Praise God - They Worked Things Out!

I have no details, only that dossiers will be headed to court this week!

I am so thankful that this little speed bump is behind us!

Here is Christy's suitcase (you can barely see it beneath the pile) piled high with items that have been donates recently - pajamas, shoes, a coat, tights and more!  The top item, the sweater, I finished crocheting yesterday.  I'm working on a hat, and after that some slippers and a blanket!  I fell in love with the variegated yarn, and it is called "Giggles"!  So fun to work with as it is bright and cheery!

Also, a little background on the sweater/blanket thing - for all of my children I have crocheted a set - for most it was an layette and for some it was a sweater/hat/blanket set.  I realized last month that I needed to do this for Christy and set about to get busy!

So, I am hoping and praying that my next blog post will come VERY soon and share that our dossier has gone to court...then we'll get assigned a judge, then get a court date, then she'll be ours, and then we'll get travel dates!  The list of steps in this adoption is now getting short enough that I can remember them!

Urgent Pray Request for Families Waiting Court Like Us!

Oh, I so miss this precious girly - can't wait to feel her in my arms again!

Marin for the Schildback family

Nellie for the Schildbach family

The Offices of the head honcho in Christy's country had the vice minister sign some of the dossiers that are headed to court (ours could be in the 15 dossiers that are involved in this, or our is just behind these).  This was done in order to speed adoptions along as the minister is a very busy position and sometimes it takes quite a while to get signatures. This was approved by the minister and is legal, but one of the family court judges is saying that he will deny any adoptions that have the vice ministers signature.  This would not mean that the adoptions would not go through, but that they would have to be resubmitted, causing about a month's delay.

Hannah for the Carr family!
Here's their Reece's Rainbow Grant Page

Today we found out that the minister's office has held off on sending these dossiers to court and are trying to get it worked out so that they will not cause delays with these (and future) adoptions.

Ria for the Mayr family!

Please pray that this can be worked out quickly and favorably for these (and all other families in process) dossiers, and that in the end it may means a speedier process so these precious children can be home forever!

Marnie for the Horton family

Gary for the Horton Family

I've included some links here to families the I know (who use the same adoption agency we use and I have gotten to know through a Facebook group) who could be effected by this.  Please consider praying for each family specifically, and it would be seriously awesome if you can also see if these families still need financial help as they are getting so close to needing the money to make this final step in their journey to bring their babies home!

Trinity for the Johnson Family

Felicity for the Johnson Family

Remember these are mommies and daddies who have held their precious children, said goodbye to their babies with special needs, and are now counting the days until they can ransom them and bring them home.  This is THE hardest part of the adoption process.  Waiting and having nothing to do but pray.  The possibility of an extra month's delay just seems cruel to both children and parents.

(I have visited these family's blogs and some of them list the country where these children are located, please do not include this country in your comments, thank you!)

Christy ("Priscilla" on Reece's Rainbow) and Daddy....can't wait for this to happen again!

I thought the paperwork was done...

Just when I thought we had finished all paperwork.....a judge on the other side of the planet has to shake things up.  One of the six judges in Christy's country has consistently required updated/less then 6 months old FBI background checks.  For families who got this judge, this meant a delay of weeks or months.  So to avoid this problem, all families are now required to get this done, just in case.

So today Daryl and I got our fingerprints taken at the  sherrif's office, and tomorrow I'll.start the process of getting the background checks going.  This will also require getting them apostilled in Washington DC.   More hassle amd more expense....but in the end everything is worth it to bring Christy home.

I am hoping to hear any day that our second stage dossier has been submitted.....

Done with our side....

We have passed our Article 5!  This was the last stop for our paperwork on the United States side of things.  Our Article 5 meeting was on Wednesday at the US Embassy in Christy's country.  We passed through with no problems!  Our paperwork will now be handed to our attorney over there, and it will be translated and authenticated.  Once it is complete (some docs are still on their way over there), it will pass through the gauntlet of that government's offices getting all the needed "stamps of approval."

Also, our last documents have now been appostilled and are on their way to our adoption agency, and from there they will join all the documents that are with our attorney over there.  So all my work is done as far as paperwork goes.  At least it should be.

Here's what is left....

-Article 5 translated/authenticated and  added to complete dossier submitted to Big Wig (approx 12/16)

-Complete dossier goes through 1 month of passing through lots of hands (finish approx 1/20)

-Gets signature from big wig (approx 1/27)

-is taken to the courts. (approx 1/31)

-assigned to a judge (approx 2/14)

-assigned a court date (approx 2/20)

-court date/adoption granted (approx 3/1)

-adoption gets signed court decree from the judge (approx 3/10)

-new birth certificate is applied for (approx 3/11)

-travel dates given once new birth certificate is done ((approx 3/18)

Then we get to go bring her home (end of March?)

Yay!  The list is getting smaller all the time!

Article 5 meeting on Wednesday!

Our Article 5 meeting will be held on Wednesday!  To quote my last blog post - "At this meeting the US Embassy representative will review our home study, dossier and the child's information and will approve the adoption to continue (Lord willing!).  Sometimes they have questions about something and require additional paperwork.  If they approve everything, they will issue the Article 5 the following day.  We get notification of this via email!"

 Also, I resubmitted the two documents for getting their apostilles.  They should get back to me by the end of next week and then we will forward them ASAP to join the other documents!

