Monday updates

We were able to catch up with our closing attorney from 2000, 2001 and 2002 (lot purchase, permanent financing on home and refi on home). He will process a deed correction to update the mailing address to our current address on the warranty deed in order to satisfy the SDA when our dossier is completed. This will cost <$100 so that is good news... considering. I hope to be able to take the original deed to him tomorrow so they can make the corrections then I can run it to the court house to be refiled. Hopefully I can then get new copies of the warranty deed, but I am going prepared to be told to come back another day for the corrected copies. Tim was able to take the medicals back to the MD for re-signing today. She had forgotten to list her license # and one of the dates had an alteration. Better safe than sorry! We are still waiting on the reference (checking w/ SW to see if she has received yet) and waiting on the ABI/ FBI background checks. Glad we did these early on so we wouldn't get held up by them! :) Courtney's Immigrations fingerprint appt did not come today either. I do not understand why everything is coming in bits and pieces when they were all submitted in the same package! Can you 'hear' the frustration? Feeling exhausted by the process today. I really would love to have the homestudy completed soon! The completed HS has to go through DHR, then Immigrations before we can complete our dossier and submit to country. After dossier submission, we wait for SDA approval and a travel date. Some have been given dates 2 weeks out from the date they are notified. With all the steps listed above it seems less likely that we will be able to travel in June. The later the travel date, the less likely we will be back prior to school starting back which causes another level of stress for us! Shelby starts high school this year! I really want to be here for that transition! We know that everything will work out in God's time, but my mother's heart is very worried on many levels! Please pray for us and that everyone that is part of our process will work as quickly and efficiently as possible. It frustrates me to think that the paperwork that we are waiting on is most likely buried on someone's desk!

World Down Syndrome Day

As I mentioned before, today is World Down Syndrome Day (3/21). We spent part of our day starting a new season of Miracle League baseball. So much fun watching the players give it their all and their excitement when they play! It came to mind throughout the day that next year we hope to have 2 more players out on that field! Oh, to just have them home!

We did get a surprise in the mail today! Our USCIS fingerprint appointment letters arrived... well 2 of the expected 3 anyway. I have been worried about the appointed date/time since I was told they assign your appointment and rescheduling delays the process further. With Courtney's school schedule being rather hectic I have been really worried this would be an issue. Thank you, Lord! We have a Saturday appt!... at least Tim and I do! Hopefully Courtney's letter will show up and be scheduled with ours! We are scheduled to go in 3 weeks. Progress! Today wrapped up our Awareness Campaign. Thank you for joining us during the last 3 weeks for our prayer campaign. Even though our prayer campaign has ended, our need for prayer continues. Please remember our family as we go through the process to bring home our girls. Pray for the girls safety and well being as they continue to wait. Pray for our needs to be met along the journey to bring them home. Thank you for joining us on this journey.

Just a little update...

The warranty deed is coming back to haunt us. Our deed was filed before an address was assigned to the lot and before we built here. That being the case... our deed references another mailing address, where we rented at the time we purchased the lot. This is causing concern since our deed does not reference our address even though it does give the legal description for this location. This was an issue for our HS, but was easily solved by providing the annual statement from our mortgage company referencing our address. Our dossier... a little more picky. After many emails to our adoption agency and calls to the county courthouse (varous depts) and attorneys, we are waiting to find out how much more $$$$ it is going to cost to have our deed refiled with our current mailing address listed. This most likely would never have been a problem, but for the adoption process everything has to be PERFECT! Frustrating!!! Still waiting on fingerprints to come back.... We have had 3 of the 6 reports back for almost a month now, but still waiting on the last 3. Everyday I wait for the mail only to be disappointed again. I must look like a little child checking the mail for the package that never comes!

Tomorrow is 3/21/09 - World Down Syndrome Day. Also, the end of our prayer campaign, but by no means the end of our need for prayer! What else happens tomorrow? Miracle League! We begin our spring season! If you haven't had the opportunity to watch a Miracle League game yet.... you have been missing out! Truly inspiring! These kids/adults really enjoy the game! The first game we attended just about had me in tears. To think how often we think 'woe is me' while we are 'fully-abled'. These players embrace life to the fullest while meeting and exceeding the challenges that they must fight ever single day. Support your local Miracle League and the athletes! You'll soon understand that it is you who will be rewarded for your efforts. http://www.miracleleague.com/

