dosser is done." Figuring we were done with the dossier on Monday or Tuesday pf next week I saw how impossible that would be and dismissed the thought. Oh faithless heart look at the miracle your GREAT and MIGHTY Elohim has done!
I let our caseworker, Courtney, know that our 171H had arrived. She too was amazed. She said it was standard procedure to check in a month or so to make sure it had been sent to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia?! We are really heading to Africa!
There can be miracles...
Samuel just called the courier to make sure our package had gotten to her. To our delight she was just then at the SOS office dropping our docs off and said she would pick them up latter that same day! Wow, this is BIG!!!
On the home front all but one of our NC documents are all done, in order and ready to be notarized. Tomorrow is the big day to get them notarized. There is one straggling document and that is our medical report. Though we had it done for our HS, the wording was not correct for the dossier and had to be re-done. We called the doctors office on Monday and to our amazement the ENTIRE office is out for 10 days. It would be too hard to get a new doc, and since this is God's adventure, we will have to sit tight until they re-open Monday.
On the home front all but one of our NC documents are all done, in order and ready to be notarized. Tomorrow is the big day to get them notarized. There is one straggling document and that is our medical report. Though we had it done for our HS, the wording was not correct for the dossier and had to be re-done. We called the doctors office on Monday and to our amazement the ENTIRE office is out for 10 days. It would be too hard to get a new doc, and since this is God's adventure, we will have to sit tight until they re-open Monday.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
From the Papa's heart...
Tonight after Samuel came home from Fed Ex his heart was so full with the goodness that comes from meditating in God's word. Children in bed we sat and he shared his heart with me.
Samuel: Today, as I was on my way to the PTI FedEx office to send our reference letters and name change to Florida for certification, I was meditating on God's words to me, “Be quiet.” I was also meditating on the scriptures from our morning Wisdom Searches:
Trust in יהוה with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; Know Him in all your ways, And He makes all your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear יהוה and turn away from evil. It is healing to your navel, and moistening to your bones. (Pro 3:5-8)
I was thinking about what it meant to know (be intimately acquainted with)God in all my ways and I felt the Lord show me He wanted me to know HIM in every area of my walk with HIM. I knew Elohim wanted me to walk intimately with HIM as I mowed the yard, spent time with my children and wife, as I drove, as I worked, as I did everything. I was also meditating on the fact that I had resisted God's grace by striving to move forward in my own strength and by leaning on my own understanding.
When I came home from FedEx, I was talking with Hannah about my resistance of God's grace. I had realized I had just been going through the motions with the adoption, wanting the boys yet not passionate about it. I was too "busy" working at other areas of my life, among them business issues, and striving to make things work on my own. At that moment God popped into my heart that Evan’s name meant grace, but that He was going to give us a double portion. I was immediately reminded of a scripture in Isaiah. "For your shame [ye shall have] double; and [for] confusion they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them." Isa 61:7 I knew that by resisting God's grace in other areas of my life I had cut myself off from a blessing God desired to give me, and that as I received God's grace I would posses HIS double blessing.
At that moment I told Hannah that I realized God wanted to give me double grace and that I felt we should name both boys with names that meant reflected that. Well filled with a renewed joy and excitement we pulled out the baby name books and started looking at names.
Samuel: Today, as I was on my way to the PTI FedEx office to send our reference letters and name change to Florida for certification, I was meditating on God's words to me, “Be quiet.” I was also meditating on the scriptures from our morning Wisdom Searches:
Trust in יהוה with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; Know Him in all your ways, And He makes all your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear יהוה and turn away from evil. It is healing to your navel, and moistening to your bones. (Pro 3:5-8)
I was thinking about what it meant to know (be intimately acquainted with)God in all my ways and I felt the Lord show me He wanted me to know HIM in every area of my walk with HIM. I knew Elohim wanted me to walk intimately with HIM as I mowed the yard, spent time with my children and wife, as I drove, as I worked, as I did everything. I was also meditating on the fact that I had resisted God's grace by striving to move forward in my own strength and by leaning on my own understanding.
When I came home from FedEx, I was talking with Hannah about my resistance of God's grace. I had realized I had just been going through the motions with the adoption, wanting the boys yet not passionate about it. I was too "busy" working at other areas of my life, among them business issues, and striving to make things work on my own. At that moment God popped into my heart that Evan’s name meant grace, but that He was going to give us a double portion. I was immediately reminded of a scripture in Isaiah. "For your shame [ye shall have] double; and [for] confusion they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them." Isa 61:7 I knew that by resisting God's grace in other areas of my life I had cut myself off from a blessing God desired to give me, and that as I received God's grace I would posses HIS double blessing.
