Pictures

As I have mentioned, we will need a number of pictures to submit with our dossier. We had some picture opportunities this weekend. Going to MSU football games with friends is a big part of our life. We want to be sure that it is captured in at least one of our photos we submit.

Thanks Mike for taking such good pictures.

Finishing Paperwork

I will mail the final paperwork needed from us to AGAPE today.

*Doctor physical examination forms
*Employer letters
*Copy of driver licenses
*Copy of health insurance cards

I will complete our self checklist for our dossier documents today. I will then send them via fax/pdf to CCAI for their review. They say to allow 72 hours for them to review. Once they give the okay, then we can get them notarized.

Baby Dedication

Sunday at church was baby dedication. In years past, it has been a hard service for me to attend. I looked at this Sunday differently.

God knew from the beginning of time that mine and Kevin's path for having a child would be different. He started molding my heart for adoption when I was in middle school. I remember Betsy speaking to the youth on Sunday morning about how she was adopted and that she was so thankful that her birth mother chose not to have an abortion. In college and work, I have become friends with a number of people that I learned were adopted. I have always been moved by the difference those families made in a child's life.

This Sunday I thought of my daughter-to-be. Although our daughter has not been conceived, God already has a perfect plan for her. He knows what she will look like, what her first word will be, and when we will get to meet her for the first time. I pray that she will realize what a special gift and blessing she is to us.

Fingerprints

We got up super early to be at the Jasper jail at 8 am Saturday morning. I don't believe I have ever been in a jail before. It was scary. I really don't understand why people make poor choices. The guy tells us that the live scan machine was not working Friday night. I gave him a "you got to be kidding" look. Luckily with God's help, he got the machine working. So we got our fingerprints taken. I am still a little uncertain if it was done properly. We did not have to pay him anything. I was expecting to pay approximately $40/each. We did not get fingerprint cards. He said they were submitted electronically. I have to trust they know what they are doing and it will all work out.

For anyone considering live scan fingerprints in Alabama, here is some helpful information.
* You can get a live scan fingerprint in Montgomery, Columbiana, and Jasper.
* If Montgomery, you have to have your agency set up an appointment with them.
* If Jasper, they only do live scans on Wednesday and Saturday from 8-11 and 1-3 at the jail. You have to be present by 10:30 and 2:30 to have it done.

I will mail today the final clearance paperwork to AGAPE today.

Where we are in the paper work process

For AGAPE, we still have not had the fingerprinting. We have made two attempts to have it done and keep getting different days/times to have it done. Hopefully, third time is the charm. The plan is to go Saturday which will complete all the clearance paperwork. We will then have to wait for the information to be sent back to AGAPE.

We have heard from some of our references that they have received a form from AGAPE. We appreciate you taking the time to complete this for us. If you have not received anything, please let me know so I can follow up.

We are making good process on the dossier documents.
*Ordered certified marriage and birth certificates.
*Already have valid passports.
*Typed up a draft of the adoption petition.
*Received employer verification letters.
*Obtained Police Clearance Reports.
*Scheduled appointments for physicals. (I had mine this morning.)

The only item remaining for us to complete is drafting the financial statements. I was going to try to wait to October 1st, so I would get all the quarterly statements to use without having to contact everyone. I may do it as June 30 if this becomes a hold up.

I don't know if I set any records in getting all the information, but I find it hard to believe that it could be done any quicker. It should be obvious that I am no procrastinator. I had a hard time sleeping the past week knowing there was stuff I could be doing.

Family Help

We will need pictures to submit with our dossier.

3 - Us only
8 - family life (both of us with other friends/family)
3 - passport photos

If you have any family photos as described above that are clear (no sunglasses/hats), please send or email to us. The photos have to be taken within the last two years. We have some of us through pictorial pictures and cruise pictures.

Thanks for your help. These are the pictures that will be sent to China for the people there to match us with a child, so we want to look GOOD!

Dossier Guide

At lunch I logged-in to CCAI parent network access to look at the Dossier Guide. It is an extremely well documented guide. I have read it three times and still trying to make sense of the best order of stuff. It seems having to use a local agency for a home study makes pulling the documents repetitive. Along with pulling all the information, the documents have to be notarized. Then the County Clerk and Secretary of State verify the Notary. Then the Chinese Consulate verifies the Secretary of State. There is only so long that some documents are good, so no time to waste.

Please pray for our attention to detail and understanding of the process as we start pulling this all together.

Service Agreement Received

I received an email that CCAI has received our signed service agreement and first agency fee. We now have parent network access to be able to download the Dossier Guide and China Home study Report packet.

We will need to complete 10 hours each of parent preparation and training before traveling to China. So we have some time to get this completed. Some of the topics include overview of Chinese adoption, assisting in your child's development, being a multicultural family, and Chinese culture.

I am so excited that it seems things keep moving along. I know I need to pace myself so I continue to have stuff to work on.

We plan to get the live scan fingerprint done on Tuesday and that will complete all the clearance paper work. We will then have to wait for that to come back to AGAPE before they will start the home study. I hope the clearance paper work does not get back logged. Please pray that our forms go to the top of the pile and are processed quickly.

More paperwork submitted

We signed the service agreement with CCAI and put it in the mail today.

We submitted the following to AGAPE today.
*Application
*Service agreement
*Child Abuse/Neglect (CA/Ns)
*Financial Statement
*W-2s (3 years)
*recent 1040
*Marriage Certificate
*Birth Certificates

I still have a few more forms and information to pull for AGAPE. I hope to get all the clearance work submitted this week. I also have to complete the I-800 form for CCAI.

Sharing the News

I want to say thank you to our family. We shared our good news that we were going to adopt with our family this weekend. I really did now know what kind of response we would get. So I want to say thank you for your love and support. We will be needing it and your prayers as we go through this process. I know our precious child will be much loved by Aunts, Grandparents, and Great Grandparents.

Application Approved

I just received a call from CCAI telling me we were approved. They have emailed me an orientation packet with lots of paper work to complete. So I have plenty to keep me busy for a few days.

I did receive the paper work from the local AL agency. It is a lot of forms and information to pull. I have gotten a lot pulled together already.

I am feeling that this part of the process may take longer than I realized. I believe I can turn my portion in fairly quickly, but there is a lot of waiting on information to be sent back.

Please pray for a quick turn around on the documents!