We received a call yesterday morning from the India program head at the new agency. She had called the orphanage on Friday, and found out that an Indian couple HAD expressed interest in adopting "I" and had visited him in India while they were there for a month. However, their paperwork has not started, and she said that the orphanage does not have the final word on it---whatever that means. She is going out of town--I believe to India (she is Indian herself) and said that she would leave our homestudy and a letter about our situation on the desk of the agency head so that if "I" did not have a home by the end of the holiday season, we could begin to get pre-approval for him.
She also said that if he was in the process of being adopted by the other couple, she would show our homestudy to the orphanage to get pre-approval for the baby girl. So, it seems like it is very highly possible that we will get to bring one of these children to our home in 2008. This case worker seems very adament about finding homes for these children and asked the proper questions re: insurance and understanding of this special need. I sense progress.
As we celebrate this Christmas, we pray for a joyous 2008, and the addition of a little Benji or Miriam to fill our home with more love. Yes, we have names picked out: Benjamin Thomas and Miriam Grace--with the addition of their Indian name if it does not conflict with our religious views. Benjamin's birth story in the Bible--and his transformation from Rachel's "son of trouble" to his father's "son of my right hand" seems fitting for a child welcomed into a new life full of opportunity where there was none before. Thomas brought Christianity to the people of India, and Shawn's family tree has the patriarch, Thomas Stafford. Miriam was a loving sister and looked out for her adopted brother, Moses. And Grace--by grace we are saved from our sins- could there be a more Lutheran name for our girl?
As doors have closed, others have opened. Great is Thy faithfulness!
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
A New Hope
Our homestudy agency notified us a couple months ago that we needed a sponsor for immigration to approve us. They were on us to get an immigration form filled out to prove our income so we wouldn't need a sponsor, but I couldn't figure out how to fill it out, since you need the name and address of the immigrant, and we haven't identified an orphan yet. Well, then WACAP told me that the form LSS wanted filled out was the wrong one, and told us how it should be done. We had letters/documents notarized and shipped off the packet yesterday to immigration, delivery confirmation, priority mail, the works.
Well, what comes in today's mail??? We are APPROVED by immigration!!! So, all this worry was for nothing??? We were approved without proving a SINGLE THING!!! I am overjoyed not to have to worry about this...but it would have been nice to receive this yesterday morning before we paid to have all of our "official" documents sent to them.....anyway, HALLELUJIA!!!!
So, the combination of the burden of immigration approval being off my back and the prospect of getting a child from the new agency with no huge problems is a big relief!!!
The new agency got our homestudy yesterday, and read it, and immediately called confused. They didn't realize our homestudy had been done for India and we were ready to go....the woman had thought we had tried a different country, and that we'd have to have it re-written, so she was seeing if we were eligible for India. Anyway, she wondered why we were only interested in the little baby girl, and not the 1-year old boy based upon our homestudy and the needs we said we were interested in.
Turns out, she has not received any sort of notification from the orphanage that "I" has a home. We told her we had been pursuing his adoption, but that WACAP called us and told us he had been matched with an Indian family, and the orphanage had approved them to go forward. This lady said that the orphanage always notifies the other agencies that work out of the orphanage when a child has been matched so that they concentrate their efforts (correctly) on placing other children, and they haven't called her. They would have by now, because we were notified of this match Nov 19th or so....almost a month ago!!
I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but she is e-mailing the orphanage and asking what is up. If he doesn't have a family approved, she will send them our info. She said she doesn't usually work Fridays, but that she is an early riser, and if she hasn't heard before then, she'll call the orphanage Friday morning.
This lady said, "Well, I'll find out, and then there is the baby that hasn't been released yet. If "I" has a home, we will send pre-approval forms to the orphanage, so that when she is ready with her paperwork, you will be immediately matched without advocating for her anywhere."
I am praying that something comes out of this. Either child. I feel that we made the right decision in switching agencies.
We should know Friday what is up with "I" and then make pre-arrangements for the baby girl, or send off a request for orphanage approval for "I".
