The Waters

I've been feeling so excited and filled with joy about our adoption and life in general lately.  It is such a contrast to the way I felt this time last year after my son Jack died.  As I was driving along listening to K-love I noticed how so many songs reference water when talking about God and it got me thinking about the ocean.  I'm a Jersey girl.  That means I spent many summer days "down the shore." 

One of my favorite shore memories is when Dad would take Tara (my sister) and I out deep in the ocean and teach us to body surf.  He would hold us one in each arm and go out far over our heads.  It was terrifying and we would cling to him.  I'll never forget one life changing wave.  I remember feeling the under-toe pull us.  If you've never felt a strong under-toe it feels like the ocean is trying to drag you under the water and pull you out.  The scariest part is that if you can manage to fight it the next wave that hits you is going to be super powerful.  I remember feeling Dad let go and telling us we had to let go of him and not knowing why.  Then the wave hit.  It rolled me over and over and I remember my face hitting the ocean floor and the full force of the wave pushing me down and holding me under.  It was terrifying and then I felt my Dad's hand.  I'm not sure what he said but I imagine he said something like, "You're ok.  I have you now.  You're fine.  Just breathe."  Tara was there too and we were all fine.  (Dad had let go of us so we weren't crushed by both the wave and him)

A year and a half ago that was my life.  I was clinging to my Heavenly Father and trusting Him.  I was eagerly looking forward to adding another child to our home.  Then suddenly it didn't seem He was there anymore.  Jack was sick.  I could feel the under-toe pulling.  And then he died and that wave of sorrow hit me.  I couldn't tell which side was up and I could feel myself being crushed by the weight of my sorrow.  I kicked and screamed and struggled and then I felt His hand pulling me up and heard Him say, "You're ok.  I have you now.  You're fine.  Just breathe."

I know, I started this post talking about joy.  Happily that's not where either story ends.  Going back to the ocean.  You would think that wave would have terrified me and I'd never go out deep again.  However, the opposite is true.  I wasn't afraid anymore.  I didn't need to cling to my Dad because I knew he would pull me up if I went under.  I really got to enjoy the feeling of bobbing in the waves, waiting for that under-toe and then swimming like mad to "catch" a wave and ride it into shore.  I still love to ride waves.

I feel like I'm in the same place with my Heavenly Father and our adoption.  There's a scary part where I know that what I'm floating in is so much bigger than me but I can joyfully bob along knowing that there is a big wave coming and that my Father's hand is right there.   When it comes I hope I can swim like mad and catch that wave but I know if I don't, if it crushes me and flips me over and I can't catch my breathe, my Father's hands will reach out pull me up and tell me, "You're ok.  I have you.  You're fine.  Just breathe."  and then He'll tell me to get back out there and catch the next one!

And the award for DTE 8/6/10 goes to. . .

The DEVOLS!!!!!!!!

That's right folks.  Our paperchase if over and our Dossier (big pack of papers) heads to Ethiopia today.

and now, a speech:

  I'd like to thank all of the people who made this day possible.  First my wonderful husband George.  Never has their been a more organized, trust-worthy man.  Not many husbands take on the role of the paper-work for the Dossier but George did and excelled at it.  Thank you hunny, you're the best!  Next I'd like to thank our family co-ordinator Caitlin.  She has answered all of our many questions and checked each document.  She's been awesome!  A big thanks to our notary Gary who notarized every single paper we had for a very good price;) I have to thank all the friends and family who have written reference letters, prayed, babysat, and held our hands when we couldn't sign our names anymore.  You are all my favorites!

And last and most importantly I'd like to thank God because truly we could not have come one step in this process without Him.  God, you rock!

Dramatic?  Wait til you see the musical number I have planned for when we get a referral!  

Our expected wait time is 4-6 months until we get a referral so sometime between early December and early February! 

Help Us Adopt Without Spending Money!!!!

My friend, Liz, told me about this great fundraiser!  Basically how it works is you search your house and work for old electronics then follow this link to Gazelle.  That will take you to our fund raising page where you can enter in your items.  Gazelle will then send you a postage paid box to pack your items in and send them off.  Once they get the item we get the money!  Simple right?  If that's not simple enough those of you that live near us can drop items off at our house and we'll send them in. 