Here is a concise list of events yet to happen with this adoption, created from my last blog post:

-Article 5 received,translated and authenticated (>1 week).  

-Article 5 and complete dossier submitted to Big Wig (approx 12/16)

-Complete dossier goes through 1 month of passing through lots of hands (finish approx 1/20)

-Gets signature from big wig (approx 1/27)

-is taken to the courts. (approx 1/31)

-assigned to a judge (approx 2/14)

-assigned a court date (approx 2/20)

-court date/adoption granted (approx 3/1)

-adoption gets signed court decree from the judge (approx 3/10)

-new birth certificate is applied for (approx 3/11)

-travel dates given once new birth certificate is done ((approx 3/18)

Then we get to go bring her home (end of March?)

I've done the approximate time frame on a slightly longer than average time line, so it could be longer, but hopefully will be faster!

Christy was fascinated by Daryl's stubble!

Right now I'm working on building a wardrobe for Christy.  I checked all my clothes in storage, but Esther was really hard on the sizes that Christy will need, so I'm going to have to do some shopping before the gotcha trip!

Oh, and if you are going to do any of your Christmas shopping on Amazon, please use my amazon link in the side margin to start your shopping, as that will help us prepare for bringing her home! Thanks!

Another Big Step Closer!

Today I received the letter that says our I800 application to immigrate Christy was approved!  So the US is willing to allow her to join our family and come to live in the US.  Yay!

On a side note, this week the family of a little girl that we recognized while we were visiting Christy are leaving to bring their little girl home. I have arranged it so that they are bringing "Thick It" to allow Christy's care takers to thicken the water they give her making it easier for them to give her water, and easier for Christy to take the water without choking!  They are also taking some toys that I sent.  Most of the toys are for all the children there (they all LOVED the toys we brought for Christy to play with and left most of them there).  But one we purchased just for Christy.  She has severe reflux (common in children with Down Sydrome), so they keep her in her highchair for 30 minutes after eating.  She is usually left alone during this time with nothing to do.  So we are sending her a toy that attaches to the tray (with a suction cup) so she'll have a toy to play with while she sits in her chair!  Isn't God amazing to orchestrate that a fellow Washington State family is adopting a little girl who lives in the same group home as our daughter???

This is Christy's room, her own highchair and play crib for sleeping in.

We still have many more steps yet for our adoption to take, while we wait.

Right now I am waiting for the documents that we sent to get appostilled to come back.  Evidently, the Washington Secretary of State has different policies from most of the other SOS's in the US, so I have to re-do both documents...actually it becomes 4 documents.  We had "bundled" our medical updates (Daryl and Mine) together, and we had done the same with our local police background checks.  They were rejected.

I have gotten her police background checks (they now require that the notary be done in the police office).  We are waiting for the medical updates to come back so we can do a cover sheet for each medical update form, and then we'll send both right back to be apostilled.

So here's what happens with our paperwork.

Now that our I-800 has been approved, it is sent to the National Visa Center.  It takes up to 7 days process the approval and forward it to the US Embassy in Christy's county.  This will trigger the setting up of a visa interview.

Christy loved to "taste test" things...like your clothes, your face...your arm.
She's such a lovely, unique little girl!

At this meeting the US Embassy representative will review our home study, dossier and the child's information and will approve the adoption to continue (Lord willing!).  Sometimes they have questions about something and require additional paperwork.  If they approve everything, they will issue the Article 5 the following day.  We get notification of this via email!

Once the Article 5 is received, it is translated and authenticated, which takes a little over a week.  Then this is submitted to the right big wig along with all the second stage dossier documents that we have sent in.  This will mean that our dossier is officially complete.

At this point, it goes through a series of steps that  take about a month to complete.  Basic paper chasing, too boring to list here.  Once it goes through all the right hands and receives the required signatures, the dossier is taken to the courts.

Once the dossier is sent to the courts, it is assigned to a judge.  This take 14 days, officially.  Once assigned to a judge, the judge has 7 days to assign the court date.  Some judges require additional information from the adopting family before court, others do not.

On the day of court, the adoptive family is represented by an attorney.  We are notified via email the day of court about the outcome.  The adoption is granted unless the judge of prosecutor asks for additional information, in which case, court will be postponed....

Once the adoption is granted, there is a 7 day wait period before the adoption is finalized, and after that it takes 3 - 5 days to obtain the signed court decree from the judge.

Once the court decree is obtained, the new birth certificate is applied for, which takes up to 5 business days.

We will be given travel dates for our "gotcha trip" after the birth certificate is obtained.

Then we get to go bring her home.  The second trip requires at least 12 days in country, so we will be away from home about 2 weeks.  There is quite the process that happens once we get her in our arms again...but that is for another blog post!

Please pray with us that we will sail through this process with no more snags, and that the political climate in Christy's country will remain stable so that many more orphans can come home and be with their forever families!

Praise God! Awesome Announcement, Plus Something Special!

Our Dossier was approved at the adoption committee meeting yesterday in Priscilla's country!  This is called the "verbal referral".  This is a HUGE step in my book.  There are a couple of other HUGE steps in the process, but this is the really the first HUGE step!  I am so excited I am shaking!  I really didn't not think our dossier would even see the light of day at that meeting!

PRAISE GOD!  The sooner each step happens, the soon this precious little girl will be released from an orphanage and begin a real life of learning and growing!

