Monday, November 28, 2011

Fingerprint Appointments!

Today we got a special little appointment letter in the mail from the USCIS-Homeland Security with a time and date for our biometric fingerprints to be taken.  This is pretty exciting since it means we're moving in the right direction with our 797 approval.  Oh, how I want that approval so we can get the last of our paperwork authenticated and send everything to CHINA!!!  The sooner we get things there, the sooner our baby girl will be coming home :)  A little birdie told me that the gifts we sent her arrived on the other side of the world.  To think that this is the LAST Christmas she'll spend without fills me to the brim with joy.  Its gonna be a rough holiday, but the best is yet to come!

Friday, November 18, 2011

Thankful for Hope!

I've been seeing a lot of talk on Facebook of 30 days of Thanksgiving.  Of course, the idea is to take time to think about those things you are most thankful for.  Our lives have been richly blessed this past year in health and in love, especially by our two little boys and the little girl who has rocked our world!

2Corinthians 9:15 Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!
We sent off four special boxes of things for Hope's foster home, her caregivers, her "brothers" and "sisters" and for her for Christmas this week.  I know its early, but I didn't want anything to get in the way of them making it there on time.  I want our girl to have a wonderful Christmas, even though we're on the other side of the world and I know that she will :)  The "Everyone is Thankful for ME!" shirt was tucked in with the gifts because I just couldn't pass it up.  Its so true.  EVERYONE is thankful for Hope in our house and amongst all of our family and friends.  She is so very loved already.  What an incredible blessing to wrap our heads around this thanksgiving!

1Chronicles 16:34 Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.

1. I am thankful for the internet that allowed me that first glimpse of her sweet face (and many more to follow).
2.  I'm thankful for Hope's two more notable birthmarks on her face, sharing with me the insight that she, too, was a perfectly polk-a-dotted baby.
3.  I'm thankful for the Doshier family, who met Hope at her orphanage and followed the Lord's leading to get her the care that she would need and to name her with such a beautiful name.  I'm thankful for their willingness to not only advocate for Hope, but to financially sponsor her at her foster home.
4.  I'm thankful for Hope's birthmother, who chose life for our sweet girl.  Without her, we wouldn't have Hope in our lives...literally.
5.  I'm thankful for her foster home and the phenomenal care she is receiving while she waits for us.
6.  I'm thankful for my adoption as a child of God and the beautiful inheritance He has for me as a coheir with Jesus Christ, or should I say heiress :) (LOVE Beth Moore's the Inheritance...the Bible study I'm doing right now!)
7.  I'm thankful for the miracle of Hope's referral on September 27th, 2011.
8.  I'm thankful for a husband who has joined me in my passion for adoption.
9.  I'm thankful for the two little boys who pray for their sister and share in our excitement at the process of bringing their MeiMei (little sister) home.
10.  I'm thankful for the way God opened our eyes to the world of Congenital Melanocytic Nevi through the birth of Sully.  I can't believe I'm saying it, but its true.  I'm thankful for Sully's birth mark!  Thank you, Jesus for polk a dotted babies :)

Thursday, November 17, 2011

I800a: Back in Texas


We received a notice on Tuesday, November 15th that our I800a application was received at the lock box back down in Texas and is being forwarded to the National Benefits Center.  This is the farthest we've gotten with our paperwork so things are looking pretty sweet right about now :)  What happens next is that we will wait for a notice indicating who the immigration officer will be that is assigned to our file and when our fingerprint appointment is scheduled for.  Then, we will go in (before our scheduled date and time), get down on our hands and needs and beg them to give us an earlier appointment.  There are no guarantees, but an earlier appointment MAY mean an earlier approval of this paperwork granting us the coveted "797" approval, verifying our suitability to adopt from a Hague Convention Country.  The wait time between receipt and approval is runs anywhere from 6 weeks to 3 months. Holt may have to do some leg work for us with Hope's referral if we can't make it in time for our December 27th DTC date.  Its not looking too promising at this point of meeting that time line, BUT anything is possible through Christ.  We will not be defeated by looking at the calendar.  The only timing that matter's is HIS and its always impeccable even if it doesn't make sense to us.  At this early stage in the game, our best estimates regarding when we will to travel and bring Hope home suggest May-July as the most likely window, but I'm praying for a Mother's Day miracle.  Won't you join me?  :)

After the 797, approval what's next?

We will expedite our certification and authentication of 3 documents at the Embassy in Washington, D.C. which should take about a week and then overnight our Dossier to Holt's headquarters in Oregon.  They will carefully look over everything and get our DTC (Dossier to China).  HUGE ACCOMPLISHMENT!!

