Our Brief Layover in Immigration Land

Hello everyone, I promised an update on our actual adoption process so here goes. We finally completed our home study after a grueling 7+ months of bumpy turbulence. It seemed that all we did was wait and deal with cancellation after cancellation in addition to the craziness with Isaac's job.

I am so glad we made it through and I know that all of the things that seemed to be delaying us were things that God is using to lead us straight to our girls at just the right moment. I have to admit, my patience is being tested, but also being made much stronger in this whole thing too! Praise the Lord for that because I am certain I will need it when we begin the transition to a family of 6.

Now that our home study is complete and in our hands, we have moved on to the I800a immigration application. We are currently 69 days into our wait and I am not going to lie, it is grueling! I am feeling a bit discouraged at times as it seems like there is nothing to do, other than fund-raise, right now.  I know, I know, that is a big job, but it sometimes does not make me feel like we are making progress.

If you would like to pray for us, we could really use prayer that we would be matched soon with a case worker and that our paper work would be returned quickly. It can take up to 90 days to get a case worker, but we are hoping we are one of the lucky ones that does not have to wait that long! As we are only waiting on this one final piece of the puzzle for our Dossier, it makes it all the harder to wait.

Once we get this final piece of paper, our Dossier (the story of our life on paper) will be sent through the authentication process, which usually takes two weeks, and then scanned and downloaded into the CCCWA, China Center for Children's Welfare and Adoption, database so that we can begin the process of being officially approved to adopt from China and receive our LID (log-in date). This little number is our ticket to starting the referral process and the point at which we will finally be introduced (on paper) to our daughters and have tangible pictures to hold!

I guess that about sums it up. We are hoping to have our referrals by Christmas time, but this is all God's timing and we are willing to wait to ensure that it is his will and not our own being done here.