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!
Friday, February 27, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
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". :-)
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
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!
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!
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Tedious Progress, but ever forward!
Our end of the homestudy paperwork is 99% done, and we received permission Monday to have the social worker who will write our homestudy to proceed! Yeah!! Minutes later an automated email message came in saying that our social worker is out of office until 2/2. And thus the emotional highs and lows of the adoption roller coaster continue!
Our friend’s and family’s reactions continue to be all over the place too :-}. Some are cheering for us, others bluntly tell us we are NUTS! In a down moment, when I was questioning it all myself while Phil was on a business trip out of country for 8 days, he emailed me this:
“Keep walking, we will receive revisions in the plan if and when we need them (Isaiah 30:19-21).
Love Phil”
It’s wonderful to be able to encourage one another in the down moments. We only want God’s Will for our family and for little Yan… it’s the only way this will all work out!
And so we ask continued prayers for this adoption process, and for Yan’s health and physical and emotional safety.
I think I finally understand the basic process of this international adoption. We need Immigration Approval on a piece of paper before we can finish the all important Dossier and send it to China. But we need the finished and approved Homestudy before we can send either off. It’s currently taking Immigration 90-120 days to send out the approval. It’s taking 1-5 months to get Chinese approval once the Dossier is received and logged. And none of these countdowns start until the Homestudy is completed and approved. So specific prayer right now would be a speedy finishing of the Homestudy! I’ll be working to fill out the Immigration paperwork, and gathering all the “fresh” (they even want all new copies of our birth certificates!) documentation for the thick Dossier packet. More paperwork!!
Our friend’s and family’s reactions continue to be all over the place too :-}. Some are cheering for us, others bluntly tell us we are NUTS! In a down moment, when I was questioning it all myself while Phil was on a business trip out of country for 8 days, he emailed me this:
“Keep walking, we will receive revisions in the plan if and when we need them (Isaiah 30:19-21).
Love Phil”
It’s wonderful to be able to encourage one another in the down moments. We only want God’s Will for our family and for little Yan… it’s the only way this will all work out!
And so we ask continued prayers for this adoption process, and for Yan’s health and physical and emotional safety.
I think I finally understand the basic process of this international adoption. We need Immigration Approval on a piece of paper before we can finish the all important Dossier and send it to China. But we need the finished and approved Homestudy before we can send either off. It’s currently taking Immigration 90-120 days to send out the approval. It’s taking 1-5 months to get Chinese approval once the Dossier is received and logged. And none of these countdowns start until the Homestudy is completed and approved. So specific prayer right now would be a speedy finishing of the Homestudy! I’ll be working to fill out the Immigration paperwork, and gathering all the “fresh” (they even want all new copies of our birth certificates!) documentation for the thick Dossier packet. More paperwork!!
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
He's Real !!
A mom adopting her own new daughter from Yan's orphanage in southern China took this precious and GREATLY appreciated 4 second video for us, one day after Yan turned 4 ! Since the only pictures and news we had on him were all from 7/07, it was starting to feel like he wasn't real to me (Cindy). But that smile and wave.... new motivation to keep plowing throught the hoops and paperwork! :-) Thanks, Kym!
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Happy Birthday!
Little Yan turns four years old today! And I just learned that our LOI was received and accepted on 12/15/08, and that we now have permission to make and send him a photo album of our family and home. :-) It's starting to seem more real!
Here We Go!
The roller coaster has taken off shakily indeed. Because of our ages and the needs of the three children we already parent, doubts plague us at the most unexpected times. But the needs of this one little boy keep us focused on helping him. What better Purpose can God have for us than to show Jesus’ love to an orphan, and teach one more about Him? :-)
Today little Yan turns 4. We cannot yet send him photos of us, let alone a care package. That’s hard! And so we plod ever onward through unbelievable amounts of paperwork and steps.
