Today I just sent in our I-600A Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition to US Customs and Immigartion Services (USCIS) in Yakima. I believe I wrote about this a little in a previous post titled "update". In that post I stated that I needed to send in a completed copy of our home study document. Which is true that document is needed in order to approve us for international adoption however I do not have that quite yet. Apparently in Washington State you can send in your I-600A form prior to home study completion and submit the home study when it is completed. We will actually travel to Yakima when we have our completed home study and get a walk-in fingerprinting appointment. We choose this way to get our USCIS approval (rather than waiting the week or two and sending our home study along with the form) because we just found out that the I-600A form fees are increasing July 30th!
So I hurried up and sent in our stuff before July runs out so we can still fall in the old (cheaper!) fee schedule!
25 July 2007
Home Study Complete!
We've completed all our home study visits with our social worker, Diane. It's been really great working with her. We've learned so much and feel really prepared for our new baby. Or two! Through out the last month or so we've decided that we will be open to wherever God is leading our family and are having our paperwork approve us for a sibling pair. Not that we definitely will get a sibling pair but we want to be open and our paperwork needs to reflect that.
We just got to look over the 1st draft of the home study document. It's 15 pages long! And the whole thing talks about us! I felt like it was a great compliment to our parents in how they raised us in faith, had consistent and appropriate discipline and encouraged us in our talents. And now we can build off that foundation for our family!
We just got to look over the 1st draft of the home study document. It's 15 pages long! And the whole thing talks about us! I felt like it was a great compliment to our parents in how they raised us in faith, had consistent and appropriate discipline and encouraged us in our talents. And now we can build off that foundation for our family!
20 June 2007
First Home Study Meeting
We just had our first home study meeting with our social worker, Diane. She was really nice and we had great conversations. She seemed impressed by how much paperwork we had completed. But needs the rest of it before our third meeting. Some interesting things she told us: We are by far the youngest couple she's done a home study for (and she's been doing it 18 years). Also she told us a couple times that we were really "bright" and "smart" and had thought through a lot of the adoption issues well. What a complement especially since we are the youngest adoptive parents she's interviewed! Also at the very end of our meeting when she was getting up to go, she told us that some couples she meets with she can tell right away that they will be great adoptive parents and she really feels that with us! She said she's honored to work with us.
Wow!
So we set up our second meeting with her for next week and I can't wait!
Wow!
So we set up our second meeting with her for next week and I can't wait!
Update
So much for keeping this blog updated! We've been so busy in paperwork I haven't shared so much great info.
We received our Home Study paperwork and Dossier paper work a couple weeks ago and have been fervently working on them.
The home study is a combination of paperwork and interview meetings with a social worker so that she can learn about us, our parenting style, etc. In the end a "home study" document is written up about us and we (hopefully) are aproved to adopt by the social worker!
The Dossier (pronounced with a silent "r") is a packet of documents that are required by Ethiopia to adopt in the proper layout and order. One of the main items of the dossier is the USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) aproval. This consists of getting an appointment for fingerprinting and submitting a completed copy of our home study and can take a few months before the approval is received. While we wait for the USCIS approval we can fininsh the rest of the paperwork for the dossier. Once we receive the USCIS approval and have completed the dossier then we get placed on the waiting list for a child.
The home study needs to be completed before the Dossier so that is our first priority although some of the paper work overlaps. There were medical forms for both home study and dossier and so I wisely made one doctor appointment and had both filled out at the same time.... and also got a tetnis shot to my surprise!
We received our Home Study paperwork and Dossier paper work a couple weeks ago and have been fervently working on them.
The home study is a combination of paperwork and interview meetings with a social worker so that she can learn about us, our parenting style, etc. In the end a "home study" document is written up about us and we (hopefully) are aproved to adopt by the social worker!
