Adoption Update and Puppies

We have finished all of the paperwork that we can right now. Our Mississippi social worker is supposed to call us when she finishes writing our home study so that we can review it. Then she will send it to some place in Jackson to be approved by the state, and they will forward it on to immigration services. So then we will just be awaiting approval from them.

We had some confusion with our social worker at Lifeline, so we will be doing the process of authenticating all of our documents ourself which is kind of intimidating. We have to send them to the Secretary of State’s office in the state where each document orignated so they can say that, “Yes, the notary who notarized the document is a notary in this state.” That should not be too hard since all of our documents except Tommy’s and my birth certificates will be sent to the Sec. of State of Mississippi. Then we have to have everything hand delivered to the Chinese consulate office in Houston, TX to be approved. Then everything will be ready to go to China!! Our Lifeline social worker has been wonderful and assures us that it’s not that hard and that she will walk us through everything.

Meanwhile, I have received an early Christmas present from Tommy. Friday before last Tommy bought me two bassett hound puppies! We are letting Caleb sort of have the boy for his dog because he has been begging for a dog for months and months. They are adorable and are so laid back even for puppies. That’s one of the reasons that I wanted bassett hounds–because everything I read talked about how mild and relaxed they are. One website said that if you are used to the activity level of a normal dog you need to make sure that you will be okay with this breed. When I read that, I knew that this is the dog for us. Then we went to look at the puppies and in a moment of temporary insanity Tommy asked, “Do you think we should get one or two?” So now we have two puppies. They are 3 months old. We finally decided on names this morning. Caleb named the boy Shadow. And Eli and I named the girl Phoebe. I figure that it’s perfect timing because they will be a year old by the time we go to get Rachel. So they will hopefully be well-trained by then.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! On Thanksgiving day I couldn’t help thinking about how thankful I am to have a daughter on the way and about the many Thanksgivings that we will get to spend with her!

Shadow

Phoebe

Biometric Fingerprinting

I wrote this on Wednesday, Nov. 15th, but I forgot to post it. So here it is.

Today we went to Jackson for to have our biometric fingerprinting done. We had to go to the Department of Homeland Security office in Jackson, MS. Even though it sounds complicated, it is simply computer fingerprinting. We placed our fingers on a small glass block connected to a computer, and our fingerprints appeared on the screen. It took all of fifteen minutes for us to each fill out paperwork and have our fingerprints taken. A two hour drive for that. Tommy’s extremely busy at work and needed to get back to town and try to get some work done. So other than fingerprinting we had lunch, and I ran into ToysRUs for about 5 minutes to grab a Christmas gift.

The kids did pretty well considering that we did not get to go to the zoo or anything fun like they had hoped we would. Our mini-van came with a DVD player–something I said at one time that I would never have in a car. We only let the kids use it on long trips. I have to admit it is extremely nice to have a conversation with my husband without whining and complaining in the background.

Since we’ve been doing Christmas shopping, Tommy and I have been bemoaning the fact that our children are so extremely spoiled. We are really having a hard time deciding what to give them because they have already had every toy there is (or some version of it) at least once.

Well, today Caleb was wishing that our car had two tv screens for whenever one of them wanted to watch something different. Being the wonderful mother that I am, I suggested, “How about NO tv screens like your dad and I grew up with.”

In spite of how very spoiled they are (and we are) for that matter, we are trying to teach them compassion for others in need. So at my suggestion they are asking for less for Christmas, and we are using the extra money to help someone in need. They get to choose what we do. World Vision and Samaritan’s Purse both have great gift catalogs where you can purchase gifts (like a goat or baby chicks among other things) to help a family in need.

Adoption update: We are very close to finishing our end of the paperwork. Hopefully, by early next week I can send our social worker all of our stuff. She will then have to have various documents verified for authenticity at the state and then the national level.

We are waiting on our home study to be completed which will hopefully be early next week. The social worker doing our home study is waiting on our physical exam paperwork which we will have by the end of the week. Our home study will go to Citizenship and Immigration Services along with our fingerprints once they are approved by the FBI, then hopefully soon we will receive our permission form to bring an orphan immigrant in to the country.

I am hoping that all of this will be completed and ready to go to China by the end of December.

Please continue to pray for us and this process. But most of all please continue to pray for Rachel wherever she is.

Resurrection

If you’re reading for an adoption update, you need not read any further. This post has little to do with the adoption. I’ve found that it’s hard not to share other things that are going on in my life. I’m seeing why this blogging stuff is so addicting.

This song expresses perfectly where I have been this week.

Resurrection(Nicol Sponberg)

I’m at a loss for words

There’s nothing to say

I sit in silence wondering what led me to this place

How did my heart become so lifeless and cold

Where did the passion go?

When all my efforts seem like chasing the wind

I’ve used up all my strength and there’s nothing left to give

I’ve lost the feeling and I’m numb to the core

Can’t fake it anymore

Here I am, at the end

I’m in need of resurrection

Only You can take this empty shell

And raise it from the dead

What I’ve lost to the world

What seems far beyond redemption

You can take the pieces in Your hand

And make me whole again

You speak and all creation falls to its knees

You raise Your hand and calm the waves of the raging sea

You have a way of turning winter to spring

Make something beautiful out of all the suffering

Here I am, at the end

I’m in need of resurrection

Only You can take this empty shell

And raise it from the dead

What I’ve lost to the world

What seems far beyond redemption

You can take the pieces in Your hand

And make me whole again

I have had a really hard week. And I have not been spending much time with God. And when I do it is dry. Then this morning–breakthrough! All praise to You, God! You are faithful and gracious, always there waiting for me whenever I come back from wherever I’ve been. God is so good!

