We Got Them!

Our set of documents we sent to the Chinese Consulate in Chicago to be authenticated arrived of Friday! All we are waiting for is the 171-H! Troy (not knowing the difference between DCFS and USCIS) said, "I think it came in today!" I got super excited only to find it was our DCFS license from the state of Illinois stating we are a certified foster home! Oh well! Checking the mail is the most exciting, but so far most disappointing part of the day! We are going to send what we have so far to CCAI to have them look over it. Once the 171-H arrives, I am going to drive to Springfield and have it certified in a day and then probably drive to Chicago the next day to have it authenticated! It costs a little bit more $$$, but when you are this close, you just want it DONE!!!

On a happier note, many families got their referrels on Friday for their children! We cannot wait to get there! Please pray that China speeds up the process! As I stated earlier, when we started our paperwork, we had a 6-9 month wait after our dossier was sent to China. Now they are saying our wait will be 12-14 months! We continue to pray for twins and find our selves saying, "When we get our kids...."!

FBI Fingerprinting...DONE!

Troy and I went to St. Louis today to get fingerprinted for our 171-H. I am going to call USCIS on Thursday to see if my fingerprints turned out OK. The examiner had to roll each finger 2-5 times to get a good print. I learned that I have very large fingerprints and my hands are extremely dry despite the lotion I use daily! It must be the chlorine at the Y...that is my thought! I have heard people have to have them done twice and I don't really want to drive 2 1/2 hours again! In addition to our fingerprints, we got our passport photos taken that are part of our Dossier. We have to submit 3 pictures which means we have an extra since passport photos come as 2. To end our morning in STL, we had lunch at Seamus McDaniels in our old neighborhood, Dogtown. They have the best hamburgers, so of course, we each got one! Being back in STL really made us homesick for the city and where we began our marriage! I almost forgot, the rest of our documents were sent to Chicago for authentication! We are going to send everything in to CCAI minus the 171-H. They will receive it once we get it in, but we want CCAI to look over our paperwork just in case their our errors. Slowly, but surely!

Congrats to my friend and college roommate, Lisa, on their referral! She is precious!

SOS Materials Arrived!

I just checked online to see the status of our documents that need the Illinois Secretary of State certification and got this message:

Your item was delivered at 10:05 am on August 04, 2006 in SPRINGFIELD, IL 62756 to SOS 56 . The item was signed for by M KUNTZI.

Praise God! I had checked my email this morning and saw that a family who is also adopting from China had their Express Mail documents that were needing certification stolen. USPS said that criminals look for Express Mail envelopes since they often have important information in them. In this case, they had to act as if they experienced identity theft since ALL of their information was included! I never thought about all of this! We will be using FedEx for the rest of our mailing needs in this adoption process!

Homestudy Original Arrived!

YEAH! We got the original copy of the homestudy in the mail today! I am going to take the rest of our documents, minus the 171-H and get them notarized on Thursday afternoon. I will then make a trip to the post office to send them to the Illinois Secretary of State! Please pray that China speeds up the adoption process. They are processing dossier's at a slower rate. At one point, families had to wait 6 months to get their referral after their dossier arrived in China. Now they are telling us 12-14 months!

OK...I Know We Were A Little Emotional...

I know we were a little emotional yesterday, but you can't help but cry when you watch Sophie at www.waitingforsophie.blogspot.com give us all kisses (July 30th post)! I don't know how we came across this blog, but this has been one of our favorites we read daily. Shana always has the best pictures and videos!

Yesterday was also an emotional day for me (Amy) due to my job. I have been working at the prenatal clinic (we build relationships and the families get to make toys for their miracle(s) )on Monday and Wednesday mornings and absolutely LOVE IT! We build such great relationships with our moms/families and it is so neat to follow them through their pregnancy and then get to experience their miracles in the end. Well, while reading the paper Monday morning, I saw one of my previous student's nephew died during labor. I shared this with my co-workers and then found out one of our moms who was in the clinic last Monday with her one month old twin boys, lost one the following day. The funeral was this past Saturday! I was shocked! I watched these two boys last Monday and helped their mom carry them down to the car and snap them in! After learning of these two deaths, I then got to visit 3 families in the hospital who just delivered and share in their joys! I love my job and all that BabyTALK does....it has such incredible highs and lows!

