USCIS Fingerprints Complete

We headed to Philadelphia with a few extra kids in tow (our beautiful nieces), and got our USCIS Fingerprints taken.  They were excited to "help" with the adoption of their new little cousin.  Courtney, the 5 year old blond pictured above, thought we would be coming home with our child.  So when we left with only a piece of paper she was a bit confused and wanted to know where her new cousin was.  Too funny! 

Last week while on vacation we also had our referral orientation phone call.  We spent time on the phone with Emily from our adoption agency who shared things we can expect as we enter the referral phase of the adoption.  We gained a little more insight on bonding and attachment issues that will rise up.  Notice I said WILL and not MIGHT.   It was all very thought provoking stuff and has spurred us on to pray even more for our little one. 

Our home study is finalized and approved!

Last Thursday the kids and I drove to Living Hope and picked up our approved and notarized Home Study.  Whoot-whoot!  I had been filling out our I800A form periodically throughout the week knowing this day was quickly approaching.  Scott helped me complete the I800A form on Thursday night, wrote the check and Friday morning he and the boys took it to the UPS store and mailed it off to the US Citizenship and Immagration Services department (USCIS).  Another copy of our home study is on it's way to Harrisburg to be state sealed. 
What does all this mean and why?  The I800A is the first form to be completed to start the international adoption process in order to adopt a child who lives within a Hague Convention Country, in our case China.  We need immigration to determine whether or not we are elibible to adopt internationally.  Simply stated, it's more of proving we are who we say we are and we meet the requirements to adopt internationally from our proposed country.

Timeline

Here is the timeline of our adoption process to date.


September 7, 2010 - Contacted Bethany Christian Services for an information packet

September 21, 2010 - Attended Bethany's Information Meeting.  Walked away from the meeting knowing we were being lead to International adoption.  Still unclear what country, and also still unsure Bethany was the agency we would use.

February 15, 2011 - Contacted All God's Children International and requested their information packet.

Spent many months praying.

August 31, 2011 - Filled out a pre-application with All God's Children International.  Were advised that Bulgaria, China, and Ethiopia's programs would be a good match for us.

Prayed some more.

December 9, 2012 - Submitted formal application with AGCI to adopt through their China Special Needs program. ($300.00)

December 27, 2012 - Submitted personal statements to AGCI's social services department.

January 2, 2012 - Received call from AGCI that we have been approved to adopt from China.

January 9, 2012 - Orientation call with AGCI. This is also the day we started our adoption jar.

January 21, 2012 - Registered for our Hague adoption training ($179.00).  

January 27, 2012 - Completed AGCI's formal application for their China Special Needs Program and made our first big payment of $3,890.00.

February 27, 2012 -Completed application with Living Hope Adoption Agency for our Home Study. ($200.00)

March 8, 2012 - Officially contracted with AGCI.

 March 20, 2012 - Contracted with Living Hope for our Home Study ($1,500.00)

April 9, 2012 - Completed our 13 hours of Hague Accredited Training.


April 27, 2012 - Home Study #1, interviewed together.


May 4, 2012 - Home Study #2, interviewed together and individually.

May 4, 2012 - Held our Spaghetti Benefit Dinner with 240 people in attendance.  Raised a total of $7,350.71!


May 9, 2012 - Completed our Psychological Evaluations ($600.00)

May 14, 2012 - Final Home Study #3 in our home with the kids.

May 15, 2012 - Registered with the CHOPADOPT program.

June 22, 2012 - Our first draft of our home study was sent by Living Hope to AGCI.

June 25, 2012 - Day trip to Harrisburg to get our dossier state certified.  ($150.00)

July 2, 2012 - AGCI received our dossier (minus the home study) and mailed it off to Washington, DC. ($5,400.00)

July 10, 2012 - Home Study Revisions submitted to Living Hope as requested by AGCI.

July 20, 2012 - Our Home Study is officially approved and a letter of approval mailed to Living Hope!

July 24, 2012 - Our Dossier returned back to AGCI authenticated.

July 26, 2012 - Drove to Living Hope to pick up approved/notarized copies of Home Study.

July 27, 2012 - Scott and the boys mailed our Home Study and I800A form off to TX. ($800)

August 14, 2012 - USCIS Fingerprint appointment completed

August 20, 2012 - Referal phone call with Emily House

September 13, 2012 - Received Immigration approval letter in the maile (dated 9/7/12)

September 14, 2012 - Got I797 letter notarized

September 17, 2012 - I797 State Sealed and sent to AGCI

October 17, 2012 - DTC

November 21, 2012 - LID

November 26, 2012 - received REFERRAL!!! 

November 29, 2012 - Sent LOI (Letter of Intent)!!!

December 5, 2012 - PA (Pre-approval from Ch*na)

February 26, 2013 - LSC (Letter Seeking Confirmation)  (83 long days of waiting!)

March 1, 2013 - Fedex'd our signed LSC, I800, DS230 and Visa application 

March 14, 2013 - I800 Approved

March 18, 2013 - received I800 Approval letter and Visa's in the mail

March 26, 2013 - Received PDF of NVC Approval Letter (we were cabled on 3/21)

Move Over Vera Bradley

I have the most wonderful friends.  Today I get to boast about one (actually two).  My friend Becky has had a home-based business through Etsy selling handmade tote bags and journals.  Her work is top quality and absolutely beautiful.  Move over Vera Bradley!  I joke with her repeatedly that I am her #1 customer and fan. 

