Celebrate the Waiting

Hi all!
Since our last post, we have been practicing the fine art of waiting with purpose. You know where you do stuff to make the waiting seem worthwhile. Like getting a great bed for a kiddo who you've never seen or building the world's greatest picture book library for kiddos who may or may not love the same kinds of books you do.

Today, though, we get to celebrate! We just received notice that our I-600 thingy-thing was accepted so we now have a very plain piece of paper that says that we are approved for visas to bring home up to two kiddos. We couldn't be more excited! (Well, we could - like when we our actual referral or when we get to bring home our kiddos. But, for now....) And what other way would paperchasing-parents-to-be celebrate except by going to see our notary? Yes, we have our own personal notaries - that's right, not one, but two. One that travels and one that makes us go to his office. At the end of this process, I think we will have made a thousand new friends. The best part of getting to visit our notary today is that I think we might be officially done with paperchasing! Later this week we'll send everything off to AWAA, wait for their official review of our documents, wait for them to do their stuff, and then get put on an officail list of waiters.

Thank you all for continuing to check on us and our process. And thank you for the support and love that you continue to show as you shop through our Amazon link. We can't wait to bring our kiddos home and let them meet the wonderful community that has supported them for so long.

Love,
Jimmy and Celeste

Biometrics

We just received notification that we have our biometrics appointment next Friday. The timing is perfect since that's the last day of work for this school year and we can scoot out early! This is part of the requirements for the adoption visa. So, I guess that means our paperwork is being processed and we should be ready to submit our dossier soon.

Happy almost-summer vacation!
Jimmy and Celeste

Visa Application Submitted

We may be the slowest people on the planet when it comes to getting all of our paperwork completed and submitted. Needless to say, we finally were able to send our I600A application to USCIS. We're expecting a 10-12 week wait before we get approval for our visa. At that point, we should be ready to send off our dossier to Ethiopia!  Most people get a super-cute picture of themselves with the Fed Ex person  when they submit this application, but we're just not that cool. Instead, we've got a picture of ourselves at Kinko's. You can sort of see our Fed Ex person behind us. Does that count? If successful parenting is contingent on taking the right pictures, we are so in trouble!

Finalized Home Study

On Friday, we FINALLY received our for real final home study! There were more bumps in the road than we expected with getting all of that paperwork wrapped up. Anyone starting the paperchase should be warned that this can be a full-time endeavor.

Anyway, we are now ready to submit the paperwork to US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) requesting an advanced approval to adopt and bring home our kiddo or kiddos, as the case may be :) After submitting this, we'll wait approximatley another 10-14 weeks, before being able to send off our dossier to Ethiopia. At that point, we will officially be on our agency's waiting list and be eligible to accept a referral!

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

A Night of Hope

We couldn't feel more thankful! We are surrounded by such a loving and generous community. I lost count of how many families came out to support us and Vineyard Glendora - not to mention the countless people who e-mailed us with support even though you couldn't make it. We are definitely humbled and blessed!

For those of you who couldn't make it or who just want a little more information, below is a list of links from A Night of Hope that may be helpful:

Vineyard Church of Glendora: Learn more about the community of faith who is doing so much to support adoptive families and help ensure that all kiddos are connected with loving forever families. You can learn more about VCG or click on the Online Giving link to give to the Vineyard Adoption Assistance Fund.

Project Hopeful: A non-profit organization committed to educating, encouraging, and enabling families adopting children with HIV/AIDS.

The Boulton Family Blog: Bart and Lyndsay have definitely been instrumental in helping us learn more about the international adoption process and how to best move forward in our own journey.

American World Adoption Agency: This is the agency that we have chosen to work with for our adoption. There are loads of great agencies out there, but we knew many others who had used AWAA and are incredibly impressed with their reputation and the support that they give to their adoptive families.

Other links that may be of interst to you:

AHOPE: A non-profit organization that operates a school and orphanage and countless other programs to support orphans and other children in Ethiopia who are HIV+.

There Is No Me Without You: One of the first books that I read about the orphan crisis in Ethiopia. Melissa Faye Greene also has a blog and other informative books about international adoption.

Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services: While it's true that we are proud supporters of international adoption, we desperately want to support local adoption services. Find out more about domestic adoption in Los Angeles County here; if you aren't in Los Angeles, just contact your local Department of Children and Family Services to find out about pursuing domestic adoption.

Again, thanks to everyone who came out to support us and Vineyard's Adoption Assistance Fund. For anyone still wanting to order a t-shirt, you can just click on the PayPal Donate button or email me at cferg7@gmail.com to order your shirt today. .

Much love,
Jimmy & Celeste