Career-Ending Injuries, Fingerprints, and Garage Sales

Our homestudy is done! Except for my FBI fingerprint clearance. For some reason the resubmission still hasn't cleared yet. As soon as it shows up though, the homestudy will finally be finished.

We're still polishing off the last few items of our dossier -- we hope to be done by the end of May.

In other news, we attempted to take over a paper route as a means of raising funds. It was short-lived, however, as the action of throwing papers threw out Allan's back for three days following our first delivery! So that job went the way of my Dairy Queen career in college, which lasted all of two days. Fortunately Allan has a few other ideas he might try....

We will be having a garage sale soon, probably in conjunction with several other members of our extended family. I believe it will be Memorial Day weekend. I'll post more details later!

The Hand of Providence

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24354348/

What more can I say?!

The Dossier Explained

A few folks (not just Amy!) have asked about the dossier, so I thought I would explain that a little bit more. The dossier (doss-ee-ay) is the collection of documents that is compiled and actually sent to the country from which you are adopting. Typically, once approved by the adoption agency, the dossier is translated into the appropriate language and sent overseas. The child's country reviews and, hopefully, approves the dossier and sets the applicable process in motion for assignment of a child, or referral. In most cases, a dossier is also compiled for the child by the government. This would include as much information as is available about the child, medical records and history, and any necessary release forms from living relatives, I would assume.
The adoptive parent's dossier includes your homestudy approval documents, medical clearances, financial statements, letters of reference, criminal background check clearances, etc. The documents required in a dossier vary by country. When we joined the Vietnam program, we were told that we would have one of the easiest dossiers to complete. (It wasn't terrible, but I couldn't imagine what a more complicated dossier would be like!) Upon joining the Ethiopia program, we discovered that even "simpler" dossiers existed! Many of the documents required are the same between countries, so we actually have a few of these already "done" from our Vietnam dossier. They just need to be updated since so much time has passed.
Speaking of time, many people grumble about the length of time and the amount of paperwork required for an adoption, domestic or international. It IS frustrating and tedious, to be sure. Yet, I think about what I would want to happen if, heaven forbid, one of my biological children were to become an orphan. I would hope that should some stranger from another country wish to adopt my child, that that person would have to provide some serious proof of his or her ability to take care of my child! So, to a certain degree, it is all understandable and I believe it is definitely worth the time and effort!

And Yet Some News

Phew. I had my fingerprints redone today and sent them on their way to the FBI...again. We were also able to FINALLY send off all the remaining homestudy documents. Hopefully our social worker can process those while we wait on the fingerprint clearance.

Yesterday we received the terrific news from AGCI that families can now be placed on the referral waiting list -- THE List, the list you wait on until they assign you your child -- as soon as their completed dossier is accepted by the agency! Prior to this, families would have to wait for approval through Immigration and the Dept of Homeland Security to be placed on the list. This would mean up to an additional two months wait, just to be put on the list to wait some more. With the rate that the Ethiopia program is currently moving -- that is, slightly slower than before but still faster than most other programs -- our agency now feels comfortable putting folks on the list while they are waiting for Immigration/DHS clearance.

Since we already have approval to adopt a child from Vietnam, we only have to submit a Change of Country form for Ethiopia to be reapproved -- hopefully! That means that when a child becomes available for us, we'll be all set to go that much faster. Now we just have to finish our dossier...while we wait on those fingerprints, of course.

And So It Goes

Well, phooey. We were all ready to send off the last of our homestudy documents when we received word that my fingerprints were rejected by the FBI as too smudged. This means I have to wait to receive new fingerprint cards from our social worker, head to the police station to have the prints redone, then send the prints off to West Virginia for the FBI to process, and wait for word that this set was approved and that I have clearance. All this will take at least two weeks. We are on an incredibly fragile timeline as it is, for reasons that would take forever to explain, so this is a frustrating detour to have to take. Please pray that everything goes smoothly this time!

In the meantime, our case manager travelled to Ethiopia for two weeks and just sent out a slideshow of the kids in and around the Home there and of some of the families who also travelled at that to unite with their children. I wish I were allowed to share them, but alas, a whole bunch of confindentiality laws come in the way. Anyhow, it was bittersweet to see these beautiful children. As the process drags on, I feel more and more like I MISS my little girl, even though I don't even know her yet. Yet, it brings me hope to see the children -- it reminds me that someday I will have a picture of a little girl that will soon be my daughter.

Whose Timeline?

"I will walk by faith, even when I cannot see, because this broken road is Your will for me." - Jeremy Camp

A phrase that is commonly thrown about in the course of the adoption process is "timeline." What is the timeline for adopting from this country? What is the timeline for the payment of fees? What is the timeline for this paper to be processed? What is the timeline for the wait for a baby girl as opposed to a baby boy? And so on.

Sunday morning, in the course of his Easter sermon, one of our pastors spoke of God's timeline in regards to Abraham. God promised Abraham and Sarah a son. (Gen 17) He didn't tell them how long it would take. They were already elderly, so they must have assumed it would happen sooner rather than later. It was already a shock that it would be happening at their age to begin with. Abraham and Sarah had also already taken it upon themselves to speed up God's covenant promise to Abraham of countless descendants (Gen 15), by arranging for Abraham to father children through Sarah's maidservant (Gen 16).

Our pastor's point was that Abraham, considered to be one of the great men of faith, didn't trust God's timeline and it brought great sadness to his household -- not by God's hand, but by his own. This struck me as such an important piece of truth to hold onto as we stumble down the road of our adoption timeline.

Will I trust God's timeline or will I try to hurry things along so I can feel in control? When I read updates on other families who are that much closer to bringing their children home, when I rejoice with a tiny bit of sadness as other women continue to have children biologically in a predictable 9-month timeframe, can I have faith that the timeline God has chosen for us is the best possible timeline for our family -- including our baby girl? It is my prayer that I will and can!

Slow Going

We haven't gotten too far into the process and we are already experiencing frustrating delays. The homestudy portion, which we had first believed to be one of the easier steps since we had most of it already done, is dragging on longer than expected. Spring breaks and staffing issues present roadblocks out of our control.
Our medical forms are done, as well as our home visit. We are working on getting reference letters and our financial forms completed. Today we attempted to get our fingerprints done for processing through the FBI, but the police station was understaffed on this particular day (!) so we need to try again tomorrow. All that said, we still hope to have our portion of the homestudy updates done by the 1st of April. At that point, our social worker will need to compile the documents and send them to the adoption agency for approval. Only then will we be able to tackle our biggest hurdle, clearance through Immigration and Homeland Security.
Phew. Please continue to uphold us in prayer as we struggle to keep this momentum while tackling everyday life!