I awoke early this morning (unlike most mornings this week where it was all I could do to open my eyes). I arose to have my time with God still feeling very dry, tired, worn. So I listened to some worship music. Prissy, my sweet little cat, climbs in my lap, like she does every morning that I rise early and sit in this chair to spend time with God. But this morning, suddenly it’s as if God is saying, “I choose you–everyday I choose you through this small, beautiful creature I’ve given to you. I choose you.” And my time spent stroking Prissy while she warms my lap becomes worship to God.

Now if I could only transfer this to every element of my life. All of these things–the blessings and even the some of the burdens are God saying, “I love you. I choose you.” I look out of the kitchen window and the yellowing leaves are God saying, “I love you. This is for you.”

I’m reminded of a friend who says, “Thank you, God, for these dirty socks, ” as she does her families’ laundry. There are so many blessings in disguise if we only have eyes to see.

PINK!

I know it’s still really early. I’ve been restraining myself. But I finally bought some girl stuff last night–PINK girl stuff. Tommy, the boys, and I went to a benefit dinner and auction for Sardis Lake Christian Camp. I bought a basket of girl things–a pink dress, a diaper bag, and a burp bloth(all of which were made and donated by a dear friend of mine). I’ve also started thinking about her room. I found some adorable bedding in a catalog–green with pink ladybugs on it. Ladybugs are considered good luck in China. I have even been looking at Asian baby dolls.
As far as the adoption process we are moving right along. Last week we sent our form to immigration services to be approved to bring an orphan immigrant into the country. The home study is part of the application, so we sent a letter stating that we would send the home study as soon as it is completed. Yesterday we received our permission letter to get our biometric fingerprinting done. I have no idea what this is, but the only place in MS to have it done is the FBI office in Jackson.

We also had our last home study visit on Thursday. We will meet with our social worker one more time to review the home study. She is waiting on Tommy and I to each have our physical exams. Mine is next Friday. Tommy STILL has not made his appointment. (He has been extremely busy though.) She is waiting on several of our references, so any of you who have received forms and have not returned them please do so SOON. She is also awaiting our child abuse records from the state. It sounds like a lot, but the home study has really been much easier than we expected. Our social worker has been extremely nice and helpful.

While we’re completing the home study and awaiting our permission from immigration, we’ve been preparing paperwork for our dossier(the packet of forms that we send to China). We each received certified copies of our birth certificates. We received a certified copy of our marriage license. I’ve completed a certificate of profession which was easy since I stay at home. Tommy has to get an accountant to write his since he is self-employed. We are working on getting our physical exams done. Tommy has to fill out a financial info. sheet. I got a form from the sheriff’s office stating that I do not have a criminal record in our county. Tommy still has to do that. I’m sure I’m forgetting something. All of these have to be notarized. Then they have to be stamped by the Secretary of State of the state where they originated. Then they have to be authenticated by the Chinese consulate. Fortunately for us, our adoption agency recently started doing everything but the notarization for adopting families. That’s a huge burden lifted because it’s a very complicated process. All of these forms once they have been stamped in every way possible are sent to China along with our home study, our permission from immigration services, copies of our passports, an application to adopt (which is basically a letter from us stating that we want to adopt a child from China and we promise to take good care of her), and 7-10 photos of our family. Once they are in China they are sent to be translated into Chinese and then sent to the CCAA(China Center for Adoption Affairs). Once they process our package we will be given a LID(log-in date). Then the wait begins. Right now the wait from LID to referral(receiving info. on our assigned child) is 14 months. We are praying that this will decrease as it has been known to.

So, many months after our LID we will get a call from our adoption agency saying that they have our referral. The referral contains pictures and a brief description of the child assigned to us. The children are usually 8-10 months old by the time they are assigned a family. In China law requires that a search for the birth parents be done until the child is 6 months old. The agency will e-mail and also mail us the referral. We will then have to quickly reply to China that we accept this child. After that we await TA(travel approval) from China. Then we make an appointment with the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou, China. Then we can begin making travel arrangements. Families usually travel to get their child within 1-2 months after receiving their referral. So Rachel will be somewhere around a year old by the time we get her. By the way, the BIG day is called “Gotcha Day” by adopting families. Isn’t that great?

So for now I’m living vicariously through other families online who are currently getting their children. I guess that’s what I’ll have to do during the long wait.

Well, that’s probably more than you ever wanted to know about China adoption. Thank you for the prayers. Please continue to pray for Rachel and her birth mother/family wherever they are.

Paper Chase

Just a quick update on the progress.  We have sent off for all the official certificates and info and applications to immigration, etc.  We had our last “visit” of our home-study today.  We will meet one more time to review the written report before it is reviewed again by our adoption agency then it will be sent to US immigration.

We have to get our physicals and I have to get a CPA to sign a peice of paper that says I am self employed and a few other papers such as a criminal background check.

we are still waiting on our references to get back to the agency doing our home study (New Beginnings).  So if your reading this and haven’t filled yours out and returned it… get with it!