How to pass the time while we wait...

Cora is having a hard time understanding why we cannot go to China to get Min and bring her home. She is upset that Min is not here and wants her to be happy with her new family. Telling Cora that it takes a long time is just not working, she thinks she sleeps for a long time so NOW it is time to go and get Min.

We had a great idea to help her understand how many days it could take for Min to come home. We created a paper chain of rings and ran it across the tops of the windows in our home. We made 365 rings (the number to be adjusted as we complete each step of the adoption process) and she cuts one off each night. The chain starts in our dinning room, runs around three sides into our living room, across our fireplace mantle and hangs off the other side! Cora's solution... cut off more than one each day so Min can come home faster.

Homestudy Approved!

Our second and third homestudy appointment are over, we survived and passed! On the second appointment we talked about finances. How much money we made, owed, insurance for the children, and how we were going to finance Min's adoption (still working on this part). The third appointment was discussing paperwork and signing forms. We reviewed all the documentation and talked about the issues that can come with adopting an institutionalized child and the possible needs that we may not have been made aware of or that are not know of at this time.

Next step is approval of the report from WACAP. Once that is done we will be given 3 copies of the report, one for WACAP, one for USCIS, and one for our file. Then we file our I-800A for Min's immigration and our dossier. This is a long wait if it follow the timeline of our last adoptions. We will also be able to apply for adoption grants and loans now that we have an approved homestudy.

Please continue to share Min's story with others to help us bring Min home.

Thank you to all that are helping Min!

Homestudy Day 1

Our homestudy is going great. We really like Laura but we are still missing Louise. You get attached to those who help you adopt, they become family.

On the first meeting we mostly talked about how we decided to adopt, what our relationship was like, our other adoption stories, how the children were adjusting, and reviewed the teachers letters.

Cora (our youngest and last adopted; only a year ago) was taking Laura all over the house! She was so happy to be showing her everything and everywhere. There was no place left out, every homestudy agents dream I am sure.

Everything seems to be moving along and no red flags yet. Hopefully we will be filing for Min's US Immigration papers soon!

Homestudy Scheduled!

We did get the call we have been waiting for from FAC. We are scheduled for our first homestudy visit on Wednesday! Second visit on Sunday and the next for the following week. I have so much to do. We have a new (to us) agent coming this time. We are very surprised, Louise has become part of our family but Laura comes by Louise's request so we are trying not to worry. I will be too busy getting ready for the visit to worry too much and time will pass quickly because I am busy.

Homestudy update

We have completed and submitted all of our documents needed for our homestudy to be started. We are waiting for the call to schedule our first visit.

The homestudy is three visits; one at home, the others can be at a place that we can agree on or again at home. With our previous adoptions we have met at the agency, a park, and at the library. The documents are the hard part for us. Once the visits start we will finally feel like we are finally on our way to bringing our daughter home.

The nest step will be applying for Min's Visa that will allow us to bring her into the United States. We submit our homestudy and a few more documents to the USCIS. We will then be scheduled for our biometrics appointment. This is basically fingerprinting and a filling our a few more forms so we are in the system for immigration. This will give us the I-797 document needed for our Dossier.

China Adoption Grants

WACAP offers a grant for waiting children that have special needs. We applied for their Promise Grant on July 23, 2014. The Promise Grant is grant is based on our income.

Grants suggested by Family Adoption Consultants:

Giftofadoption.org

Oursbygrace.com

Nafadopt.org

Achildwaits.org

Helpingkidscope.com

Hiskidstoo.org

Cadmanfoundation.org

Grants suggested by WACAP:

ABBA Fund

Christian World Foundation

Gift of adoption

 

 

 

PA Approved!

July 17, 2014 was a good day for us. Our PA was approved and Min is finally off of the Waiting Child list for China. She is moving forward on her journey to coming home.

We are progressing on our needed documents. Some things have changed in the year since our last adoption of Cora. We have 6 months to complete our dossier. For those of you who do not know or remember, this is a list of documents needed to complete the adoption. We refer to this list as our "Treasure Hunt". This has proved in the past to be our biggest trial of patience. You fill out documents, have documents filled out, notarized, apostiled, send them off for Authentication and Verification from the Chinese Embassy in Chicago, wait for them to return so we can send them to WACAP for translation. Hurry and wait, hurry and wait, and wait...

Dossier Documents needed:

*Birth Certificate for each parent certified from the state (done online)

*Marriage Certificate certified from the state (done online)

*Financial Statement: Letter of net worth, liabilities, and assets. Must be notarized.

  Police Clearance Report: appointment for fingerprinting, send to Lansing, wait for letter.

*Letter of Employment: Completed by HR department of employer stating current position, time       employed, salary, and statement of possibility of continuous employment.

  I-797C: This is from USCIC stating that Min's immigration paperwork has been processed and approved.

*Adoption Application Letter is written by us stating that we want to adopt and the type of child we would accept. We will give all rights of a biological child to our adopted child.

Homestudy: As it sounds we pay someone to look at our home, see how we parent, how we were raised, what friends and family have to say about us. This takes 3 visits and has its own documents that need completed. This also takes a large amount of time to complete.

(* documents are completed so as of today we are 5/8 with the easiest documents completed and the time sensitive ones still needed.)

We are still trying to find ways for raising money for Min's adoption. So far the flyers are not giving us the results that we were hoping for. We are very concerned that we will not be able to fund our adoption. Our 10 year old daughter (she was also adopted) wants to make jewelry and sell it. I am hoping to find a way locally that she can do this. She is wanting to help so much. Our youngest daughter has only been home for a little over a year and gave us her piggy bank with her "horsey money" in it so we could bring home her Mei Mei (baby sister) now. It breaks my heart and fills it with joy at the same time for the love my children all have for their sister already.