I was even looking at luggage yesterday when I was shopping for something to wear to Jeremy's wedding.  Marshall's had some very nice, discounted luggage.  I will have to go take another look again soon!

So, what's next?  Our dossier will need to get a signature from the Minister of Justice.  I was told that this will take 2 - 3 weeks.  That is called the "Written Referral."  When we get our Written Referral we will also get the dates when we can travel to meet her!  It looks from her like our trip will be either late October or early November.

We have had a little secret that we were waiting for a special time to share with all of you, and now is that moment - we intend to change her name!  Priscilla is not her real name.  Her real name I can not share online, but is sounds a lot like Priscilla.  But in her videos, the ladies working with her call her "Prissy."  While that sounds like a cute name, in our culture, being "prissy" in our culture is not exactly a good connotation, is it?  So last spring and early summer Daryl and I were working on coming up with a name that we liked that would have a nick name that would sound like her nick name.  We have chosen to keep her real name (yet to be announced after she is officially ours), as her middle name. So this is to announce to the world, that we have chosen a name for our new daughter.....

We will be calling her "Christy" for a nickname as it sounds so similar to "Prissy."  We have already begun to refer to her as Christy in our home and will even begin to do this with other as we share new of her, so that when she comes home (oh that sounds good), we will be used to calling her that and not "Priscilla."

"Christiana" means follower of Christ.  Her real (future) middle name (the one that is her first name now) means "Glory" or "the glory of."  So her two names can mean the glory of a follower of Christ, or the glory of following Christ.  I LOVE this!  Have you ever thought about the fact that if you are a follower of Christ, that your have been ADOPTED into the family of God?  Have you ever thought about how adoption is a wonderful physical example of our adoption into God's family?  I have thought on this a little in the past, but not really and truly dwelt on it until more recent months.

Now, as an adoptive parent, I see so much more.  I see more of God in adoption.  "Christy" is like a future believer who has not felt the call of God in her life.  She has done NOTHING to earn our love.  We love her because she is ours.  God has given us this love, as He is the author of Love.  We have loved her before she could even imagine loving us.  Do you see it?

A future believer often has no idea that God even exists, let alone loves him/her.  Christy has no idea that we even exist.  She has no idea that we love her...she may even have no idea what love it.  She has no idea that we have been working for months to bring her home.  We have been loving her and praying for her.  We have been working with so many people and entities in order to set everything up for the blessed day when she will finally know that we exist. So many people are praying for her too.  That day is rapidly coming, but she has no idea!  It's like that first time that a future believer stumbles across the message of salvation.  He/she has no idea that so much work was done to make that happen in their life.  But God had it planed for years/decades/centuries...really from the foundation of the earth.  We have been planning and working on bringing Christy to the point of "finding" us, yet she still has no idea.  Do you see it?

I now realize that God has truly loved me with an everlasting love - one that stretches back forever, and stretches on into eternity.  (I know, that is where earthly adoption shows that is is only a glimpse into our adoption by God, but that makes it so much better, as adoption is such a wonderful thing, and yet we can know that our adoption by God into His family is so much more glorious!).

So, very soon, we will plan that moment when Christy will first find out that we even exist.  That moment when her eyes will see us standing before her.  She will really have no idea what it all means, and that we are going to be her parents.  But she will know that we exist.  We will spend a couple of hours with her each day, in the morning and then again in the afternoon.  For five short days.  Then we will be seemingly gone from her life.  But not completely.  We plan to purchase a little book that we can use to record our voices reading this book to her in English.  Her caretaker will be able to help her to listen/read this book everyday while we are working to bring her home.  We will also be leaving a little photo album of our family and our home for her to look at each day too.  So she will continue to become familiar with our faces and get used to the images of her future home.  We can hope that she will grow in her familiarity of us and our home and maybe, just maybe, begin to love us in return. Do you see it? 

 Do you see that God gave us that?  He has given us His Holy Spirit so we can hear the voice of God.  He has given us His Holy Word so that we can get a glimpse of our eternal home.  Both before the moment of our salvation and after, He gave us His book that is a recording of His love for us and who our family is.  Do you see it?

There will come a day that Christy will be ours, 100% ours.  She will become a part of our family.  She will learn so many things.  She will be fed and she will grow.  It might take years for her to truly understand all that is being done and all that will be done to make her a part of our family, but she will know.  She will know that she is loved.  Do you see it?

If you don't see what I am sharing with you, and you are not a part of God's family, then maybe this is the moment that God has been preparing for you.  He has been loving your since the foundation of the earth.  He has been loving you and preparing for the moment when you become aware that He has been working to bring you into His family.  He even sent His son, Jesus Christ, to earth over 2000 years ago to take your sins upon Himself and to pay the penalty for every one of them, so that you can become His child.  But you need to do something.  You need to believe that Christ is the Son of God, that he lived a perfect, sinless life.  You need to believe that He took your sins upon Himself as He hung on the cross.  That He died in your place.  He paid the penalty for your sin.  You need to believe that He conquered death by rising from the dead on the third day so that you might have eternal life with Him.  All you need to do is believe, confess your sinfulness and ask God to save you.  He's been working and waiting.  He knew you would be in His family.  He chose you.  So ask Him today - ask Him to come into your life, to save you from your sins and to become Lord of your life.  No longer to live in your old ways, but to become a part of the family of God.  To live a new life.  To grow in your love for Him and to learn to live a life that pleases him.  A life that reflects the love of God to the world.  A life that brings glory to God.  

