Yesterday, Jeremiah and I went to our scheduled fingerprinting appointment in Indy. We left our house at 5:00a.m. and got to the USCIS office by 8:15a.m. Indy time (7:15a.m our time). We went into the office and checked in at 8:20a.m. and by 8:30a.m. we were in the fingerprinting office. I was a little nervous (me nervous..no way-ha!:)) because the lady in front of us was told, "Your fingerprints aren't showing up. You'll get another letter in a few weeks and you'll have to come back for another appointment." Luckily our fingerprints were fine and we were out by 9:00a.m.
We are so thankful for Jackie and Canaan because they spent the night at our house on Thursday night so they could watch Olivia for us yesterday. Olivia had a blast with them and I think they enjoyed being with her too.:) We are lucky to have so many friends who love our daughter like their own.
Our agency said it will take at least 45 days for the results from the appointment, but other people say it'll take about 2 weeks. We can't wait to get our I-171h in the mail. Once we get this in the mail we can send our dossier to Ethiopia!
On a side note, Olivia is just thrilled about "our baby boy." She talks about him often and says, "I going to hug and kiss our baby boy. I share toys with him." We went with my mom and Kacy to the Peoria Zoo a few weeks ago. While we were there we went to the African exhibit. Kacy said, "Your baby brother is in Africa right now." Olivia responded, "No Kacy, my baby brother is in Ethiopia." We explained that Ethiopia is in Africa. Now Olivia says, "Our baby boy is in Ethiopia, Africa." It's quite precious. When we were driving the other day Olivia said to me, "Mommy and Daddy stay here...no go to Ethiopia." She loves little babies and often asks, "Where my baby brother go?" I hope that this process continues to go quickly so that we have a picture of her baby brother soon.
Please keep praying for us. We really appreciate the encouragement, prayers, and financial support!!
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Paperwork, paperwork, and more paperwork!
This morning Jeremiah and I spent a little over two hours filling out paperwork for our dossier. We were able to complete all of the documents (we had already completed numerous documents before this morning) and then took them to get notarized at the bank. This is a huge weight lifted off of our shoulders. We are going to send all of these documents to our case worker this week. She will review our documents and let us know if we need to make changes. There are 20+ documents that we have filled out for the dossier. Each document has strict guidelines and our dossier will be sent back if we don't follow these rules.
The reason why we were so excited about getting our fingerprinting appointment yesterday was because this appointment is the last big step before we send our dossier to Ethiopia. Once we receive our results, we can finish up our dossier paperwork. One of us will take the final two dossier documents to Springfield to get them notarized. After that, we will send our dossier to Ethiopia.
We want to make sure that everything is done before we get our results back so that we can send our dossier over as soon as possible.
The reason why we were so excited about getting our fingerprinting appointment yesterday was because this appointment is the last big step before we send our dossier to Ethiopia. Once we receive our results, we can finish up our dossier paperwork. One of us will take the final two dossier documents to Springfield to get them notarized. After that, we will send our dossier to Ethiopia.
We want to make sure that everything is done before we get our results back so that we can send our dossier over as soon as possible.
Friday, August 12, 2011
A letter from Homeland Security...
Jeremiah, Olivia, and I have been in Washington for the past few days. He has been at a conference and I have enjoyed spending time with my family. Both of my sisters were home and it was nice just hanging out with the my family. We came home tonight to find a letter from Homeland Security. It was our USCIS fingerprinting date!!! I really wanted to go before school started, but it just didn't work out that way. We will be going in about a week to the USCIS in Indy. Again, this is just another step closer to bringing home our little guy. We are thrilled that our date came this soon! Praise God!:)
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Be Still My Soul
Hey everyone,
This is Jeremiah, Kortny's husband. Nice to meet you. This is the first time I've created an entry on this blog. Kortny has done a terrific job of keeping all of you updated on what's been going on with our adoption. I've decided to write my first entry while 30,000 feet in the air on my way to the Echo Conference in Dallas.
I'm pumped about this adoption, and what God has in store for our family. At the same time, I'm a typical guy in that right now when we're in the midst of paper work, financial support raising, act… those are the things I'm mainly focused on. As you can imagine they're not the most fun things to do, but we also knew what we were getting into when we signed up for this.
