Next stop China

Next stop China
Next Stop China!

Thursday, November 18, 2010

State Seal...Again

Last night, we got our dossier checklist notarized again. Nothing in the dossier can be notarized after the date on the checklist, so we had to fix that. We got up early this morning and went to the courthouse and got that county certified. Then we stopped by the post office to mail it to the capitol to be state certified. Hopefully that will get back to me Monday or Tuesday.
Our social worker stated she was mailing our fixed home study today and so that should get here tomorrow. A few little corrections and it will be done and fixed and I can mail copies again to our agency and hopefully be on the waiting list.
As soon as I have the home study, I can apply for USCIS, which will cost close to $900. Ugh!
I hope to have all of our stuff copied and to the agency before Thanksgiving. Once I get the go ahead from the agency, I can mail our original dossier to Washington. Can't wait to have our babies home!

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Papers were here all along

Well, I am still waiting to get our fixed copy of our homestudy back. I figure it may be next week, since our social worker is out of town. However, our state clearance papers that I had her send me by email and the signature didn't show, I asked for the originals. She mentioned that I should have gotten a copy too. So I go look in my big box of adoption paperwork I have had for 3 1/ 2 years and sure enough I had recieved a copy. It was over a year ago and I forgot.
So today we are getting our checklist resigned and tomorrow we will get it county certified and then soon we can send it off to the state to be state certified and then I can make copies of our dossier again, send them to the agency, hopefully no more mistakes and then it wait for referral time.
There is also some mandatory learning that they sent us, which I really need to work on today after school. We have a field trip with 4H this afternoon to a candle making business which should be fun.

Monday, November 15, 2010

Dentist

Today all 3 girls had their dentist appointments about 45 min. away, so it took up most of the morning. The girls love this dentist here and always look forward to going every 6 months. Apparently, you win tokens while back there and then get a prize. As you leave the back area, they have little machines that you put your token in and turn it like in grocery store lobbies and you get your prizes. Wish my dentist visits were that exciting. My dentist just tells me all the work that needs to be done and gives me a HUGE bill. Don't look forward to that.
Our fixed home study that we got in the mail had a few signatures of our social worker missing, so I sent that back to her today. I emailed her and let her know and also asked her for better copies of the state clearance which you can't see the signature so that will take care of those problems hopefully.
I have a question for our agency about one of the papers I have to fix and am waiting on the answer before we go to the notary to make sure I don't have to have her notarize two things. So right now we are at a little standstill. I just keep telling myself that it will happen soon. So excited.
I still feel bad, but I think I may be on the mend. My throat is barely hurting now and I am not so stuffy, so hopefully tomorrow I can feel better and perhaps get a few 7-11 shifts in at work this week. I was wanting to work all weekend and today, but had no energy and felt awful.
So I have hung around the house with the girls. Rained almost all day, so the girls had lots of pent up energy. We went to Mom's tonight and took her some of our leftover supper. It gets so foggy at our house this time of year. On the way home, on the gravel road to our house, I could barely see in front of the car. Had to drive about 10 mph. It is pretty cool though around our house when it is foggy. Looks a lot like a horror film - fog, forest, nothing in sight. Good thing I don't watch horror films or I would probably be creeped out. Love living here!

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Corrections not so bad - I hope

Well, after looking at the corrections and our original dossier, I am hoping to get done real soon. #1 left a date off one paper - easily fixed
#2 forgot to mail in a copy of my birth certificate with the copies of dossier -easily fixed
#3 one of the papers from our social worker that she got from the state was not signed. Thought I was going to have to talk to the state about that, but after closer inspection, realized that the papers were signed, but they had been scanned into the computer by social worker, then sent to us, then printed off by me and you can't see the signature anymore, except for a few tiny strokes that came through. So, I think she will be able to make a copy and mail it and it will hopefully show up on copies. - should just be the wait to get in the mail
#4 One notary left off some wording, but I don't think it is required in this state.
#5 Was supposed to put 2 of the same picture on certain page, not one. - easily fixed

Because of the corrections and the dates of some of them, I will have to get the state seal done again, which will require getting our checklist renotarized with a new date, then I will have to take it to the courthouse to be county certified, then sent to the state to be state certified. So, it will probably be Tuesday before all of this is mailed and Friday or Saturday before it gets back and then I will make copies and immediately send it off to our agency again and then we will officially be on the waiting list - yippee.
If I can get a notary at church to notarize our papers tomorrow, then I could get them county certified on Monday morn and sent off by that afternoon.
I have had a sore throat since Thur. night. Felt horrible yesterday and I have woke up feeling better all over, but worse in throat today. Aaron had it earlier in the week and it went away on it's own. Hopefully mine will too.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Corrections

Got word back on our dossier yesterday. There were 4-5 corrections that needed to be made. A couple very easy, the others involve other people. Unfortunatley, I won't be able to try to fix them at least until tomorrow since today is a holiday and most places I need to speak with will be closed.
I was a little disappointed when I read the email last night. I am so tired of doing paperwork and was happy to have it done for a while. Oh well.
Aaron is off today and the girls suprised us with breakfast in bed. cinnamon toast and coke. It was sweet of them. Now Aaron is working on a garbage can holder that will have lids so that the possums, dogs, racoons, cats and whatever else will stop climbing into our garbage and spreading it down the road.
The girls and I are going to get a day of school in, then we are off to a wedding 2 hours away tonight, so we will be home at bedtime.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Dossier copies arrived

Emailed our agency today and our dossier copies have arrived. No other news. The girls and I did go this morning and pay for the passports, so they should be on their way also.
Now we wait for them to review the dossier, and wait for our referrals. I am excited.
I am a terrible organizer, but our small house is going to have to have something done for us to fit two more baby beds. Probably will put the pack and play in Madelyn's room and the crib in ours. Someday we plan to turn our garage into living space and that will help a lot. Trying to get things sorted and get rid of the excess so we will have room. Emptied out some boxes in the garage and found most of our baby swing. and half of our bouncy chair. Perhaps when we get through all the boxes, both of them will be complete.