Do you see it now?

If you need to know more about how to become a child of God. please visit This Website or contact a pastor or believer that you know to find help to be adopted into God's family.

Our Dossier has been Submitted!

We received news early this morning that today in Priscilla's country (it's night time there now) our dossier was registered with the Minister of Justice's (MOJ) office!  This was the news we have been hoping to hear for a while now.

What's next?  Our dossier needs to be approved by the adoption committee.  They were supposed to have their first meeting after the month long holiday, but it was cancelled.  I have no idea when the next meeting will be and whether or not our dossier will even come to the top of the stack at that meeting.

Once the committee has approved our dossier, we will get "verbal referral" (and we start packing!) and then it is sent on to the MOJ and once she/he signs it we get our "written referral" and the allowed dates for travelling to meet her.  The travel dates are usually a 3 week time period that start about 1 - 2 weeks from the time of getting the notice.

When we travel we will be in her country Monday - Friday.  So we will leave the weekend before and return home the next weekend.

Please pray that the timing of this trip will work nicely with preparing for and experiencing the marriage of our son - a first for us!

There's so much to do - prepare for the wedding (purchase clothes for family and make and purchse gifts etc), get appropriate suitcases, make packing lists, attend a bridal shower and all the while continue to run our home, run my home business and homeschool our children!  But by God's grace, I will accomplish all that He has for me to do each day!

Happy Birthday Priscilla!

Today Priscilla turns 3 years old.  

Three years ago Priscilla was born to a first time mother, 4 weeks premature, via C-Section.  That day her mother found out that her baby girl had special needs and a medical condition - that her baby's heart had a defect.  I often picture her mother as being hard-hearted.  That upon hearing that her child had Down Syndrome that she just walked away.  But we do not know that.  In Priscilla's country most of the people are poor, and most women work to make ends meet.  Facing the difficulty of raising a child with special needs and ongoing medical needs is difficult even in the best of situations, but in Priscilla's country this is nearly impossible for most people.  I'm sure that Priscilla's biological mother remembers the day Priscilla was born, and the day she said goodbye to Priscilla.  I don't know her heart, but I'm sure it was not an easy thing to do.  Today I pray for Priscilla's mother that she will know the love of God and He will save her soul and that someday, somehow, she will know that her precious little baby girl is so loved that we are coming from the other side of the world to bring Priscilla into our home and give her the love and care that she could not.

Today Priscilla has no idea that she has a family working so hard to adopt her.  She probably doesn't even know it's her birthday.  She, in all likelihood, will not get to have a cake or open presents.  But, Lord Willing, this will be her last birthday that goes by without fanfare.  I was also reminded today that even though we are not with her on her birthday, she is not alone.  Our heavenly Father, who orchestrated all the events in her life in order to bring about her being adopted into our family, is by her side as He always is.  He remembers the day she was born.  He knows the hours she was conceived and He created her to be exactly as she is and determined even before she was born that she would become our child through adoption.  If you haven't read it yet, please take a minute and read my blog post about how Priscilla's Story Really Started in 2008!  I share there how we can see God's handi-work that dates back to before Priscilla's birth, and how He began something the month she was conceived that would ultimately lead to our reaching out to adopt her!

And God gave us a gift for her birthday - today we found out that last Thursday we had been approved to adopt a child from a Hague approved country.  We were gone camping last week, so we  didn't find out until today, Priscilla's birthday, that we had been approved.  God knew that today would be hard for me, so He made it possible for us to get this good news today - isn't He so loving!  And I just heard that this document arrived in today's mail!  Yeah!

So now our I800a application has been approved.  We should get the approval letter through the mail very soon - maybe even today!  Once it arrives, I'll head in to town to get it notarized, and then send it off to get apostilled in Olympia.  Once it returns, I send it on to join the rest of our dossier.  Once it's translated, then everything is authenticated and then it our dossier is finally ready to be submitted!

Once it's submitted, it will wait it's turn to get reviewed.  Then once it is approved and gets the officially signature, we will get our referral and we will be notified that we can go on our first trip to meet her!

Right now, things are a bit backlogged in her country due to a change in the government, and they also take the month of August off as a holiday.  So the best we can hope is that our referral will come sometime in September, but it could be well into October before we hear anything.  It's looking more and more like our trip to meet Priscilla will be in very close proximity to our son's wedding.

I just keep reminding myself that every step of this journey is in the control of my heavenly Father and that our first, and second, trip will be exactly when He has determined it to be best for us to go!

Progress, Well, Kind Of!

So, we are still awaiting our USCIS approval for our I800a (application for permission to imigrate a child - it's really approving our family and making sure we are not involved in human trafficking).  I called yesterday and our application has not been assigned an officer yet, even though we got our fingerprints done for this over 2 weeks ago.  Last spring I was reading about approvals coming just days after the fingerprinting, but now approvals are coming 4 - 6 weeks after fingerprinting.  I have no idea why things have slowed to a crawl over at USCIS, but I keep reminding myself that God is still on his throne and even this is not out of His control.

On a brighter note, after more than 3 months of no dossiers for families waiting to be processed so they can go meet their child being processed, there is a meeting finally planned to do this next week.  Please pray that nothing will hinder this meeting and that these adoptions will all be processed efficiently so that these little ones can know that they have a family working so hard to rescue them!

