We Got Our Home Study Draft!!

19 November 2010

We got our home study draft this a.m.  Walt emailed our draft to us and we are supposed to read over and fix any errors that might be on it.  We really didn't need to change anything except he had my birthday incorrect and we needed to change our wording from a request to adopt 2 specific boys to a request to adopt "up to 3 children, male or female."  This is best so we don't limit ourselves to two specific children.  Ukraine does not allow pre-selection of children, so anything could happen upon our arrival in Ukraine.  We are hoping "anything" doesn't happen, but we would much rather play it safe! 

The Paper Chase

12 November 2010

After running around for weeks now getting necessary paperwork from doctors, accountants, state departments, pastors, character references and pretty much everyone in our entire county, we finally completed the paperwork process for our dossier.  Today I mailed 27 documents to be apostilled by the NC Secretary of State!  Cost: $190!!!

Our Home Study is Complete!!!!

9 November 2010

I'm happy to say that our Home Study is now complete.  It was a whole lot easier than I thought it would be.  Walt, our case worker, was really nice.  He visited our home and asked the girls what they thought about the adoption.  The girls were all enthusiastic about their answers.  He asked our oldest child what would change once the new child/ren arrive and she said "There will be less chores for me to do!"  They are very excited at the idea of adopting a brother or 2 brothers. 

We really liked working with our Christian Adoption agency (Christian Adoption Services--www.christianadopt.org).  The cost was around $2,000, but dealing with fellow Christians is a whole lot easier than dealing with a secular government agency who may or may not be on board with our beliefs.

We are just waiting for our draft now.

Orphan Sunday

7 November 2010

Today is Orphan Sunday.  We're spending some extra time in prayer for our special orphan/s far away in Ukraine.  Our church took up a love offering for our family and another family in our church who are adopting from Ukraine during them morning service.  We hope God multiplies these funds that people have lovingly given and we pray He blesses them for their generosity!

Immigration Paperwork

4 November 2010

As if the adoption paperwork and the Home Study paperwork were not enough, there is more paperwork--for US Immigration.  I mailed our USCIS (immigration) paperwork out today and our whopping $830 fee to Texas this morning.  We are praying for fast approval!!!

Our Home Study

29 October 2010

A lot of people have told us many horror stories about the dreaded Home Study.  I've heard stories about them unjustly interogating young children, them accusing families of child abuse, them prying into the personal marital life or them finding some "dirt" and declining the whole adoption.  Well, I'm happy to say that our 2^nd Home Study Appointment at the hotel @ 3pm went well.  There were no awful questions.  We only have 1 more appointment to go.  It will be a toure of our home and the case worker will speak to our 3 children mainly about how they feel about the adoption.

God Is Providing!!!!

21 October 2010

God is providing!  Tim got a bonus from his company for passing a certification exam AND two separate families sent money our way to help with the outrageous cost of adoption!  Thank you so much both families who care about our little guy/s in Ukraine!!  May God bless you 100-fold!