Well, it's been about a week since we publicly announced we were in the adoption process!
This week has been a bit stressful because we almost thought we were going to have to re-do a lot of paperwork that was sent out! I was determined to get ALL of the paperwork that we had at the time in the mail by last Monday! It took about a week to track down necessary documents, get signatures, fingerprints, physicals, financial statements, and fill out all of the papers and send it off to 4 different places! I was finally ready for it to be on it's way! There was so much that we paid about $30 in postage! Some of that was extra because we wanted to be safe and send it using certified mail. On the following Tuesday, while emailing with our social worker who is doing our home study, she mentioned that if I wanted to I could get started on the paperwork she sent...WHAT? This package was just going to Lexington and she hadn't received it 8 days later? I was a little worried, but after tracking it online I found out that they attempted to deliver it once and couldn't, and that was all they were going to try until I requested it be redelivered. If I didn't, after 15 days they would send it back to me. Requesting a redelivery wasn't a big deal, it really wasn't hard, but I was sad that I didn't realize what had happened and that all of that determination to get the paperwork in early was in vain. We were thankful, thought, that package arrived the next day safe and sound as I had requested. Since there was trouble with that one, I decided to track the others as well. There was another package that had arrived in the city it was going to, and it said they would attempt to deliver on the day it arrived at the sorting place(6 days before I was reading it), but there was no confirmed delivery! We were worried about that one too, but the agency picked it up the next day! I am trying to be on top of things, but I'm finding out that I'm going to need to be patient with the process.
Beginning last weekend we began mailing and handing out letters to all of our family and friends. Our goal with these letters are to spread the word about what we're doing, and let others know about how they can support us through prayers and, if they choose, through donations. We've mailed and handed out a LOT of letters! We are excited to let everyone know about our adoption! I keep thinking that this is the equivalent of a couple announcing that they're pregnant! Although this time is MUCH different for us than if I was actually pregnant, we are still announcing that we are expecting a precious baby! What a blessing! While there have been some settings in which people are not supportive, or maybe just uninterested, for the most part people have loved hearing our news! People have shared stories about people they know who are adopted or have been adopted, how they've always thought about or wanted to adopt, and how they are so excited for what's to come! We have been blessed with some donations this week that have raised our total and have been such a huge encouragement! While we still have a lot more to go, we are so overwhelmed by the generosity of our friends and family so far! We are so thankful for each and every donation, small and big. We have been touched by each one. We even had a donation from a beautiful woman that we hadn't been in close contact with for years, who shared her story, her heart for God, and her call to be involved in missions and said she felt led to help us in any way she could during this time! It is such an encouragement to see people who are willing to sacrifice what they have to help. We know we couldn't complete this journey without the help of every one of you.
We will have our first home study visit by the social worker on Saturday and are anxious to see exactly what it will be like! We're excited with each thing that gets done that we are one step closer to holding our child in our arms! We will continue to raise funds. We've been told that we will need to provide "proof of funds" to one agency as soon as our home study is complete in order to continue on with the process. This means we need to show that we have about $17,000.00 in our bank account in a very short amount of time! Please be praying for these things.
Thank you, again, for all of your support! We will never be able to thank you enough for helping us to bring our child home!
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