We, sadly, are not even in line for those meetings yet.  Our dossier has been in translation (and might even be done with that), but it can't be submitted until it has the I800a approval (see first paragraph).  Once we get our I800a approval letter, we need to get it notarized and appostilled (that takes about a week or more) and then we send it to join our dossier.  Then we can be submitted.

Delay after delay.  That seems to be the story in many adoptions.  I just have to keep reminding me that no matter what, God ordained this adoption, miraculously funded it, and He will bring it to completion in His PERFECT timing.

Early this morning I had a great thought!  When we go to meet Priscilla, I will teach her "Baba" how to do some of the therapies that we are doing with Esther!  Then she can benefit from it even before we bring her home!  And they are so simple, even my younger kids can do some of the therapies!

One thing I do know is that it will be absolutely amazing when we do get to go meet Priscilla.  I can't wait to be able to share with you photos of her in my arms!

Small Updates....Big News

Nothing very exciting on the adoption front.  We had a small glitch with both our dossier and our I800a application, but both have been taken care of and we are back in the business of waiting!

Our dossier is being translated.  My little glitch was that I forgot to get our homestudy apostilled.  But I had another copy here so I was able to sent that copy in for the apostille right away, and the translation can still go on as I believe they scanned all the documents and sent to her country for being translated.  The apostilled copy went out today!

We got a letter from the USCIS that said that our application had been accepted and was being forwarded to the Hague department.  Priscilla lives in a Hague Convention - "The Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000, better known as Hague, is an international treaty designed to protect children, birth families, and adoptive families by prohibiting child trafficking and setting up strict standards for international adoptions"**.  Soon we will get the letter we need to take with us to get our biophysical fingerprints.  That will require a 2 hour drive to that location, and it comes at a bad time for Daryl, as he's working massive hours to help the company he works for meet a deadline.  Please pray that we can get an appointment time that will require the least amount of hours to be missed at work for him.


We have had some exciting news here at home - our oldest son, Jeremy, asked his girl to marry him and she said "Yes"!  So Priscilla will have a built in sister-in-law when she comes home!

 In preparation for our trip to see Priscilla, I'm learning a little of her language.  We will have a translator with us pretty much all the time, but I figured it would be good to know anyway!  It is a very different language and even uses the Eastern European alphabet.  I'm getting to where I'm remembering some of the unusual letter/figures.  But by far, and most difficult thing to do will be to remember that you move you head side to side to say "yes" and up and down to say "no"!  That is just wrong!

If you think of our adoption, please pray that political changes in her country will settle down soon, as right now, the people in the government who process everything adoption related are not processing anything.  Please pray that the dust will settle quickly and they will get back into the business of getting these precious children out of their orphanages and into loving homes.  This situation is effecting countless families who are in various phases of adoption.


**quoted from Premier Adoption Agency

Our Dossier is Finished!

Our documents arrived from Olympia today!

I was all ready for them after creating the family photo pages to include with all the rest of the documents!

Here is what we have worked so hard to put together over the last 4 months!

What you see there is:

Home Study

copy of passports

miscellaneous boring documents

5 sets of FBI fingerprints, apostilled in Washington DC

More boring documents

A commitment to doing follow up home visits after she's home

Photo pages with photos of our family, home and activities:

Now we are waiting to get an appointment to have our finger prints taken for the I800a (immigration application), which we will have to drive to south Seattle to get done (not going to be fun now with that bridge in Burlington gone).

After that, we will be waiting. Waiting for what?  Waiting for our "referral".  What's a referral?  In the world of adoption, it is the invitation - the invitation to travel to meet your child!  We expect this will happen sometime in July or August.

So, now it's time for some nesting - home projects to get done while I have time to do them!

I included an entire sheet of photos for Esther as it shows that we have dealt with nearly everything that Priscilla has and will experience.  It also shows that we value her as a large part of our family and is not seen as a burden but as a delight and a blessing to our family.

The Second Trimester....

I find it very interesting how similar adoption is to pregnancy.  When you think about adoption, it's like the time when you aren't pregnant yet, but hope to be/plan to be/think you might be pregnant soon.  When you commit to a child, it's like a positive pregnancy test.  When your adoption plans are interrupted it's like a miscarriage - you grieve for the child you won't be able to adopt.

We committed to adopting Priscilla back in January.  I liken the last 4 1/2 months to the first trimester. The going it tough, and there's nothing to show for it.  You are working so hard on something you can't put your hands on.  You're tired all the time and there's always more to do than you have time or energy.  Then, you finally reach the end of this first trimester - the home study arrives!

We are now entering into a new phase of our adoption, the second trimester if you will.  We are waiting to "see" our little girl.  The hard work is done, I'll have more time and energy to function from day to day.  I have a list of projects to accomplish before she joins our family.  I'm sure, just like the second trimester in pregnancy, there will be days that it will seem like this isn't really happening.  Life will seem"normal" and there will be very little to remind me that we are adopting.  Except for those occasional little reminders, similar to those precious first kicks/movements, like getting our fingerprints done for the I800a, and submitting our dossier. I'll need to prepare and plan.

In about 8 weeks we will get to "see" our "baby."  To me, this will be very much like the big 20 week ultrasound (only better as we'll get to hold her and love on her!).  But it will be the first time we truly lay eyes on her.  At that point everything will seem so much more real.  Our hearts will be bonded with her and it will be SOOOO hard to walk away and not "see" her again for so many, many months!