We are Bummed Out!

Well, tomorrow is 8/1 and we were praying our dossier would be done by then. We were on such a role, but our homestudy delay truly set us back. Now we are waiting for our fingerprinting appointment to arrive in the mail. At this pace, we will be done in September/October. We know God is in control of all of this and knows what he is doing. It is our prayer that we get a two for one deal and China speeds the process up and produces more "paper ready" kids. There are thousands of children in the orphanages that need families, but only a handful of them are tagged for adoption!

Adoption Bracelet

We had some dear friends give us this adoption bracelet, but of course, it is only worn by me, Amy. It is by Lisa Lehmann, of Studio Jewel. It came with this fabulous explanation:

Adoption Celebration was created to be reminder of all that your family has become, or is in the process of becoming.

Beginning with a prayer...a dream...a wish...placed inside the Prayer Box. A prayer for a child to be your very own, to love and cherish, to guide, to give a home and a future. While you are praying, wishing, dreaming you are Three Strands: a mother, a father and a child...each on your own personal journey...waiting to become something stronger together.

The dream becomes a reality, there is a child who will soon be your very own - that is represented by the Baby Feet and Heart charm. Once that child arrives she becomes your family. You are no longer separate buy you have been brought together. This is represented by the Family Tree charm as well as the three strands becoming a Solid Bangle on the bracelet.

There will be memories and milestones to come as you go through life together, no two days will ever be the same - thus the mixture of beads and twisted wire.

Celebrate! and never forget the journey of how you became a family!

Finally, Some Progress...

Troy and I have been gone for a week at a conference and came home to this great email:

Troy and Amy,

Good news!!!

Just wanted to let you know that I have completed the preliminary review of your China Home Study Report. Any recommendations for these areas have already been sent to your social worker. The final review of the home study will take place during the critical review of your dossier just before it is sent to China!

Now we are waiting to get the final draft from our adoption specialist before she sends it to immigration. We would still like to have our Dossier complete by August, but we do not have control over how long Immigration, Illinois Secretary of State and the Chinese Counsulate in Chicago will process our paperwork! It is nice to be going again after a waiting period!

Troy and I had to go to a mandatory conference this morning in Bloomington as part of our adoption and DCFS foster home certification. It was nice to meet other families in our situation and get some more information on important topics such as adoption myths, stages of grief for infertile couples, grief and loss for the adopted child, adjustment issues for the adoptee, attachment and bonding, maintaining birth culture ties (Troy recommends we eat Chinese food on the 4th of July!), talking to children about their orphanage background, talking to children about adoption, sibling relationships and the adoption tax credit! WHEW! It was a lot of information, but helpful. We have been doing a lot of reading, so much of this was a repeat, but it never hurts to hear it again! The best part was hearing from a lady from the Our Chinese Daughters Foundation (OCDF) www.ocdf.org . She was great! When our children get older, they can receive a magazine from them with Chinese specific content produced in China, but in the English language. We can also take our children back to China on one of their guided tours! The best part was the journal the children receive on this tour. There is info. about each city they visit, including a place for them to write their own memories. Each child also receives a gift after visiting each city. For example, they got a stuffed panda bear after visiting a panda bear rescue camp! It was so neat!

AAAGGGHHHH!

We are trying to be patient in this paperchase period, but it is getting really frustrating! We paid the second half of our homestudy a month ago and was told it would be finished in a week. Three weeks later, we still do not have anything! We were told the homestudy process would take 2-3 months and got excited when we received the 2nd bill in June. It looked like we would be on the 2 month track, but now we are at 2.5 months. We were told to be patient, but when you are so close to being done, you just want it to end! I think I am going to send our completed waiting papers on their round of certification so if feels like we are doing something and get our 171-H certified on its own. I emailed our adoption specialist on our status and continue to wait for her reply.

