The dossier is at the US Dept of State right now! The Assistant Stork said everything looked great and were planning on picking it back up today or tomorrow... we are one step closer!
Mark and I were blessed to have an opportunity to go to a conference on the power of prayer this past week in Oregon. My mom (bless her heart!) stayed here with Markus and Halle Joy and off Mark and I went for three and a half days. We had an amazing time as a couple just enjoying some alone time, spending time with a dear friend from college and her wonderful family and sitting under the teaching of a delightful and committed man of God. On our last evening we attended a concert of prayer that included both the conference attendees as well as members of the church. It was a powerful evening of music, praise and prayer. At one point I was praying with 7 other people, two from other churches and five from the host church. Those of us visiting were asked to share a prayer request; I shared of our financial need for the adoption. We prayed, and as we finished, one of the gentlemen leaned over, shook my hand and said "May God bless your adoption"... and slipped a $100 bill into my palm. This man was a complete stranger, but saw it fit to bless Mark and I in an amazing and overwhleming way. Isn't that awesome?
In the mail
Our dossier is on it's way to the Assistant Stork in Virginia! They will take it to DC to have it authenticated at the US Dept of State... Please pray that everything was completed correctly and it will make it's way through this part of the bureaucratic process smoothly!
Where do I even begin?
It has been way too long since I gave an update- please forgive me! I'm going to post in a really lame, bullet point format to ensure I get all the neat things God has done and all the details of the last few months written down!
* God provided a minivan for us! We have been praying about how we would purchase a vehicle that would hold three carseats... and out of the blue my parents showed up on our doorstep with a new-to-us Toyota Sienna minivan. What an amazing blessing.
* We were given an opportunity to share our adoption testimony as part of our senior pastor's message on adoption at church. What an amazing gift to share our story with our entire congregation, and to know that we are part of a church family that is excited about adoption. There are many in our church praying about the ministry of adoption/orphan care and we are so excited to see what God is going to do through the body at our church for the cause of the orphan.
* Mark and I traveled to Yakima in November for our USCIS clearance stuff. Yes, the only state office for customs/immigration in Washington is in Yakima. We split up our kiddos amongst dear friends and headed across the pass and back in one day to hand over one form, a bunch of money and our fingerprints. It was a long day, but worth it, as our I600A (Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition) was approved in December! Praise God!
* We have received a few more financial gifts, again totally out of nowhere and exactly when we needed them. Praise Him.
* We began our partnership with LifeSong for Orphans, a non-profit group that partners with adoptive families to aid in the support raising process. We sent out prayer/financial support letters at the end of December to many loved ones. By partnering with LifeSong, anyone who desires to give a financial gift toward our adoption can do so directly to them, and thus it becomes a tax-deductible gift to the giver. LifeSong will then disperse the funds as necesary on our behalf for our adoption. Most improtantly, our letter went out to many families that we are confident will be PRAYING with us- that is the most precious gift anyone could give us in this journey.
* We recently received two documents from the Washington Secretary of State's office. Two days ago, I completed (I think!) sorting all of our documents for our dossier (and the two copies that we need as well). We are waiting for one more form from our agency, and then it will be off to a lengthy appointment with our notary to complete our dossier. Once that is done, we will ship it off to an organization called the Assistant Stork, who will take our dossier on our behalf to the federal level. They will do some processing, send it back to us, and then it will be off to our agnecy where they will then send it off to Ethiopia! Then... we wait. And pray!
* God provided a minivan for us! We have been praying about how we would purchase a vehicle that would hold three carseats... and out of the blue my parents showed up on our doorstep with a new-to-us Toyota Sienna minivan. What an amazing blessing.
* We were given an opportunity to share our adoption testimony as part of our senior pastor's message on adoption at church. What an amazing gift to share our story with our entire congregation, and to know that we are part of a church family that is excited about adoption. There are many in our church praying about the ministry of adoption/orphan care and we are so excited to see what God is going to do through the body at our church for the cause of the orphan.
* Mark and I traveled to Yakima in November for our USCIS clearance stuff. Yes, the only state office for customs/immigration in Washington is in Yakima. We split up our kiddos amongst dear friends and headed across the pass and back in one day to hand over one form, a bunch of money and our fingerprints. It was a long day, but worth it, as our I600A (Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition) was approved in December! Praise God!
* We have received a few more financial gifts, again totally out of nowhere and exactly when we needed them. Praise Him.
* We began our partnership with LifeSong for Orphans, a non-profit group that partners with adoptive families to aid in the support raising process. We sent out prayer/financial support letters at the end of December to many loved ones. By partnering with LifeSong, anyone who desires to give a financial gift toward our adoption can do so directly to them, and thus it becomes a tax-deductible gift to the giver. LifeSong will then disperse the funds as necesary on our behalf for our adoption. Most improtantly, our letter went out to many families that we are confident will be PRAYING with us- that is the most precious gift anyone could give us in this journey.
* We recently received two documents from the Washington Secretary of State's office. Two days ago, I completed (I think!) sorting all of our documents for our dossier (and the two copies that we need as well). We are waiting for one more form from our agency, and then it will be off to a lengthy appointment with our notary to complete our dossier. Once that is done, we will ship it off to an organization called the Assistant Stork, who will take our dossier on our behalf to the federal level. They will do some processing, send it back to us, and then it will be off to our agnecy where they will then send it off to Ethiopia! Then... we wait. And pray!
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