Wisconsin Politics and Adoptions

The last couple of week’s Wisconsin politics have been front and foremost on many people’s minds. It is on my mind too, but for a different reason. Our Governor, Scott Walker, has set out to get a balanced budget, and in doing so, has offended many a Wisconsinite, including those that work in Madison. You may ask, what does this have to do with our adoption? As I found out, it has plenty to do with our adoption. Paperwork for our adoptions was sent to Madison, WI for verification (background checks, employment history, birth certificates, and marriage certificate).  This paperwork ended up getting caught in the hot political climate and has come up missing.  Our social worker called the Secretary of State on February 24, 2011 and they said that they haven’t received the paperwork that was mailed on February 15, 2011. They mentioned that it’s been pretty crazy there and they were closed for a little over two days. “A little crazy” may be a tad bit understated! We will need to gather the documents once again and send them on the Madison, WI.  

Please pray that we gather the documents quickly! Also, pray for our sons’ in China who are waiting to come to America. Pray that they have safety, good health, and that this process moves quickly.

Paperwork

The China adoption paperwork is always changing. Yesterday, our adoption agency social worker contacted me to let me know we had a “hiccup” in our dossier paperwork.  The secretary of state in Wisconsin said that she couldn’t verify the notary because the notary used improper language to notarize Terry's employment form.  The words were all there. They were not in the order the Wisconsin secretary of state wanted! The other thing is that the Consulate has started requiring a signed G1 form for each document that is authenticated. This was another form that I needed to complete and sign. But, the one thing we could control, we failed. Terry forgot to sign his passport. Terry signed his passport; a photocopy was made, and a copy was placed in the mail to our adoption agency today. After a quick scramble to get more paperwork together, I pray that we encounter no more errors or that China does not add any additional documents.

Please keep praying for our sons’ in China. We are praying for their health, their nutrition, their care-takers, and for God's protection to shelter them.

I-800A Approval

WE HAVE I-800A APPROVAL !!

Ok, so things are moving along, a little more slowly than we had hoped.This whole journey is long and slow, but will be soooo worth it!

We have had our home study complete and one final paper to go in the mail today for our dossier. We had our fingerprints done on January 10th and from there have been waiting for this approval. Now that we have it, we need to authenticate it, and then our dossier will be off to China.

Chinese New Year begins February 2^nd, so that will slow things down for a few weeks. I imagine we will have "Log In" about 2 weeks after dossier arrives in China and then we begin our wait for LOA (Letter Of Approval) which takes up to 60 days. Then following will be a couple other important immigration docs....

Please continue to pray for us and this journey. Pray for our sons, who are not here, yet. They are in China and we are here.  

God keep our sons' in your arms.  Keep them from harm. Keep them healthy and attend to their needs. God prepare them to meet and accept us and prepare their hearts in a way only you can for us.  Amen.

A Piece of Mail

Yesterday, I posted about “Why” we are adopting.  I felt compelled to do so because of all the questions, but what I failed to share with you was the precious piece of mail delivered to our home yesterday.  In the mail was a disk mailer and enclosed in the disk mailer were two DVDs.  One was labeled Zou Ya Hui and the other Yun Lin Guo. Terry and I sat down and watched those priceless DVDs of our future sons.  If the DVDs show our sons’ true personalities, Zou Ya Hui appears serious and Yun Lin Guo appears quite happy.  Yun Lin Guo sung and has a very sweet voice.   It was enjoyable to see another glimpse of our future sons' and to see them interact with the interpreters and to hear them respond to questions. Watching the DVDs once was not enough for me, and I’ve had to view them several more times.

We know that these DVDs only show us a small part of our future sons’ thinking.  What it doesn’t show us is the effects that being in an orphanage may have had on them.  As with anything in life, there are uncertainties and we willing accept those uncertainties to raise these two boys. We selected these two boys with the information presented to us and trust that they are the right ones for us.

Why?

Many people have been asking, “Why are we adopting?”  Others ask, “Why are you doing this at your age?” One thing that set this process in motion for us to adopt was a book sent by our son, Troy, to his Dad.  The book, Adopted for Life: The Priority of Adoption for Christian Families and Churches, by Russell Moore.  This book stresses as Christians we should reach out beyond our biological children.  We need to remember to reach out to orphans and widows (James 1:27). Terry and I are embracing this challenge, at our age, and are reaching out to show love through physical and emotional support for orphans as encouraged by the Bible. Without families willing to take care of orphans or take them in, these children might die, or grow up with no one to love them.

According to study competed by UNICEF in 2008, and other humanitarian organizations, around the world there are as many as 132 million orphaned children (meaning that a child has one parent who has died) and at least 16.2 million of those are “double-orphaned,” meaning that both parents have died. 95% of all orphans are over the age of 5. We know that adoption is not for everyone, but opportunities abound as to where you can help orphans.  Consider sponsoring a child through World Vision, Companion, Save the Children, Feed the Children, and numerous other organizations.  Sponsoring a child can change your life and the life of the child you sponsor.

The adoption process has been a long and difficult one for us, but we are looking forward to the day when we can bring our sons’ home. We continue to ask for your continued support in the adoption process, and that you will pray for Terry and I, our sons, and our future sons.

Paperwork and Diversity

Yesterday and early this morning, I took time to compile and complete what I pray is the last of the paperwork for adopting our two sons’ from China.  But if I've missed anything, our social worker will follow up with an email on additional items needed to complete our dossier.

As I was getting ready for church today, I was pleased that I will not be going to work tomorrow.  For many of us, we are afforded the luxury of having the day off because it is Martin Luther King Day.  I was an unborn baby, when Martin Luther King, on August 28, 1963 delivered his beautiful dream. "I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave-owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. . . . I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." Martin Luther King’s dream is yet to be realized. And I’m well aware that his dream is not realized as Terry and I are adopting two boys from China. As I’m concerned about this matter, a pastor today helped me put Martin Luther King’s dream into a Biblical vision of God’s purpose for the world. The Biblical vision is bigger than how blacks and whites relate. It's about people from every race and every language and every tribe uniting with God. And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation (Revelation 5:9). So as I consider Martin Luther King and his beautiful dream, I’m mindful that God has the ultimate dream.  God does not just want blacks and whites. God wants black and white and brown and red and yellow and every shade in between. As Christians, may we accept a diversity of people.

One More Milestone

Yeah, one more milestone completed. Today started out very busy.  My phone at work was ringing off the hook with unhappy school districts and those that weren’t calling me, were flooding my in-box with emails.  I knew that I only had to make it until 2 PM at work today and then I could leave for my fingerprinting appointment at the USCIS office.  Terry’s appointment was earlier in the day. My fingerprinting at the office took about 20 minutes.  It probably would have taken less time, had not Officer L. Weber ask me so many questions about adoption and why we were adopting. My fingerprinting experience was easy and painless. After the fingerprinting, L. Weber took a photo of me. That was it! 

I had wanted to post earlier, but I had a hard time.  We would have loved to have had the boys’ home for Christmas, but we are still going through the process.  One of our sons celebrated a birthday on December 27^th.  He is now 13 years old. We are still unable to communicate with the boys or send them a gift.  We look forward to the day when the CCAA gives us permission to communicate with both our boys in China that need us!

As we wait, we are reminded that God has a divide plan and that he guides every step. We know the waiting can be hard, but this is how God develops the fruit of patience and faith. There is a saying that many have heard – “God is never late, but He is never early.” This means that God will come in with the breakthrough on His time schedule – not ours!

We ask that you walk with us through this time of waiting and to pray for our sons’.