Paperwork, paperwork....

We are still trying to dig through the mounds of paperwork required for an adoption.  We completed the psychological evaluation (and passed!!!). :-)  Yesterday we received the 12 page home study draft to review. This was the result of two separate meetings with a social worker.  Once we get the completed home study finalized then the ball can really get rolling.  This is when the whole process starts using a lot of foreign terms..... we file a I-600A with the US Citizenship and Immigration Service.  With this we are requesting an appointment for fingerprinting and a I-171H, which gives us permission to bring the child into the country.  More and more steps and more and more $$$$. 

Saturday 9/17

To kick off our fund raising, we are going to have an adoption benefit yard sale on Saturday, 9/17.  Please let us know if you can donate items to the cause! 

Let the journey begin.....

We have appreciated our friend's and family's support as we have made the decision to adopt.  We already have two beautiful, healthy children and countless blessings!!!  Keith and I started talking about adoption a few years ago.  Each year we go to the WinterJam concert and watch the Holt International videos on adoptions from China.  We both felt like God was speaking to us about adding to our family but we could always come up with a million reasons why we weren't ready for such a big change.  Two years ago, our church began a big emphasis (through Crazy Love) on helping the millions of orphans around the globe.  Again we would see the images of children without homes and knew that we were suppose to help.  Our church supports an orphanage in Jeremie, Haiti. Through our partnership with the orphanage we have learned more about the country and our church has a big heart for the people of Haiti.  I had the opportunity to visit Haiti in June of this year and have never been more sure that this is where we were meant to adopt.  We are requesting a little boy around 3-4 yrs old. 

I met with Erica, the adoption coordinator at our church, in May.  As soon as I got back from Haiti, we started the ball rolling.  By the end of June we were approved by our adoption agency, New Life Link (www.newlifelink.org) in Port-Au-Prince.  Last week we had our first home study with the social worker.  We have been overwhelmed by the amount of paperwork but also amazed at how fast much of it has come together.  This week we have our 2nd home study meeting and our psychological evaluations. (Hope we pass that one!!!  HA!)

Thank you for joining us on our journey.  I hope to update our blog as we have new info but please know that I am very new to blogging ... :-)    Stacey