What is Next.....

It has been a couple of weeks since we have returned from China. Michael is famous for telling people “You would not believe how many Chinese restaurants are in China” It is pretty funny.

A ton of folks have been asking us what the next steps are, so I thought I would lay it out.

·       *   We have our home study in our hands for our review. From there, it gets sent to our agency for review. Once they approve it, then we will get the notarized copy back and can do what we need to do we need to do with it. 

     * Next is Immigration. You need to get approval from US immigration to adopt before you can send anything to China. Our I-800A is ready to go. Working on the necessary copies that are needed for it. But, we cannot send it in till our home study report is in our hands notarized.

·         Simultaneously, we are working on our Dossier. This is THE packet that gets sent to China. It includes a ton of documents that need to be notarized and then authenticated by the secretary of state along with the Chinese consulate. And when I say a ton, I mean at least 30 different documents. This package is what gets translated and sent to China. But in order to send this off, we have to have immigration approval. So we are working to get it all ready so once immigration comes in we move forward.

·        *  Wait ……that is what happens once our dossier goes to China. We wait for a referral, or in laymen terms, we wait to find out who she is. Who we have been praying for. But the reality is we will not be waiting. We will be saving any and every penny we can. We have some creative ways for people to get involved coming up. We will be doing some necessary things to the house in order for her to come home and so on.

So there you have it, the next steps. So many more to come, but so many completed so far. Each one feels like another step closer to our family.

There are a few words that God has been laying on my heart in regards to adoption. Like I said earlier in the blog, this blog was intended to let people know what was happening in our world. But, it was also so people could hear adoption from our perspective. The process, the heart process and just how personal the knitting together of hearts can be through so many piles of paper, time, energy and the reality of it taking a village to bring a child home. It is also from my perspective as a first time mom. The things that I am excited about, the things I have had to let go, expectations that I have had to change about what I thought my life would be and so many other things. So, over the next few posts, I will be highlighting these words.

Perspective

Longing

Sacrifice

Busy

Preparation

Why questions

Broken

Trust

Relationship

Thanks for the prayers, we can feel them every step of the way!

Jennifer

*This is pretty random, but to whomever is using our link to buy though Just Love Coffee Thank you! We just got the second check deposited! Every little bit makes a difference!