The Dossier Journey

Several weeks ago we sent our Dossier (a huge amount of paperwork) to our agency. They checked over it twice, sent it to Washington D.C. to the Secretary of State, and then it began its journey to Ethiopia. Evan and I watched the journey through the tracking number that our agency gave us. On Monday, March 4th our Dossier arrived in Ethiopia.

All of the months of compiling, collecting, and fingerprinting have now led to the country where our child (children) will be born, if they aren't already. Believe it or not, our wait as now just officially begun, ha. The currently projection is that we will recieve a referral in 24-30 months from now.

Please pray that God is blessing this journey, and please pray for our child.

A day long awaited...

Evan called me today and said, "Guess what arrived?" I knew. The I-171H. Thank you so much to my prayer warriors for your faithful prayers that the letter would come this week. It has arrived at last!

The letter is so formal. It comes from the Department of Homeland Security, and it grants us permission to adopt an orphan and bring he/she into the United States. Even in its formality, I was still moved to tears, "It has been determined that you are able to furnish proper care to an orphan(s)..."

Since I got home from work, we have been feverishly working to check and double check our Dossier documents so that we can head to Fed Ex for it to head to our agency, America World, first thing tomorrow. Thank you to my amazing friend, Stacie, who has notarized countless documents for us and put up with me blubbering as she notarized the last document today.

Our child is one step closer. In just 3 weeks all of the work of 6.5 months will arrive in Ethiopia and will lead us to our child (or children). Please join us in prayer for the paper work to be processed smoothly, for the Dossier to arrive in Ethiopia and be processed efficiently, and most importantly for our child (children) that this stack of paper will lead us to.

Still waiting.....

I know it's been a while! Here is a quick update in our adoption process- we are still waiting. We have already had our federal fingerprint appointment which was about 3 weeks ago. Currently, we are still waiting for the "golden ticket," the I-171H. This form grants permission to bring our child into the country, and it is the very last thing that we need in order to submit our Dossier. Please pray it's on its way to us right now!

Les Miserables and adoption

I, like many, rushed to the theater after Christmas to see Les Miserables. I wasn't disappointed. I knwo a lot of people have opinions about their choices in depicting the music the way they did, but I loved it all. See, I have very fond memories of Les Miserables. On my 16th birthday, my parents surprised me and brought me and my two brothers to see the play on broadway. I own the sound track, and have all the songs memorized. I love the story of love and redemption. I read a blog today that put another spin on the movie. Karen at "Finding Rest" puts it beautifully. http://www.kareneyates.com/2013/01/les-miserables-adoption-and-gift-of.html

We have our fingerprinting appointment!!!

Happy New Year!

The holidays have been wonderful, and it has been great having a nearly 2 week break from teaching. However, it feels good to be in a routine again starting a new year. We got wonderful news last week- we got our federal fingerprinting appointment!!! We'll be heading to West Virginia on Wednesday to get our fingerprints taken. We are praying that our I-171H will come within 2-4 weeks. Please joining us in praying for this. It is possible it will take longer. The wait time for the Ethiopia program is looking like 24-30 months from Dossier submission, so the sooner we get the Dossier submitted the sooner we can  hurry up and wait. I look forward to posting about receiving the "golden ticket" soon!

Oh, I-171H, how you ail me

Evan and I have been waiting for a letter from the USCIS for our federal fingerprinting appointment that will result in the last piece of paperwork necessary for the Dossier- the I-171H. This piece of paperwork is often referred to as the "golden ticket" because it grants permission from the U.S. government for you to bring in a person from another country into the U.S.

I did receive a packet in the mail yesterday from the USCIS office, but it was a rejection notice. Thourghout the process, we have been sure to cross every "t" and dot every "i" and the one piece of paperwork that you wouldn't want to make an error on is this one because it takes so long to get the I-171H from the federal government. Well, we forgot to sign the application. I know there has to be a greater purpose in this because this kind of oversight is not like us at all.

When I called the USCIS office, I made sure that we have everything needed to resubmit and Evan zipped to FedEx and overnighted our corrected packet to the USCIS office in Texas. While I was on the phone with the lady from USCIS, she said the timeframe we are looking at to get the I-171H is 75 days! This is way longer than it has been. If this is truly the case, we won't be able to submit our Dossier until March or April. On the heels of the news that the wait time has increased, this is a tough pill to swallow.

I still hold to the fact that all of this is in God's plan, and His timing is perfect. However, the waiting is so hard. Please pray for things to move faster or for God is bless us with peace with a longer wait time.

Beauty from ashes

"To all who mourn in Israel, he will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair. In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks that the LORD has planted for his own glory." Isaiah 61:3

I pray this over all who mourn the tragic loss of life in Newtown, CT. I first heard of the horrific events while at school, in the 5th grade classroom where I teach. As many of you, I could not fully absorb what was happening. It was only later that the reality began to sink in- beautiful children, like my students, taken. 

Perhaps it's too soon to hope for beauty, but perhaps not. Over the years, I've had the privilege to teach many wonderful children, and last year in particular I taught an exceptional girl. She is not exceptional because of her intelligence, beauty or maturity - although she possesses all of these traits, she is remarkable because of her generosity. Last year, she and a friend started making jewelry and sold it to benefit a local animal shelter. Over the summer, she and her cousin had a lemonade stand and used the profits to buy cookie dough. She made cookies and brought them to residents at a local nursing home. She sold the rest of the cookies to buy her mom a gift. She kept nothing for herself. 

I told Corynne about our adoption when she came to visit my classroom before school opened in August. Since then, she has sent several emails updating me on her life and events and asking about how the adoption is going. Recently, we met for a "coffee date" today with her mom to catch up, and she proceeded to ask questions about the adoption and how things work, and then she told me about how she has been fundraising on my behalf. Corynne and her mom (who was in tears) explained how Corynne made a jar with a picture of the Ethiopian map on it, and began collecting money since we first talked about adoption. She gave all of the money she earned (did not keep a penny for herself), sold some of her toys, and took a special offering at church to give to our adoption. She then went into her book bag and handed me a crumbled wad of $20s. It took everything in me to fight back the tears (although I totally lost in when I got to the car). I truly witnessed a piece of Christ in that moment. Her joy in giving me this gift was astounding.

Through our adoption process we have witnessed more beauty, faith and generosity than you can imagine, and Corynne is a beautiful part of this story that only God can write. There is undeniable evil in the world, but today I was reminded today of the beauty.