Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
We have good news! The day (or two) after writing the last update, our psychologist contacted Kyle and the corrections that needed to be made were completed by the end of the week! I'm pretty sure he got in touch with us so quickly because our physician (who originally recommended this psychologist) put in a phone call on our behalf to speed along his response. Thank heavens!
We also just received Kyle's birth certificate in the mail from California!
What this all means is..... We are sending our paperwork into the agency on Monday! We are still waiting on our immigration pre-approval form to arrive in the mail (we pray that any day now that will come) and we have another form that needs re-apostilled because Honduras decided to change the formatting of the form, BUT that's it! I can't believe how close we are.
Continue to pray that things progress smoothly over the next week or two and that our final pieces come together quickly. Our family coordinator will review all the documents now so that as soon as the immigration approval arrives and is apostilled and we get that sent in with the new form....then it can be off to Honduras!!
Once it is in Honduras, the waiting begins. We have to wait for it to be translated and approved. After that is when we will receive our waitlist number. That could take as little as 4 months and, honestly, as long as 8 months? We just pray that these last steps occur quickly and that the Lord moves our paperwork through expeditiously so we can receive that long-anticipated waitlist number.
We trust that in each of these steps the Lord is teaching us lessons. We are learning about patience, surrender and how to love a child we've never even met. We know we still have a long road ahead of us, but it all excites us so much!
Thank you for your prayers and we'll let you know when the paperwork is on it's way to Honduras!
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
The Ups and Downs...So Close, Yet Still So Far Away
I've certainly not been the most faithful updater, and for that I apologize. Between work, and now the holidays, and just other life things...it's been hard to keep y'all up-to-date on our process.
The Good News -- We are so close to being finished with our paperwork! I was hoping that everything would be off to our agency by this point so that with the first of the year it would be sent off to Honduras for translation and review. Unfortunately we're lagging behind just a bit.
Last Monday, however, we got to go to Pittsburgh and have our immigration pre-approval fingerprints done three weeks early! We took a chance that we could walk in and have them done. Thank heavens they weren't busy that day and we were done within 15 minutes. That will hopefully save us some time. Now we're just anxiously waiting for the I-600a to arrive in the mail. This form is the most important form we will have for the adoption. It is our approval to bring our child home from Honduras when that day comes. When we get it, we'll make a copy of it to go with our paperwork to Honduras, but the original stays in our possession. We're praying for quick processing of this form and that we have it soon!
At the end of November we were blessed to finally get our psych report in our hands!!! We were thankful to have found a psychologist who was willing to do the extensive evaluation we required for the adoption, but he was nearly impossible to communicate with about getting the report once we had our face-to-face meeting. Thank heavens that our family coordinator from the agency was able to put some pressure on and three months after we had our meeting, we finally had the document.
All of our paperwork has been certified and apostilled and we've found this process to be relatively easy, just expensive. We're just waiting on California to get us Kyle's birth certificate back, but Ohio and Pennsylvania were speedy quick with the processing of the documents we sent to them.
Other happy news is that even though there have still been hiccups in Honduras, it seems as though things are still moving through and families are still getting new waiting numbers (moving up in the list) and others are starting to receive referrals. There had been a long pause for a time while there was a government worker strike, but hopefully things have smoothed out for the new year and the process continues to flow. The country is also working harder to get more orphans "paper ready" or officially abandoned and available to adopt. With more children ready to be adopted, more families that can be matched with them to bring them home!
The Downs -- Our most recent "down" is that yesterday I sat down to read our psych eval out of curiosity. Now I know that I should have read it the day he gave it to us, but honestly, I didn't really want to read all of the psych babble about us. Our agency had already read it through before it was approved and we had to go through an additional interview with our social worker to clarify some things that the psychologist had written in our evaluation, so I honestly felt like I had a good idea of the things he said in it. Well, I didn't anticipate that he'd have numerous typos and grammatical errors or that he'd actually have details incorrect -- my parents' last name, and Kyle's mom's name spelled wrong for instance. It seems nit-picky, but the psych evaluation is the one thing that consistently seems difficult to get Honduras to approve - even ones that are perfect seem to be rejected for who-only-knows-why. I was devastated when I read it. I marked all the errors, but now we have to go through the hassle of trying to get him to return phone calls and emails (which was the problem in the first place when we were originally trying to get the report from him) and get him to fix these errors ASAP. I could potentially overlook the typos and grammatical errors - except that this document has to be translated and so it will be difficult for that person to properly translate if it is not written correctly....and the actually fact errors are not passable. Everything in every document has to match or it has the potential to be rejected. Then we have to get the document re-certified and re-apostilled because of the changes that have to made to it. All of this equals more time and money when we thought we were basically just waiting on our I-600a document. Just when I think I'm on top of every detail possible, stuff like this slips past me and it is so frustrating.
