I-600A Take Two!

I'm so sad to tell everyone that I made a mistake on the darn I-600A form. I got a huge package in the mail yesterday and I was so excited thinking that we were approved. WRONG! The letter attached said I made two mistakes. The first one was that I forgot to sign the form. You just read that correctly... I FORGOT TO SIGN IT! Secondly, it said that the money order was not for the correct amount. I spent over an hour and a half this morning on the phone with the US Dept of Homeland Security trying to find out the correct amount. In the end they said to send it back in for the same amount only this time write an additional letter of explanation. I did all that and I'm sending it back today. Please pray with me that it's correct this time.

Psalm 40:1
I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry.

Final Home Study

For those of you that were thinking about or praying for us this morning, thank you. Our social worker from Lutheran Child and Family Services named Beverly arrived at our home at 10:00 this morning. After an hour of paper work and questions it was time for the grand tour. Although she didn't mention how safe and wonderful every looked I'm pretty sure we passed;)

Our time with Beverly is over for now. The next step is for Beverly to complete our home study and wait for our FBI finger prints to come back. This could take a month or two. Please pray that this will take less time then we have been told. We must have our completed home study to finish our dossier. Our Dossier* is the group of documents we will send to Ethiopia! Hooray!

Everyone... thumbs up!

"But I trust in you, O LORD; I say, 'You are my God.' My times are in your hands;" Psalm 31:14-15

*Dossier: When used in the context of adoption, this term refers to a set of appropriately authenticated and translated legal documents which are used in international adoption cases to process the adoption of a child in its own country by the adoptive parents, or for the adoptive parents to obtain the legal custody or guardianship of the child in the foreign court, so the child can be brought by the adoptive parents to the United States for adoption.

Norary

Through this process we've been able to make a new friend. I'd like you to meet Patricia, she's our wonderful neighborhood notary. We've literally been to see her about every other day for the last month. Today she was signing and notarizing the same letter for us for the 3rd time. Everytime we complete a required document we fax it to our family coodorinator to have it reviewed. This time the problem was the location of the stamp... details, details.

We're thankful for Patricia and her willingness to help us. (plus, she's only a dollar a signature;)

I 600

Of all the forms we've had to complete I've been the most nervous about the I600. I know how important it is and I didn't want to mess it up.

"Form I-600 and Form I-600A Visa Petitions: A set of forms used to officially request permission from the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to classify a child in a foreign country, who fits the definition of an "orphan," as an immediate relative of its intended adoptive parents, so that there can be an expedited processing and issuance of a visa to that child, allowing it to be brought into the United States, either after having been adopted abroad, or in order for it to be adopted in the United States."

Today it is finally finished. Copies of birth certificates, marriage license and a LARGE money order, it's now in the mail. Thank God!

We're sending it in before the completion of our home study because the processing time for the I600 can take months. When our home study is done and approved and notarized we will send it in to be added. In the meantime they can begin to process our info and schedule our FBI finger prints $80.00 each. (Different from the ones we had done in the first part of November.) This is just another small step in this huge process but we are thankful it's done. Our last home study visit is this Friday at our house. Please pray that it goes smoothly.

"I lift up my eyes to the hills—where does my help come from?
My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth"
Psalm 121:1-2

How many orphans are in Ethiopia?

About 6,000,000.

But that is just a number. How can we grasp that?

Can we even? Is it too big to fathom?

Every child under the age of 18 living in New York, Massachusetts, and The District of
Columbia...take all of their parents away.

That brings it close to six million.Can you imagine?

Three states with no parents for their children.

I can't imagine.


My sister forwarded this information to me from another adoptive mother. Thanks, Kers!

Working on the Dossier

The last couple days have been full. Amelia and Scotty had their required physicals complete with a TB arm test. (TEARS!!) Scott and I had our blood work done. HIV test and Heb B. We had a 2nd set of paper work for the doctor to fill out and get notarized again and I was a little stressed that we would need to schedule a 2nd appointment and pay 2 more co-pays. BUT I stopped in the doctor's office yesterday morning and talked to the nicest lady at the front desk. I explained our situation and she said she would handle everything. Thank you, God. She called me 2 hours later and said I could come pick up our lab orders. She also talked to the doctor that did our first physicals and asked if she would be willing to fill out the second ones without an appointment. The answer was yes. I was nervous to ask about getting the doctor's signature notarized because she had already done so much but I really needed that to be done. When I started to say the word notarize, she interrupted me to say that the office manager was going to take care of that. I am sooo thankful to have that step done.
I stopped by our friendly neighborhood police department and talked to a great police officer that was also a NOTARY and totally willing to do our background check and our police clearance letter on office letterhead. All Scott had to do was scan and email a copy of his drivers licence to her and we can pick up the completed forms tomorrow afternoon. How awesome is that?!
Scott and I (mostly Scott) did a bunch of stuff around the house that needs to be done for our final home study visit on December 11th. Some of it should have been done right whenwe moved in but never the less, it's done now.
What's Mac going to play with now that he can't open the doors under the sink. (I'm just kidding... )

We added these little cord holders to almost every window...


At Costco Scott and I each got a set of passport pictures taken. They need them for some type of document in Ethiopia. I'm not exactly sure what since we already have our passports. I'm just thankful it's done and we can cross another thing off our list.

We wrote two letters. Both addressed to the Ministry of Women and Children of Ethiopia which is pretty amazing to think about. These very letters stating our desire to adopt are going to be translated and sent 1/2 way around the world. We also completed our 4 pages of pictures complete with name, location, date all on card stock. I'm totally not a scrapbooker so this is as good as it gets for me.

We're waiting on a couple of things to come from our life insurance company this week.
This week we have started sharing our exciting news with friends and family and their reactions have been amazing. We're so thankful for all the love and support.

This last little project still needs to be finished. About a week after we moved into our new house Amelia came crying to Scott and me. She felt terrible for breaking our new house. We told her the giant hole in the wall was no big deal. Since then we've just avoided using the handrail on the way to the basement and we've advised our guests to do the same. Not any more, my super husband replaced it and this time it's in a stud. Now we just need a little plaster and some paint and we should be all set.
Psalm 82:3-4
"Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed.
Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them..."