Chugging Right Along…

Whew! It has been a whirlwind the past few weeks. We have found that the adoption process ebbs and flows between frenzied activity and periods of waiting. Well the last couple of weeks for us has been frenzied to say the least.

At the beginning of February we started our “Love Knows No Distance” t-shirt campaign. Through the grace of God and the generosity of others we raised just over $2000 (once we collect all of the donations)! We put in our t-shirt order on February 14th, the shirts have shipped, and we will start to distribute them next week!

We also wrapped up our Home Study on February 12th. As a reminder, the home study process involves getting to know us as a potential adoptive family to determine if we are fit for a placement. As part of the process, we asked for the home study report to be written for a potential placement of two children. While we are not guaranteed to be approved for a placement of two, we are hopefully that we will be. The report is currently being written up by our home study case worker. We have two pieces of outstanding paperwork that needs to be turned in for the home study to be finalized. If all goes well we should have a finalized report by mid-March. This means that we would be “home study approved” which is a huge milestone in any adoption process. This approval will allow us to apply for grants to continue our fundraising efforts. It will also allow for us to move forward with our formal application called a dossier to the country of Colombia for adoption!

Since our last update we also had a few important appointments. We both visited our primary care physician to have physicals. The information gleaned from our physicals will be included in our dossier. We also met a very important requirement by having our psychological evaluations conducted. Colombia requires both prospective adoptive parents to participate in this evaluation for the purpose of helping to determine mental fitness for adoption. The report is currently being written and we hope to have it by mid-March as well.

This past weekend we had the pleasure of going to a friends wedding in Nashville. We had a fantastic time of celebrating her. In the midst of all the fun, we were able to get a couple of things done for the adoption. As part of our dossier we have to send copies of our birth certificates and a copy of our marriage license to Colombia. As part of the validation of these documents, they have to be apostilled in the state where the events took place. Since we were in the capital of Tennessee (the state where Laura was born and where we were married) we were able to shave some time and money by going to get these documents apostilled in person rather than having to ship them!

Needless to say, we have gotten a lot done towards our adoption. Moving forward we have a couple of fundraisers in March and April. We will also be focusing on compiling documents for our dossier so we can hopefully have it submitted to Colombia by the beginning of the summer.

How You Can Be Praying for Us:

• Pray that our home study and psychological reports get completed and approved by mid-March.
• Pray for us as we begin to compile the documents for our dossier. Pray that we are organized and diligent in putting these documents together.
• Pray for us as we begin to apply for grants. These grants will be a big portion of our fundraising so we need favor from God for these grant approvals.
• Pray for our boys as we continue to shepherd them through this adoption process. Pray for our marriage as we wade through this process.
• Pray for our daughter(s) as we wait to be united with her(them). Pray for their caregivers. Pray for their mental, emotional, and physical well-being.

As always, we thank you for your continued support. We will provide another update in March, hopefully full of good news about progress in our process!