Homestudy

Well, Lori will be at our house Tuesday, January 18th at 11:00 for our first homestudy! We hope to have the other done Friday. I have all the papers ready (except for the ones that had to be mailed) and should be completely done by the time she gets here! This process takes about 2 months (hopefully shorter) to finish. After it's done and we get the ok from the agency about our dossier (think that takes about 2 weeks) we fill out the application to get our fingerprints done. While that process is at work (I think it takes up to 6 weeks) we will be getting all the other paperwork done. I'm not sure how long all this will take, but I'm thinking up to 5-6 months. Then, the dossier is sent to China and then our Zoey is picked for us (unless we have found her before then!) That wait time is totally up to the perfect child being available for us! So..alot left to do, but getting them done as quickly as possible! Just keep praying for the 6 of us here and for Zoey. We don't know if she is/has/will have to undergo surgery for whatever her medical condititon is or where she is living or anything. We just want her to be well and stay well. We just can't wait to see what beautiful little China girl God is going to give to us that we will name Zoey! It's so exciting!!!

Well....first big check down!

Today, we got all the agreements and fee pages signed and notorized and sent our first agency fee to CCAI! This really means we are doing this again. Now we wouldn't get much money back if we turned back, so it's a big deal!!! Next big thing is the homestudy and I hope we get it done sometime in the next week or so!
Zoey, get ready sweetie...we are gonna work as fast as we can to get to you! Stay well and don't get too big!! :) I hope to see you and hold you in our arms for the first time in about a year!!! We love you!!!

We sent in our application in December. This is very nerve racking to me. Even though I know that it will all be okay, it's still a little scary. We receive notice from CCAI that our application arrived on December 6, 2010 and was approved on December 15, 2010. Now our next step is to fill out some papers, get them notorized and mail in our first agency fee. Once we do this, there is NO turning back!!! Not that we want to, but now we are tied in, unless we want to lose some money. SO... until we mail that fee and get confirmation that it's at the agency, then I am done for now.
Anthony got his physical and I will get mine in a little while. Next week we should get a call from Lori, our homestudy lady, to get that started! There is alot of paperwork to do after that, so that's what I will be busy doing! SOOOOOO here we go! Please continue to pray for us and the whole process!!

Here we go again!

Well, after atleast a year of praying about what to do about our family, we have made the decision. We didn't know if God wanted us to stop with the 4 beautiful kids we have, or go and get a baby sister again. We were worried about what people would say, how our kids would feel and of course the money, but God showed us many times in the past year, and especially the last 4 months, that He wants us to go back to China and get our last daughter. We decided that it didn't matter if people thought we were crazy, they already do :) We also asked all 4 kids, especially the teenagers, and told them the pros and cons of going back and the all said they would rather have another little sister. Now if that wouldn't bring tears to your eyes, to hear teenagers say they would rather have another little sister instead of monetary things and things that would be for them, then I don't know what would. My boys are sooo sweet and we love the fact that their heart is open to adoption again. Olivia is so ready for her baby sister. She talks about her all the time. SO, the journey begins. We welcome you to join us one last time on a journey to China to get our beautiful little girl, Zoey! This process is supposed to take 12-18 months, so we should be getting Zoey sometime between next January and summer of 2012. Please join us in prayer mostly, but just to see how things are going. I will update as much as possible and let you know how it's going.
This process is a little different because we are going Special needs this time. We are not sure what her special need will be, but Anthony and I had to fill out a paper that said what we would/wouldn't accept and that she be 3 or younger when we bring her home. Our agency looks at that list and when there is a child with our specifications on it, they will send us a picture with all her current medical info and pictures. We then have 48 hours to take the info to our Dr. to see what she says about the child and if she sees any potential future major problems. If all looks good, and the special need is what we stated we were willing to take and no other problems present themselves, then we send back the acceptance letter. We aren't sure how long all that can take, but we are told it could be fast, or slower...but all of it shouldn't take more than 18 months. Like I said, it's different than the last time, so bear with us...it's new to us too!
Again, I hope you follow us and enjoy our blog. We know that with God being the center of this process, all will go according to HIS plan and HIS timing....and as I know from last time, it might not be as fast as we would like it to be, but it will be perfect according to HIS plan!
Thank you God for this opportunity! It's in YOUR hands now! Protect our Zoey even now because we know she's already born. Get her heart ready for us and ours for her! Help the process to go smoothly with no hitches! You know best, and we commit this process, our family and Zoey to You! AMEN!!!