Prayers that you can join us in:
1. Kyle's birth certificate arrives in the mail with its apostille ASAP.
2. Our psychologist communicates with us in a timely fashion so that we can get him to make the necessary corrections and changes.
3. Once we have our new psych eval - the certification and apostille process happen very quickly so they can get to our agency with the rest of our paperwork.
4. Our I-600a arrives soon!
We hope that you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Thank you again for coming along this journey with us! I promise I will update you on how the above prayer requests are answered...
The Good News -- We are so close to being finished with our paperwork! I was hoping that everything would be off to our agency by this point so that with the first of the year it would be sent off to Honduras for translation and review. Unfortunately we're lagging behind just a bit.
Last Monday, however, we got to go to Pittsburgh and have our immigration pre-approval fingerprints done three weeks early! We took a chance that we could walk in and have them done. Thank heavens they weren't busy that day and we were done within 15 minutes. That will hopefully save us some time. Now we're just anxiously waiting for the I-600a to arrive in the mail. This form is the most important form we will have for the adoption. It is our approval to bring our child home from Honduras when that day comes. When we get it, we'll make a copy of it to go with our paperwork to Honduras, but the original stays in our possession. We're praying for quick processing of this form and that we have it soon!
At the end of November we were blessed to finally get our psych report in our hands!!! We were thankful to have found a psychologist who was willing to do the extensive evaluation we required for the adoption, but he was nearly impossible to communicate with about getting the report once we had our face-to-face meeting. Thank heavens that our family coordinator from the agency was able to put some pressure on and three months after we had our meeting, we finally had the document.
All of our paperwork has been certified and apostilled and we've found this process to be relatively easy, just expensive. We're just waiting on California to get us Kyle's birth certificate back, but Ohio and Pennsylvania were speedy quick with the processing of the documents we sent to them.
Other happy news is that even though there have still been hiccups in Honduras, it seems as though things are still moving through and families are still getting new waiting numbers (moving up in the list) and others are starting to receive referrals. There had been a long pause for a time while there was a government worker strike, but hopefully things have smoothed out for the new year and the process continues to flow. The country is also working harder to get more orphans "paper ready" or officially abandoned and available to adopt. With more children ready to be adopted, more families that can be matched with them to bring them home!
The Downs -- Our most recent "down" is that yesterday I sat down to read our psych eval out of curiosity. Now I know that I should have read it the day he gave it to us, but honestly, I didn't really want to read all of the psych babble about us. Our agency had already read it through before it was approved and we had to go through an additional interview with our social worker to clarify some things that the psychologist had written in our evaluation, so I honestly felt like I had a good idea of the things he said in it. Well, I didn't anticipate that he'd have numerous typos and grammatical errors or that he'd actually have details incorrect -- my parents' last name, and Kyle's mom's name spelled wrong for instance. It seems nit-picky, but the psych evaluation is the one thing that consistently seems difficult to get Honduras to approve - even ones that are perfect seem to be rejected for who-only-knows-why. I was devastated when I read it. I marked all the errors, but now we have to go through the hassle of trying to get him to return phone calls and emails (which was the problem in the first place when we were originally trying to get the report from him) and get him to fix these errors ASAP. I could potentially overlook the typos and grammatical errors - except that this document has to be translated and so it will be difficult for that person to properly translate if it is not written correctly....and the actually fact errors are not passable. Everything in every document has to match or it has the potential to be rejected. Then we have to get the document re-certified and re-apostilled because of the changes that have to made to it. All of this equals more time and money when we thought we were basically just waiting on our I-600a document. Just when I think I'm on top of every detail possible, stuff like this slips past me and it is so frustrating.
Prayers that you can join us in:
1. Kyle's birth certificate arrives in the mail with its apostille ASAP.
2. Our psychologist communicates with us in a timely fashion so that we can get him to make the necessary corrections and changes.