If you remember Becky made a matching tote bag and journal set for our Spaghetti Dinner fundraiser.  It was BEAUTIFUL!  Well, see for yourself...

Today Becky told me that she posted on her blog that if anyone orders one of these tote bag & journal sets she is donating 100% of the proceeds to our adoption.  Yes, I did say 100%!!!  You can custom order the bag in any fabric/color, it is the size and style that would be the same.  So please pop on over to Becky's blog Seasoned With Salt and take a look for yourself.  She has more pictures and the details to place your order there. 

If you are interested in checking out more of Becky's items, please head on over to her Etsy shop (Etsy, Seasoned With Salt) and see more of her beautiful creations.

On a side note, the tote bag that was auctioned at our dinner, well my friend Carolyn won it.  A few weeks later she gave it to me as a gift.  So if you see me sporting this bag at church or out in public it's because like I said at the beginning I HAVE THE MOST WONDERFUL FRIENDS!!!

Harrisburg

The kids and I took a day trip to Harrisburg on Monday, June 25th.  We stopped by Aunt Marilyn's house and took her with us.  She was willing to tag along and show us the way, which I really appreciated.

I took all our adoption documents that needed state certification to the US Department of State.  This is standard procedure for an international adoption.  The reason being documents issued in one country which need to be used in another country must be "authenticated" or "legalized" before they can be recognized as valid in the foreign country. This is a process in which various seals are placed on the document. Such documents range from financial records, medical exam forms, birth and marriages records, employment verification letters, home studies and other legal papers.  The whole process took about 15 minutes.  Thankfully we have family in Harrisburg and we could make a day trip of it.

Now we are putting all these legal documents together, along with completing our "With Eyes Wide Open" workbook (more training stuff).  Hopefully by Friday it will all be in a package and on it's way to our adoption agency. 

On the way back we stopped at the nursing home to visit my grandmother.  As I'm telling her where we were and what we had been doing she lights up thinking this means our child is finally coming home.  I think she worries she won't be around to meet her newest great-grandbaby.  She is very excited about this adoption and that makes me smile because for those who don't know my grandmother was adopted.  She has a softness and sympathy for this child already and she hasn't even met them.

We are still waiting for AGCI to approve our home study.  They received the rough draft last week and so far we haven't heard of any needed changes.  I'm hoping that means "no news is good news".  There were some discrepancies between our adoption agency and home study agency over who would autenticate our home study document and reference letters.  The reference letters are confidential so Scott and I would not be able to take those to Harrisburg for the state seal.  Scott was on the phone and passing emails back and forth for the last two days.  Thankfully today everything got resolved, but not without adding another $150.00 to our expenses.  So glad the adoption jar wasn't empty for this, God had provided even before we knew we needed it.

As I reflect on Monday's trip I also meditated on this verse:

"And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee."  (2 Corinthians 1:21-22 ESV)

You see, we had to get seals on our personal documents to prove to China that we are who we say we are.  But there is a greater seal we have been given, which guarentees us something much more important, who we really are as children of God, and that seal is His Spirit in our hearts.  The Spirit guarantees our salvation.

URGENT Prayer Request (Updated 6/27)

7/9/12 - Just in case you want to continue following the Moghadams adoption journey, here is a link to their blog:  Moghadams Adoption Journey.  They are still awaiting the final adoption of their 4 children in Ghana and bringing them home.  They could still use much prayer.


Here is the most recent update on the Moghadams:  Moghadams Update #3

They have now been reunited and given the approval for their adopted children.  However, they remain in Ghana waiting for visas for their 4 adoptees.  Keep praying them home!



Here is an update to the Moghadams:  Moghadams Update #2

As you can see they have been released from jail and reunited with their two biological sons.  However, they still need prayer as they have not been reunited with their adopted children.  Please pray the government reviews their adoption paperwork and finds no fault and these orphan children can be reunited and join the Moghadam family permanently, and that they can ALL return to the US.



Please pray for a family, Sol and Christine Moghadams, currenlty in Ghana.  They are there to adopt a sibling group of four.  They have been arrested for child trafficking and are currently being held in jail.  They had their two biological sons with them (ages 4 and 6), plus the four children they were adopting.  All six children have been taken to a government orphanage.  This family needs intercession.  They had all of their legal paperwork to adopt these children with them and these charges are false accusations. 

Please if you are reading this lift this family up in prayer.  The US Embassy and all necessary goverment officials and authorities are involved, but the latest update is still that this couple is being detained, and still separated from their children.

You can check out their adoption video here:  Sol and Christine Moghadams

There blog does not have any info on it, but you can get updates on Facebook here:  Orphan Justice Center

Home Study Progress

To All Our Prayer Warrior Friends,

We just wanted to say thank you because Scott's criminal clearance arrived at Living Hope today!   The turn around time was exactly one week to the day  from Scott mailing the application, to the report being processed and it's arrival at Living Hope.  That was the last thing we needed for our home study and the first rough draft was sent to All God's Children today.  YAY!!! 

This journey is a hurry up and wait, hurry up and wait, we have just gone from "wait" to "hurry up".  The adrenalin is pumping.  Our dossier is almost complete and Lord willing the kids and I will be heading to Harrisburg next week to get everything state sealed and mailed off. 

I will confess that this impatient momma prefers "hurry up" over "wait"!