Sitting at #1

So close but still seems forever away. We've been sitting in the number 1 spot on the list since August 25th. I had no idea that we would be in the same place over a month later. The "nesting" bug has definitely bit me so I've completed a few little projects in getting the room ready. But not yet knowing his age or how big he is I've come to a stopping point...I can't wait till I can pull out the bins and bins of Carter's old clothes and picture my new son in his big brother's clothes.

The most challenging aspect of this part of the process is the not doing anything. It was much easier when I had things to check off the list, paperwork to be done, documents to pick up...but this part of the process is completely out of our hands. It's brought me back to the truth that every single part of the process is in the Lord's hands. He has chosen our son and He will bring him to us in His timing.

Waiting, Waiting, Waiting

That's what we've been doing. A few things have happened since my last update...God has continued to provide...money has continued to come in and we now have received $25,500!  Depending on travel costs and a few other unknowns this should be close to what we need.  Recapping where this has come from...our fundraising yard sale, t-shirt sales and dinner at Paul's Oyster Bar.  We have also received grants through ShowHope and Lifesong.  Finally, many friends and family around us have graciously and sacrificially joined us in the effort to bring home our son. We have been blown away by God's goodness and people's generosity.  Every time we receive a check...we are in awe. God is determined to bring home this little guy!

We were put on the waiting list in the beginning of May. Last month I checked in with our caseworker to see where we were in the process and we were at the number 12 on the list. Got an email from her this morning saying we are close to the top of the list....don't really know what that means exactly, but it does mean we are closer!

At this point all we can do is wait.  The majority of our paperwork has been completed and we have to get a few immunizations before we travel.  That is about it though.  Please be in prayer for us as we wait on God's perfect timing and prepare for our son's arrival.

Fundraiser Dinner

One of the amazing things about this whole process, specifically paying for it, is seeing the different ways the Lord has provided the money for each step of the way. To date, we have received $17, 500...this includes our fundraiser yard sale back in September, donations from people, and grants. This does not even include our t-shirt money which we are hoping will add another $1,000. And we have yet another opportunity to see the Lord continue to help us bring our son home...

Some friends of ours who have a heart for what we are doing are coming together to put on a fundraiser dinner. So mark your calendars...next Wednesday, June 1st, Paul's Oyster Bar will be hosting a fundraiser dinner and they are being incredibly generous by giving a portion of the evening's proceeds to help fund our adoption. If you can make it, our family plans on getting there at 5:30 but you can come whenever and we will be hanging out on the deck where there will be live music. If you come be sure to tell the cashier that you are there for us!

Unbelievable

It was a year ago that we seriously started considering adoption and started our research. We quickly found the numbers, the cost of the process, to be quite intimidating. While talking over dinner one evening after receiving info from one agency we talked about how the cost was just too high, how would we ever come up with that amount. Then my sweet son who has heard conversations like this before (usually having to do with buying Legos) then said, "Well, it must be too expensive, guess we can't do it." It was in the moment that followed that the Lord encouraged us with truth to push onto the next step, as He as done many times in the months to follow. We were reminded that all the money in the world belongs to Him. He has a heart for the fatherless. We felt certain that He was leading us to bring home our next child through adoption. Therefore...He could make it happen.

Well, here we are about a year later and He is making it happen. I am completely blown away by this whole process. Just a month ago we were still lacking well over half of the funds we needed. And in just a few weeks time...the Lord has shown us that we are to keep moving forward. We found out last week that we received a grant of $5,000 from ShowHope. After looking at our numbers that night we saw that we have in hand(in the bank from contributions or in grants), what is needed to pay our next two fees...$2,300 to the agency to complete our dossier and $8,500 for the Congo program. Crazy. I kept looking at the numbers...amazed. 


So, it gets even better...I emailed our case worker the other night and told her that basically our paperwork for the dossier is complete minus what we are waiting for from immigration and that we have the money to move forward. She then responds and tells me to go ahead and send in what we have for the dossier, we would just add the immigration clearance when it comes in AND that she is putting us on THE LIST...she is putting us on the list to wait to be matched up to the referral of a baby boy...our son!!

Moving slowly and tshirts

So, the lack of updating has been a combination of a few things...small steps in moving forward, computer issues, but really my own attitude in dealing with patience and good perspective. I had no idea how tedious and drawn out this process would be and it's been trying. The Lord, however, has been gracious in holding out our vision before us in different ways...our children talking about their baby brother, His working through others in providing funds along the way, and walking through this process with an old friend and seeing her come home with her precious one just a week ago...this was such a perfect reminder that all this, the tedious, the waiting...is worth it....at the end of all this paperwork and financial stuff...is our son, waiting for us.

As far as the completion of our dossier goes, we are still waiting on one last thing.  We are waiting on immigration to give us an appointment to get fingerprinted in Atlanta. We filed papers with them back in January and are just waiting for that appointment.

One of the things the adoption process has brought about is the need to be creative in fundraising. Back in the fall we had our very successful yardsale that brought in over $2,000 and we have since seen the Lord continue to provide as we have taken each step in this process. Our second fundraising project has been to sell t-shirts. Our goal is to see $1,000 come in from the sales of our shirts. We also hope that these shirts will also be a reminder of our son, who we are waiting and praying for as well as a reminder of the many other fatherless children. It's been encouraging to hear from others about conversations these shirts have prompted as well, from conversations random strangers to parents explaining to their children who these shirts represent.

Here are a couple of pictures of our "One Life, One Hope" t-shirts. We are selling them for $15. We started out with over 100 and we now have about 25 left. Let us know if you want one!

More paperwork and the Dossier

So now that the homestudy is complete...now what. Last week was a busy week, we officially started working with our agency, One World Adoption Services once we paid our first fee of $3,200. With that we got more paperwork to fill out as well as a better understanding of what our Dossier will consist of. Our Dossier is what our agency will send to the Congelese government. It consists of 10 things. For those interested I'll list those things for you.
1. Homestudy
2. State criminal clearances
3. Marriage license(certified copy)
4. Birth Certificates(again certified copies)
5. Tribunal letter(notarized)
6. 1717h or1797c (Immigration Pre Approval, notarized)
7. Copy of state adoption laws
8. Copies of passports
9. Passport size photos
10. Medical letter from doctor stating good health, free of HIV and TB
and $2,300 for the Dossier fee and translation fee

There you have it. Once we complete these things then we wait. Wait to be matched up with our little boy! Right now on paper it says the wait time from when the Dossier is turned in could be anywhere from 0 to 12 months. Last week was a little discouraging in that we were bombarded once again with things to do and papers to fill out. As well as the realization that the wait could be a lot longer than we had hoped for. And to add to that, Alyssa is now asking daily when her baby brother is coming =) I guess it's the Lords way of making me verbally claim the truth..."The Lord will bring our baby brother home when its time...He is in control."

Merry Christmas to us!!

We had several fun surprises during Christmas week. Our first surprise was receiving our FBI clearance (finally...after 2 1/2 months) and just days later having our actual Homestudy documents in hand! We are now past such a huge hurdle! Now that we are done with the homestudy we can start moving forward with our agency as well as apply for grants and loans. Our next Christmas surprise was seeing God continue to provide...our next agency fee is $3,500 which we were short on, we had just $1,000 in hand. Within 2 days at Christmas we received $2,500...which enables us to make that next payment! Kevin totaled up what we have received so far... $6,000!

Not really sure what the timeline will look like now. We should get a better picture after communicating more with the agency. We have been praying daily for our little guy. Praying specifically that he is being taken care of...fed, held and protected until we can bring him home.