When we first decided that this is what God called us to do, I wasn't really all that worried about how it would all come together. I felt that if God is calling us to do something, that he'll provided all the emotional, mental, and financial support we'd need. I know that's all true, but in the past few days I've began to doubt some of it. Seeing our savings account dwindle and waiting for this form to get approved and that form to come in the mail, it's created a considerable amount of worry in me. This morning, I woke up at 3:30 to catch an early flight out of O'Hare, and I drank a full cup of coffee. Both of these things can make my stomach a little more sick than normal, but I was also extra worried about adoption "things" more than normal. Before my plane left the ground, I sent a quick text to a friend asking for prayers that God may calm my fears and that I'd again trust Him in this process.
Once we got in the air and the pilot approved usage of electronic devices (I waited to use it because I work for a church and try to be a good person, okay?). So with a sick stomach and more worried than I've been in years, I fired up the laptop to work on my annual staff self-evaluation (I'll post that when I'm done. No I won't.). I then opened up iTunes and picked Page CXVI to listen to. I played the first song that showed up, and here are are the lyrics I heard…
Be still my soul, the Lord is on your side
Bear patiently the Cross of grateful pain
Lean to your God to order and provide
In every change, He will remain
It's pretty amazing when God directly speaks and comforts you while 10,000 ft in the air through a song written 200 years ago
3 minutes later, I had to go through the awkward moment of having grown man tears in my eyes while telling the flight attendant I'll take sprite and pretzels.
This is Jeremiah, Kortny's husband. Nice to meet you. This is the first time I've created an entry on this blog. Kortny has done a terrific job of keeping all of you updated on what's been going on with our adoption. I've decided to write my first entry while 30,000 feet in the air on my way to the Echo Conference in Dallas.
I'm pumped about this adoption, and what God has in store for our family. At the same time, I'm a typical guy in that right now when we're in the midst of paper work, financial support raising, act… those are the things I'm mainly focused on. As you can imagine they're not the most fun things to do, but we also knew what we were getting into when we signed up for this.
When we first decided that this is what God called us to do, I wasn't really all that worried about how it would all come together. I felt that if God is calling us to do something, that he'll provided all the emotional, mental, and financial support we'd need. I know that's all true, but in the past few days I've began to doubt some of it. Seeing our savings account dwindle and waiting for this form to get approved and that form to come in the mail, it's created a considerable amount of worry in me. This morning, I woke up at 3:30 to catch an early flight out of O'Hare, and I drank a full cup of coffee. Both of these things can make my stomach a little more sick than normal, but I was also extra worried about adoption "things" more than normal. Before my plane left the ground, I sent a quick text to a friend asking for prayers that God may calm my fears and that I'd again trust Him in this process.
Once we got in the air and the pilot approved usage of electronic devices (I waited to use it because I work for a church and try to be a good person, okay?). So with a sick stomach and more worried than I've been in years, I fired up the laptop to work on my annual staff self-evaluation (I'll post that when I'm done. No I won't.). I then opened up iTunes and picked Page CXVI to listen to. I played the first song that showed up, and here are are the lyrics I heard…
Be still my soul, the Lord is on your side
Bear patiently the Cross of grateful pain
Lean to your God to order and provide
In every change, He will remain
It's pretty amazing when God directly speaks and comforts you while 10,000 ft in the air through a song written 200 years ago
3 minutes later, I had to go through the awkward moment of having grown man tears in my eyes while telling the flight attendant I'll take sprite and pretzels.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Big news!
Last week I posted about being stressed out about a few different things with our adoption. One of the things was the approval of our home study by a lady who works for the Illinois government. If you remember, our case worker said it usually takes 4-6 weeks for this approval. So, I'm sure you can imagine how excited we were to find out yesterday that she already approved our home study! It was approved and back to our case worker in less than 10 days! We sent off our I-600 with our home study this morning to the USCIS. We should get our fingerprinting appointment date in a few weeks.
As some of you know, we sent out fundraising letters last week. We actually had to send out two different groups of them because we ran out of paper. The last bunch was sent out last week. We want to say thank you to the handful of people who have sent us financial support over the last few weeks. It means so much to us that you support us on this journey and that you are excited to help bring our baby boy home.