So, hopefully this new agency will bring balance to the Force, and save us all!!! :-)
Well, what comes in today's mail??? We are APPROVED by immigration!!! So, all this worry was for nothing??? We were approved without proving a SINGLE THING!!! I am overjoyed not to have to worry about this...but it would have been nice to receive this yesterday morning before we paid to have all of our "official" documents sent to them.....anyway, HALLELUJIA!!!!
So, the combination of the burden of immigration approval being off my back and the prospect of getting a child from the new agency with no huge problems is a big relief!!!
The new agency got our homestudy yesterday, and read it, and immediately called confused. They didn't realize our homestudy had been done for India and we were ready to go....the woman had thought we had tried a different country, and that we'd have to have it re-written, so she was seeing if we were eligible for India. Anyway, she wondered why we were only interested in the little baby girl, and not the 1-year old boy based upon our homestudy and the needs we said we were interested in.
Turns out, she has not received any sort of notification from the orphanage that "I" has a home. We told her we had been pursuing his adoption, but that WACAP called us and told us he had been matched with an Indian family, and the orphanage had approved them to go forward. This lady said that the orphanage always notifies the other agencies that work out of the orphanage when a child has been matched so that they concentrate their efforts (correctly) on placing other children, and they haven't called her. They would have by now, because we were notified of this match Nov 19th or so....almost a month ago!!
I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but she is e-mailing the orphanage and asking what is up. If he doesn't have a family approved, she will send them our info. She said she doesn't usually work Fridays, but that she is an early riser, and if she hasn't heard before then, she'll call the orphanage Friday morning.
This lady said, "Well, I'll find out, and then there is the baby that hasn't been released yet. If "I" has a home, we will send pre-approval forms to the orphanage, so that when she is ready with her paperwork, you will be immediately matched without advocating for her anywhere."
I am praying that something comes out of this. Either child. I feel that we made the right decision in switching agencies.
We should know Friday what is up with "I" and then make pre-arrangements for the baby girl, or send off a request for orphanage approval for "I".
So, hopefully this new agency will bring balance to the Force, and save us all!!! :-)
Friday, December 7, 2007
A New Beginning
Well, we received info on 2 children from WACAP and did not feel that we are competent enough to parent either of these special girls. All of the children WACAP has sent for us to consider (besides the child we were hoping to adopt) have had severe developmental/medical issues out of our comfort level. Consultations with the International Adoption Clinic about these children--4 of them--resulted in them expressing "extreme concern" and they were deemed "very high risk" adoptions. We pray these children will find the homes they need. There are no more children in their waiting children album left for us at this time to inquire about. Any new children they receive will have to be listed for many months before being granted a subsidy, so we have two choices: find another agency that we can afford, or resign ourselves to wait several months in the hopes that a "perfect" child will be made available soon, and then wait for that child to get a subsidy, and hope that no one else adopts them before that can happen.
Since staying with WACAP seems like a ridiculous choice at this point, we have sent in our pre-application to a new agency, Americans for International Aid and Adoption (AIAA) out of Michigan. I have heard wonderful things about them in online discussions, and they place children out of the same orphanage the child we had hoped to adopt was from.
I was considering them, when I looked at Rainbowkids.com, an online photolisting of adoptable children, and ran across an article called "Nothing Can Keep Us Down! Three babies in need of families tell us about themselves" (December 01,2007 / Teri Bell of AIAA). Here is a sweet description of 3 children all at the same orphanage in India with Spina Bifida that need homes, a 2-year old, 1-year old, and infant. The 1-year old is the child we had been pursuing at the other agency. The 2-year old sounded sweet, but a little more delayed mentally than we had hoped. Then the description of the infant:
"I'm the baby of this group and you can know me as Sweeti. I'm turning seven months old. I'm just spectacular and everyone agrees on that. Unlike my friends I still have the lump on my back that I was born with. The doctors checked me out and because I'm doing so well, they don't want to do any surgery at this time. My medical says that I have features of a myelomeningocele but someone who looked at my information in the US wonders if maybe it is really a myelocele with minimal nerve tissue involvement. As I understand it, everyone is just so happy and surprised with my development that they question the amount of spinal cord involvement. Last month when Aunty visited I was doing the same things as the other babies my age. What's so special about that? I move my arms and legs well, I'm alert, I like to smile, I play with my feet and toys, I'm growing well, I turn over, I'm vocal, my feet are ticklish and yes, my bowel and bladder habits are normal. I'm getting physical therapy too, but I really think it is because the therapist likes to play games. I do not have a listing on RainbowKids yet as I'm waiting for my paperwork to be finalized."