After that, we'll be in our last trimester - the hardest part.  There will be so much to do to prepare, as I know I will be unable to accomplish much of anything once she is home, for months even.  We'll get her bedroom ready, get clothes for her set out (we'll know her size by then).  We'll have more paperwork to submit to finish the adoption.  But, mostly, we will be waiting.  Anxiously waiting.  Praying for her to stay strong, to remain healthy.  Each day will seem longer than the last.  Going "overdue" due to delays in the red tape/legal process will be excruciating.

Once everything is ready and the time has come, Daryl will take me to bring her home.  We'll leave our other children, and come home with their new sister.  Then everything will slow down, we will focus on our new blessing and keep tight for a while.  Time to bond, time to learn about her.  Time to allow her to adjust to her new world and new time zone (so like a newborn that is on the wrong time frame, awake all night, sleeping all day!).  Keeping exposure to anything outside our family to a minimum as we care for her and bond to her.  Taking her to doctor's appointments to make sure she gets the best start here as she can.

And, eventually, finding a new normal for us. I always find it takes at least 3 months to find a new normal after having a baby, but as I get older, it has taken longer and longer.  With Carese it was nearly a year. With Priscilla, it may take that long as well.  Our friends and family will need to be loyal and patient as we go through the process of making Priscilla a part of our family.  But it will all be worth it.

But, there are many ways that adoption is so very different from a pregnancy.  While we are waiting, our child is in an orphanage on the other side of the world, spending most of her day in a crib.  Not receiving the therapies, medical care and proper nutrition that she needs.  No amount of my eating right or being careful to guard my health will help her.  Granted, if I'm eating right and working on my health, I will be in better shape to care for her, but it doesn't help her right now.  When an adopted child joins the family, they are not a clean slate.  They have been damaged.  They have learned to cope in ways that a baby should never have to cope.  They have learned to never expect their needs to be met.  They have learned that crying does not bring about consolation.  They have learned that at night, there is no one to care for them, they are on their own.

And, unlike pregnancy, it is not 9 months, give or take a few weeks. It's more like a year, give or take a few months!  A year that YOUR child is not in your arms but living in a cold, sterile environment learning to rock in place to self-console instead of sitting in my lap, in my arms, rocking in our purple princess room.

So, when is our "due date"?  We really have no idea.  Sometime next winter.  October at the earliest, January or later if things don't go well.  Another winter in an orphanage for a little girl who has battled pneumonia 4 times in her first 3 winters.

Please pray with us that our paperwork will sale through all the red tape.  That we can go get our precious little girl in October rather than January or later.  Pray that she remains healthy.  Pray that we can make all the needed preparations in our home for her.  Pray that we will be healthy for our traveling to meet her and to bring her home.  Pray for our family as they prepare to hold up while we are gone.

But even more.....

PRAY that others will see the needs of these children to be adopted!

EVERY life is worth saving.  These children will NOT be OK if left where they are.  Unlike children in need of adoption here in the US, they are not in homes.  They are  not receiving therapies to help them grow and learn.  These children face a death sentence if they are not adopted.

If you are pro-life, then you should consider the plight of these precious children, loved by God, who desperately need a home.  These are children abandoned because they are not perfect.  But in God's eyes they are perfect.  In God's eyes they are worth every penny, every sleepless night, every sacrifice of time it takes to bring these children into a home where they can be loved, cared for and taught of the ultimate adoption.  That they can be adopted by God Almighty and be His child.

Adoption is the ultimate outreach to a sinful word.  Adopting is being a missionary, an evangelist.  An adoptive family is a physical manifestation of the spiritual reality of salvation.

If you can't adopt, the support adoptive families through prayer and financial giving.  If you can't give financially, give some physical help to a local adoptive family.  And everyone can do this - advocate for children who are waiting for their forever family to find them.  Share the plight of these forgotten children.

If you think you can't adopt because you don't have the money, I say "pshaw, that's nothing."  I know because we have experienced God's provision in a way that astounds me every day.  If God is calling you to adopt, He is MORE THAN ABLE to provide such an easy thing as money!

Plus - did you know that there are 3 children listed right now who have enough money in their Reece's Rainbow Grants to nearly pay for their entire adoption?????

Check them out:

Nolan is almost 10 years old
He has been transferred to an adult mental institution
His life is in imminent danger
But he can be adopted!
He has over $15,000 ready and waiting to be used
for his adoption!!!
Can you save him?

Iris has over $16,000 to use for her adoption!
She loves to care for the other children in her orphanage
Here's is a blog post about her:
http://www.tinygreenelephants.com/2013/02/beautiful-iris-video.html
This country is fast -
most children are home in 7 months!

Maria is an 11 year old sweetie pie!
She has $15,000 for her adoption
Are you her momma???
She's in the same ORPHANAGE as Iris
(hint, hint, hint!)

A Red Letter Day!

Today two things we have been waiting for have happened within hours of each other!

Our Home Study is Completed!  

AND

Our Matching Grant has arrived in our Reece's Rainbow FSP!

But first, the final numbers on our funding!  When our matching grant began, we estimated that we needed around $21,000 to complete the adoption from that point forward.  We set our goal of raising $10,500 to use for our matching grant.  Our matching grant also matched the value of items donated, so that kind of made things a little complicated, but it all worked out so amazingly well!  Our matching grant was for up to $14,000 (half of the entire cost of the adoption, including expenses we had already covered).  

