It is with amazing joy and satisfaction that I write this post! All of our paperwork for our home study has been TURNED IN!!!!!!! As soon as it is approved I will send it along with the form for our last piece of paperwork to get the last item for our dossier.
Pause... a little explanation for those who don't know how this goes... We have to have a home study done by a local social worker. It's by far the biggest chunk of paperwork. We have to be interviewed, our kids have to be interviewed, our house has to be inspected, other people have to fill out paperwork, and we have to fill out MOUNDS of paperwork. At the same time, we have to have a dossier for our agency (it goes international). A big part of our dossier is our home study, but there are probably 8-10 items that we need on top of that.
Play... We are actually almost done with paperwork!!!!! As soon as our last item for our dossier comes back to us approved (it takes 4-6 weeks after our home study is approved), we will have all of our papers state approved and then it will be sent to our agency. They will then (Lord willing) approve it all and send it over seas!!!!!!!!! We are a little behind where I'd like to be, we've had a few snaffoos with getting some paperwork back, but clearly God has a plan and my timing is not His. I am truly learning some serious patience through this part of the process and I must say I want to treasure every second of it. There have been, and will continue to be, many amazing things that God is teaching me and I don't want to ever forget the situation in which I learned them! As anxious as I am, I can't wait to see what God is going to do in me over the next part of this journey.
Our very basic timeline is this: As soon as we receive our finalized home study we will send it off for our last item for our dossier. When that item comes in we will have all of our dossier items state approved and then country authenticated and will send them to our agency. It takes up to 3 weeks for them to approve and finalize our dossier, they will then send it over seas. From there they begin the matching process - this timeline is open-ended, just a matter of the children available and when God decides our little princess is ready! Generally, travel dates are 4-6 months from the time a match is made. WE ARE SO EXCITED!!!!!
On another note... Our "family tree" is growing! We love to see the leaves add up. It is so amazing to see all of the support we have from friends and family, thank you all so much! We have a friend who has offered her amazing talents for another fundraiser for us. She is a photographer and is doing, what we are calling, "giving tree" sessions. For $75 you get a 25 min session, and 5 digital images. $15 goes directly into our funds and your name gets added to a branch on "her family tree". If you're interested let me know, I can get you in contact with her. We are so blessed to have such good people in our lives that want to help and support us!
Please continue to be in prayer with us as the journey continues; that Christ would be glorified, that we would not forget who is in control and His timing is perfect, and that, until we can get there, our princess would be safe in His arms!
Thank you all again so much! We love each of you and can't wait to share our precious treasure with you!
