Hope

Image from: www.restonbible.org 

Hope can come in many different forms.  We definitely have a lot of hope right now.  We are hoping for two girls.  We are hoping that we won't have to wait too long.  We are hoping that the finances will work out.

HOPE is also the name of an adoption and orphan care ministry at a local church.  The group is made up of people who have a heart for adoption.  There are people who work in adoption, people who have adopted, people who are in the process and people who are just thinking about adopting.  About a year ago, soon after I had finally agreed to adopt, we attended a fellowship meeting HOPE was having.   Since then we have attended an information session and recently another fellowship.  It is very encouraging to be with others who have had or are having the same experiences.

At this last fellowship we met the Wicklines, you can read about their story here.  As it turns out, we had actually met the Wicklines before.  We have been walking a parallel path.  Some months back, the Wicklines attended the same Home Study orientation that we did.  At the time as they told their story, I now remember Jenn commenting about how it sounded like they attended a church near us and had heard the adoption story presented by one of Jenn's friends.  We didn't think much of it and left the meeting figuring we wouldn't see any of those people again.

In June you probably remember that we had a garage sale.  When we had it, we contacted a friend from the Hope ministry and she mentioned there was another person who was also having an adoption garage sale on the same day.  I thought "that is nice" and moved on as we were pretty overwhelmed with what we had ahead of us.

Now it is October and we walk into the Hope fellowship.  The first people we see are the Wicklines. When we introduced ourselves, Becky Wickline said "I think you were at the same Home Study orientation as we were."  After a double take we agree they do look familiar and that probably is the case.  Then the host walks over and says "You guys both had your garage sales on the same day."

As we talk to them throughout the rest of the evening, we find out they submitted their dossier around the same time we did.  They have a similar wait time as we do.  We are hoping that we will be able to establish a friendship with them through this process.  As my wife tells me, it is fun to have somebody to be pregnant with and adoption is just a really long and complicated pregnancy.

It's in the Mail

image credit: http://www.dhl.com/en/express.html

It's in the mail.  Well, that is what we were told last Monday.  The psychologist was able to deliver the letter to our placement agency.  Our placement agency promptly assembled the dossier and put it into the mail to the Philippines.  According to the DHL website, delivery to the Philippines should take 3 days.  We have not heard officially yet but, hopefully, the dossier has arrived.  Now it is a wait and see game.  The next thing is to wait for approval by ICAB (the Philippine government) of our dossier.  The approval process usually takes one to two months.  Once we are approved, we wait for our referral.  The referral is the information about the children ICAB thinks are a good fit for our family.  Currently we are hearing that the wait for the referral could be up to three years.

Thank you to all those who have supported us through this process so far.  Now we could really use everybody's prayers.  This can be one of the harder parts of the process as it is totally out of our control.  We just have to wait and see.

UPDATE: We just got word that ICAB has acknowledged receiving the dossier on September 18th. 

The hills and valleys keep coming

So much has been going on I hope I can tell it all without boring you.  

Let's start with last week.  Early in the week we found out that our psychologist had not provided the raw data to our placement agency as requested by the Philippines.  This was frustrating but not a major issue as we are still waiting on our immigration approval.  We also found out that the Philippines has been in contact with our placement agency in CA asking to see if we are still interested and will be sending the paper work anytime soon.  This made things a little more urgent.  Next we found out the psychologist was unwilling to release the raw data due to copyright laws and ethical concerns.  On top of that she would not be able to write the explanatory letter until the following week because she was to busy.  Disappointing to say the least.

 Friday of last week we went to the top of the hill.  We got the immigration approval.  This was huge for us.  It meant there was just one piece missing before we could submit to the Philippines.  Every step of the way this becomes even more real.  It may even be like being pregnant.  The guy is often slow to come to the realization of what is happening.  It isn't until the baby bump starts to show that he really realizes this is for real.  I think that is how I am feeling right now.  

A quick call to the psychologist that same day yielded an email response letting us know the letter had been written but wouldn't be mailed until Tuesday as she was out of town for the long weekend.  Progress.

Tuesday morning came and the great anticipation of school starting.  Both boys were over excited.  Ever since backpack supply shopping on August 5 they ask daily "when is school starting?"  Definitely a hilltop experience.  

While we were taking the obligatory first day pictures, Jenn gets a call.  She finds out her grandfather had passed away the night before.  Talk about a pull of emotions.

Wednesday was another good day though.  G received his passport in the mail.  Since the boys don't get a lot of mail, I had let them open up the envelope.  J had gotten his a couple weeks ago and G was disappointed he didn't have anything to open.  So he was very excited that day.  During the process of getting pictures taken and applying for the passports the boys had asked what they were for.  We had told them they were papers that would let us go to another country.  Specifically so that we could bring home our new brothers or sisters.  When G got his passport, he immediately said "Now we can all go pick up our brothers or sisters."  Both boys are ready to go now.  This could be a long wait.

Wednesday we also were informed that the psychologist's letter was on its way to CA.  It looks like by the start of next week our dossier will be headed to the Philippines. 

This weekend we are torn though.  Jenn is off to GA for the funeral of her grandfather.  The boys and I are home and will have a party tomorrow to celebrate J's birthday.

How long is the wait? Part 2

You can find part 1 of this series here.  Well, it has now been 6 months since we officially started this journey.  The goatee continues to grow.  It is about 4 cm now. We are continuing to plug along.  Actually this was a very exciting week for us.  We have officially completed everything that we can do for now.  At this point, the process is entirely in God's hands.

This is when the true waiting game begins. First, we are waiting on USCIS to give us approval to bring adopted children into the states.  This, hopefully, will take less than a month.  Once we have approval from USCIS, our dossier will be complete.  Having the dossier done will really take everything out of our hands and the country's.

The dossier will be sent off to the Philippines and at that point we will have a one to two month wait for approval from ICAB (the Philippine government.)  Then more waiting, possibly as long as three years. When I recently asked our agency if the wait was still three years, she said "ICAB hasn't said differently but I think the things they are doing to shorten the wait time are working."  So, just like the rest of this process it is all God's timing.

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.