3. Once we have our new psych eval - the certification and apostille process happen very quickly so they can get to our agency with the rest of our paperwork.
4. Our I-600a arrives soon!
We hope that you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Thank you again for coming along this journey with us! I promise I will update you on how the above prayer requests are answered...
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Help save the Adoption Tax Credit!
I can't believe I didn't get around to posting anything in the month of October!! I have lots to update you all on in regards to our paperwork process, BUT for tonight, there is something that feels a bit more urgent to us. We're not typically ones to get on our political soapbox, however, this issue is one that is
near and dear to us along with many of the friends we have made through
our adoption journey.
Please read the following (though I know it is a little lengthy) and consider sending at least an email to your representative and senators. I've even included a sample letter that you can basically copy and edit to suit your needs.Members of Congress are back in their home districts until Congress resumes next Tuesday. We encourage you to use this opportunity to reach out to your U.S. Senators and Representative about the Adoption Tax Credit.
What is the adoption tax credit?
The adoption tax credit, which can be claimed for eligible adoption-related expenses, has helped thousands of American families offset the high cost of adoption since the credit was established in 1997. Since 2003, families that adopted children with special needs could claim the full credit regardless of their qualified adoption expenses. The credit has made adoption a more viable option for many parents who might not otherwise have been able to afford adoption, allowing them to provide children with loving, permanent families. With more than 100,000 children in U.S. foster care available for adoption, and countless millions of orphaned and abandoned children around the world, the continuation of the adoption tax credit is vital to providing love, safety, and permanency to as many children as possible.
In 2012, the credit amount decreased to $12,650. It is no longer refundable, eliminating the availability of the credit to some lower- or moderate-income families without tax liability. The 2012 credit may be carried forward for five additional years, applying to each year’s liability until the full credit amount is used or time expires.
Why do we feel like it needs to be continued?
The current adoption tax credit is set to expire on December 31, 2012. If that happens, many American families may not be able to afford the cost to adopt. Consequently, fewer children will find the loving, permanent families they deserve. Although the credit remains through 2012, many families will not benefit because it is not refundable. In 2013, the credit will decrease to only $6,000. What’s more, it will only be available to very few adoptive families.
Although many bills have been introduced to make the adoption tax credit permanent, they have never passed. Instead, it has always been extended or amended as a part of other pieces of legislation, including the Small Business Job Protection Act of 1996, the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act in 2001, the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act in 2010, and the Tax Relief Act at the end of 2010.
For more information, visit: http://adoptiontaxcredit.org/
How do I contact my representative?
On April 17, Representative Bruce Braley introduced the Making Adoption Affordable Act (HR 4373). If you are contacting your representative’s office, ask your representative to become a co-sponsor of HR 4373. There is no companion legislation in the Senate yet, so you can simply ask your senators to support an adoption tax credit that is inclusive, refundable, flat for special needs adoptions, and permanent.
Search for their contact information at:
It may be helpful to call the office and ask for the name and email or postal address of the staff member who handles adoption issues to be sure your message finds its way to the best person.
SAMPLE LETTER OR EMAIL
Dear Senator/Representative NAME:
I am a constituent in your district and I am writing to ask you to support the adoption tax credit, which is set to expire on December 31, 2012. Since 1997, the adoption tax credit has helped tens of thousands of parents offset the high cost of adoption, making it possible for them to provide children with loving, permanent families.
The adoption tax credit is especially important to me and my family because… (Tell Congress why you care. Your Members of Congress value your voice!)
If Congress does not take action, the current adoption tax credit will expire at the end of 2012. The credit will be reduced to $6,000, and will only benefit the few families that adopt children with special needs and have qualified adoption expenses. Most families adopting children from foster care, intercountry adoption, and domestic infant adoption will not receive any benefit. Without the adoption tax credit, many parents hoping to adopt will be unable to do so, and others will face great financial hardship. The adoption tax credit is essential to ensuring that as many children as possible find the forever families they deserve and ensuring that those families are in a more stable financial position to provide an environment where children can thrive. (In letters for your representative… Please become a co-sponsor of the Making Adoption Affordable Act (HR 4373) introduced by Representative Bruce Braley on April 17, 2012.)
The adoption tax credit must be extended to help as many children as possible find the permanent, loving family they need and deserve. And for 2012 it should be made refundable again so that most adoptive families will benefit from it. The best adoption tax credit would be permanent, refundable, inclusive of all types of adoption, and remain a “flat” tax for children with special needs.
