Sunday, June 29, 2008

Our exchange student

This is our exchange student Mer, from Thailand. We hosted her for the 2007-2008 school year. She was a junior at Bellefontaine High School. She recently returned home (just to go right back into school again...their summer break is in Feb, March, April) and we really do miss her. She was so much fun to have around and we learned alot about having a teenage daughter! She adapted well to our culture and her English improved while she was here. All of this has been part of our journey to our daughter. One of the reasons we decided to host was to pass some of the time waiting for Kara. And time did pass very quickly! There were alot of firsts for Mer. Her first snowfall, her first time carrying wood (she was a big help!), tubing down Mad River Mountain, her first Prom...so many memories! We have been so blessed with having her as part of our family and we will cherish those memories always. Thanks Mer!

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Just a little education

I wasn't sure if everyone was actually familiar with the the world of international adoption but I thought that maybe I should do a little educating! The first big decision to adopt internationally is which country. We chose China because the program is stable and we also have a little cousin who is Chinese. The next step was to choose an adoption agency. There are ALOT of great agencies out there but we chose FTIA based on a referral from a family that had adopted 2 girls from China and had used FTIA both times. FTIA stands for Families Thru International Adoption and they are based out of Evansville, IN. Our application was approved July 2006 and the paperchase began. The paperchase consists of compiling documents (i.e. birth certificates, marriage license, health exams, financial statement, employment letters, criminal history checks), applying to immigration a petition to adopt and having a homesudy done. This took us approximately 4 months to complete and in December 2006, all the paperwork was sent to our agency to review. This paperwork became our completed "dossier". It was sent to China by our agency and became officially "Logged into China" on December 31st, 2006-this is what is know as our LID date. Then next process is for the dossier to be sent to the review room. We recently (about 1-2 months ago) learned that our month is out of review! Yea! In the review room, they may question your paperwork, so to be out of review is a good thing! We passed, no questions asked! The next step will be the matching room, where someone compares our paperwork to that of a little orphan in China and decides we match. This brings us to our last leg of the journey. Once we are matched with a baby, the referral is sent to us. (I dream about this day all the time! The day that we will get to see our little girl!) Then a whirlwind of activity will start, getting our visas, getting travel approval and making travel arrangements....with the help of our agency of course! Our stay in China will be approximately 2 weeks, and we will return home with a daughter! What a journey it will be. Please just keep us in your prayers, for patience and acceptance of this journey God has given us. We are certain the end result will DEFINITELY be worth the wait.

Friday, June 27, 2008

New to this!

This is my first time "blogging" (is that a word?). We are standing in line, waiting to adopt our first child from China. It all started in the summer of 2006....we contacted an adoption agency and jumped on the boat! Our paperwork was finished in December of 2006 and was sent to China. The first big wait! What would our LID be? I prayed that we would get logged in before the end of the year and God is GOOD! He answered my prayers and our official LID became December 31, 2006! When we started this process the wait for the referral was 12-13 months. Since then, the wait time has become 29 months! We have been waiting almost 18 months now and really, it has gone fast but that doesn't make it any easier. I worry...how old am I going to be when I get this baby. Does it really matter? Anyhow, this starts my blog and I will try to do my best to keep it going. Sometimes it is hard when someone ask "Where are you at in the adoption?" and the only answer that I can give is "Still waiting" so I hope this will belp! My prayer is that God will continue to give me patience-it is all that I can ask for because I know that he has that one little perfect girl picked out for us and this will be in his timing.