1800-A is OFF

What is an 1800-A?
This is a set of documents (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services), through the Department of Homeland Security.  It's an application for determination of suitability to adopt a child from a convention country.

It's a set of documents that include our completed home study, birth certificates and the application paperwork.    Once it is received, it should take about 2 weeks for approval.  Once this happens, we start our work on the dossier.

The dossier is a set of legal, notarized and authenticated documents including:  birth certificates, marriage certificates, employment verification letter, financial statements, medical suitability certificates, police clearance letter, home study, USCIS approval (1800-A), reference letters of all kinds, doctor's letters, passports, family photos, family letter, heath insurance verification forms, agreements, payments for country fees, and more.    The gathering of such information will take months to complete.  Please pray for me during this time of serious paperwork business.  (:

In the middle of this, I will also be applying for adoption grants.  There are some wonderful ministries that offer grants to help with the cost of adoption.  The paperwork involved is also much to accomplish.  (:    
I have to laugh a bit, as some that know me, understand that my gift of organizing is not one to admire.  LOL    However, I am on a mission to reinvent myself as one of such talent.    I have people in my life who have achieved the status of masters of organizing and they are my mentors.  You know who you are.  (VS and JL).

We are currently in need of raising $1500.00 this week to pay our next due amount of $4950.00.

The continued support is beyond appreciated.  Thanks for keeping up with our journey.  Keep praying and sharing our story with others.

We believe that God called us to this adoption journey and He will remain faithful to the end.   We never doubt His love, His purpose and His promises.  

The hundred dollar bill

It's been awhile since last update, so I thought I'd share forward our current happenings.  
We've  just completed the last of 3 garage sale fundraisers.  I can say that 3 is the final number for me.  LOL  .  I am so thankful for the help given by my family to make these sales possible, for without them, I would've went crazy.   
The first garage sale we raised about $780.
The second garage sale (hosted by my inlaws, a three stall garage packed full, and a 50 degree rain filled stormy weekend), we managed to raise about $1000.  
The third garage sale we raised about $600.  

It was at our third garage sale where this hundred dollar picture came to be part of this story.  
It was my prayer and hope that we could raise $500.  That was the goal set.  
I remember my niece's beautiful husband, Tom, praying over our sale that morning and that we would have a great turnout of people and sales.  I was hopeful.  The weather was actually nice this day, so that was a plus.

About a couple hours into our morning, it started to really slow down.  After what we thought would be the end of our sales, I considered shutting down early.  I had counted the  money at that time, and we were about at $300.   After a little while longer, we had another rush of people and made what I thought was the final sales of the day.  We had reached $400.  

I was ready to be done.   Here comes two little girls, the older sister pulling the younger in a wagon.   They come up to me with big smiles and said, "Our mommy wants us to give this to you."    Inside the envelope was........YES, that $100 BILL!    We made our goal of $500!!

Some may say, coincidence, but I say, THANK YOU JESUS.  He knows our every need, and He reminds us in such times, that He is on our side and He loves us.  

Then, about half hour later, as we started to pack up, here comes another group of shoppers, and we made another $100.   How awesome is that!    

My $500 goal overflowed.  

We are officially approve by the China Team !

We heard just TODAY that our home study application was officially approved, so now we can apply for grants, and all the other paperwork to really move forward and closer to getting our little one home.
We are celebrating this today.  God is good.   (:

Maddie's own words

This video was taken by my daughter, as she was trying to explain "gotcha day", which is a term that has been used to describe the moment when families first meet their adopted child.  The term is more accurately defined as "adoption day", but most video posts still refer to it as "gotcha day".   She has been watching these moments on youtube, and obviously was excited to share it in her own, special way.   Thought I'd share it forward.

Garage Sale Prayer

Had a garage sale last weekend at my mom's best friend's daughter's house...(:
Due to the raining/cold weather, I wasn't too hopeful for a good outcome, but God proved me wrong in big ways.

We needed $720 to pay our next application fee for Immigration.  When the sale was over, my mom counted up all the money.  She asked me how much I had hoped to have?   I will admit that I said a lower number than we needed, because I was afraid of being disappointed and wanted my mom to feel like we had raised a good enough amount.
So.....I said about $600 (knowing that we needed $720).   Then she said, "what's the entire amount you were hoping to raise?".    Ok.   I decided to just say the exact amount and I hesitated prior to just saying it.

She said:   "$812".    What?!    Really?!    Wow.   Another moment when God met our needs and beyond.  We needed another $70 from the 720.00 to pay for other application fee, so than we came out ahead by 22.00.   Amazing.

Then, a lady and her expecting daughter were shopping at our sale.  They had asked about our adoption process and journey.  After her purchase, she came over to me and asked if she could pray for me.  I said "sure".  She asked if she could lay her hand on me.  I said "sure".   As her daughter sat in a nearby chair, my mom sitting next to me, and other shoppers mingling around the garage, a lady (just a rummage sale shopper), prayed for our little boy in China.  

 God shows up everywhere.  He knows our heart.  He brings people to us in the right timing. He shows up, even at a garage sale.

Conversations and bonding.

It's one thing to make a decision to bring home another child into your family with your husband, but it's equally important to have your kids on board as well.  

The time when we shared our conversation about adopting from China with our kids, has been a beautiful thing.    The excitement and anticipation for our journey was instantaneous.

 Between our kids about planning out their brother's room, activities, family trips, car seat location, going to the park and swimming pool, toy selections and beyond, it's a special time of bonding and conversation that brings a smile to my face.

It's amazing to see how our kids are currently creating this inner bond with their brother whom they have yet to meet.   They are dreaming, wondering, praying, anticipating the day we go to bring him HOME.  

 I love how God is preparing us all in special ways that create a sense of family bonding  now, as we all look forward to meeting him someday.

We have made the decision to take Ben and Maddie with us to China.  We want to allow them this experience to see the culture of where their brother is from and be there in the moment when we complete our family.    We are continuing to trust in God's provisions for every single detail of our journey.  

The ending to the next beginning

We are one home study away from beginning the next big steps in our adoption journey.

Our final home study will be this Friday from 2-4.  After the home study is officially APPROVED by the China team, we start filing our 1800-A (USCIS-United States Custom and Immigration Services), which is approval from the United States government for us to adopt.  So, begins a mass amount of paperwork and more waiting .

One set back is that somehow our set of fingerprints to be sent to Pierre, got lost?    Just a little delay and another trip to the police department to re do our fingerprints, but it could always be worse for sure.  

Our home study last week was a bit heart wrenching as we had to go through our special needs forms, which have a check list of special needs/conditions that many of the children in waiting are dealing with.  You are asked to make a yes/no/willing to discuss answer on each need.  It's extremely tough and words cannot really explain how you answer.   All we know and trust is that God has already chosen this little boy for our family and is preparing us for what is to be.   We know that we will love our child unconditionally and that sums it up.  

We are filled with praise that our first bill for our home study has been PAID in full.   We are praying for continued saving and fundraiser support for our next set of expenses to come.

Currently, I have been making connections through adoption blogs and support groups.  It's amazing to connect with those currently in the journey and those who have gone.  Seeing the waiting children  now in their forever homes is amazing.
We also know that everything may not be filled with bliss, but we have peace knowing that there are so many support groups out there who share their openness throughout their journey.

Thank you for reading along......stay tuned.  (: