A Reflection of Our Life

While we wait for our dossier to head to Africa, here is a little bit of entertainment for you.  This is actually a very good reflection of our lives, except Luke is not bald. =)  (Make sure you pause the music on the right side so you can hear the video.)

In D.C.

Now our dossier waits for it approval or "Letter of Non-objection" at the Rwanda Embassy in Washington D.C.  This should take a couple weeks, then it will be on its way to Rwanda.  Yay!

S.O.S. Again

Today we took another trip to the Secretary of State.  When our family coordinator was going through our dossier, she found a wrong date.  So we fixed it yesterday, had it certified today, and it's on its way to our agency right now.  I am very thankful she found this error.  I went through our dossier many times, and missed it.  Better to have it fixed now than have this problem when our papers are in Rwanda.  Even if we do have to make more corrections, I'd do it all over again.  Our babies are worth every bit of effort!

S.O.S.

Here are some pictures of our trip to the Secretary of State today.  There aren't very many children in the downtown area, so we made lots of friends.  I took the picture with the church because K was convinced it was a castle and a princess lived there.  So I took a picture of my princess standing in front of the castle. =)

Our dossier is now in the hands of the post office, and our agency should have it in their hands tomorrow. 

The Golden Ticket

One of my favorite movies is "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (both versions)." In this movie everyone wants a golden ticket to get into the factory and some went to great feats to actually get that ticket. I feel like our approval from the USCIS is like that golden ticket, because it tells me I can bring my kids back into this country. And now I sit like Charlie, in awe that I am now actually holding this golden ticket in my hand. I feel like it has taken forever to get to this point. We started this paper chase December 1st, 2009.

Tomorrow, 1st thing I will have a copy of this approval letter certified at the Secretary of State, then add it to the rest of our paperwork (dossier), and overnight it to our agency. Our medicals expire next Tuesday, please pray that this will not be a problem.

In the mean time...YAY...I'm so excited we finally made it to this point. Our dossier is SO close to Rwanda. For those of you wondering, I checked my mail 5 times today, and attempted to watch out the window for the mail man for the last 4 hours (too many trees in the way).

Mail Man Stalker

And so, for 2 weeks now I have obsessively gotten my mail, in hopes that our approval from US immigration would be there. Well, my obsession has not paid off! Still nothing. Yesterday I literally stalked our mail man as I sat and watched him fill the boxes. Thankfully he was very nice and understanding about it, he was even more understanding once I explained what I was waiting for. Although I'm sure he went home yesterday to tell his family about this crazy girl waiting for him. So today as I went to the mail box today, my blood pressure was extremely high, and the anticipation great, "maybe today was the day."

Since the mail failed me again, I decided to call USCIS to find out the status of our case. I guess we were recommended for approval on May 28th, it usually takes 5 days to process after that. The very nice lady told me we should have it any day, and if we do not have it by Friday, to call our case officer, whom she also gave me the info for. This is good news! In the mean time, I will continue to stock my mail man until we get our approval! =)

Garage Sale

This last weekend was our garage sale and bake sale to help raise money for our adoption. God blessed us with an unbelievable amount of donations for the garage sale and bake sale. We were reminded at how many wonderful people God has placed in our lives! The garage sale was slow, I guess there were 75 other garage sale ads in our small town, but despite how slow we felt it was, God blessed us more than we deserved!

Long Time No See

Hello everyone, I just now realized that it has been a long time since we posted anything. To my faithful followers, I'm sorry for the long delay. Nothing has really happened this last few weeks, we have been waiting for our fingerprint appointment (which was this morning in case you were wondering). We went to the immigration office had our biometrics (this is a very big word for me) taken. Now we wait again for our approval from the USCIS. Yes, this means I will be obsessively walking to my mail box again, this is the last piece of paper we are waiting for before we send our dossier away.

In the mean time we will be preparing for our fund-raising garage sale and bake sale. For more information on how you can help, see the post below.

For those of you just joining us, check out our first few posts this year to see why are where we are.