Unexpected encouragement

Shelby and I have followed the bedtime routine of prayers (hers then mine) followed by a song for years now (Abby joins in now as well). The song has changed off and on. Months ago... maybe close to a year now, I remembered a song from my childhood that I thought would be very good for her to learn. We started working on this one and have been using it nightly since. My original thoughts were that this would be a daily source of encouragement for her (she is our daughter w/ DS). I feel that if you help your child have a strong feeling of self-worth up, they can face the negative comments from others with a little less pain. Well... since we have begun this journey, I find the words also apply to Tim and I. Each night I am now reminded that WE CAN DO THIS! Here are the Lyrics:

I AM A PROMISE (written by Bill & Gloria Gaither)

I am a Promise, I am a possibility
I am a Promise with a capitol "p"
I am a great big bundle of potentiality
And I am learning to hear God's voice
And I am trying to make the right choices
I'm a promise to be anything He wants me to be
(Repeat)

I can go anywhere that He wants me to go
I can be anything that He wants me to be
I can climb the high mountains
I can cross the wide sea
I am a great big bundle you see...

I am a Promise! I am a possibility
I am a Promise with a capitol "p"
I am a great big bundle of potentiality
And I am learning to hear God's voice
And I am trying to make the right choices
I'm a promise to be anything He wants me to be


I searched for this song on children's CDs for Shelby so we could learn the lyrics and hear it sang correctly (when I said we sang each night.... I never said we sang GOOD!). I found it on a Veggie Tales CD. Here is a link if you are interested... You can hear a sample as well (#9). We found the cd at Walmart in the toy dept where the cds/movies for kids are located.
http://bigidea.com/products/music/music_content.aspx?pid=107

Thankful!

I'm a very thankful for the way today has gone! We heard back from our HS SW and they will accept copies of the corrected medical forms that we have for our adoption agency. This saves us from having to go yet again to our MD for corrections. Still waiting on the background checks and last recommendation.

Today I am also thankful that the dreaded dentist appointment is behind us and Shelby did very well.... considering. Shelby is our 14 yr old w/ DS. For some reason unknown to us, she developed a fear of the up/down movement of the dentist chair (this also applies to the up/down movement of xray tables). This came up out of nowhere about 3+ years ago. Our pediatric dentist office has been real good to work with her on this... they clean her teeth with her sitting in a regular office chair. Well, she had to have 2 teeth pulled today. To date, she has NEVER lost a tooth. She has had 4 pulled in the past, 2/per visit. Baby teeth are not meant to stay with you this long and the 2 pulled today were worn out! If she would not cooperate today, they were going to refer her to an oral surgeon so she could be given an IV. Well... Shelby has an even greater fear of needles/bloodwork/etc... due to the 5yr protocol against Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia. Thankfully... with out much fuss (relatively speaking) they were able to get her into the chair, eventually laying back, and finally able to adjust the chair with her staying in it (ok - being held in it). We are very excited to be waiting on a visit from the Tooth Fairy tonight! This will be Ms. Tooth Fairy's 3rd trip to see Shelby in Shelby's almost 15 years! ... Very thankful for each of those almost 15 years!

Yeah! A Good Day!

I'm having a great day! Tim was able to get the MD to sign the corrected medical forms. I've emailed the scanned medicals to both our agency and HS agency for approval. Our agency has tentatively answered they are good! They will be reviewed by another set of eyes for the final OK, but I'm pleased with the sound of that! Our SW will review the medicals with her supervisor on Monday to see if they will accept these forms as well. They have their own forms that we had completed, but were missing a couple of things that we are praying these other forms will address. Fingers crossed that these work because our MD is sick of seeing us! I also emailed the scanned employment letter for the ok from our agency.... this has been ok'd as well! I am just so thrilled things are starting to look up. We have had a couple of unproductive days so it is nice to end the week on this note! Oh... one of our remaining recommendation letters was mailed yesterday. We should be just waiting on one more! Still waiting on the background/fingerprint reports to finish coming in... I think that will about wrap up our HS as far as what they need to complete it. So exciting to be nearing the end of this phase!

Praying them home

I was just on www.reecesrainbow.com looking again at all of the beautiful children that are waiting in various parts of the world. Waiting for something they may not even fully understand. Waiting on a family to take them into their home and teach them what it means to be loved and provided for. Waiting.... All of those beautiful children break my heart each time I look at them. Please take a moment of your day today and look through the Reece's Rainbow website. Look at the Older Children, at the Children at Most Risk, and at the Other Angels. Find one that draws you in. Please commit to praying for that child. Pray that somewhere there is a family that feels God's call. Pray for this family to be provided for as they step up to make a huge difference in that child's life. Pray for that child to be provided for and kept safe until their family can come for them. Pray them home. I would love to hear of your commitments if you would like to share... please post a comment about which child you will being praying home.