So here's the totals:Monetary donations/commissions earned (FSP or directly to us) = $10,476Value of items donated for auctions/sold & proceeds sent to us = $3193

Total of Matching Grant - $14,000

Notice that - they rounded up! Astounding!

So, in summary, we are fully funded.  We even have extra funds in case our projected costs are less than our actual costs (especially for plane tickets)

We also found out last week that the process for filing the dossier has changed slightly, speeding things up.  Before you had to first apply for the I800a (application to immigrate a child), and then once you have the I800a approval, you would include that in your dossier and send that off.  Now, you send off your I800a and dossier as soon as they are ready, and then send the I800a to join the dossier once you get the approval!  This will save 4 - 6 weeks of processing time!  Good thing I've been steadily working on the dossier items!

Right now I have the I800a completely ready, just waiting for signatures and that Home Study, and I also have everything for the Dossier ready, waiting for signatures, notarization and then off to get apostilled.  Once everything is notarized/apostilled I can send in the Dossier.  This should mean that I can send in the dossier by the end of next week if all goes smoothly!

And that means that we will be traveling to meet Priscilla sometime around the end of July or August.  Her birthday is August 5, so would you pray with me that we will be traveling the week of her birthday?  Her birthday falls on the Monday, so in all likelihood, if we travel that week, we would meet her on her birthday!  She would probably have no idea of the significance, but when she's older, it would mean that she did not spend her third birthday alone!

We also did some re-arranging in the girl's bedroom as Elizabeth didn't like sleeping in the bunk, and having a bunk above Esther's bed made it nearly impossible to get Esther in and out of bed without putting your back out.  So here's some updated photos of their bedroom.  Carese sleeps in the white crib, Priscilla will sleep in the brown crib, and Esther sleeps in the bed to the right of the brown crib, and lastly, Elizabeth sleeps in the bed next to Esther's bed.

That's another project I have to tackle this week - I almost forgot!  I have to make up new photo sheets to send in with the Dossier showing our home and our family, or should I say "her home and her family!"

So, we have made it over the biggest hurdles - the home study and funding for our adoption.  Isn't that amazing!  From here on out it will be mostly waiting, waiting and more waiting.

I'm  planning on taking a week off from the internet once I have the I800a and Dossier submitted, but I'll update the blog if anything important happens.  I've been spending WAY to much time online since this adoption started, and we have so many project around here that we need to get done during this waiting period, since after Priscilla comes home, projects will take a back seat for a long time!

Thanks for your prayers and encouragement through these past few months, and we appreciate your prayers that this next step will go smoothly as well!

Astounding Final Tally (well, mostly final)

Wow, Tuesday was incredible.  Well, actually, all of last month was unbelievable.

But before I go into details, I have not had time to tell you about the conference call with the doctor for the University of Washington Adoption Medical Clinic.  He was very encouraging.  He enjoyed watching Priscilla's videos and got a kick out her little personality.  By the end of the conversation he told us that he had no reservations about how we would handle caring for Priscilla when she comes home.  He gave us some questions to ask when we go to see her the first time in order to better prepare for her medical needs when we bring her home.  He even told us that he believes that Priscilla will thrive in our home and under our care.  The phone call was absolutely so encouraging!

I have crunched the numbers.  I am waiting on just a few Facebook Auction winners to pay, and for a the checks for the proceeds from the parties to arrive.

Just as a reminder, when we were offered the matching grant, the two limits were donations being given by the end of April and a maximum matching grant of $14,000.

Here are the preliminary total amounts donated to our adoption in the last 5 weeks:

Reece's Rainbow FSP Grant - $4560 (before Paypal fees taken out)
Cash/in person donations - $1015
Commissions on Amazon Sales - $89
Paypal Donations during April - $913
Spaghetti Feed/Silent Auction Donations - $3198
April FB Auctions - $616 (all but 4 winners have paid, so this is approximate)
Party Commissions - $193.00
Checks coming for Waldorf Doll's sold - $180.00

When we started out 5 weeks ago, we had approximately $21,000 in adoption costs still to cover.

That meant, that with the matching grant we needed to raise $10,500.

Did you add those figures up???

$10,764 was donated!

I know, no way! Right?!

Also, if you remember, that I shared that we would need $6,000 in order to prepare and submit our dossier, and that we would not have access to our Reece's Rainbow Grant (which is where the matching grant is going) until after our dossier is submitted, approved and we have been invited to travel.

Well, readers, it looks like we will reach that goal.  Right now, we have just shy of $4,000 in our savings account (after transferring the money needed for the I800a application), and we have over $1,000 in our Paypal account that I have not transferred yet.  We still have a few hundred dollars coming our way in the next week (proceeds from parties and the sale of the Waldorf dolls and a few FB auctions).  Since then, we have actually done some preparation, so we no longer need all $6,000 in place, it's more like $5,600. With a little of our personal funds, we will be able to accomplish this easily!

Five weeks ago, $14,000, $10,500 and $6,000 were numbers that I was working with, and every single one of them seemed so out or reach.  It just didn't seem possible.  Humanly possible that is.

But my God is so much bigger and better than I could have imagined.  He took those numbers and showed me that NOTHING is impossible with God.

Lastly, we have doubted.  Others have doubted.  Some have expressed their concerns to us in person (and their concerns are mostly valid!).   There have been so many times in the last few months where we have thought to ourselves "what in the world are we doing."