Garage Sale & Bake Sale

We will be having a garage sale and bake sale on June 4th and 5th to raise money for our adoption. Please let me know if you are interested in donating items for the garage sale and/or bake sale to help us raise money (themahoney4@hotmail.com). Also, feel free to email me if you would like more details about the garage sale. Come check it out, and bring your friends!

Field Trip to Denver

It's official, our dossier is now complete (minus our USCIS approval). The kids and I went to Denver today to pick up all our certified papers from the Secretary of State. Thanks to my wonderful friend who shares many similar OCD tendencies with me, she gave me fantastic directions on how get there EXACTLY (parking garage & all). I wish I had had a camera while there, the kids were really enjoying looking up at all the tall buildings. It was really cute and definitely a kodak moment that I missed. I'm such a good mom! =)

Biometrics Appointment

Well, my mailbox stocking paid off, today we received our fingerprint appointments in the mail from the USCIS. Although I cannot lie, I was a little disappointed at the fact that they aren't scheduled until May 24th. This means we will not get our approval in 30 days like we were hoping. We are praying however that we get our approval shortly after our fingerprints are done so we do not have to re-date our doctors letters again.

Newest Obsession

I sadly have to admit that checking my mail everyday and watching out the window for our mail man has become an obsession. My kids really enjoy this obsession, because this means that mommy takes them for a walk every day (rain or shine) in the wagon. Which by the way, I forgot what a good work out it was to pull a wagon.

Why this new obsession? Well I'm waiting on word from the USCIS (U.S. Immigration) of course. Yesterday we received our receipt from them pretty much saying our case has been opened, and now any day we should receive our finger print appointments.

So, until I get that appointment notice and our approval, I will religiously check my mail, get in shape while doing so (our mail box is a block away), and cause my neighbors to think that I am very dedicated when it comes to getting my mail.

Fundraising

Up to this point, we haven't really addressed the money aspect of our adoption, but we have had many people ask how they can help, so we felt it was time to address the topic.  This adoption is going to cost us somewhere between $25,000 and $30,000 (depending of the time of year, travel costs fluctuate).  I think many people assume you have that kind of money if you are choosing to adopt.  Unfortunately we do not have money like that laying around at all, not even in 401k's.  God has led us on this journey and we are trusting God to provide the money needed.  So far, God has literally provided every penny we needed, and definitely in unexpected ways.  Its amazing to watch God's hand in this whole process.  Listed below are some ways you can help:

1. Please pray for us, that God prepares each of us for the new additions to this family and how to effectively care for them.  Pray for the people who are doing the paperwork in Rwanda, especially our P.O.A.  Pray for patience as we wait and that we trust God's perfect timing.

2. If you feel called to donate money to help support our adoption and share in this journey with us, you may do so by clicking on the chip-in tab to the right of this blog.

3.  We will be having a fund-raising garage-sale and bake-sale at our house on June 4th and 5th (Friday & Saturday Morning).  All the proceeds will go to our adoption.  To help, you can donate items or baked goods to sell and help us raise money.  You can also just come and check it out and invite your friends.  For more details about the garage sale, or if you are interested in donating items, please email me: themahoney4@hotmail.com

4.  Coming Soon:  We will be selling flower hair bows and headbands on this blog to help raise money for our adoption.  So keep watching!

Reality

My heart is heavy today for those families who have been waiting for their children for such a long time now.  Please pray for the staff in Rwanda as well as all the families in the adoption process.  As time goes on, this process gets longer and longer.  I ache for those families who long to hold their children, and for those children that need mommies and daddies.  God has perfect timing for each of these children to come home, but He can also move mountains.

Progress

Our home study was approved by the state in record time, literally.  It's supposed to take about a week.  They were mailed our home study on Thursday, and our agency received the approval today!  Wow, God is so good!

Now our papers are  off to the USCIS for approval.  What does this mean exactly?  Well, I'm glad you asked.  The USCIS is the U.S. immigration office.  They now have to approve our adoption.  In other words, we need their permission to bring 2 more children into the country.

