Here goes a QUICK rundown of the past several months in our adoption:
In June we sent off our FBI check requests. They told us it could take about 13 weeks to get the results back from them. But just a couple of weeks later we had them in our hands! I guess Cole's writing all over the envelope really worked. :)
One of the very time-consuming things related to adoption is the adoptive parent education. We did several hours of online education as well as doing a workbook that helps you think through a lot of the different scenarios related to adoption. It was a bit tedious, but we also got to do some pretty fun stuff.
One of our assignments was to eat at an Ethiopian restaurant in order to learn something about the culture as well as to feel a little bit of what our child will feel when he or she comes home and has to eat our strange food. :) By the way, we learned that there are at least 12 Ethiopian restaurants in the DFW area. Who knew?!
This is the family-style Ethiopian meal we had. The big flat bread that is under the rest of the food on the large platter and the rolled up pieces in the bottom left of the pic are pieces of injera. It serves as your plate, your utensils and your bread all at the same time. Cool huh?! The food is definitely different. REALLY spicy! But it has good flavor ... if you can taste while your mouth is on fire. :)
Once we finished the adoption education, we started our official home study process. VERY exciting! We had two meetings with our social worker, who is GREAT. And after several hours of answering every question imaginable and sending a ton of information to him, we have a completed home study turned in to our adoption agency for review!!
Right now we're working on the last steps before getting on the waiting list!!!!! We're beyond excited that we should actually be on the waiting list in about six weeks! Right now it's about a 24-month-long waiting list. But at least we'll be on it. :)
The step we're on right now is getting the dossier documents together. This includes the finalized home study, documents from employer, reference letters, criminal checks, etc. Once we get our finalized home study, we send it and our application off to U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services. This is the application for permission for our child to enter the U.S. with us once the adoption is finalized. Very important!! :)
Once that's all done, we will send in the completed dossier, the receipt proving we mailed the USCIS application, and the next check to All God's Children. And once everything is approved by them, we're on the waiting list!!! I can't wait!
November 2nd is our deadline for mailing all of this off. If you would be willing to, please pray with us that our home study would be finalized on time, that we would be able to get all of the documents from all of the different sources together, and that God would provide the rest of the money that we need. The amount that we have to send to AGCI along with the fee for the USCIS application and fingerprinting is a pretty daunting sum in a pretty short amount of time.
Please pray that God would increase our faith. The verse that has been echoing in my heart for several weeks is from the story of the father of the demon-possessed boy whose release seemed impossible to the father (and to the disciples). When he said to Jesus, "But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!" Jesus replied, "If You can? All things are possible to him who believes." And the father's response is my prayer also. He said, "I do believe; help my unbelief." God has been faithful in our lives over and over again. Yet somehow it is still hard to trust Him with something so huge. I am so thankful that He is infinitely patient with me!
Please pray also that He would provide in His way and in His time. We've already been amazed by the ways that He has begun to provide!
We have gone weeks not knowing where this money would come from. And only last Thursday, we realized that we had a little over five weeks in which to come up with the money. One thing after another has happened in our lives that has required significant amounts of money ... a storm-damaged roof, a car in need of repair and tires, etc. Our emergency fund is depleted from those things as well as from the previous amounts we've paid for the adoption already. And I'm pretty sure that's how God has wanted it. :) We wouldn't recognize our need to fully rely on Him if we had something saved up. But the way things are ... we have to depend on Him for every dollar.
We had told a handful of people about our need. But on Sunday, I told our Sunday school class ... we teach college students ... so that they could pray with us. Once before God has answered the prayers we have asked our students to pray with us in a pretty incredible way, I believe to increase their faith as well as ours. So, I told them about this one as well.
Obviously we did not expect college students to help us financially ... most of them could use help themselves. All we wanted was for them to pray with us. But two of our students said God had been laying on their hearts to help us, and so they did. And then on Monday we received a very large check from our mortgage company. It turns out we had been overpaying. Who gets a check from their mortgage company?! I was in shock. And then Monday night, God provided another huge amount from some people we love very dearly. So in about a day and a half, God provided $4363!! Is that not amazing?! Is God not amazing!?! I'm overwhelmed by His goodness toward us. We're 70% of the way there. Praise God!!
So that's where we are adoption-wise! I will do an update about the rest of what's been going on in our family another time. :)
Have a wonderfully blessed day!
Dawn