 Well, God has over and over assured us that this is His will for our family.  Priscilla is our child, born on the other side of the world, but our child.

God doesn't limit Himself to using people who are capable, strong, and have plenty of resources.  If He did, He wouldn't get much of the credit.  He chooses people who are incapable of doing what He is asking, unless He steps in and equips them to do His will.

Voddy Bachaum talked a lot at the Home School Conference about the fact that God doesn't require something of us without enabling us to do it first.  Our pastor has said "His Commands are His Enablings" (or something like that).

God has taught us through this that He is more than able to meet our needs - all our needs.

Amazing. Incredible. Unbelievable.  These are words that I using far too often of late...so I went to the thesaurus to increase my vocabulary.

Astounding, Bewildering, Marvelous, Spectacular, Staggering, Stupendous, Astonishing...words only begin to describe how I feel right now.

I hope you are as in awe of what God has done as I am.

Life will seem quite dull after this month.  Well, life is never dull around this house, but you know what I mean!!

Before I end, please pray for the Browns and Gemma.  I had the blessing of meeting Maria, Gemma's mommy, at the home school conference this past week.  I was able to see the many photographs and videos that she took when she went to visit Gemma in January - Gemma is beautiful, but she needs to come home as she is not receiving the care that she desperately needs.  They have been waiting for over 3 months now for a signature from the government in Priscilla's country (Priscilla and Gemma are in the same country, but different cities).  Some families who have gone to meet their little ones after the Browns returned home have already gotten their signatures and invitations to travel.  This is very discouraging for them.

Please pray that the Browns will get their signature first thing after that government resumes (they are on holiday all this week).  If you can, stop over on their blog, Carry Your Light and give them some encouragement by commenting on her blog, or better yet, donate to their FSP, because as you can see, they have received very little financial help for their adoption.  They also have an Amazon search button that you can use to do your shopping and help them bring Gemma home!  But most of all, pray for this family, that they would be encouraged and that they would be going to bring Gemma home soon!!!!

CLICK HERE to find out how you can become a Reece's Rainbow Warrior!

Lila Rose Party for Priscilla!

But first - News!

Our home study is written, and awaiting the signature of the home study agency director - he'll be in the office on Monday to sign it!

Today I sent in our FBI background checks to be Apostilled in Washington DC!  This cost us $75 for this service, we used Caring Hands to do this service for us.  We need these apostilled for the dossier.  We have some other home work for the dossier, but I have plenty of time to get them done - apostilling our marriage certificate, new medical certificates (apostilled of course), getting a psych evaluation done and a local police background check (I have to find out if we'd need to do this in our local town or with the Sheriff since we do not live in the city limits).

I have the I800a all ready to go, we just need to sign it (all adults) and attach the home study and a hefty check (around $1000 because we have 5 adults in the house).  This takes 4 - 5 weeks to process, and then once we get that back, we send in our dossier.

Now - about that Lila Rose Party!

We're hosting a Lila Rose Party as a fundraiser for our adoption!

We have a Facebook Page set up for this, but you can order using this link too!

Party Closes Monday Night, but we'd really like to get the bulk of the orders placed today and tomorrow!

Spaghetti Feed Report, plus Matching Grant Update!

Yesterday was our BIG fundraising event!  We hosted a Spaghetti Feed Date Night that included a silent auction and raffles as well as a movie too!

While we didn't have as many people attend as I had hoped, the evening was a smashing success!  Those attended had a great time, the food was delicious, all the planning made for a smooth evening and best of all, we brought in more that I had hoped for!

So here are the numbers:
$2100 in donations before the event - food, money for food, items for the silent auction
$2800 in cash donations at the event (including winning bids on auction items)
$4900 will be matched in with our matching grant!

So we now have $7700 to use for our adoption that we didn't have yesterday morning!

I worked feverishly all week making posters for the event as well as all the papers needed for the event (bidding sheets, directional sheets, thank you notices etc).

Here'a photos of the events as well as some of the images I used to create the posters.  If you are interested in using my posters at an adoption awareness or adoption fundraising event, please contact me and I'll tell you how you can get access to the larger files!

So here is where we stand as far as getting the most out of our matching grants after last night's huge success!

We still need to raise a total of over $8,000 yet in order to have all the funds to pay for all future events for our adoption, including projected travel costs.

We also need $3000 in readily available cash in order to submit our dossier around the end of May.  Our Reece's Rainbow Grant funds will not be available for our use until after our dossier has been submitted and approved.
So if we raise around $4,000 before the end of April, we will no longer need to do any fundraising as all our future expenses will be covered!  If $3,000 of that is money donated outside our RR account, then everything is all set for the dossier as well.

So there it is - $4,000 in donations in 2 weeks.  That will make the most of our matching grant!  If we bring in more than that, it's OK as the traveling expenses are just approximate.  If we raise more than we need, then we will consider helping out another adoptive family with the fund once we are home with Priscilla!



That could be 80 people giving $50, or or 100 people giving $40, or 200 people giving $20, or 800 people giving $5!  Every dollar counts double with our matching grant>

Here are a few of the posters I made for the event - I'll post the rest on my next blog post as they are on my external hard drive...and I have no idea where that is right now (we had to use it to get the HUGE poster files to my husband's workplace to get the HUGE posters printed - the biggest one was 4 ft by 5 feet!