At that moment I told Hannah that I realized God wanted to give me double grace and that I felt we should name both boys with names that meant reflected that. Well filled with a renewed joy and excitement we pulled out the baby name books and started looking at names.
They're on their way...
Yippee! So why am I so excited??? I sent a request on Friday to Hillsborough County, FL for a new certified copy of a document we needed to complete our FL dossier documents and it arrived today. It can now go along with our reference letters to the Secretary of State in Tallahassee, FL to be certified.
A little explanation here. All of the documents in our dossier need to be notified and then certified, or as some states put it, authenticated (oh, then they go to the Ethiopian Embassy in Washington, DC for authentication but that's another story). This takes place at the Secretary of State’s office of the documents state of origin. It basically means that the SOS office is certifying that the notary that signed the document was a valid notary. This is usually $10 per document, though in the case of a court ordered or state or county issued document two seals are issued, on for the notary and one for the clerk, “uping” the price to $20.
Now about Florda. For both of our previous adoptions we have had issues when we sent our documents to the FL SOS to be certified. For our first they told us the wrong amount over the phone (told us that one doc was only $10 when it was really $20) so when we sent in the docs they would not certify any of them because we had not sent in enough money. For our second adoption the docs were all sent back because they said we had not sent ANY money. In fact we HAD written the check number on our cover sheet and HAD put it in the envelope. We were later told by someone that it was not uncommon for checks to be lost in the mail room! This time we really don’t want to go through any drama or unnecessary waiting so we have asked our old FL sw to recommend an adoption courier to hand carry our docs to the SOS office.
In adoption necessity is truly the mother of invention as several agencies have sprung up to courier documents and some, adoption midwives, even prepare the entire dossier for you!
So Samuel is off to Fed Ex now sending our FL docs off to a courier to be hand delivered to the capitol! Stay tuned…
A little explanation here. All of the documents in our dossier need to be notified and then certified, or as some states put it, authenticated (oh, then they go to the Ethiopian Embassy in Washington, DC for authentication but that's another story). This takes place at the Secretary of State’s office of the documents state of origin. It basically means that the SOS office is certifying that the notary that signed the document was a valid notary. This is usually $10 per document, though in the case of a court ordered or state or county issued document two seals are issued, on for the notary and one for the clerk, “uping” the price to $20.
Now about Florda. For both of our previous adoptions we have had issues when we sent our documents to the FL SOS to be certified. For our first they told us the wrong amount over the phone (told us that one doc was only $10 when it was really $20) so when we sent in the docs they would not certify any of them because we had not sent in enough money. For our second adoption the docs were all sent back because they said we had not sent ANY money. In fact we HAD written the check number on our cover sheet and HAD put it in the envelope. We were later told by someone that it was not uncommon for checks to be lost in the mail room! This time we really don’t want to go through any drama or unnecessary waiting so we have asked our old FL sw to recommend an adoption courier to hand carry our docs to the SOS office.
In adoption necessity is truly the mother of invention as several agencies have sprung up to courier documents and some, adoption midwives, even prepare the entire dossier for you!
So Samuel is off to Fed Ex now sending our FL docs off to a courier to be hand delivered to the capitol! Stay tuned…
More prayers...
This morning I awoke with an urgency and delight to pray for the boys. Not an urgency that comes from an E-mergency just that I was being impressed to pray right then. I asked the Father to give us some connection to the boys, just as I did when we were adopting Annelise and Amelia, AND then prayed, just as I did for all four girls, for HIM to give them a mighty testimony of HIS hand in their lives. Each time HE has answered, so I am excitedly awaiting another mighty move!
Monday, September 8, 2008
My heart set to pray...
Recently I have been set to pray over and about our adoption with a different heart. All along I have prayed for the process and for the Lord to bring the children He desires to set in our family but today was different. Today I was moved to pray for our sons. Through this adoption journey, the holds, waits and hiccups, the dream of another child has always been there, though not real. Hard to explain. Now, as I have cried out to God to make me "pregnant" with the reality of these boys my heart has had an overwhelming desire to pray for THEM, THEIR well being, circumstances, and life.
Gettin' it together...