On the more exciting front, Troy's dad came to visit us for a week over the 4th of July and they put up a basketball hoop, Troy's Father's Day present. They had some good bonding time figuring out the plan! Troy had to get the measuring tape out and mark with chalk where the 3 point line would be if it was painted on our driveway. I thought this goal was for fun, but he is serious about it! Hopefully God has us here for enough years for our children to get to enjoy it too!

Happy Anniversary To Us!

Today marks the 5th Anniversary for Troy and I! Boy, time has gone by quick! It is amazing to think all that we have experienced in these past 5 years from 4 major moves, Troy completing seminary and is now ordained, my teaching experience and population I serve has changed tremendously, we have gained a new dog (Jackson) and lost a dog (Joey), celebrated the weddings of our brothers and birth of our 2nd nephew this past April, we bought our first house,
have gained some new friends, Troy has completed 2 more marathons and now has 2 triathlons under his belt (we did our first one together in 2003!), we experienced numerouse doctors appointments, testings, procedures for infertility, but now we are adopting from CHINA! Praise God for all he has done in our lives! We have been blessed!

Troy and I have been back for a week now from our vacation to Wisconsin! We stayed 2 days at an all-inclusive resort, ChulaVista in The Dells, and then we moved on to Door County! We LOVE Door County! Our first night was in Sturgeon Bay where we experienced a fish boil (ask us about our experience), we toured the local shops and beaches and took a gorgeous country drive. From then we moved up the peninsula to Fish Creek! This is a charming little city and we had a fabulous condo that we plan to go back to with family/friends. Our highlight in Fish Creek was kayaking on Lake Michigan to visit Cave Point and White Sands Park. I will post pictures once they are emailed to me from our guide! We had a blast and it was a great workout! Lake Michigan was so green and you could see the bottem of it the entire trip! Our trip home was a casual drive stopping at Lake Geneva to spend the day. That is a beautiful area and one we want to explore more! Our trip was incredible and we cannot wait for another one! This was our first vacation in 5 years besides our honeymoon in which we did not have to visit family or go to a wedding!

On the adoption front, we are still waiting on our homestudy! Our adoption specialist said she is sending it to CCAI at the end of this week (Today I hope!) to get approved and then it is off to Immigration! We are still praying we can send our dossier off in August!

Happy Fathers Day!

Happy Fathers Day to all the fathers out there, both spiritually and physically! Troy preached a great sermon this morning and made reference to all the spiritual fathers out there who have been there for those without a physical father. They are sometimes overlooked this special day! We remember that Jesus is our Eternal father who never lets us down!

Waiting...and more waiting...and...

The word this week was that our homestudy would be complete and we would receive a copy of it via email to look over before it goes to immigration. It is Friday morning, so I guess we still have time to receive it today! If not, it looks like our laptop will be coming with us on vacation! Troy and I are leaving for a week to explore Wisconsin. This will be our first vacation that we have had since we got married 5 years ago that does not include visiting family or attending a wedding! We are looking forward to spending time in Wisconsin without an itenerary! I have done some research and we know we will be going to Madison and The Dells, but who knows from there! Jack will have a house sitter so he doesn't have to be taken away from his rabbit friends that he likes to chase!

Good News!

Our first set of papers from the Chinese Houston Consulate are in! Check out the Chinese writing and the official red seal! In addition, our homestudy should be complete by next week! We got the bill for the second half last Friday which means we are almost done! Our adoption specialist will submit the homestudy to Immigration and we will be given a fingerprinting appointment. After that, all we have to do is wait for our 171-H to come in! Once it is in, all the rest of our papers will get their round of notarization, certification and authentication in Chicago! It still looks like we will be DTC (Dossier to China) by August, if not earlier! Praise God!

We FINALLY completed our landscaping around the deck!

Remember...

Remember the Vets and the soldiers fighting for our freedom and protection this Memorial Day! Thank you all for serving!

One Consulate Down...One More to Go!

And they are off! My birth certificate and our Marriage Certificate went to the Chinese Consulate in Houston to get their final stamp in the paperchase process! We are still waiting on our homestudy report to be done so we can send the rest of the paperwork to the Chinese Consulate in Chicago!

