What does this road look like? The dossier

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mannaz/6993752921/

Now that the home study is complete, what is next?  The dossier.  The dossier is the official packet that gets sent to the Philippine government.  It will consist of about 16 documents once it is done.  Many of these things we already have but a few are new or we need official copies of them.  For instance, we have birth certificates and marriage certificates but since we need to send originals with the dossier we had to order more.  Other things like the I-800a, (official immigration approval from the US government,) need to be applied for.  This one takes the most work but not the most thought.

With the dossier it does sometimes feel like "we've done this before."  For the home study we had to submit copies of birth certificates, marriage certificates and had to be fingerprinted for an FBI background check. Well, all of that needs to be done again for the dossier.  Luckily, if you plan well, you already have most of it done except for the fingerprints.  For this set of fingerprints you have to go to an official USCIS office to get it done again.

Then there is the form that asks about acceptable conditions.  This is probably the hardest form we have had to fill out so far.  It is very hard to not feel selfish as you decide what conditions and background history you are willing to accept.  Some examples are: skin pigmentation issues, just about any birth defect, and motor skill delays that are likely related to their care environment.

It is on to more paper gathering.  We hope that this time things will go a little more quickly than for the Home Study.  At this point we are waiting on the US government to take our fingerprints and finish processing our I-800a.

Keeping Busy

Anybody who thinks summer is for slowing down and relaxing must not have kids or a new house.  I thought we were going to cruise through summer after the garage sale was done.  We would do the normal stuff, visit the library and pool, do the grocery shopping, and maybe see a movie or two.  Boy, that was only the tip of the iceberg!

We have continued to see God's blessing at every turn.  This past weekend my Dad was kind enough to lend us his strength and truck.  First, we needed to pick up some furniture from a couple that is moving.  We now have a great room for a girl or two.

We also can have house guests

and the boys have a craft table for their Legos and painting.

After all of the furniture moving was done, it was time to pick up the parts to a play set new to us.  The boys and I had already spent a few hours dismantling it to make the move go a little more quickly.  The temperatures were in the 90's all day so all that extra prep work really helped out.

Over the next few days, all I heard from the boys was "can we go build the play set?"  As we were finishing it up, G wanted to tighten some screws.  I could not put up the next piece for him because I needed to work on dinner.  As I am at the kitchen sink, I look out and see him grab his hand and head for the house.  I asked what happened.  He responds "I scraped my hand because I couldn't put up the board myself.  Daddy can you help me?  I need to put in more screws."  I decided it was probably best to put dinner on hold for a minute to avoid any more major injuries.  Obviously, this was important because if you know the boys, food usually doesn't get put as a second priority.

Later that night Jenn and I were able to finish the play set and there was no delay the next morning in its use. I think there will be years of use ahead.

Part One Complete

Not too long before the garage sale, we heard from our home study agency that the home study was complete.  We had been approved.  There had been a couple of papers that they had been waiting on and we weren't sure how long those papers would take to get here.  This was a great surprise in the middle of a crazy time.  Now it is on to the paperwork for the Dossier: Part 2.