And the clincher:
"Each of the children above are eligible for a significant adoption grant depending upon the eligibility of the adoptive family. "
I requested information and the agency was quick to respond. Their total fee for an Indian adoption is $4,000 less than WACAP, and if we qualify for the maximum adoption grant (which I don't see why we wouldn't), the fees would be down to around $2,500, less than the $5,000 we would owe WACAP with their grant.
This child is not yet listed, because she has not been released from India for adoption. This is in the works. So, since our homestudy is done, I would hope that we would have an excellent chance of adopting her if we have got everything set up with this agency.
We pray that the closed door with the 1-year old was so that we would find this beautiful infant, and that within the next few months, we will be able to begin the process of bringing her into our family.
What a bumpy, emotional road this is! What a comfort to know that God goes before us, and somewhere at the end, is our child.
Since staying with WACAP seems like a ridiculous choice at this point, we have sent in our pre-application to a new agency, Americans for International Aid and Adoption (AIAA) out of Michigan. I have heard wonderful things about them in online discussions, and they place children out of the same orphanage the child we had hoped to adopt was from.
I was considering them, when I looked at Rainbowkids.com, an online photolisting of adoptable children, and ran across an article called "Nothing Can Keep Us Down! Three babies in need of families tell us about themselves" (December 01,2007 / Teri Bell of AIAA). Here is a sweet description of 3 children all at the same orphanage in India with Spina Bifida that need homes, a 2-year old, 1-year old, and infant. The 1-year old is the child we had been pursuing at the other agency. The 2-year old sounded sweet, but a little more delayed mentally than we had hoped. Then the description of the infant:
"I'm the baby of this group and you can know me as Sweeti. I'm turning seven months old. I'm just spectacular and everyone agrees on that. Unlike my friends I still have the lump on my back that I was born with. The doctors checked me out and because I'm doing so well, they don't want to do any surgery at this time. My medical says that I have features of a myelomeningocele but someone who looked at my information in the US wonders if maybe it is really a myelocele with minimal nerve tissue involvement. As I understand it, everyone is just so happy and surprised with my development that they question the amount of spinal cord involvement. Last month when Aunty visited I was doing the same things as the other babies my age. What's so special about that? I move my arms and legs well, I'm alert, I like to smile, I play with my feet and toys, I'm growing well, I turn over, I'm vocal, my feet are ticklish and yes, my bowel and bladder habits are normal. I'm getting physical therapy too, but I really think it is because the therapist likes to play games. I do not have a listing on RainbowKids yet as I'm waiting for my paperwork to be finalized."
And the clincher:
"Each of the children above are eligible for a significant adoption grant depending upon the eligibility of the adoptive family. "
I requested information and the agency was quick to respond. Their total fee for an Indian adoption is $4,000 less than WACAP, and if we qualify for the maximum adoption grant (which I don't see why we wouldn't), the fees would be down to around $2,500, less than the $5,000 we would owe WACAP with their grant.
This child is not yet listed, because she has not been released from India for adoption. This is in the works. So, since our homestudy is done, I would hope that we would have an excellent chance of adopting her if we have got everything set up with this agency.
We pray that the closed door with the 1-year old was so that we would find this beautiful infant, and that within the next few months, we will be able to begin the process of bringing her into our family.
What a bumpy, emotional road this is! What a comfort to know that God goes before us, and somewhere at the end, is our child.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Mixed Blessings
Well, the moment of truth arrived this evening. Our WACAP worker called and notified us that "I" has been matched with the other family. This family was ready with their paperwork, and decided to adopt "I" within a couple days of getting his information. We were only a day or so behind them paperworkwise, but they are an Indian couple, so take preference in the eyes of the Indian government. We were assured that they will be an excellent family for "I'.
