USCIS

Well, the adoption won't be complete by the end of the year. Guess Ghana's end of the year is not much different than the states ... things seem to shut down or processes seem to slow in the last two weeks of the year. Either way, this didn't stop Adam. We had submitted our I-600a paperwork back in November, received a letter stating receipt but getting status was becoming difficult. So, my proactive husband decided to make an appointment with our local USCIS. This led us to fingerprinting last week and a possible I-171h this week. Really?!?! Such a big deal. Since policies changed within our agency, our Dossier will be held until the I-171h is received, another hold up, seems to be normal these days ... we continue to press forward.
My spirits are low, I'm doing what I can to be positive. Not only are so many emotions involved but then you have paperwork, invoices, and personalities. It's all taking its toll. How do questions and protecting oneself deem you as an appropriate or inappropriate parent ... if I was pregnant, would anyone be questioning our abilites as parents? No matter what ... we push forward with the ultimate goal ... bring the children home!

Dossier Complete!

Our Dossier is complete ... I can't believe it! It's really complete and ready to be sent to Ghana! We now just have to come up with the remaining amount of funds so it can be mailed. We were told that if we could possibly come up with all the remaining funds, we could possibly finalize by the end of this year! Oh my!!! We pray for this avenue to be opened. Excitement and nervous are just tiny bits of the emotions felt. Ahhh ... how real this is all becoming. Adam and I still sit quietly, ok, maybe more in shock ... um, really? Parents!!! We're going to be parents ... LOL. Truly another blessing and gift in life.

A Big Step ... for US!

We received the last item needed to mail off our Dossier today! Our Dossier will get mailed off to our placement agency and will in turn get mailed to Ghana to be presented to the courts for approval. We are on our way!!! As I copied each document and document and document ... excitement just continues to grow. We are looking forward to meeting them.
We also mailed off our I-600a. This is our petition to bring an orphan into the US. This packet of paperwork will get mailed to Texas, be processed, and then mailed to the USCIS office here in San Diego. Please pray for this all to run smoothly. This is a brand new way of handling this paperwork and there are no time frames.
There are days I'm overjoyed with excitement and then there are days I'm completely floored with anxiety. We are going to be parents??? oh wait, We're going to be parents!!! The emotions are tough to decipher, to process, but we continue in faith and continue to pray for avenues to bring them home!

Orphan Sunday

We were given the opportunity to share our story with our congregation today! What an amazing experience to have our entire church so excited for us and on board to support us in so many ways. We are blessed ... we continue to be blessed. As I started to share our story, I passed the microphone to Adam, and God has done amazing things in his heart. He completely lost it and tears started streaming down his face. Completely choked up, he shared his story and his journey and our desire to bring the kiddos home! We continue to wait for a couple pieces of paperwork and then we can apply for adoptions loans and more grants. The paperwork can sometimes be daunting ... but it's all worth it, worth those little smiles.
We continue our journey ... and now with an amazing church family on board to support us in so many ways.

Completing the Homestudy ...

Our scheduled appointment with our social worker was today. One more step in the path ... bring them home ... bring them home! I look forward to learning more, soaking in Ghana culture, and preparing our hearts for a whole new life changing expeirence.

Our agency director traveled to Ghana this week and was able to meet Anita and Maxwell! This is what she relates:

"They are more precious than words! They were very gentle children and were playing well with the other children. When [they could] they joined us and gave [their social worker] a big hug. They adore him. They had candy and sang some songs with the other children for us. Anita is 17 Kg (37 lbs.) and Max is 19 Kg. (42 lbs.) Anita is ... 3 feet 11. Max is 3 feet 1 inch. I made traces of their foot prints for you. Then you can check them against a foot size chart."

Needless to say, tears started falling and we are just that much more anxious to travel and get our children!! I want to bring them home ... how could you not with those faces! I do love them.

A Parent's Love ...

So I write this post out of a complete fascination in how a parent's love builds. We have two children. We simply know their names and their ages. We don't know their voice. We don't know their laugh. We don't know their favorite color or food. We don't know what makes them scared or cry or happy or sad. We don't know their personality. But we can honestly say, we love them.

