Hang in there, Yan!

My heart is just aching tonight for the little ones that are true orphans in this world, who see their peers go to new forever families, and who are left behind over and over again.

Does Yan yet comprehend that one particular family is trying to give him his turn? Will he fully understand it before we meet? When we meet? Does he WANT to be adopted by us? How hard to talk to someone from a whole different language and culture!

And what of the other older children left behind? It'll be so hard for me to leave them there. It already is. If we can touch the heart of even ONE family to make room in the hearts and home for "one more", what a blessing :-).

And so we pray that God continues to open doors, all in His timing, for Yan to be adopted into a loving home... whether ours or someone elses. And that he use us to help other children as well.

Slowww Progress, but Progress!

Our Homestudy is done!! :-) But until it's notarized, and our international adoption agency's written approval catches up with it, and we get all that in hand, it's not yet ready to go. :-} We're anxiously waiting to get the I-800A (immigration permission to adopt from China) Fed Ex'd out.

BUT we also first need police clearance printed again (last done in December). Don't ask why - just one more picky hoop to hop through! I was at our police station day before (talked to the wrong person), yesterday (we needed out SS cards also), and today! Now the forms are in progress, but it could be days before we get the notarized paperwork we need? Then I'll be back once again to pick it all up.

So... combine the above 2 groups of paperwork with the I-800A and an $830 check, and we're moving forward again :-).

In another two-steps-forward-one-step-back move, I just Express mailed my incorrect passport back for the second time :-}. Hopefully it arrives ASAP and all correct this third time?

There's quite a few parents traveling to Dongguan this month and next to meet their new children. :-) Wish we were going this soon also!

More Paperwork

We're still marking time by paperwork completed versus not yet completed (mostly because each step relies on a previous step/approval happening first). We have not yet received any updates on Yan from the Chinese orphanage. All we have from China was all noted back in 7/07! The 4 full-body photos we have of him are from 7/07 as well.



1/29/09: Filled out applications for FRESHLY certified copies of our birth amd marriage certificates. They must have been certified within the last 12 months. Please don't ask me why?! ;-D

2/2/09: Sending Cindy's passport back in for a correction that we thankfully caught before it's needed at Immigration.

2/12/09: Sent Cindy's birth certificate and our marriage certificate to IL to be "authenticated". All of our paperwork for the all important Dossier will need to be authenticated at their state level, and then at the Federal level. Since these were the only 2 documents from IL, off they go! Our Montana documents will have to wait until the homestudy is written and approved.

2/13/09: We have learned that Hague requires parents to have 10 hours of training in international adoption! Between our foster parent days, and adopting 3 previous children in the US, we have many, many hours of training already. But not in international adoption. And so we'll need to sign up for, and complete, 10 hours of training over the internet, and recieve certification that we did that for the all important Dossier!

Trying to adopt internationally is feeling more like going for an advanced college degree every day!! ;-D Only instead of a degree, we are to gain a new son. :-)

We are to be working on a photo album for Yan now also, that will be handed to him when our Dossier is flown to Beijing, China. How does one describe to a 4 yr old alllll the changes he will face moving from southern China away from all he knows, to the foreign land of southern Montana, and into a family full of kids and pets too! Today at church I "coincidentally" met a man who teaches English to a family from China. PTL! Hopefully they, or someone similar, can be available to help communicate with a very bewildered Yan in the early days "home". :-)

Orphans Around the World need YOU!

As the world economy falters, the needs of many of the most unwanted children of the world increase. Estimates put the number of orphans around the world at 143 million ! “Normal” infants are usually placed fairly quickly into loving families. There are waiting lists for them in many countries. But the older, and the more “issues/challenges” a child has, the more difficult it becomes to find a willing family for them. Older children with multi-special needs are amongst the hardest to find a family for, especially if they are in a country with strict requirements and higher costs for the adoptive parents.

Hopefully soon there will be one less than 143 million orphans in the world when we can bring Yan home. Not much of a difference, eh? It WILL be to Yan :-). [remember the story of the starfish on the beach?]

And so we ask anyone who ever reads this blog… please ask yourself what YOU can do to help “one more” somewhere? Do you have room in your hearts and homes? Or can you help by praying for a particular, specific orphan? For their future adoptive family? You can even print out prayer cards for specific children featured at The Shepherd’s Crook, or pray for entire orphanages [see links to the side]. Can you help support an adoptive family in your area with supplies? Furniture? Household repair offers? Transportation? Offers to babysit? Encouragement?

I am NOT posting this plea for us. I’m doing it for the 143 million less one that we can’t personally adopt.

Every single day lately brings one or more new emails about an orphan with special needs. Some of the stories are heart wrenching. The need for adoptive families has never been greater in the 10+ years I’ve been advocating on the internet. Somewhere, an orphan needs YOU to help in whatever way God is calling you to do so. Please don’t miss your opportunity? You’ll be so blessed too. Thanks!