Finally

Yay!  Today has been a very exciting day.  1st, the FBI finally did Luke's background check correctly.  Yay!  If you can't tell, I'm completely ecstatic about this!  Now our home study is on its way to be approved by the state.  This just makes us that much closer to Rwanda.

2nd, another family adopting from Rwanda received their referral today.  Yay!  I am so excited for them!

Rough Pregnancy

After having our baby boy, I said I didn't want to be pregnant again (when I said this, I meant physically).  But this paper pregnancy has already proven to be so much harder than each pregnancy and loss I've been through.  We have been in this process for only 4 1/2 months, and it has already been quite the emotional ride.  Don't get me wrong, we are so blessed to going through this, but it isn't easy, and God definitely continues to teach us so much through this process.  Not to mention, we were hoping to get our babies early in 2011, but at the rate things are going in Rwanda right now, it will probably be in the spring of 2011.  God's timing is so perfect, and I know this, but a mother's heart longs for her children to be home, where they belong.

An update from my last post:  Our case worker called yesterday and said the FBI did L's background checks wrong again (yes, this is the 2nd time).  Thankfully our agency is not okay with this and they are doing everything they can to get it corrected this week.  I guess we'll just wait and see, it's in God's hands.  And I'm a little concerned as to how the FBI can be protecting us if they can't even do a background check correctly.

Why I No Longer Trust the FBI:

They have now officially done L's background check wrong twice now!!! 

Dossier

I thought I would share a bit with you on my thoughts about our dossier.  For those of you not familiar with this term, our dossier refers to the stack of papers that will be sent to Rwanda requesting 2 children for adoption.  This stack of papers includes things like our background checks,  physical forms, birth certificates, financial statements, letters requesting our children, and many more things.  I have had this stack of papers ready for a couple months now (with the exception of re-dating our doctor letters, state certification, our home study, and of course our USCIS approval). 

I will honestly admit that this stack of papers is currently the most valuable thing I own.  I have actually contemplated putting it in our fire-proof safe, because if anything happened to it, I would be devastated.  To me, our dossier represents our children that can't be with us right now.  It is literally the ticket to our children, the one thing that allows us to get them.  It is also the only thing that I feel connects us to them right now.  The dossier is what makes this paper pregnancy seem real.  So if you are asking if I have an obsession with a stack of papers, the answer would be "yes."  I have such an obsession in fact, that I check it regularly to make sure everything is there.

10 signs that you might have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (O.C.D.):

1. You have such an urge to spring clean and re-organize everything, that it drives you crazy not knowing where you will be living in the next 6 months.

2. Your urge to spring clean is so strong that it seems to be all you can talk about when people ask how you are doing or what is going on in your life.

3. Your enthusiasm is so persistent, that one of your friends has contemplated inviting you over to clean her house.

4. You find yourself re-organizing cupboards and closets constantly, to use space more efficiently of course, and your husband can never seem to find anything. =)

5. You lose sleep over trying to figure out the best way to organize your children's toys.

6. Some of your favorite shows to watch on TV are the ones on TLC and HGTV that have to do with cleaning and re-organizing people's houses.

7. You find yourself spending hours in the "Container Store" getting all kinds of great organizing ideas.

8. Your favorite things to shop for are different kinds of storage containers, shelf re-organizing systems, etc.

9. You spend so much time re-organizing and cleaning, as well as obsessing about it, that you have no clue what else happened this week.

10. You have passed your obsession on to one of your children, who know freaks out if things aren't put away correctly, and they find joy in organizing their toys instead of playing with them.

If you answered "yes" to any one of these, you might have O.C.D.  If you answered "yes" to all of these, you need some serious help.  Okay, so I answered yes to all of the above, and I admit, I have O.C.D.  But in my defense, I am also nesting like crazy.  I have an overwhelming urge to prepare our home for 2 more children more than anything.  This of course includes a lot of re-organizing because 2 more kids, means a lot more stuff.  By the way, we do now know where we will be living, which was such a relief to me because I have the spring cleaning bug, nesting bug, and O.C.D.