Please continue to pray for our girls and our family in our process. We have our up days and our down days. A paper pregnancy seems to have the same emotional rollercoaster as a typically pregnancy. There are days that I just want to cry, cry, cry! There is so much that is so out of our control that I struggle not to worry! I know that God is in control, but I struggle...

Another day...

Today has been spent back and forth with our SW trying to make sure if medicals need any corrections for them so we can get all things corrected in one attempt (or at least that is the plan). Also, made contact with the remaining references and both are being submitted ASAP. We really appreciate all of you who have been willing to complete the letters of recommendations on our behalf. We understand this was time spent out of your day and we thank you for taking the time to complete these so timely! We also found out our SW will be moving back to FL with her last day being the end of the month. This is not supposed to impact our homestudy since she will be completing it. I am a little nervous though, but they have assured us there will not be any problems. I do wish the best for our SW and her family. We hope everything turns out for them and they have a smooth transition back home!

Waiting...

No significant progress today. Labs/test were updated to meet the 6 month window. Waiting on results again so we can update medical forms. Still waiting on background checks / fingerprints to all come in... received about half of these. I believe most of the recommendations have been received or are at least in the mail at this point. So... progress is being made even though at times it seems we aren't getting anywhere.

I wanted to say Thank You to the person who made the donation to our family sponsorship fund. I do not have the information to mail you a proper Thank You, but did not want your support to go un-noted. Thank You so much for supporting our journey in this way. We appreciate your gift!

Please remember to keep our girls overseas and the rest of our family here at home in your prayers as we go through this process.... we appreciate and need your prayers!

The ups and downs

Woke up late this morning (forgot to change the bedroom clock) so I really figured I'd missed our shot at scheduling a follow up appointment for today. However, I was able to get us both scheduled back to back appointments at the exact time I had needed them! Headed out feeling like we were going to move mountains today. Ended up there was no notary after all... even though we had been assured that there was one on site. Still being optimistic, we parted ways with me contacting our agency to verify what was required so we could conquer this quickly. In the process we discovered we had some 'problems' with the forms. After faxing our medical forms to our agency coordinator, we are advised that they will have to be redone. Not impossible, but definitely deflating. After reading the follow up email, I discover that ALL of the test have to be less than 6 months old. This translates to Tim and Courtney having to go back for updates on test that don't quite make the timeline. Now, we will have the slight delay of waiting for test results before we can update the forms and follow up with our MD to get correct medical forms signed. Slightly frustrating end of a day, but hey.... we knew there was the possibility that we would have to have corrections made. Both plan to go get their test done tomorrow so we can work to get this portion of the process behind us soon! In the mean time, we plan to get with our HS agency as well and fax them our forms to review so we can make any corrections they may need at the same time! :) Live and learn! If the HS is satisfied with their forms as is, then I'd have to say today was a success after all! I'll let you know....

More progress...

Friday started out disappointing, but worked out in the end. I had hoped to get our physical follow-ups scheduled so we could check the medicals off our list. That didn't work out, so I will have to call back and try again Monday. I did manage to get the 1600a (Application of Advance Processing of Orphans Petition) paperwork all gathered up. That was checked off as my task for the day! Saturday I made last minute corrections to the 1600a paperwork(luckily I received an email from my agency late Friday with helpful info on completing this app... timely email!) and hurried it to the post office before they closed at 10:00. I feel better just knowing that is in the mail! Fingers-crossed it is complete and doesn't come back for information! :) Now.... we will wait on our fingerprint appt date to be assigned! Really hope to wrap up the physicals this week, but we aren't able to schedule anything (our primary care physician is being reassigned teams so this is causing some appt issues). I will be calling each day at 7:00 to see if we can get a 'same day' appt. Fingers-crossed for a Monday appt or at least for them to get the appt system corrected! :)

Please remember to keep us in your prayers as we go through this process to bring home these little girls.

Last interview for Homestudy was today!

We met with our social worker again today (in Birmingham) for our last interview in our homestudy process. We turned in a good bit of the paperwork that was still needed. We are still waiting on the background checks and some references (These went out via email and we didn't realize... some of our references don't check their home email that often. Once we realized this, we quickly notified everyone so they could go check their email). I believe all that is still needed from us is the completed medicals (we have to go back now that the labs should be in), a financial form for the Dossier (I filled out a financial form that was in the homestudy manual, but that wasn't what she needed...oops) and a photo of us. I know... I should have had the photo already. I'm terrible with cameras. I remember to take pictures, well.. sometimes, but I don't make it to actually develop the film. The digital camera has helped in a way... I get to see my photos, but they are all trapped inside my computer because I don't get around to actually print them. I'm sure I have made some scrapbooker out there very nervous! All in all... I'm pleased to say that the last of our homestudy interviews was my 'small' task for today!