Thank you all who have contributed to our adoption fund. Every penny counts. $20 pays for the cost of one piece of paper to be authenticicated by the Chinese Consulate and $30 pays for each round of Express Mail we must use each time paperwork is mailed. Soon, we will give you a break down of the expenses associated with an international adoption since so many of you have asked!

Jacks New Tricks

Jack created this hole in the screen door while we were at Travis and Rebecca's wedding in Alaska. He wasn't used to having both the glass door and screened door to open to go outside. He was a little anxious and busted a hole. We of course had to clean it up a little bit and cut the torn edges.

We caught him in the act! We can't complain...it saves us from opening and shutting the door. We like this type of efficiency and independence!

Isn't that just the cutest face? No wonder he is fat and spoiled!

This is the first rose bloom of the season. We can't wait to see them at their peak.

Worship with Sonic Flood

Troy and I saw Sonic Flood Friday night and had a great time not just at a concert, but a worship experience. Being the busy weekend it was with graduation parties, the concert was not well attended, but it was an awesome, personal experience! In fact, Troy and I saw Sonic Flood as our first date in the Spring of 2000 and now we got to experience them again 6 years later and about to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary! The concert was another reminder/ validation that God has intended Troy and I to adopt as part of his plan for us. Throughout this adoption journey, we have done a lot of reading on starting an adoption/orphan ministry in Decatur. The Bible verse that is constantly brought up regarding adoption is from James 1:27 "Pure and faultless religion is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress." The first 10 minutes of the Sonic Flood concert, the lead singer put this Bible verse on the screen. Tears came to my eyes. The band was promoting sponsoring a child from Compassion International, an organization Troy and I have been a part of for 6 years now. We came into our marriage each with a child...Jessica from Peru and Benjamin from Mexico. We recently lost Benjamin due to the fact he moved out of the village Compassion worked in. Our money that goes to Compassion each month has been more then worth it. Besides receiving pictures, letters, artwork and report cards, each child is learning about Jesus and his love for them! We know that by adopting a child(ren) from China, we will get to teach them about Jesus, something they may never get to experience living in an orphanage or foster home. Check out the website for Sonic Flood at www.sonicflood.com and watch their new video "Everlasting". You will see they are teaching about Jesus in countries that may never know Him! As the book Fields of the Fatherless by C. Thomas Davis says, " In this world you are an orphan...eagerly anticipating your adoption as God's child. In this world you are a widow...longing for reunion with your bridegroom. In this world you are a stranger...a pilgrim waiting to become a citizen of heaven. This book brings you back to what Christianity is really about: Giving yourself to others. Being Christ to a hurting world and living for the one that comes next." All Christians are adopted!

Troy's 2nd Tri!

Standing in 62 degree water waiting for the start of the swim!
And they are off!
Out of the swim and heading towards his bike!
Coming in from his 13 mile bike ride (in pouring rain) getting ready to run 3 miles!
Comming in to the finish in pouring rain as you can see by the picture!

Way to go Troy! This was Troy's 2nd triathlon and he finished first in the Clydesale division and second in his age group!

On the adoption front, I received the certified copy of our MC and my BC in the mail today! They will be going off to the Chinese Consulate in Houston to be given their final seal of approval, probably later this week! One more step closer in getting this done! We continue to wait on our homestudy report to be completed and given the OK by DCFS.

Yes, This is Illinois!

I spent last Saturday visiting Starved Rock State Park with our fabulous friends David and Glenda! We met some of their old friends from Chicago for lunch at Starved Rock and then we enjoyed some time exploring God's beautiful creations! SRSP has wonderful trails and it is only 2 hours from Decatur! You feel like you are in another state!

It Is In!

Hooray! Troy's new passport arrived in the mail yesterday! He had to get his renewed, so this this one is good for a long time! At least it is one less step we will have to go through with our next adoption!

In the meantime, we are waiting for our documents to come in from the Texas Secretary of State. I made two binders last week to organize all of our paperwork. One has the originals and the other has the copies! I had everything in one binder and it was getting messy and confusing!

Check out the website www.bringmehope.org and watch the video (3, 4.5 or 7 min.- They are all the same)! They will bring tears to your eyes so get some Kleenex ready! The video on their camp is great too! It makes you want to go to China and bring all the kids back home with you!