On behalf of the countless children waiting to be adopted, and the many thousands of families that stand to benefit from the adoption tax credit, thank you for your attention to this important issue.
Sincerely,
NAME
CITY, STATE EMAIL ADDRESS / PHONE NUMBER
Please read the following (though I know it is a little lengthy) and consider sending at least an email to your representative and senators. I've even included a sample letter that you can basically copy and edit to suit your needs.Members of Congress are back in their home districts until Congress resumes next Tuesday. We encourage you to use this opportunity to reach out to your U.S. Senators and Representative about the Adoption Tax Credit.
PETITION TO SAVE THE ADOPTION
TAX CREDIT!
What is the adoption tax credit?
The adoption tax credit, which can be claimed for eligible adoption-related expenses, has helped thousands of American families offset the high cost of adoption since the credit was established in 1997. Since 2003, families that adopted children with special needs could claim the full credit regardless of their qualified adoption expenses. The credit has made adoption a more viable option for many parents who might not otherwise have been able to afford adoption, allowing them to provide children with loving, permanent families. With more than 100,000 children in U.S. foster care available for adoption, and countless millions of orphaned and abandoned children around the world, the continuation of the adoption tax credit is vital to providing love, safety, and permanency to as many children as possible.
In 2012, the credit amount decreased to $12,650. It is no longer refundable, eliminating the availability of the credit to some lower- or moderate-income families without tax liability. The 2012 credit may be carried forward for five additional years, applying to each year’s liability until the full credit amount is used or time expires.
Why do we feel like it needs to be continued?
The current adoption tax credit is set to expire on December 31, 2012. If that happens, many American families may not be able to afford the cost to adopt. Consequently, fewer children will find the loving, permanent families they deserve. Although the credit remains through 2012, many families will not benefit because it is not refundable. In 2013, the credit will decrease to only $6,000. What’s more, it will only be available to very few adoptive families.
Although many bills have been introduced to make the adoption tax credit permanent, they have never passed. Instead, it has always been extended or amended as a part of other pieces of legislation, including the Small Business Job Protection Act of 1996, the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act in 2001, the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act in 2010, and the Tax Relief Act at the end of 2010.
For more information, visit: http://adoptiontaxcredit.org/
How do I contact my representative?
On April 17, Representative Bruce Braley introduced the Making Adoption Affordable Act (HR 4373). If you are contacting your representative’s office, ask your representative to become a co-sponsor of HR 4373. There is no companion legislation in the Senate yet, so you can simply ask your senators to support an adoption tax credit that is inclusive, refundable, flat for special needs adoptions, and permanent.
Search for their contact information at:
It may be helpful to call the office and ask for the name and email or postal address of the staff member who handles adoption issues to be sure your message finds its way to the best person.
SAMPLE LETTER OR EMAIL
Dear Senator/Representative NAME:
I am a constituent in your district and I am writing to ask you to support the adoption tax credit, which is set to expire on December 31, 2012. Since 1997, the adoption tax credit has helped tens of thousands of parents offset the high cost of adoption, making it possible for them to provide children with loving, permanent families.
The adoption tax credit is especially important to me and my family because… (Tell Congress why you care. Your Members of Congress value your voice!)
If Congress does not take action, the current adoption tax credit will expire at the end of 2012. The credit will be reduced to $6,000, and will only benefit the few families that adopt children with special needs and have qualified adoption expenses. Most families adopting children from foster care, intercountry adoption, and domestic infant adoption will not receive any benefit. Without the adoption tax credit, many parents hoping to adopt will be unable to do so, and others will face great financial hardship. The adoption tax credit is essential to ensuring that as many children as possible find the forever families they deserve and ensuring that those families are in a more stable financial position to provide an environment where children can thrive. (In letters for your representative… Please become a co-sponsor of the Making Adoption Affordable Act (HR 4373) introduced by Representative Bruce Braley on April 17, 2012.)
The adoption tax credit must be extended to help as many children as possible find the permanent, loving family they need and deserve. And for 2012 it should be made refundable again so that most adoptive families will benefit from it. The best adoption tax credit would be permanent, refundable, inclusive of all types of adoption, and remain a “flat” tax for children with special needs.
On behalf of the countless children waiting to be adopted, and the many thousands of families that stand to benefit from the adoption tax credit, thank you for your attention to this important issue.