James 1:27

"Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress..."

Small task for today is complete. I finished my last set of discussion questions and once Tim proofs for errors, I will email to our SW. I have other paperwork I have to go through later today in order to be ready for our meeting, but I'm out of time right now. For today's post, I decided to share one of the questions/answers from these discussion questions. (lazy? maybe!)

Do I feel that adopting a needy, homeless child is my moral duty? Do I see myself as a rescuer? Explain your answer. Well… I feel that we were led to this. I feel this is our calling at this point, but for me to say it was my moral duty would imply that I feel that all of us have the moral duty to go adopt a child. I feel we were called to this, but I do not feel that will be the case for everyone. I do believe that God has called us all to care for orphans, but the actual ‘call’ will be different for everyone. Some may be called to pray or advocate, some are called to give financially, some are called to be a part of the adoption process of others, some are called to adopt a child/ children, and others are called to serve the waiting children and provide for their daily needs. I do not see myself as a rescuer, but I do realize that there may not be another that is called to go for these particular children. I understand my failure to answer the call could very well leave them as orphans. I understand that these children will end up in a mental institution where they will remain until they die at most likely an early age. I am not a rescuer or a hero. I am a mother and I am a Christian. I can not accept the reality of what would become of these children due to my failure to act out of my own selfishness. It is this understanding that has moved me well outside my comfort zone to begin this adoption process.

PS: Please don't forget to pray for us if you decided to join us in our awareness campaign! Thanks so much for your support!

Little Steps... Big Reward

I have a tendency to become somewhat overwhelmed when I dwell to much on the process of our international adoption. In the past, I have found it helpful to focus on smaller task that make up the larger/overwhelming job. Often, I found that the little task wasn't so bad after all and would continue on to another small task, then the next, then the next... until the job was done. Well... hears to hoping that works for me this time! My little tasks for today were (1) getting the completed, signed application copied and mailed off to our agency! (2) compiling and submitting 3 of 4 sets of discussion questions to our SW (Tim and I had two each- he finished, not me). I know this doesn't sound like much, but they are steps towards bringing home the girls. Tomorrow, I HAVE to complete the paperwork for our last HS interview. My struggle is finding the time and peace amongst life's daily chaos to do my "homework". Again... little steps towards the big reward!

Oh... I wanted to share the latest from our 3 year old on the adoption: The other day I took her to store (She had many saved up from Christmas, birthdays, etc... and wanted to spend it). During her shopping spree she purchased two little pairs of sunglasses for 'Sonya' and 'Darcy' (she already has a pair herself). I told her that we were going to need to buy the girls lots of things when we were able to get them (clothes, shoes, everything) because they would not have those things of their own. She quickly chimed in, "I will share my clothes with them! I can not wear them all at one time!" --- sorry, I have to brag on her now because I'm sure the jealousy will kick in later and I won't have too many of these cute little stories to share! :)

Paperwork and Prayers

The mound of paperwork and reading can be overwhelming at times. I have this constant feeling of being behind and having forgotten something very important. I'm sure you know the feeling I'm describing. Well... in the process of trying to hurry through our homestudy, we have put off other things. One fairly large thing... signing and returning our agency agreement! So... I have spent the better part of the day reading a 26 page legal agreement so that we can get this into our agency ASAP! I had planned to spend the day tying up loose ends for our final homestudy interview which is scheduled for this Wednesday. I guess I will have to get that caught up tonight or shuffle it into tomorrow's pile!

Today we kick off our "Awareness Campaign"... if you don't know what I'm talking about, please read the previous post for an explanation. We would greatly appreciate your prayers throughout this campaign period and throughout our process. When people hear what we are doing (and other adopting families going through this process) there is usually 1 of 2 reactions: 1) Are you crazy? or 2) You are very special people. Well... I do not think that either of those apply. (ok the crazy might, but that would have applied even before we began this process). Tim and I are normal people called by an Extraordinary God to follow a different path leading us to two special children that have a great need.... a family. We are no different than any of you. We were just asked to do something that you may not have been asked to do and we made the decision to follow. As we are just normal people we will have many problems, worries and concerns along the way. Please commit to praying for our family for at least the next 3 weeks (Awareness Campaign ends 3/21/09, but our need of prayer will continue well beyond that date). We greatly appreciate your prayers and support.