A Changing Season!

Well, it is June 20 … the first day of Summer and the change to a new "season.  It also marks the day of a change in season of our adoption journey!

Today we received word that our agency has placed our dossier of all our adoption paperwork in the mail to Haiti.  Last week they received back our paper work having been approved by the Haitian consulate here in the US, and now it's on its way to Haiti for legalization and submission into their adoption system.

While we certainly have had a share of hiccups along the way with the process here in the US we also know there is a high likelihood of many more such delays, issues, and setbacks along the way.  These have been good "learning" experiences to help us emotionally handle what this next season of the journey will hold.

Thanks for all your prayers and encouragement along this journey.

It's All French To Me

This week we crossed another big step in the journey.  We got word today that CCAI received back all our dossier documents, completely translated into French!  Now, they can package all those documents up and send the the Haitian Consulate here in the US for our first legalization!  Please celebrate this step with us, and pray that the Consulate would process the legalization of the documents quickly, so that they can then be officially sent to Haiti.

I guess it's time to start working on our HaitianCreole learning.

Mèsi 

(Thank You)

Why We Adopt ?!?

Today, included another quick trip to Helena.  This time to get our USCIS Approval Notice certified by the Secretary of State so that our agency can begin translating our documents next week and get them to the Haitian Consulate soon.

Earlier this week I came across this video posted by one of the adoption organizations I follow on social media! It is so good, that we just have to share it with you all.  The decision to adopt and the reasonings are different for everyone… but the picture of adoption as it correlates to the gospel is always there.  Please take 10 minutes and watch this video.

Approved!

Yes!!! Yesterday we received our approval notice letter from the USCIS! As many of you know we had been praying that we'd receive it by May 1; and the Lord blessed us with an extra week.

Now our agency will work on translating all our documents and then work with the Haitian Consulate here in the US to legalize the papers.  Hopefully all that can be completed in 3-4 weeks and then our dossier will be sent to Haiti for a second legalization by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Haiti.  Please pray this all goes well.

The Presidential elections that had been scheduled for April 24th were once again postponed.  Please continue to pray for the political situation in Haiti and that it does not affect the processing and legalizing of our documents when they arrive in Haiti.

How Time Flies … sort of

Wow, It's been over a month since our last blog post.  Really?!?!?  It's not like there has not been anything to blog about, but man does time sure fly by.  And yet at the same time, just as fast as the past six weeks have seemed to go, it also seems so incredibly slow as far at the amount of movement along our adoption journey.

Here's a quick update since the last post.

Upon receiving our paperwork on March 9 (after it's short little adventure of being lost), the USCIS informed us that they were beginning to "process" our application to adopt.  As part of the process they scheduled an appointment for us to get fingerprinted by the Homeland Security office in Helena.  Task Complete!

We were extremely blessed by some good friends who generously covered the cost for us to stay in a hotel in Helena the night before our 8am appointment, saving us the early morning trip 90 miles down I-15 with potential of a spring storm in the mix; and at the same time blessed by some other friends who took the girls over night and the next day while we got done what was needed to get our fingerprints processed for the USCIS requirements.  To those friends we cannot say THANK YOU enough.

After the excitement of accomplishing this next task on our to-do list, we have now returned to wait mode.  Originally we heard that processing our I-800A form by the USCIS would take 45-60 days.  However recently we have also heard that it is currently taking them closer to 75 days to process applications.  As you know from previous posts we are under a bit of a time crunch as we need everything completed on the US side, translated and in the hands of the adoption authorities in Haiti (IBESR) before any of our documents are 1 year old, which is coming up on August 7.  So, please join us in praying that this approval from the USCIS comes quickly.  Our prayer has been that we would hear back from them by May 1, which would be the 53 day mark.  We'll keep you posted!

Thanks again for your commitment to pray with and for us, and for the great support and encouragement you all have been.