Sincerely,
NAME
CITY, STATE EMAIL ADDRESS / PHONE NUMBER
Friday, September 21, 2012
Why Honduras???
I guess the main answer would be, Why not? BUT…if you would like more
insight into our decision making, continue to read…. :-)
Adoption is something that both Kyle and I have felt called
to for a long time, honestly, even before we met each other. We weren’t exactly
sure when it would happen in our family building time-line, but the Lord has
made it clear to us that He would like for it to be now.
When we started to seriously consider what adoption would
look like for our family, we started looking at resources to figure out how to
go about this process. What an overwhelming array of information that exists
out there! We briefly considered domestic infant adoption and also the
foster-adopt public program. Though both of these options may be something we
pursue for future children, there was just something in our heart that was
telling us to look to another country for our first child.
The next decision was what country we wanted to adopt from
and which agency we would use to facilitate the process. To narrow the country prospects, we
could take every country off the list that we didn’t meet demographic/personal
qualifications for. For instance, we would love to adopt from Haiti, but one
person in the marriage has to be at least 35 (the other can be no less than 27
years old), and you have to be married for at least 10 years with no children
(apparently you can get them to bend on the no children aspect, but not on the
other two) – so obviously we can’t adopt from there yet. We also wanted to
adopt from a country that we felt a calling towards and an affinity for the
people and culture – we will want our child to know where they have come from
and to live some aspects of the culture in our home. We researched some agencies and from there we prayed about
which country He wanted us to adopt from.
For those of you who know us well, it’s not surprise that we
have a love for Latin America – the people, the culture, and the countries. I
have been to Honduras three times now and love it more every time I go. We have
both talked about wanting a child from a Latin American country, but many of
them have closed their borders to international adoption or have very difficult
travel requirements; as a result, we weren’t sure if we’d ever be able to bring
home a little Latino child to our home.
We looked into American World Adoption Association based on
a recommendation from a family in our church. To our joy and surprise they had
a pilot program for Honduras! A
pilot program means that it is a program that is still in its beginning stages,
but they do have families that are on the waiting-for-their-child list in
Honduras and others that are in the process of getting their paperwork
submitted to get put on the waiting list. As exciting as it was to find a
program to adopt from a country that we have a connection to, it was equally as
scary because of the newness of the program. There are a lot of unknowns as far
as time frames, stability of the program, etc, but after a lot of prayer we
decided it was a risk we were willing to take. While we were still in the
decision process, Kyle pointed out to me that adopting from a country that has
a new program and that has some extensive travel requirements (two trips – the
first that is about 7 days and the second that is 4-6 weeks for at least one
parent) is going to require a lot of relying on God. Not that any of this is
really in our control, but if we adopted from a country that was more
“predictable” in the process and timeframe, we might be able to do it on our
own strength rather than rely on God’s strength for the process. After he
shared that perspective with me, I felt even more confident that our child was
waiting for us in Honduras.
We are not the first parents to pioneer in this program, but
we are involved in the baby stages of it. We are optimistic that as the program
continues it may become more efficient and well-established which will be
better for the children waiting to be adopted and the parents waiting for them
as well. We are certainly in this for the long-haul, but on the up-side was
have several years to prepare and get excited for our child to come home to us!
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Update
Well,
kudos to the people who can keep up blogs everyday (how are they able to do
it?)!! It’s been a while since I’ve had time to sit down and write more about
our journey to share with you. A LOT has happened since we shared our exciting
announcement about our adoption…
1. We met with our homestudy agency coordinator.
Shortly
after our last update, we drove to Findlay, Ohio to meet with her for our
orientation. She had a lot of great information for us, but honestly, she left
me scared that we’re going to bring home an ill-adjusted, terrible monster. I
know that our child will have at least some level of problems associated with
receiving less than optimal care for the years before we bring them home, but I
have to trust (and I pray) that the Lord is protecting his or her heart from
long term damage. I have to trust (and pray) that with a loving and nurturing
home with Jesus at the center, we can help to heal any amount of hurt they have
experienced. And I have to trust that even if none of this turns our how we
hope or expect, the Lord is calling us to this way of building our family and
He will be with us through whatever we experience.