Well the last few days have been quite fruitful as we have gathered the documents we needed, filled in the forms that have to be notarized and made a chart of what goes where, when and for what (a VITAL part in all of this!). While taking care of all this I have asked a million questions of our FANTASTIC caseworker, who has taken care of our case with the utmost care, patience and diligence.
Here is an idea of everything the things needed for our dossier:
Adoption Approval/Affidavit
Adoption Petition
Birth Certificates
Marriage Certificate
Order of Name Change
Homestudy.
International Placement Agency License
Criminal Clearance Report
Employment Verification Medical Report
Bank/Financial Letter
1040 Tax Returns
Proof of Medical Insurance
Proof of Medical Coverage for Adopted Child
Reference Letters
Power of Attorney
Post Adoption Agreement
Passport Photos
These will be gathered, notarized, copied and then they will be certified at the Secretary of State's office. WHEW!!!
Though we are really trying to get all this wrapped up by next week we will still be waiting on our USCIS approval,the famous 171H, so we can officially be on our agencies waiting list. I have been keeping my eye on the cases of families on our NC Ethiopia adoption list and it seems like once your fingerprinting and HS are in the wait is about 6-8 weeks. Knowing our longer approval wait here in NC our agency may consider giving us a referral first, which might help speed up our approval. I have to say, to my amazement, that as soon as they said they would consider this, I felt bummed. Like it was us moving the situation and not God. So by faith I have prayed for another NC USCIS miracle (like the one we had for Amelia). I want God's hand to be evident in this adoption and the boys testimony to be powerful so my faith I have asked the Lord to bring our 171H before the end of the month!
Here is an idea of everything the things needed for our dossier:
Adoption Approval/Affidavit
Adoption Petition
Birth Certificates
Marriage Certificate
Order of Name Change
Homestudy.
International Placement Agency License
Criminal Clearance Report
Employment Verification Medical Report
Bank/Financial Letter
1040 Tax Returns
Proof of Medical Insurance
Proof of Medical Coverage for Adopted Child
Reference Letters
Power of Attorney
Post Adoption Agreement
Passport Photos
These will be gathered, notarized, copied and then they will be certified at the Secretary of State's office. WHEW!!!
Though we are really trying to get all this wrapped up by next week we will still be waiting on our USCIS approval,the famous 171H, so we can officially be on our agencies waiting list. I have been keeping my eye on the cases of families on our NC Ethiopia adoption list and it seems like once your fingerprinting and HS are in the wait is about 6-8 weeks. Knowing our longer approval wait here in NC our agency may consider giving us a referral first, which might help speed up our approval. I have to say, to my amazement, that as soon as they said they would consider this, I felt bummed. Like it was us moving the situation and not God. So by faith I have prayed for another NC USCIS miracle (like the one we had for Amelia). I want God's hand to be evident in this adoption and the boys testimony to be powerful so my faith I have asked the Lord to bring our 171H before the end of the month!
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Gotta get to work...
Today, in a conversation I had with our caseworker, I was informed that our process papers had arrived safe and sound at the agency. To make our day a delight beyond words, at 3:12 PM today we were officially sent our dossier packet via email.
It said to read the entire thing before asking questions and of course I read it all in a few minutes and asked away! (Praise God our caseworker is a delight to work with!) By God's grace we really feel we can get this all done in two weeks!
Gotta get to work but here is our timeline thus far:
03/31/08 Homestudy officially begun.
03/27/08 I600A application mailed to USCIS
05/27/08 USCIS Fingerprinting
08/10/08 Homestudy Paper Peddling Complete (WHEW!!!)
08/12/08 Applied to placement agency- IAN
08/25/08 Homestudy approved by placement agency
08/28/08 Homestudy finalized by HS agency! (and mailed to USCIS!)
09/03/08 Dossier officially begun!!
It said to read the entire thing before asking questions and of course I read it all in a few minutes and asked away! (Praise God our caseworker is a delight to work with!) By God's grace we really feel we can get this all done in two weeks!
Gotta get to work but here is our timeline thus far:
03/31/08 Homestudy officially begun.
03/27/08 I600A application mailed to USCIS
05/27/08 USCIS Fingerprinting
08/10/08 Homestudy Paper Peddling Complete (WHEW!!!)
08/12/08 Applied to placement agency- IAN
08/25/08 Homestudy approved by placement agency
08/28/08 Homestudy finalized by HS agency! (and mailed to USCIS!)
09/03/08 Dossier officially begun!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)