So start finding those electronics!!!

Big Day!

~George and I got home safely from our missions trip to West Virginia

~Lindsey turned three!

~Christin lost one of her top front teeth (pictures to come:)

~WE GOT OUR I171H!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I made George open it and read it to us and then we all jumped around for a little while hugging and laughing.  It will be headed to our agency first thing Monday morning.

We are so excited:):):)

Soooo Close!!!

We are literally waiting on one more paper!!!!!  Our fingerprints are done!  Now we just wait for our I171H to come in.  Once that happens we get copies of that and one other paper notarized, pause for a big shout out to our notary and friend Gary!  He has notarized soo many papers for us as soon as we needed him.  Thanks Gary!!  We make several copies of everything and send it off to our agency who will check it over once more (our family coordinator Caitlin has already checked every document individual through fax so there shouldn't be any issues) and then it goes to Ethiopia!!!!!  

Then it's four to six months until we get a referral and go on our first trip to meet our son:):):):):):):):):):)

We had a little scare with our certification paperwork.  First we weren't positive NJ would certify our cover sheet.  The cover sheet has changed and some states are now requiring every document to be certified (much more expensive!).  Well they said it was no problem however, George went with our good friend Greg (who is adopting from Russia) and I think the guy that put in the order switched which sheet needed what b/c Greg and Liz's receipt said "Certify" and ours said "Appostille"  We both freaked out.  However, the people at the Secretary of State office know what they are doing and each person did the right thing when they saw the countries.  YAY NJ!

I know this post is really random!  Sorry, just trying to get you caught up on everything going on here!  It seems everything happens in waves! 

So if you're praying. . .please pray that our I171H would come while we are at REACH (missions trip to West Virginia).  That would be pretty quick but so far our experience has been that since the USCIS has become centralized (as of July 1) things have gone more quickly than expected for us.  However, that has not been everyone's experience so we definitely could use the prayers!

Here's a picture of what was the most fun part of our dossier:  The Family Photo Pages.  The girls helped me:)

Biometrics Appointment!

We were hoping to get the letter telling us when our biometric fingerprint appointment would be at the end of this week.  However, since last Monday most government offices were closed I kind of thought we would hear early next week.  God is good though and we got our letters today!  Our appointment is NEXT TUESDAY!!!!!!  (Gigantic thanks going out to my Sunday School class who were praying for this very thing!)  We thought there was no chance our appointment would be before August 1st.  Now we should have that I171 in early August and our Dossier sent soon after:):):):):):)

I know what you are thinking, "Shannon, the smiles tell me this is good but it's like you are speaking in another language, "your using numbers and stuff!"  When are you going to get that kid?"

Ok, try to follow along. . .

Once our Dossier (aka big bundle of notarized paperwork) is sent to Ethiopia we will get put on a wait list and hopefully get a referral (picture of specific child assigned to us) 4-6months after that.  About a month or more after our referral we will travel for a court date, then come home.  If we pass court we will go back to bring him home 1-4 months later.  So basically we will bring him home sometime between January and June, if everything works out:) 

Got it? 

I600A is Sent!

As you know we have been waiting, and waiting for our finalized home study to come in.  In retrospect it only took a month but it felt forever!!!  Well it came last Tuesday at 4:45pm.  We were leaving for the Creation Festival at 6am the next morning so I flew out the door with I600A paperwork in hand.  Turns out the Fed Ex place was open until 7 but I assumed they closed at 5 and didn't want to take any chances.  The nice lady told me that she couldn't see a thing because she'd just had her eyes dialated so she made me read the address to her.  Then she slapped on the label and threw it in the box.  I was so nervous that she put the wrong address that I gave the tracking number to mom and she texted me when it was delivered:)  (Thanks Mommy!)  We should find out when our finger printing appt. is sometime next week.  If our schedule is the same as others that will have us scheduled for while we are on our missions trip to West Virginia:(  We are praying that it's sooner or that they will let us come in early.  We could be a mere 5 weeks from being DTE!!!!  

It's so close my heart is starting to get excited :)