Their picture makes me smile. I cry contemplating their arrival and doing our best to give them the best chance at life. Their eyes speak volumes. We think our children are beautiful, cute and precious. How does this happen? How do we love two little bodies with individual personality's and we've never met them?

Is this what happens during pregnancy?
It's pregnancy ... without a belly! It's a parent's love.
It's God's amazing grace at giving us two beautiful gifts.

Medicals

We anxiously awaited for any info on "Anna" and "Max." Upon our retainer agreement being signed and payment received by PfA, the Ghana agency would be notified and little "Anna" and "Max" would get complete physicals and their social work would be requested. We would hear back ... and we did!
The first joy of international communication ... our little ones were not 4 and 2, they are actually 5 1/2 and 3! Did this change our mind? Um, NO. They still need a home. They still need a chance. They had already become a part of our hearts.
"Anna's" given name is Anita. She is 5 1/2. Long legs, shy eyes, and a smile that often is hidden in her pictures but comes out every now and then. Anita loves singing and dancing.
"Max's" given name is Maxwell. He is 3. With a smile that radiates mischievousness and laughter, his social work states he enjoys playing with toys and football.
They are healthy and passed their physicals with flying colors. We would find out their Grandmother has been their guardian and she has relinquished her rights due to not being able to provide for them. This truly breaks our hearts. The loss she must feel. And the confusion Anita and Maxwell don't even know how to process ... we have our work cut out for us. And we gladly accept the challenge. And once again ... we want to hug them, we want to hear their voices, we want to meet our little ones ... in due time.

A New Chapter ...

As we close the chapter to our house fire and rebuild ... we are anxiously awaiting the opening of our new chapter ... bringing our little ones home from Ghana!!!

They have sweet smiles and button noses. Their eyes captured our hearts. For security reasons, they would be presented to us as Anna, age 4 and Max, age 2. (... more to follow on that ...)

"Were we interested?" "Would we want to be their mom and dad?" We couldn't and didn't say no.

On May 21, 2009 we officially submitted our retainer agreement with PfA for a sister and brother from Ghana. We were ecstatic ... we still are ecstatic. We can't wait to meet them! We look forward to visiting their country. Hugging them. Kissing them. Praying with them. Sharing our family and friends with them. We look forward to providing them with an opportunity at life they might not have within their own country. Are we scared? Yes. Are we nervous? Yes. We're going to be parents ... there is no manual for parenthood ... thus, we move forward in love and faith. God has given us two beautiful gifts!

We have classes to complete, a homestudy to present, documents to put together, passports to apply for, fingerprinting to be done, a Dossier to put together, letters to be written, autobiography's to write ... so many items to complete ... and money to raise.

We move forward in faith ... faith God will provide us the time, knowledge, and funds to bring our children home!

Conception

It started a year ago, or should I say ... "it was alway there." "It" being the desire to adopt. Our bodies weren't granting us pregnancy. The journey of life was throwing curveballs. Nothing we couldn't and wouldn't handle but definitely large speed bumps in the road. A 60 minutes special opened our eyes to children abroad who were in need of loving, caring homes. On August 19th, 2008 Adam and I signed and sent off our application to adopt through "Partners for Adoption." It would begin an unknown journey to being parents. Parents to who or whom? We were not sure. One child? Two children? Siblings? Boy? Girl? Boys and Girls? Baby? Toddler? Elementary? Haiti? Ghana? Africa? Mexico? China? Could we afford it? How do you put a price on a child? How are we going to afford it? Will I be a good mom? Am I ready for this? The questions flooded upon us. The thoughts which crossed our mind were many. The questions we asked ourselves and our agency seemed so trivial ... yet, we had no idea where to start. As our journey started and as time passed, our hearts were not settled with a country. During the months which passed PfA told us about their new partner program with Ghana. The children would be older. They wouldn't be babies. Perhaps it was something we would consider. And consider we did. As much as adopting an older child or children unnerved us, our hearts were captured by a little a girl and boy.

And so ... conception has taken place ... not physcially ... but within our hearts and within our minds ... we are going to be parents!!!