2. We’ve continued the paperchase.
It
really is crazy the amount of paperwork that we have to run down for every step
of the process. The homestudy requires certain amounts of paperwork and the
dossier (our international paperwork) requires other things. Fortunately some
of the items are used in both, but for our international paperwork, everything
has to be perfect and precise, notarized, certified, apostilled, etc, etc, etc.
I’m great at checking off lists, but we seem to be slowly moving through the
list – not moving at the pace I would certainly like. I’m learning a lot of
patience through this process, and we are both learning the art of having to
ask for help. Neither Kyle nor I really like to ask people for help – we are
self-sufficient and don’t want to be a burden on anyone – but there are just
some things in this process that we can’t do on our own.
One
of our biggest struggles was finding a psychologist who was willing and able to
do our psych evaluation and personality analysis. We had found one, but he
didn’t seem super-stoked to go through the process and write the VERY detailed
report that was required. We had people praying that a psychologist would
surface who would be able to do this for us because it is one of the most
important components for our dossier. Praise God – our physician knew of
someone in our area who was willing to work with us! He even sent us our
paperwork packet with the personality test beforehand so that we could use our
face-to-face time more efficiently. When we met with him, both Kyle and I were
really nervous – who wants to sit there and talk to someone that you know is
analyzing you??? Honestly, though, the meeting was great. We’re not crazy (I
know, that may be a surprise to some people!! J ) and he even gave us
some suggestions for our relationship to be stronger through this process and
in the longrun based on some of the themes he saw through our biographies and
personality tests. It truly was a blessing in disguise.
3. We’ve set a date for our two home visits with our social
worker!!
This
is one of the final steps for having our homestudy documents finished. We have
both of the meetings the first week of October and our homestudy should be
finalized shortly after that. That means that all we’ll need after that is the
remainder of our dossier paperwork to be certified, apostilled, and our
immigration paperwork filed (sounds much more cut and dry than it’ll actually
be). After that, our dossier will get sent to Honduras for translation!
Through
this process my emotions have really been up and down. I am so excited to bring
home our child from a country that I absolutely love, but I get disappointed
and discouraged when I think about how long it will take for all of this to
take place. I am thankful that we have to go through so much soul-searching,
analyzing, reading books, and training because I think in the end it’ll make us
much better equipped to parent (regardless of whether the child is biological
or adopted), however, I get angry when I think about how many people have
children by birth every day that are ill-equipped, crazy, abusive, or
indifferent toward their children. Where is all of this education and probing
for those people?? Kyle and I will be good parents, and yet every step of the
way we have a nagging fear that someone will tell us that we’re not going to be
good enough to bring a child home.
Ultimately,
we trust that the Lord knows what is happening through this process. Just as
our relationship with Him (and our relationship with each other) goes through
ups and downs, we are going to have ups and downs, doubts and fears, joys and
celebrations. He has called us to this decision and will not abandon us.
Sunday, August 19, 2012
We're expecting....in about three years!
Well....it's official! We're expecting.....in about three years. Kyle and I have begun our process to adopt a son or daughter from Honduras! We've also decided to join some of our other friends in blogging about our adoption story -- not only do we think it'll be neat for our child to know about the ups and downs and excitement of our journey to bring them home, but we also feel that helping others become aware of the adoption process can be educational, encouraging, enlightening, etc. We've also found a lot of encouragement and support through following some of our other friends' adoption stories that are in many different stages of the process -- maybe someone else will be encouraged by our story.
Adopting is something that we've talked about doing well before we were even married. Care for orphans and adoption into our family is certainly a way we expected to grow our family at some stage - and the Lord has made it abundantly clear that now is the time. He is the Father to the fatherless and we feel a strong calling to give a home to the parentless in the world.
Currently we're working on gathering all of our paperwork to send off to Honduras so that we can be entered on the waiting list for a referral for a child. This part of the process is where Cindy will excel -- lists with things "to do" on them which can neatly be checked off! However, as we've started to delve into the process we're realizing it is not going to be quite as easy as it sounds. Papers to be notarized here and apostilled there and letters from the bank, police, friends, pastor, medical evaluations, psychological evaluations, and on and on.....
Tomorrow we travel 6 hours round trip for a 3 hour home study orientation. We're excited to meet the director and to get this significant portion of the process under way.
More to come on the agency we're using, the Honduras program we're enrolled in, and our thoughts as a whole about the process.
Our child is growing in our heart, rather than under Cindy's heart....and we can't wait to meet the child that God already knows is out there for us!!
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