Home Visit and October Fundraiser

The social worker came to our home on Monday for the adoption home visit.  We were nervous and somewhat stressed about how it would go, but we had our home looking nice, and the social worker was friendly.  So overall I think it went pretty well.  We have some parenting education stuff to finish up, and then we meet the social worker at her office again on the 25th to go over some of that.  After that she writes up her home study report, we review it, our adoption agency reviews it, it goes back to the social worker to finalize, and finally a finished, signed, notarized home study report is delivered to us and our adoption agency.  I hope that doesn't take too long after the 25th as we are waiting to get that home study report to send in our USCIS I-800 application.  I am too tired to go into what that is right now except to say it is the part where you get the US government to approve you to adopt internationally.

And there are a lot of bits and pieces in between we still have to do like I need to take a CPR class, and we have to get a report from Fort Worth saying we've never been arrested here, etc.

So please be praying that we have patience and strength through this process.  

On another note, we do still need to raise quite a bit of funds as we are going through this process ($29,000!).  To that end we have signed up for a spot at a parking lot sale (think flea market) at the antique mall where we have our booth.  The sale is on Saturday, October 13th.  If you have anything you would like to donate for us to sell, please let me know.  

Also, some people have mentioned us putting a link here for direct donations, unfortunately all donation widgets take 3 to 5% in fees.  I'm not sure people would be inclined to give if they knew it wasn't all going to the cause, so I haven't added a donation link here, but if you want to donate, just get a message to me (you can post a comment below or otherwise get in touch with me), and we will figure a way to get the funds to us.

Thanks for your prayers and support.

Adoption Update 08/28/12

Over the last month we gathered a lot of required paperwork and information to submit to our local home study agency.  This was necessary prior to the home visit done by the social worker.  We got that mailed out to the home study agency on Friday (by certified mail of course).  Once they receive the paperwork, they will assign a caseworker to our file, and hopefully sometime this week we will get a call about scheduling the home visit.

While working on the home study portion, there are also a lot of education requirements we are working through on the subject of being adoptive parents.  This involves reading books, watching some online video courses,  and so forth.  I also need to take a CPR class.  Tony already has his CPR training through his job.

We are also working on fundraising for both of us to take the two required trips overseas: the first time to meet the child, and the next time to adopt her and bring her home.  In connection with that, we are going to get a couple spaces at our antique mall's upcoming parking lot sale on October 13th. It is a bit like a flea market or community garage sale.  We would like to have as much help as possible in running our booth at the parking lot sale, so if you live in the area and would like to help out, please let us know.

Initial Country Application - Approved!

We are so excited! We just found out that our initial application to adopt a child from Eastern Europe has been approved.  :)

This is just the initial approval.  Now we have six months to get our home study completed and our dossier together and sent over.  Next the country approves that, and issues the official referral.

When we receive the referral, we go to the country for a trip to meet the child.  After that we officially accept the referral.

Then a guesstimated 4 to 6 months after that, we go to the country again to adopt the child.  So all in all, about a year long process.

Who is the child? you ask ... well, we have to be very vague for the protection of privacy and the confidentiality of the process, but we are allowed to say she is a 10 year old girl, and that she has cystic fibrosis.

We appreciate you coming along with us on this journey through your prayers and support.

Home Study

Well, as we wait for our match to be considered next Tuesday, we move forward with another important phase of the adoption process. The home study!  We have begun working with a Texas agency to handle that part of the process for us (the main adoption agency we are working with is in North Carolina).  There is a truckload of documentation to complete and also things to read and other educational requirements on the adoption process.  A bit intimidating, but to be honest I always loved school, so it really feels like taking a summer course in college.  Gotta get the work done ... but fun to learn.

Agency Application Approved

We received official notice today that our application to work with our selected adoption agency has been approved.  Our paperwork for the waiting child from Eastern Europe has been sent to the connected agency in the country to translate.  We are not sure if it will be translated in time and put on the list for review by the governmental officials tomorrow or not.  We are praying that all documentation moves swiftly and our preliminary application can be reviewed tomorrow.  If the preliminary application is reviewed and accepted tomorrow, then we have six months to submit the completed full dossier back to the country.  Hopeful that in a couple days we will have a happy update to bring you ...

Initial Application

Checking in with an adoption update.  We have now found an agency to work with us as we move forward in our adoption plans.  We are working on the initial application to adopt a girl from Eastern Europe that is on a waiting child list.   If we can get it done and back to the agency by Friday, our application will be before the foreign governmental officials on Tuesday! Wow, this is moving fast.  This first step is an expense of about $2,500, so if anyone feels like contributing to this awesome cause ... please do so. :)

Also, if you would rather donate items or crafts for sale on our Ebay or Etsy pages, please contact us or leave a comment with your e-mail address and we will get back to you discuss how that might work.  

If any of you have experience with adoption internationally, please feel free to comment with other fundraiser ideas.

And last, but absolutely not least, we appreciate everyone's prayers as we move forward in this process.

Fundraising for Adoption

Okay, so I've set up a fundraising thermometer.  We are looking to adopt a child internationally.  We are in the initial stages of the process and will be sending in an application to a potential agency to work with this week.  Therefore, we understand if our friends, family, blog readers, etc. want to wait until later when we have been signed up with an agency and are further down the road before donating to our cause.  Our goal is to give parents (us!) to a child in need.  The estimated cost to adopt a child for the region we are investigating (Eastern Europe) is approximately $32,000.  For those who would like to donate, e-mail me for the address or leave a comment on this post with your e-mail and I will get back to you.  I know people raise funds for a lot of different things in life, so don't feel obligated, but any help would be GREATLY appreciated.  Thank you in advance for your prayers as we begin this journey.

We are also selling items on Ebay and Etsy.  See the links in the right hand column.  And if you live in the D/FW area of Texas, we have a booth at the Mid-Cities Antique Mall, we are Dealer #303.  Look for the fourth shelf on the right hand side as you are heading down the aisle with the big restroom sign overhead (with arrow pointing toward back of store). The mall is at 809 W. Pipeline Rd., Hurst, TX 76053.