Monday, November 8, 2010

Forgot the Checkbook

I don't know if it is like this in other towns, but here you have to make an appointment to get a passport. Aaron and I already have ours, but the girls do not. Also, both parents have to be at the appointment if the passport is for a minor, with picture ID. Aaron took work off early to meet us at the courthouse and we got the last appointment of the day 4:30. I did real good, I transferred money from savings to checking, printed off the applications, sat them in a chair with checkbook on top. Then we went to Mom's for a while before the appointment. At Mom's I filled out the paperwork and we met Aaron. Got to courthouse and frantically searched the van for the checkbook that I had left on the rocking chair at home. Duh!
Thankfully the lady was real nice and said she would put the girls applications in the safe overnight and wait for me to bring the checks tomorrow.
Haven't heard from the agency today. Dossier should have gotten there today. However, I mailed it Friday and paid the $6.50 for "should get there by Monday" instead of the $27 for "definately gets there by Monday" So it may not even be there. I hope it is all correct!

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Dossier is in the Mail

Mailed the copies of our dossier to the agency yesterday. I still have the originals at home and will mail them to Washington DC whenever I get the go ahead from our agency that we did everything correctly. From the way she talked, we will be on the waiting list when it gets there and we can start to get our referrals. Our dossier should be there on Monday.
We went ahead and said that we want 2 infants, either boys or girls or both. Like I mentioned in our last post, we are 99% sure it will be 2 boys. I pray this is what God wants.
I spoke with the girls and they are real excited of course.
We can't decide what to do about travel. We have to take two trips. One is the court date, the other is to pick them up. At least one parent has to go to the court date. But you can have the agency escort your children home. Unfortunately, since we will have two infants, we need 2 escorts. You not only have to pay the escort's plane ticket, but a whole lot more (more than a 2nd plane ticket).
I am thinking maybe we take the kids the first trip to the court date. Then if I survive a 17 hour flight without being miserable with motion sickness, and it isn't too scary being there, I may travel by myself the 2nd time and just pay for one escort to go with me. Praying for the right decision for that too.
This is almost surreal. After waiting 3 1/2 years, to think that we could have a referral before December is unbelievable. .

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Decisions

Please pray, Aaron and I are trying to make a major decision about our adoption. Nothing bad, just wondering what God wants us to choose. It is so much easier when you get pregnant, you have no choice as to if you have a boy or a girl, it is in God's hands. However, with adopting, you do have to choose and it is soooo hard to know what God wants.
So many things that I thought were correct have been wrong in this adoption. #1 I thought our child was in Guatemala. Wrong. # 2 I thought our child was surely in Vietnam. Wrong.
I was positive that God wanted us to get a girl. Aaron thought so too. Is that another thing I mistakenly thought? Is God wanting me to go on my belief that He wanted us to get a girl these 3 1/2 years since starting this journey? Or is God wanting me to follow His lead and change if he tells us too?
Is God telling us to change or is this a temptation to change and see if we will stick with the original plan. So much of the original plan has been wrong.
This is too much pressure on us mere humans to decide.
Let me just say our choices... (we are still planning on 2 infants)
#1 Put down that we want a girl and a boy or a girl and a girl. If we do this, then we will wait 6 months or so for a girl referral. Since there is a waiting list for girls and boy referrals usually come within a matter of weeks. So you would wait for a girl was available then add the next available boy to that. Our children would be home around next fall.
#2 Put down that we want 2 boys. If we do this, we would probably have our referrals within a month or less. Our children would probably be home by March.
#3 Put down 2 infants doesn't matter. Well, this would be like letting God choose, but we know that this choice is almost the same as picking 2 boys because we know that there is no one waiting right now for boys and at least 7 families waiting for girls. So we would get the 2 next available referrals, which would be boys.

What to do, what to do???????? I have been praying earnestly for the last few days. I don't want to choose wrong. This decision completely alters the adopted children's lives, our lives, etc. I want the children that God wants in our home. I don't want to mess that up. I guess I just pray that we don't mess it up and for God to intercede to get the children He wants in our home.

By the way, the reason that this is all come to pass... our dossier is finished. 2 copies sitting in envelopes, waiting to be mailed to our agency. waiting to put us on a waiting list, which happens as soon as they approve your dossier. We have to decide before we send it in.

Also, I don't care what we get, I really don't. I see good in either choice. Aaron is about the same too.
MONEY. We need money. Can we trust enough that God will see to that also if we fast forward and choose boys? This will be $30,000+ since we are getting two. Will anyone help? I know we can't make that much before then.