Guess what was waiting for me after work on Monday??? If you guessed a notarized copy...ahem, four copies of our home study, you are CORRECT!! I would've jumped up and down and yelled, but even in my exhausted and worn out state, I knew that that would've potentially woken sleeping children, and we all know what happens when that happens! So I did a silent squeal and a mini celebration dance instead :) Unfortunately as it relates to getting the home study in a Fed Ex envelope and out the door with our I 800 A application, the kiddos and I were leaving on a Spring Break 2014 road trip to Indiana Tuesday morning. Naturally, the local Fed Ex store opens after the Mister leaves for work and closes before the Mister gets home from work, so he wouldn't be able to take it while we were away. The only thing that kept me from delaying our trip is that we were actually missing a few items that needed to be attached to the home study that were sent to our agency instead. So...off we went to Indiana to have fun with a few of my favs and their cute little kiddos....
Thursday, we got in the car to head home earlier than originally planned just to make it to the Fed Ex location before they closed....and then it hit me. I NEVER HAD THE MISTER SIGN THE ACTUAL I 800 A APPLICATION! That is what you call an adoption foul, folks! So, that is why the littles and I just got that nice little packet in the mail today.
Ok, so this definitely wasn't the picture that I had envisioned posting to the blog to capture our moment of sending off the I 800 A, but you take what you can get around here! Maybe we will have better luck with our sending off the dossier picture?? Here's hoping at least!
So now we wait, and hopefully that wait remains around the 40ish days or so that it is running now! With the home study arriving, we are now at the point where we can start applying for grants. I thought that this was going to be much easier than the paperwork we have completed so far, but let me tell you, they want to know more about our financials than I know ;)
This is getting to be a really long post, so if you are still with me, I wanted to share how I was able to see a video in which I think our little man is in! At first I was thinking that I was just hoping it would be him and so I was thinking it was him, but after watching it about a half a million times, I'm over 95% confident that it is him! Such a wonderful blessing! The only other video we have of him, he is crying for the majority of the time, so this is a welcomed surprise!
Finally, we still have two, yes just TWO necklaces available in our second round of our Compelled Designs fundraiser! It doesn't look like we will order any additional pieces, so this is a last chance, first come, first served opportunity! Numbers 4 & 5 are the ones up for grabs. Let me know if you would like one!
Please continue to pray for our little man, and for a quick turnaround with our I 800 A to be processed. We are still hoping that we are on target to send our dossier to China by the first week or so of June!
I am so excited about what came to see me in the mail today! I truly wish I could answer with our finalized copy of our home study, but the answer today is the additional pieces for our fundraiser from Compelled Designs! I was seriously like a kid in a candy shop opening them! All of these beauties are posted below, and are $25 each, which includes $1 for shipping. If you are local, they are $24. They would make wonderful Mother's Day gifts, or birthday presents, or just because gifts...ok, you get the point! There are only 7 that I'm posting, because I have had 3 of the 10 pieces sell before they even arrived in my hot little hands! Yippee! These were all of my China specific pieces, but the good news is, I still do have two pieces specific to Africa, so if you are an adoptive mama of a little from Africa, or know of someone who is, these are perfect for them! As with the last ones, the verse references that are listed on the back side of the pieces are below the item number. Let me know if you have any questions!
In adoption news...well...we wait. I am told that our home study is currently in the process of approval from our agency, and that we should be hearing news within the next few days, but I am growing very, very impatient. Our home study has been completed now for nearly a month and a half, and it is literally beginning to drive me insane. Every day that goes by that we don't receive that copy of our home study is one more day that our sweet little man has to live in an orphanage without us, and one more day that we have to endure without him.
**I'm interrupting this post to let everyone know that as I was typing the above words, I received an email from my agency, saying that our final home study has been approved, and was instructing our social worker to send the final copy to us ASAP!!!*** Whooo hooo!!! Praise the Lord!**
I guess with the above being said, now we will wait for our sweet little mailman to bring us our home study, and then promptly grab kindly take that hot little envelope from his hands and run to Fed Ex as quickly as possible to send out the I 800 A! Everything for our I 800 A is ready to go, so literally all we have to do is add the home study to that envelope and send it out!
Please be praying first and foremost for our little man, for his safety and protection, and also for our home study to arrive as quickly as possible, and for the I 800 A processing to go quickly and smoothly. The clock is ticking!!!!
Now without further adieu, the Compelled Design pieces!!!
.JPG)