Since our letter asked for financial support, we thought it would be good to keep people updated on the financial side of the adoption. Jeremiah and I have already spent quite a bit of our savings on our adoption thus far. Today we sent out a check for $900 and next week we need to send out a check for $3,000 to CHI and another check for $2,000 to the Babyfold. In addition, when we get our referral (which we hope is in about 3 months but it could be longer) we will owe another $7,000. We know that God will provide, but it's just a little daunting to look at all of these upcoming costs.
God is totally in control of our adoption and it becomes more evident every day. We can't control this process, so I'm thankful that we know our God is in control!:)
As some of you know, we sent out fundraising letters last week. We actually had to send out two different groups of them because we ran out of paper. The last bunch was sent out last week. We want to say thank you to the handful of people who have sent us financial support over the last few weeks. It means so much to us that you support us on this journey and that you are excited to help bring our baby boy home.
Since our letter asked for financial support, we thought it would be good to keep people updated on the financial side of the adoption. Jeremiah and I have already spent quite a bit of our savings on our adoption thus far. Today we sent out a check for $900 and next week we need to send out a check for $3,000 to CHI and another check for $2,000 to the Babyfold. In addition, when we get our referral (which we hope is in about 3 months but it could be longer) we will owe another $7,000. We know that God will provide, but it's just a little daunting to look at all of these upcoming costs.
God is totally in control of our adoption and it becomes more evident every day. We can't control this process, so I'm thankful that we know our God is in control!:)
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Passports
Every time Olivia takes a nap, I work on adoption paperwork. I think I've kind of been a spaz because I just want to get all of the documents completed and sent to our case worker before August (I'm sure Jeremiah would agree..but I'm almost positive he wouldn't just say "kind of a spaz." Haha). Our CHI case worker will review it and tell us what changes need to be made. There are multiple documents that are finished, but we are still working on paperwork. I think the hardest part is waiting on other people. We could finish our part of the dossier pretty quicklly, but it'll be weeks (maybe months) before we will send off our dossier. Right now we are waiting and praying that the lady approves our home study quickly so we can send it off to the USCIS. Our caseworker said this could take weeks. Then we'll get the appointment for our fingerprinting. After that, we'll just wait for our results and then we can finally put all of our dossier documents together. Jeremiah and I just applied for our passports before we left for vacation. This is one of the documents we need for our dossier. So, of course I've been a little nervous about the passports hindering our ability to send off our dossier in a timely manner.
Today I sat down for my quiet time. I was praying about our adoption and that God would give me patience throughout this process. I was telling God that I knew He was in control and that the paperwork would get done. When I finished praying, I had a sense of peace. I know that God is in control. I know that right now God is preparing the perfect child for us. So no matter how long it takes us to complete our dossier, God is going to match us with the child he wants to become part of our family.
The second I finished praying (no joke), I saw the mail truck come to our house. I went out to check our mailbox and found our passports! It's kind of silly, I know..but I had tears in my eyes. It was just like God was telling me, "See...you need to trust me. There's no need to worry because I'm in control."
Today I sat down for my quiet time. I was praying about our adoption and that God would give me patience throughout this process. I was telling God that I knew He was in control and that the paperwork would get done. When I finished praying, I had a sense of peace. I know that God is in control. I know that right now God is preparing the perfect child for us. So no matter how long it takes us to complete our dossier, God is going to match us with the child he wants to become part of our family.
The second I finished praying (no joke), I saw the mail truck come to our house. I went out to check our mailbox and found our passports! It's kind of silly, I know..but I had tears in my eyes. It was just like God was telling me, "See...you need to trust me. There's no need to worry because I'm in control."
Monday, July 11, 2011
One step closer...
