Our immigration approval came in the mail on Monday, May 1. On Tuesday, May 2, we drove to our bank to sign our page in the dossier for USCIS approval in front of a notary, then took that to the county certifier, and then my husband looked at me and said the most beautiful words...
"Wanna just drive to Frankfort and get this finished?"
HECK YES, I DO!
Off to Frankfort we went with our six kiddos, to finish up our dossier to bring home our sweet number seven! We managed to get to the Secretary of State's office about fifteen minutes before they stopped taking walk-ins, and we were out about five minutes later!
We left the Capitol and headed straight to a nearby UPS Store and sent our "paper baby" off to be joined with the rest of our dossier that's already in country. Tracking shows it was delivered today (Thursday, May 4) so it made excellent time! We hope to be "submitted" next week, and then we just wait for our travel dates! And that's it, as far as things we can do! Our end is finished until we travel, and it's a relief to have it all wrapped up, stateside!
The only thing left for us to do is work on funding which, of course, we have been working on for months. Mason (12) had the brilliant idea for us to make and sell fudge, and that has gone over very well! He had actually intended for us to take orders for delivery in time for Mother's Day, but the idea what a hit when I shared it on facebook, and to date I've had 26 orders for boxes of fudge! We also have an online auction that will start on Sunday, May 14, and we have been blown away with the generosity of donors towards that! There are really some great items up for bid! We have seven grants out that haven't responded, but none of them are due to notify until we expect to already be in country, since she is going to be expedited. We are praying and have faith that God is going to make a way. After all, He has brought us this far, and He loves "Mila" even more than we do!
Since I have no paperwork left to do, when I'm not busy working on fudge (or doing school with the boys - our school year will wrap up in a few weeks, just in time for us to travel for the adoption!), I've been trying to get things squared away in the girls' bedroom. "Mila" has a drawer of clothes here, but I've had to guess at her size. I'm looking forward to knowing better what to buy for her, after our first visit, when I can see her. We also have things to do to prepare our home and our kids for our time away, and things to buy for travel - like European converters for our electronics that will need to be plugged in! There are definitely plenty of things to still keep me busy in the next few weeks. :)
Please continue to pray. Specifically:
1) We are praying God will prepare "Mila's" heart, because she is sure to be scared when she leaves her orphanage. It's the only "home" she's known, and she doesn't know us or our language, and it will all be quite a shock. We pray she bonds with us quickly.
2) Praying all of our documents look good, everything is in order, and we get submitted without any trouble.
3) Praying for financing.
4) Praying for peace - both in the wait to meet "Mila," and peace when we have to leave our six behind to travel. They will be with grandparents and will be totally fine and happy, but it's never easy to leave our babies!
I can't wait to update again, when we are submitted!
No comments:
Post a Comment