Different Perspectives

Last week was our final HomeStudy meeting. A HomeStudy is simply where a licensed agency compiles much general and very personal data into one report. There are 4 required meetings to gather such info and evaluate us. Once that is compiled and approved, it can be sent to USCIS(immigration) so that they can pre-approve us bringing home Baby Girl from China. Yep, we need their permission, too.

So the different perspectives title of this entry refers to those people we have to inconvenience to sign and notarize forms. To us it's one step closer to China and realistically it is just a signature and stamp. To them it's usually an...."I don't think we do that" and if they accidentally find out that they can--it takes several days or weeks to get it done. So I(Deb) have decided to try and think about others' motives for asking me to do slightly inconvenient tasks before backing away as a first response--who knows, maybe they are looking to get one step closer to something very important in their lives.

Today I mailed out our USCIS 800a form with a big money order, and really nothing happens until we hear back from them and it could take a few months. We will, however continue to gather the rest of our Dossier(fancy word for a bunch of papers we need that prove who we are and are authenticated).

Shannon and Austin are excited about a Baby Sister and we talk about her all the time. We all pray for Baby Sister and realize she could already be born and living in an orphanage or foster care. Hmmmmmmmmm.

Deb & Dwayne

They Call it a Paper Chase

So we were talking with some friends one day about their experiences with the foster care system of another country. That conversation brought up a lot of feelings and questions like: there are a bunch of children without families how about we have one of them? Sure, we are comfortable now, but are we really called to be comfortable? We have always wanted children, why stop with 2? There must be a good reason we are so consumed with this! It's called conviction--not to save the world, but more like the same way that some (non-pregnancy challenged) families just know it's time to have another baby. Well, after much research and prayer, we have decided to adopt a daughter from China.



We chose Bethany Christian Services as our agency, and currently we are in the process of homestudy and document gathering. There is a ton of paperwork involved and a bunch of documents that have to have certified, notorized and authenticated before even submitting documents to China. So hence, the name of our current situation is "paper chase". So far we have gathered birth certificates, marriage certificates, vet records, financial statements, certificates of good conduct as well as employment verifications, letters of reference, well water certification and I am probably leaving out a few, but you get the point.

This blog is intended for us to share our journey to our newest daughter with you: our family and friends. Feel free to leave us comments or send an e-mail.

Deb & Dwayne