I-600A

it has been mailed...although, i just realized the version of the form we sent was expired, so maybe we will get to send it again. while trey, the dog, did not need to sign, he felt the need to add his paw print as well.

so one might ask, what does the federal government require in to form of paperwork? well, for starters, the application form. luckily, for adoptions from russia, the 2 page version is still acceptable, as opposed to the newly instituted 16 page form that other countries require.

second, a copy of birth certificates, marriage licensed, and the completed home study.

lastly, the most fun part of the whole packet. normally, i don't like to remember checks like this, but in all honesty, this is one of the smaller ones i will write in coming months.

and now, like any good process that involves the government, we wait.

our homestudy is officially complete. we've
been approved for 2 boys, age 2 and under.
now, we can submit the paperwork to the us
government to officially declare our intention to
bring our boys home.

video

this is a video that our friend ryan put together as part of a series at church called "everybody's got a story." steve and i wrote the script, ryan took the photos.

one step closer

we finished our homestudy this week. we passed all the inspections, with flying colors, and have been approved to bring home 2 children. I never had any doubts.

I must also say that i've always heard the horror stories about the homestudy process. your house must be clean, and it must be perfect, and you must be perfect. not at all how it happened. our social worker was great - thanks angela. she didn't white glove the house, just checked to make sure we don't have any obvious hazard. to be perfectly honest, this was easier than i thought it would be.

next step, file our paperwork with the federal government, and finish collecting the rest of the required paperwork.

Fundraiser

we had our first fundraiser a couple weeks ago. thanks to laura and her amazing team who organized the event. below are some photos from the day.

the some of the art that was auctioned.

kids working on art projects.

tim is so proud of his dolphin/whale on steve's face.

many thanks to all who came, donated, participated, and just plain had fun!

Homestudy

we had our first homestudy visit last night. everything went rather well, and it wasn't as scary as it was made out to be. our fire and safety inspections are done (and no, our house wasn't raked with a fine tooth comb), now it's on to the questions about why we want to adopt and what kind of parent we think we will be. i hope everything else goes this smoothly.

Generostiy

I am amazed and quickly becoming humbled by the generosity of others. We have had friends give us money for our adoption…that I understand. However, it still amazes me. They are giving us money, sacrificing Starbucks, and other things all to give to us so we can get children from Russia. What amazes me more is the generosity of virtual strangers. People we have met for a only a little bit are literally telling us that they will give money when we ask for it. Who are these people that have such big hearts? They are friends, they are strangers and I am grateful for them all. To all of you who have given, or have thought of giving thank you! For those of you who are praying or even thinking about us thank you!