While my presence here has been negligible as of late, there is no need to worry that my laptop has been neglected. The paperchase is on, and I'd nearly forgotten just how time-consuming the process can be! If you've never before pursued adoption, your head would spin to know just how many sheets of officially sealed, notarized, stamped, signed, authenticated, translated, and logged-in paper are consumed in the process of bringing an orphan home. I'd list them here for you, but it would surely put you to sleep, or lead you to false conclusions about the praiseworthiness of this blogger. I have concrete proof in the form of a Little Miss asleep upstairs that every second, every cent, and every signature is repayed a thousandfold through the joy of parenting the child you know God meant to be a part of your family.
Fortunately (knock on wood), the process has gone relatively smoothly so far. Danny agreed to be a daddy again one month ago today, and both our homestudy (a social worker's report detailing why we're fit parents) and dossier (the collection of documents that will represent who were are to the Chinese government) are nearly complete. We still have to get approval from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services before we can send our stuff overseas, but it took us about 10 months to get to that point with Reagan's adoption. The hard part this time is knowing that our son is alive somewhere and waiting for us. With Reagan we knew she probably hadn't been born when we started the process (indeed, she wasn't born until 14 months after our first application was sent in), so I didn't feel quite the fire underneath my feet. Now, every moment that our paperwork is delayed means another moment our little guy is living without a mama. I have to keep reminding myself that God is in control of even this. He knows what's best for all of us, and, incomprehensible as it is to me, His best right now means that part of our family is a half a world away. Please pray with us that God will be the Father our son needs right now, and that He'll speed our paperwork along to unite us at just the right moment. Thanks friends!
6 comments:
Wow, that's a thought - that your child is somewhere right now needing a Mommy - you! Someone to cuddle him and read to him. I could cry. I'll be praying that things happen very speedily!
We pray he has his "luc" caring for him, just like Reagan did. Love, Mom
Hope everything continues to go smoothly! We are dealing with an RFE over here. BLEH! Hey, you never replied to my email! Check your FB inbox.
With tears in my eyes I prayed your family of six would be united quickly. Can't wait to see the little man God has designed for you.
Love from The Hilligers
Laura-
I tracked your comment back to your blog and was so glad I did! I am excited to follow your journey and where it leads! Hope it's ok the a total stranger/bloggie friend follows along? And I think your first adoption was from VN and now your off to China? Which is so coincidental, as our first adoptions were from VN and (although it's not on our blog yet) now we are off to China too. We about at the same part of the process too. Should send off our i800a app next week or next. Kinda excited to find another family in the same boat and see what happens next.
Nancy (Crazy 8s)
Exciting! And I can only imagine how much paperwork must be required for an international adoption, after seeing how much paperwork our foster-adoption required!
Praying the rest of the process goes quickly and smoothly so your little guy can get here asap!
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