With few other goalposts, we will be measuring progress on this adoption roller coaster mostly by papers and forms done and filed! To date, Phil or I have filled out or typed out 85 (!) papers! It’s been awhile, but I’m thinking we’ve already done more paperwork for this one international adoption than all 3 of our previous domestic adoptions combined! I have a whole new admiration for all who survive this process ;-D.
To Date for those interested in the process:
11/12/08: filled out Waiting Child Application.
11/20/08: typed out detailed answers to 10 pages of interview questions and emailed them back to the adoption agency. We then participated in a telephone interview 11/21/08. We were officially matched with our future son on 11/25/08.
11/26/08: filled out a homestudy preapplication and mailed.
12/3/08: typed up and emailed the LOI (Letter of Intent)
12/5/08: filled out a formal Adoption Application and mailed.
12/9/08: Met with our homestudy social worker and received a stack of papers and forms that we need to work on ASAP. Filling out the paperwork is complicated by the fact that I (Cindy) had surgery the very next day!
12/23/08: Received a book from the adoption agency today on China that is at least 500 pages thick! Besides reading and following the directions within it, more forms were included as well as directions to go get 12 hours of training pre-adoption. This is starting to feel like going for a PhD ! Filled out the receipt page and mailed that out.
12/24/08: Filled out 13 pages, and both of us made it to the bank before closing time to get 8 of those pages notarized. These are for criminal background checks, motor vehicle/driving violations, and abuse/neglect allegations. We’ll surely have to do more of these later since we’ve lived in multiple states.
12/26/08: Made appointments for adoption physicals for all 3 kids and both adults. Mom and Dad need HIV, Hep B, Hep C, and TB testing as well.
12/28 to 1/13/09: Gave out referral forms for 5 friends to fill out about us.
1/14/09: Proofing the 146 (!) autobiographical questions Cindy has answered for the homestudy. Phil is still finishing up his 46 questions. Whew! Hoping to turn in all our homestudy paperwork yet this week!
Today little Yan turns 4. We cannot yet send him photos of us, let alone a care package. That’s hard! And so we plod ever onward through unbelievable amounts of paperwork and steps.
With few other goalposts, we will be measuring progress on this adoption roller coaster mostly by papers and forms done and filed! To date, Phil or I have filled out or typed out 85 (!) papers! It’s been awhile, but I’m thinking we’ve already done more paperwork for this one international adoption than all 3 of our previous domestic adoptions combined! I have a whole new admiration for all who survive this process ;-D.
To Date for those interested in the process:
11/12/08: filled out Waiting Child Application.
11/20/08: typed out detailed answers to 10 pages of interview questions and emailed them back to the adoption agency. We then participated in a telephone interview 11/21/08. We were officially matched with our future son on 11/25/08.
11/26/08: filled out a homestudy preapplication and mailed.
12/3/08: typed up and emailed the LOI (Letter of Intent)
12/5/08: filled out a formal Adoption Application and mailed.
12/9/08: Met with our homestudy social worker and received a stack of papers and forms that we need to work on ASAP. Filling out the paperwork is complicated by the fact that I (Cindy) had surgery the very next day!
12/23/08: Received a book from the adoption agency today on China that is at least 500 pages thick! Besides reading and following the directions within it, more forms were included as well as directions to go get 12 hours of training pre-adoption. This is starting to feel like going for a PhD ! Filled out the receipt page and mailed that out.
12/24/08: Filled out 13 pages, and both of us made it to the bank before closing time to get 8 of those pages notarized. These are for criminal background checks, motor vehicle/driving violations, and abuse/neglect allegations. We’ll surely have to do more of these later since we’ve lived in multiple states.
12/26/08: Made appointments for adoption physicals for all 3 kids and both adults. Mom and Dad need HIV, Hep B, Hep C, and TB testing as well.
12/28 to 1/13/09: Gave out referral forms for 5 friends to fill out about us.
1/14/09: Proofing the 146 (!) autobiographical questions Cindy has answered for the homestudy. Phil is still finishing up his 46 questions. Whew! Hoping to turn in all our homestudy paperwork yet this week!
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