The Dossier (pronounced with a silent "r") is a packet of documents that are required by Ethiopia to adopt in the proper layout and order. One of the main items of the dossier is the USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) aproval. This consists of getting an appointment for fingerprinting and submitting a completed copy of our home study and can take a few months before the approval is received. While we wait for the USCIS approval we can fininsh the rest of the paperwork for the dossier. Once we receive the USCIS approval and have completed the dossier then we get placed on the waiting list for a child.
The home study needs to be completed before the Dossier so that is our first priority although some of the paper work overlaps. There were medical forms for both home study and dossier and so I wisely made one doctor appointment and had both filled out at the same time.... and also got a tetnis shot to my surprise!
12 May 2007
Frequently Asked Question
Many of you are asking us about how we came to decide to adopt and I'd love to tell you all, so here it is once and for all!
As many of you know our old house was pretty small. Too small to even hold the conversation of having more kids! So Caleb and I started up the conversation here at our new house. But we keep getting stuck about what to do because of my varicose veins. My legs got so bad my first pregnancy and then so much worse my second it only stands to reason (and family and medical history backs this up) that more pregnancies would continue to deteriorate the veins in my legs. So we came to a stand still in our conversation. Then our church did a week long fast in the beginning of March. Usually when Caleb and I fast we are seeking God on some topic, like when our house architect plans were a mess and we didn't know what to do we fasted for a week and were seeking God about it and we both felt like we were supposed to move. But here we were just fasting with the church with no particular "subject" in our prayer. The last day of the fast was a Sunday and at Church I just overwhelmingly felt like we were supposed to adopt. Now at first I thought China, but we don't meet qualifications (we both would need to be at least 30 years old). But I don't think the country was what God was trying to relate to me just that we were to adopt. So I told God to tell Caleb too. And I gave Caleb a heads up: "God's gonna be talking to you, so listen up!" Then Caleb started researching adoption online while at work. And here we are!
As many of you know our old house was pretty small. Too small to even hold the conversation of having more kids! So Caleb and I started up the conversation here at our new house. But we keep getting stuck about what to do because of my varicose veins. My legs got so bad my first pregnancy and then so much worse my second it only stands to reason (and family and medical history backs this up) that more pregnancies would continue to deteriorate the veins in my legs. So we came to a stand still in our conversation. Then our church did a week long fast in the beginning of March. Usually when Caleb and I fast we are seeking God on some topic, like when our house architect plans were a mess and we didn't know what to do we fasted for a week and were seeking God about it and we both felt like we were supposed to move. But here we were just fasting with the church with no particular "subject" in our prayer. The last day of the fast was a Sunday and at Church I just overwhelmingly felt like we were supposed to adopt. Now at first I thought China, but we don't meet qualifications (we both would need to be at least 30 years old). But I don't think the country was what God was trying to relate to me just that we were to adopt. So I told God to tell Caleb too. And I gave Caleb a heads up: "God's gonna be talking to you, so listen up!" Then Caleb started researching adoption online while at work. And here we are!
30 April 2007
Some more tid-bits of information...
To answer a few questions: We are planning on adopting an infant under 12 months. We are kind of thinking about adopting a boy but are open to God's will for our family. Also, the whole adoption process from Ethiopia takes about 10-13 months but because All God's children's program with Ethiopia is new as of Dec 2006 the time line has been going much quicker. So we will just have to wait and see how long it takes!
We'd love for you to keep us and our new baby in your prayers.
Thank you!
We'd love for you to keep us and our new baby in your prayers.
Thank you!
27 April 2007
The Begining
Caleb and I have just begun the long, tedious, and exciting process of an international adoption. We've spent months researching adoption agencies, countries to adopt from and home studies. We've recently chosen to go ahead with an organization called All God's Children Int. As well as adopt from Ethiopia. As we've just begun the paper work process we don't have lots to share yet. But keep checking back with this blog to follow our new baby from Ethiopia to home!
We welcome your comments and questions as you join us in this adventure!
We welcome your comments and questions as you join us in this adventure!