Blessings

I have two really fun blessings that have happened in this past week, and I wanted to share them with you!

Here is my swap box I sent!

First, yesterday I mailed off my first adoption swap box. Now you are probably thinking the same thing I was... what is a "swap box"? Well, I was on pinterest and that is where I first saw it. It took me to this link: http://www.adoptionmamablog.com/what-is-an-adoption-swap-box/  It is an adoptive mama of 2 kids and she has an awesome blog. She had decided to organize an adoption swap box for anyone that is waiting to adopt, or who has adopted. You sign-up, she matches you up with someone (can be anywhere around the US), and emails you their address and some information about them. From there you can email and contact them. So, the past few weeks the lady that I got matched up with and I have been emailing and getting to know each other. Then yesterday we mailed a box full of goodies and encouragement to each other. It's a great way to meet some other people who have/are adopting. It is also going to be fun getting a package in the mail from someone! :) A surprise gift of fun!

You should check out her blog if you want to find out more about it.



Second thing I want to share with you happened on Sunday. Sunday when we got home from church The Man handed me an envelope with our names typed on it. He didn't say a word, he just handed it to me. So I thought: this is either really good or really bad. I opened it and inside was a typed letter from an anonymous person. I want to share the letter with you and PRAY that this person, if they are reading, does not get offended at my openness. The letter said:

Paul and Andrea,
The mother of a good friend of mine passed away from cancer some time ago. From all the wonderful stories my friend has told me about her mom I know that she loved both family and especially children deeply. She would have delighted in knowing that your family is working to support the life of, and bring joy to, a child through adoption. So it is in her honor and through what God has blessed me with that I am able to enclose a donation to help towards reaching your goal of raising money to cover adoption costs.

May God Bless you on your journey,
A Fellow Believer in Christ


I couldn't believe it. The timing could not be more perfect and the encouragement could not have meant more. Thank you to whoever you may be for being the hands of Christ. Thank you for blessing our family with the donation and the encouragement.



Isn't God great?!?!


As we patiently wait for our dossier to get translated please continue to pray that all goes well and smoothly. The quicker things can get processed the sooner we can find out WHO our child is. :)

And.... We're on the Move again!

So to continue the story from this past week... We left off with not getting our documents authenticated because of some minor issues on Tuesday.

Wednesday I went BACK to the office with my friends and tried the process again. We were 100% successful getting them authenticated. BUT it wasn't without some tears and some frustration. There were some other minor things that had to be looked at and worked on before everything was a go. But, an hour later (and a HUGE thanks to my good friend who always knows how to step up and help when things get out of my control) we walked out of the office with the documents authenticated and ready to be sent.

That afternoon The Man sent our dossier in the mail. I hope they are almost at the lifeline offices and will be in our country rep's hands by early next week!


We're so excited!


Next steps:

The dossier will get translated and submitted to the country
We will get matched with an orphanage (where we will eventually get matched with our child)
It will probably take a few months for Haiti to process our dossier and approve us to adopt from their country.


So it is back to the waiting game. BUT, I feel a WHOLE lot better having our part done for now!

A step forward.... and a step back.....

Today was an exciting day! We had 2 tasks set before us as we left the house today:

1.) Get all our notarized documents authenticated so we can send in our dossier and get it sent to Haiti
2.) Get our Immigration fingerprints done


We got.... one of them done.... which isn't a great percentage...

The first stop was to get our dossier documents authenticated. Our dossier is a bunch of documents we had collect including: our bank saying we are in good standing, our employers saying we really work where we say we do, our sheriff saying we are in good standing in the community, letters to the Haitian government... It took awhile to get them all collected and notarized. Today all we had to do was walk in and get a gold stamp on all our documents saying they are legit. It was supposed to be easy, but of course... it was not! We had some things missing on some documents that needed to be there before we can get them authenticated. What was missing was so minor, so tiny, so annoyingly small that I think I about had a 3-year-old fit right there in the office. All it meant was we had to talk to a few people and have them change/add some minor things to our documents before we got them authenticated. It means making the drive there AGAIN... Just for something that I saw as super duper small... and silly.... BUT in the world of international adoptions.. you don't mess up a thing, because one little mistake can get your documents denied... and no one wants that. So,  I held back my frustration and tears and left the building sad. We were supposed to get it all done today, and they weren't going to.... BLAH! As we drove to the next stop  I started running through my head what we needed to do to get that all really done and back to them by tomorrow. So far, it's looking like I'm gonna get to return with everything ready tomorrow! Let's keep our prayers in that direction! :)

The second stop was actually to Legoland! We needed something fun to do with The Bash since he had yet another car trip this summer. We had a great time there building and playing.

The last stop was to get our fingerprints done (again). They were so friendly and helpful there it was actually not a bad trip. So for the 2nd time this process we got fingerprinted! We have accomplished that task! 





I know that 1 day is not going to really make or break this process. I know that this process is a LONG wait... but when things get delayed, even one day, my heart just sinks... Because I know one day can some times mean 4-5 days. I know that 4-5 days can mean months.... and months push us back years... and when you are ready for your child to come home NOW.... it is heartbreaking when even one day goes by.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers and keep thinking about us! We are HOPEFULLY going to have our dossier done and sent to Haiti within the month. I'll keep you posted.

You are all amazing for caring about our process. You are all amazing for praying for us and our child. We feel your love and support daily. Thanks again!

May the Lord bless your days!