Home Study is Complete!!!

Yep! That took more than a bit. I do not remember the first one being so painful. But! It is finished!  What does this mean?

It means that all we need for the dossier at this point is approval from the US government to adopt and bring home a child from an international country.  Well...I guess that's if it doesn't shut down tonight at midnight. :)

In all seriousness, please keep praying for us as we make decisions.  Most pressing: That both the US and DRC governments will keep open and functioning for the people.  Secondly, Once our dossier is complete and we submit it, we will owe a large sum of money.  I don't remember worrying about this as much the first time.  But this time around has been more challenging.  Please pray that God will use this in our lives to remind us to trust Him in all areas.

Updated...T-Shirt Colors and Sizes

Below is a list of shirts and the sizes that we have left.  We do not plan to order anymore right now.  If there is an interest in long-sleeve we may order those.

Shirts are $15 each

To Order: Sent an email to WardRachel@outlook.com and include the following information

1. Name

2. Address for shipping

3. Shirt color and size

4. Payment Type

Payment Method: Check, Debit or Credit.

1. Check - We will email the address when we receive your order.

2. Debit or Credit - Use the side bar to the right of the home page.  You do NOT need a Paypal account.  

Free shipping on ALL orders!!

Color	Y-XS	Y-S	Y-M	Y-L	A-S	A-M	A-L	A-XL	A-XXL
Red	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	0
Blue	0	0	0	3	1	0	1	0	2
Pink	3	3	2	3	2	1	4	2	0

Checking the List

We are finalizing our home study amendments tonight. Brent is putting the finishing touches on the email. Hopefully, we will have that back by the first of next week.

Apart from that we only need a few more things to have our dossier ready to send to the Democratic Republic of Congo.  We need about 6 documents notarized, 2 "mug shots" a.k.a. passport photos and our I171-H.  The I171-H is the longest of the process, but we have heard that it is MUCH quicker than it was 7+ years ago with Janaa.

It feels great to finally have check marks by most of the required documents.  I'm pretty sure that if I weren't a "list maker" it would still feel pretty good.  I'll have to ask Brent when he finishes up with the email.  ;)

Please be in prayer for us as we start nearing the end of the dossier preparation.  Once we have approval from the I171-H we will be allowed to be "matched" with Caleb. (No, we still don't know who he is.)  From this point there is much required from a financial and emotional standpoint.  In some ways, it has been emotionally easier so far for Caleb.  I think the main reason is because he doesn't have a face yet. Shoot! He may not have taken his first little breath of oxygen yet!  But, once we see his sweet little face things change.  With Janaa, when we were at this point, we were already emotionally involved and were consumed with getting her home. The switch will flip quickly with that one little photo!

It was strange. One form I was working with tonight asked for our child's birth date.  We always knew Janaa's birth date. It really started making me wonder will he be a Fall Baby like his daddy, sister, cousins, aunt and uncle? A Winter Baby all by himself? A Spring Baby with his mommie,  grandparents, uncle and cousin? Or, a Summer Baby with his aunt?  I think I'd kind of like him to be a winter baby.  Those months are so long and monotonous, long and gloomy.  I think it would be nice to bring a little warmth into life.  Then again, summer would be great for a pool party.   I should take a poll...Guess the baby's month. At least there's a 1 in 12 chance.  As opposed to guessing the day of the month with a 1 in 28-31 chance.

As always...Thanks for following along and loving us and our little passions in life!

Where are we?

Date night at Panera to get some paper work done.
It's quiet there on Friday nights. 

We got our home study draft last week. However, our placing agency is in Kentucky and there are a few things have must be changed before it can be finalized.  We are hoping to have that done in a week or less.

At this point we are compiling our dossier. This is a huge pile of documents that are sent to the DRC.  It is at this point that we can accept a referral for a child...Caleb.

There are things that are very familiar to us having gone through this with Janaa. But 6 years have now passed and things have changed a little, not to mention the differences in requirements for different countries. We have had a few moments where we feel as if this is all new again.

Thank you for continued prayer and support. It means more to our family than we could ever express!

Clothes and Gummy Bears, but not Clothing Gummy Bears.

Our home study should be completed and back to us in the next few days. We are so excited to really be able to start filling out paper work again. Yes, the necessary evil of adopting, but it's better than sitting around doing nothing.

My nephew apparently hit a growth spurt. So, last weekend when they came down my sister-in-law left me with a bin of clothes.  I love my nephew's clothes. I love we will be able to see Caleb in the same clothes.  Silly maybe, but I like it. 

I ironed all those little clothes before hanging and folding them. Will that happen when he's at my ankles demanding attention?  Probably not, but he's not. So I did. I haven't figured out how I'm going to organize the pajamas yet so they are still piled in the crib. 

On the home front...

Janaa and I are several weeks into school now. We have started to get a routine down, which has made our day much more fun.  This week we learned about the scientific method and did an experiment with gummy bears. She was so fascinated by it.  Watching her keep check for changes in the gummy bears was so much fun. I am really beginning to enjoy this. However, to be more than completely honest, it has been very difficult to leave the professional world. I miss my colleagues and friends, but I also have great peace that this is God's calling on my life for the moment.  I do still work. I am seeing clients at my house.  So if you need a dyslexia therapist...you know where to find one. :)