Dossier received by CWA

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

First, our dossier was received this morning, but we also received word that our Case Manager, Sue, is going on vacation today and won’t return until July 5th. Frustrating! She gave us a contact for the person who will be handling things in Sue’s absence, but it’s taking a bit longer to get answers to our questions because this isn’t the substitute’s regular area of expertise.

Hopefully, the week will go by quickly!In the meantime, CWA is looking over our dossier to make sure that we haven’t forgotten something. If everything is there, then it will be taken by courier to Washington D.C. to be authenticated before being sent to Addis.

Dossier is off to CWA!

Monday, June 25, 2007

As of 3:30pm today, the dossier is officially on its way along with a check for $14,700 and 2 cashiers checks made out to the U.S. State Dept. and to the Embassy of Ethiopia. Yay!!!!

As it was pouring down rain outside and I was getting ready to be drenched running into the Fed Ex facility, I really felt that I needed to pray over the dossier. As I was praying with Jessica and Christopher in the car, with the torrential rain in the background, I asked for several things:
1. that the dossier would not be lost in route (both in America and Africa)
2. that every official involved in the process would be given wisdom and discern-ment needed to process the documents
3. that the dossier would be accurately and precisely translated
4. lastly, that my diabetes would not be a roadblock to the process.

I strongly felt led to ask that their eyes would be closed to that particular fact. Now that we’ve mailed the dossier, we begin to wait for our referrals.

Last week was Reunion Week for Christian World Adoption, held in Myrtle Beach. I learned that one of the top officials for the Ministry of Women’s Affairs was attending the Reunion and that there may be some news about future adoptions to announce.

Heather

Provision

Friday, June 22, 2007

Today was another exciting day for us as we received the additional funds of $5,000 to complete the amount needed to overnight our dossier!When I look back at all that God has provided, it’s overwhelming. His provision has definitely strengthened our faith and humbled us at the same time. I am constantly reminded of his faithfulness to provide if we are willing to submit to His authority and will for our lives. Why is it so hard for us to do that?

I remember very early in this process (2 years ago even), asking myself if we were pursuing this because He truly was calling us or if I was confusing that with my selfish desire to have more children. I began to pray, asking for this adoption to be accomplished by Him alone and that we would not stand in His way. I can truly say that God has brought us to a place where I can undoubtedly say that He alone has shown His will for us and that this is only happening because He wants it to. He has opened every door for us and provided every single amount that we have needed at the exact time we needed it. He’s provided in a way that leaves no room for doubt and I’m praying that our experience will open the doors for us to reach people for Jesus.

We’ll be mailing our dossier on Monday …

Additional Funds Received :)

Saturday, June 17, 2007

God is so good. Today was an amazing day! We found out that we are being given a very large sum of money to help us move forward. This additional amount, combined with other donations, will leave us with only $5,000 of the $14,900 needed to mail in our dossier. I was completely overwhelmed with emotion when I learned of the donation.

I really felt the presence of the Lord, as if He was saying “I’m right here with you and I’m showing myself to you.” A few days ago, I was wondering how in the world we were going to be able to submit a check for $15,000 and today, we’re celebrating God’s faithfulness once again. Praise God!!

Home Study is completed

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

As of today, our Home Study is officially complete. We received a copy of it in the mail and were very happy to see that they consider us to be a family who will be able to serve the needs of additional children. As we were going through our rough draft, I told our social worker that it would be really awful to go through this process after parenting 2 children for 12 years, then find out that the state doesn’t think you’re doing a good job. Thankfully, our Home Study provider thinks we’re doing a good job.

We took all of our dossier documents in to be notarized this afternoon. We have 2 documents that we’re waiting to arrive and then we’ll be ready to officially send everything to Christian World Adoption along with a $15,000 check. We’re seeking God’s will in this area and asking Him to make things VERY clear to us as we consider additional ways to fund the upcoming adoption fees.

USCIS Here we come!

Today we received notification from the San Antonio office of USCIS that our documents were received. As soon as our Home Study is forwarded to them, which we’re expecting any day, then we’ll travel to San Antonio for our fingerprint appointment. I just looked at the timeline and realized that we’re halfway through the process, which is so exciting. Matthew is fond of saying “Now we have to hurry up and wait…” wait for the documents to be translated, wait for our children to be referred to us, wait for the court system to come back from vacation, wait…wait…wait…

Please continue to join us in prayer for the additional funds that we’ll need to acquire in order to submit our dossier. God is SO faithful, so we rest in the peace that He is in control. To those who have helped us in so many ways, we’re unbelievably humbled and grateful. Some have chosen to donate anonymously, so we’ll never know the amount contributed. Others have offered their notary services and many others are faithfully praying for every part of this journey. We praise God for every person joining us in prayer and financial support and other ways that we may never know about. Never underestimate the power of prayer. We’ve seen firsthand God’s grace and faithfulness.

UH-OH!!

We decided to check our iPlanner (online planner to help with the instructions on our dossier) to make sure that we were correctly calculating the fees that would be due when we submit our dossier. A few weeks ago, we listed the financial need to be submitted with the dossier at $13,500. After re-calculating the fees and finalizing some details, that number has changed a bit. The breakdown of the costs is:

• $2500 second agency fee

• $600 doc translation fee(+$50 per each child added)

• $550 Post Adoption fee• $7000 intl fee (age 0-24 mo)

• $4000 intl fee (age 25+ mo)Additional international fees for additional children, based on age and number of children adopting are due at this time too. Fees are non-refundable.

• $189.60 cashier’s check or money order for Embassy of Ethiopia

• $14 cashier’s check or money order for U.S. Dept of State

This brings the total need to $14,900 - $17,900 (extra $3,000 if both children are under 2 years old).