While this is disappointing to us, it is great news for "I", who will be soon united with his forever family and will no longer need to live in an orphanage. We are very happy for him and pray that his life will be full of blessings for himself and his new family. We pray that somehow he will be exposed to the Gospel as he grows and will live the very life we intended him to have.
So, back to the drawing board for us. WACAP will be sending us files of a few new referrals they have received in this same age range (girls). The good news is that our paperwork is ready, and as soon as we select a child, we can get him/her on hold quickly. This disappointment is unlikely to happen again.
As human beings, sometimes we think we have it all planned out. But, in times like this, we are reminded that God is in control of it all, and His plans are not necessarily what we imagine is best for us. I pray that He will continue to give us guidance as we review these other children, and that one of them will come to be our child. God often has bigger dreams for us than we would ever have imagined.
While this is disappointing to us, it is great news for "I", who will be soon united with his forever family and will no longer need to live in an orphanage. We are very happy for him and pray that his life will be full of blessings for himself and his new family. We pray that somehow he will be exposed to the Gospel as he grows and will live the very life we intended him to have.
So, back to the drawing board for us. WACAP will be sending us files of a few new referrals they have received in this same age range (girls). The good news is that our paperwork is ready, and as soon as we select a child, we can get him/her on hold quickly. This disappointment is unlikely to happen again.
As human beings, sometimes we think we have it all planned out. But, in times like this, we are reminded that God is in control of it all, and His plans are not necessarily what we imagine is best for us. I pray that He will continue to give us guidance as we review these other children, and that one of them will come to be our child. God often has bigger dreams for us than we would ever have imagined.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
WACAP approval
We received word tonight (still business hours in Seattle) from WACAP that our homestudy was approved and we are now officially in the India program. This is a great step!! We are supposed to be contacted by the India program shortly. I hope that we will be able to get "I" on hold within a couple weeks. Based on other WACAP families' timelines, this is possible...but with the Thanksgiving break next week, I'm not holding my breath.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Good news/ Bad news
I heard from our WACAP representative today, and she had mixed news. The good news is that she received the draft of our homestudy today from LSS. Now she can look it over and make sure it has all the India-required details. If it is ok, then LSS can send them a notarized copy for them to approve. Once it is approved by WACAP, we can put "I" on hold, so no other family can work toward his adoption. The bad news is that she informed us that another family now is also interested in the child we hope to adopt.
So, I have no idea if this family will decide to keep on pursuing him, or if they are further along in the process than us and will become his parents. They could have just requested his medical info or they could already have their homestudy approved. The first ones to sign the "hold" papers gets the chance to adopt him. Of course, the orphanage has to approve us, as well as India (CARA), so there could be a breakdown anywhere along the track. I know God will provide "I" with the parents he has intended and I am trying to have peace in that. Easier said than done!!!
Good news and bad news....nervous news.....life, huh?
So, I have no idea if this family will decide to keep on pursuing him, or if they are further along in the process than us and will become his parents. They could have just requested his medical info or they could already have their homestudy approved. The first ones to sign the "hold" papers gets the chance to adopt him. Of course, the orphanage has to approve us, as well as India (CARA), so there could be a breakdown anywhere along the track. I know God will provide "I" with the parents he has intended and I am trying to have peace in that. Easier said than done!!!
Good news and bad news....nervous news.....life, huh?
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
USCIS update
We received word today from our local agency (LSS) that we're allowed as clergy to include allowances (housing, car, etc.) as income--I knew this but SHE had to know it--so we're likely ok in the immigration department. We need letters from our employers explaining our income situation and to fill out the long form. Other than that, there is still no news on our progress. LSS is supposed to be sending our homestudy to WACAP for approval so that we can put "I" on hold...so no other family can see his info...and it's taking awhile. Maybe God thinks I need to learn patience???
We had a great time last month visiting friends of ours who have a baby a few days younger than "I". It was fun to see what she could do and make mental notes for comparison with the developmental info we have on "I". What a precious girl!!
We had a great time last month visiting friends of ours who have a baby a few days younger than "I". It was fun to see what she could do and make mental notes for comparison with the developmental info we have on "I". What a precious girl!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