Our case worker came today for our final visit! Did you hear me?!?! It was the final visit for our home study. Our part of the home study has been done for a few weeks, but our case worker needed to finish some of the paperwork for our license with us. Our background checks came back quickly (Praise God!) and we finished all the paperwork today. Our case worker will send our home study to get approved (or denied) by the lady in charge of adoptions. She said this process could take between 4-6 weeks. After she approves (hopefully) our adoption, we will send the home study to the USCIS with our I-600. Then the USCIS will assign us a day to get fingerprinted. In the meantime, we will finish the rest of our dossier paperwork and send out fundraising letters. I really can't say enough wonderful things about our case worker. She is amazing!:) We won't see her again until September when she comes for a visit. Jeremiah, Olivia, and I are one step closer to our baby. Please pray that the lady approves our home study quickly and we get a fingerprinting date soon. I would like to get this done before school starts (but I have no control over it).
On a different note, I read the Ordinary Hero blog frequently and today I was moved to tears by this post. Throughout the past many months it has been hard for Jeremiah and me to put into words how we are feeling about adoption. I've often said to people things like, "I just don't understand why I was born here and other people were born in Africa. Why do I get to live a comfortable life when other people are suffering?" You can go to the Ordinary Hero blog to read this entire post (written by the daughter of the woman who started this foundation), but I am just posting a tiny part of it. It sums up how Jeremiah and I feel about adoption and why we are adopting from Ethiopia.
"This isn’t fair. I don’t know this mother’s life, but because of the family these kids were born into, they have to sacrifice EVERY SINGLE day they are alive to begging for money, and if they don’t, they STARVE. Because of the family I was born into, I have everything I could ever need, and then some. I can go about our day without worrying once whether or not I will eat, but end up thinking things like “Do I want Mexican or pizza for lunch?” “Do I want to wear my new shirt or my favorite shirt?” Things that do not matter on the other side of the world. Things that do not relate to life or death. So why am I the “lucky one”? How did I end up in the comfortable van and not with my brothers begging for a few coins? It allowed me to realize that God has given me everything I need, so that I could be able to provide for people like this family, and everyone else I come across stuck in poverty. I can’t spend thousands of dollars traveling or tons of months in Africa, but I CAN glorify God when I do get the opportunity, I CAN support these causes from home, and I CAN find ways to reach out to the poor of my own community. If everyone in the world had exactly what they wanted, and all of our needs were provided for, we would rely on ourselves, not on God. Through the works of Christ, we are proving our faith in Him, and obeying his Word in the process. If we turn from the poor and ignore the fact that millions are suffering around the world, we are in the end turning away from God, and ignoring the command that comes from Jesus’ own mouth in the Bible."
(http://ordinaryheroblog.blogspot.com)
On a different note, I read the Ordinary Hero blog frequently and today I was moved to tears by this post. Throughout the past many months it has been hard for Jeremiah and me to put into words how we are feeling about adoption. I've often said to people things like, "I just don't understand why I was born here and other people were born in Africa. Why do I get to live a comfortable life when other people are suffering?" You can go to the Ordinary Hero blog to read this entire post (written by the daughter of the woman who started this foundation), but I am just posting a tiny part of it. It sums up how Jeremiah and I feel about adoption and why we are adopting from Ethiopia.
"This isn’t fair. I don’t know this mother’s life, but because of the family these kids were born into, they have to sacrifice EVERY SINGLE day they are alive to begging for money, and if they don’t, they STARVE. Because of the family I was born into, I have everything I could ever need, and then some. I can go about our day without worrying once whether or not I will eat, but end up thinking things like “Do I want Mexican or pizza for lunch?” “Do I want to wear my new shirt or my favorite shirt?” Things that do not matter on the other side of the world. Things that do not relate to life or death. So why am I the “lucky one”? How did I end up in the comfortable van and not with my brothers begging for a few coins? It allowed me to realize that God has given me everything I need, so that I could be able to provide for people like this family, and everyone else I come across stuck in poverty. I can’t spend thousands of dollars traveling or tons of months in Africa, but I CAN glorify God when I do get the opportunity, I CAN support these causes from home, and I CAN find ways to reach out to the poor of my own community. If everyone in the world had exactly what they wanted, and all of our needs were provided for, we would rely on ourselves, not on God. Through the works of Christ, we are proving our faith in Him, and obeying his Word in the process. If we turn from the poor and ignore the fact that millions are suffering around the world, we are in the end turning away from God, and ignoring the command that comes from Jesus’ own mouth in the Bible."
(http://ordinaryheroblog.blogspot.com)
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