From there, things will be a whirlwind for a few weeks as the legalities of obtaining a Log In Date, submitting our Letter of Intent for Hope and receiving our Provisional Approval to adopt Hope are received relatively quickly and then we begin a long wait to receive our official Letter of Acceptance which has been taking anywhere from 28-125 days!!!

Once that LOA comes, our estimated travel time will be narrowed in pretty well and we'll be up, up and away to bring our little angel home within about 5-8 weeks.  It gives me butterflies just thinking about it. 

Friday, November 11, 2011

Authentication: Round 1

There was a very important Fed Ex delivery today!  Our first batch of documents to be authenticated in Washington, D.C. at the State Department and the Embassy of Ch*na arrived.  The authentication process is simply a way of making a formal document, even more formal than it already was by verifying that it is a true original a fourth time (signed 1st, notarized 2nd, certified 3rd, authenticated 4th).  Here's what authentication looks like...



The process is getting more and more exciting as we get closer and closer to sending our completed dossier (aka important paperwork for adopting a child from Chi*a) off to the Far East.  This shipment of documents included everything we need for our dossier except Carl's new employment letter, an updated financial statement reflecting his new job and our approved 797 which is still in process with the USCIS.

So now we wait some more...
We wait on:
1. Hearing when our fingerprint appointment will be with the USCIS (we should hear in 2-3 weeks when that appointment will be, maybe less)
2. Receiving approval of our I800a application, granting us a 797 which grants Carl and I approval to adopt from China on the US side of things (praying this will be sometime around mid December, but who knows)
3. Sending off the last batch of documents to be certified in Pierre, SD and then to be authenticated in Washington, DC.  That will be the LAST step before we turn over the biggest part of our adoption paperwork.  After that Dossier is in Ch*na, we will still have a long wait in front of us but the worst of the paperwork is over.  That, my friends, will be a day to celebrate!!

In the meantime:
We're doing a bit of shopping for our girl, her nannies and her friends at her foster home for Christmas.  We have a very strict budget right now which makes things a bit tricky but Hope is going to have a wonderful Christmas with lots of special little things from all of us, even the boys.  We're wrapping and getting ready to send them off very soon.

Please pray for a very quick 797 approval.  It is taking around 60 days for this process from receipt to approval and we really don't have that kind of time if we are going to make it with our goal of getting our DTC by December 27th.  Praying that Holt has a plan in place if we're a little behind that Dec. 27th date.  I'm sure that they do and if not...well, I don't know.  God knows we don't have a back up plan.  Hope's our baby girl.  He's our plan and this is His story so we'll just keep givin' him the glory.  Can I get an AMEN??  :)  Authentication Round 1-Done!

Saturday, November 5, 2011

National Adoption Month

November is National Adoption month.  I'll be completely honest that I've never observed this special month before.  I didn't even know it was coming up this month until I noticed so many blog posts from other adoptive families recognizing the orphan crisis in our world today.   The truth of the matter is that I am just now beginning to understand the depth of the problem of children needing families in this world.  Did you know there are 147 million babies in the world without families right now?  I didn't then, but now I do.  When our hearts were called to adopt, all we knew for sure was that we loved God and He called us to love this little girl.






And now here we are just six months after we saw this little picture and God has opened door after door after door to lead us to her and her to our home.  We love Hope.  Today Hope is just one of 147 million, but soon there will be "One Less" (cue the song "One Less" Matthew West) and she is going to make our family bigger and better than ever.  We aren't on a mission to change the world, but we're ready to do our part right now for this child.


If my I had heard just a year ago about the many children, both domestically and internationally, that needed families I'm sure my response would've been lack-luster.  My eyes and my heart were closed to the world's need and to the love that I most certainly had to share with a child grown not in my womb, but in my heart.  I had no idea that this is the special path we'd be heading down to follow God's lead, but He did and now we're "celebrating" our first Adoption Awareness Month with a whole new perspective.  Adoption is going to change our lives forever.  It already has.  I guess I just want to encourage those of you who may be feeling that gentle nudging on your heart for orphans.  Don't be afraid to step out in faith if your heart is drawn toward adoption.  Maybe God's plan for your family doesn't involve a journey around the world to a little one, but instead He will open doors to mentoring at risk youth, foster care, orphan ministries in your church or supporting adoptive families.


Happy Adoption Awareness month!!!  Just another month closer to bringing our baby home :)  


James 1:27 “Pure and lasting religion in the sight of God our Father means that we must care for the orphans and widows in their troubles  and refuse to let the world corrupt us.”
 

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