business as usual

I promised an update on the business end, and I shall deliver.

A few weeks ago we filled out our i600a forms to mail off.  Those were sent to Dallas, TX and somehow made it to the Department of Homeland Security.  Is that in TX?  Probably, because they have all the guns, right?   No jokes, got it.  It never occurred to me to make copies of all those documents, but that would have been a very smart thing.  Lesson learned in case we adopt again.  Well, after that was mailed off we were matched with Gia (yay!) and then promptly sent a mess load of more documents to fill out.  Let me see if I can remember them all...

• 864
• 864a
• tax documents (all, not just the top copy) from the past 3 years
• travel form
• affidavit for EP
• statement of adoption
• travel release
• placement agreement
• transmittal form
• marriage license
• birth certificates
• my favorite BBQ recipe from my mother
• burned cd of my last itunes purchase
• essay on why Gilmore Girls is the best written show ever

Ok, those last three may be made up, but WOW it felt like we were sending anything and everything about our lives.  

It took us about a week to gather everything, notarize a lot of the papers, and get Kevin back in town to sign them.  And then I read it.  I scanned through the instructions on the Holt email again and I saw where it said the primary parent was the one who had to fill out the 864 forms.  Who is that exactly?  Well, the primary parent is the same one who filled out the aforementioned i600a.  You know, the one we sealed up weeks ago never to be looked at again.  That very one!  So a new set of anxieties set it.  

If I fill it out incorrectly, will it delay our travel?

If so, how long will we have to wait?

Can't I just call and ask the people who the primary parent is?

If they can't/won't tell us, should we just sent two copies filled out by each of us?

These, and many other, questions swam around my brain for about three days.  I finally sat on my bed and asked God to please give me a peace about who's name we put on the i600a so that I could get this other paperwork sent off.  And He did.  Hallelujah.  I took my peaceful God-given confidence and filled the 864 out as me being the primary parent.   As it turns out, that was exactly right, so we at least know those papers were correct.  

Side note:  I did call the TX people several times but they kept telling me I'd have to wait for a confirmation in the mail before they could tell me.  

After a stressful week of paperwork, we overnighted the papers ($79 by the way) Monday.  Korea will *prayerfully* be getting our papers next week, and we will officially be on the waiting list for an EP (emigration permit).  Only a certain amount of EPs are released each year.  The quota will reset in January, so we are praying that we will be in one of the first groups.  Once Gia's EP is approved we will travel to get her!  

Again, we are praying for April travel.  We have had many kind and educated people explain to us how unlikely this is.  We are fine with that.  I've said it several times in the past two weeks and I'll say it again: We serve a big God.  He can make it happen if it's in His will.  We are soberly aware that this is a long shot, but we simply don't care.  :)   God is going to do mighty things through our prayers, even if it's only to change our hearts and teach us patience.  

I want to take just a minute to brag on God.  We were matched with Gia on a Thursday.  Friday is when we received all the acceptance paperwork.  Part of that paperwork was an invoice for $18,500.  I immediately emailed Holt back and asked when the money was due.  Their response:  upon acceptance. What?!   We ended up agreeing on a monthly payment plan, but they were clear that they needed money asap in order to process the paperwork.  Saturday morning I woke up to a $500 check in the mail from some very sweet college friends of ours.  They had no idea how God-ordained their timing was.  And then, we went to visit some other friends who gave us a precious card with a $1000 gift.  Seriously!  Another God timing thing.  I don't think any of these people desire recognition, but they know who they are.  THANK YOU!!  Y'all have shown us how wonderful God is through His people.  We only hope to be able to do the same for others in the future.  Those couples are not the only generous people that have helped us, but they are the most recent.  We are completely grateful to every single one of you that have donated or bought shirts.  We love you and can't wait for Gia to meet you!

Sending Hugs

just call me Hannah

Just call me Hannah...

The situation might be different, but the heart's desire is the same. Thank you, God, for answering our prayer! We cannot wait to be parents to this precious little girl.

And she said, "Oh, my lord! As you live, my lord, I am the woman who was standing here in your presence, praying to the LORD. For this child I prayed, and the LORD has granted me my petition that I made to him. Therefore I have lent him to the LORD. As long as he lives, he is lent to the LORD."


I have several business/paperwork updates, but I've been too excited to talk business. Maybe soon. :)


Sending Hugs

scentsy ending soon....buy now!

Don't forget to order some Scentsy gifts! ALL money will help bring Gia home. Yes, Gia, who now has a face to the name. Praise the Lord!

The invoice we received Friday was a HUGE number, but a sweet friend quickly reminded me that it's pocket change to our God. I love that. We are trusting that the fundraisers we are working on, including Scentsy, are honoring to Him and His call for our Gia's adoption.


Sending Hugs

tricks and treats

Disclaimer: My head is full tonight, so I might ramble. I promise I'll try to make it make sense.


I'll start with the treats...

Today Kevin and I got a very fun phone call. As I sat at lunch with my teacher friends in a loud, adolescent filled cafeteria my phone rang. We had all been glued to it, waiting for the news. Side note here: I love love love working at my school. There is just so much support. So when it finally rang at 12:42 pm I practically ran into the hallway. J from Holt greeted me and I asked if I could call Kevin to 3-way him in. Once he was on the phone, she said something like, "I'm glad you're both on the phone for this because I have some great news. You've been selected!" We both thanked her profusely. Why did we thank her? She didn't do anything. Maybe it was our natural southern instinct to just express our appreciation. Regardless, she was thrown at least six thank yous between the two of us. And that was it. The whole call lasted about 3 minutes.
Everyone has the same two questions now: When will we get her? What are the next steps?
I know you're shocked to hear this answer, but we don't know. We have read the wait time is anywhere between 3-9 months. My guess is we'll be on the latter end of that. Kevin and I have agreed to pray for travel in April. As far as what's next, I am waiting on an email that tells me those steps. All I know is that Korea will be informed of the match and we'll go from there.
When I walked back into the lunchroom after taking the phone call, the ENTIRE cafeteria was cheering and clapping, teachers and students. I'm not sure the students knew why they were cheering, but they were completely sold out for it!
In fact, one kid told me later, "So I thought something big happened."
To which I responded, "Well, that was kinda big for me."
And he said, "No, I mean, like, to America."

Gotcha.

Lots of hugs, tears, and high-fives (I don't hug my male students) were exchanged and it was a grand 2 minute celebration. Ahhhh....

I had TONS, absolutely tons of texts and emails coming in immediately, and they were all precious and warmed my soul. The one that really made the news real was from my friend Liz. Her email was only two sentences.
Just saw this on the photo listing site. We are so blessed to know her family.
With this picture attached.

Oh. My. Word. I was speechless.

So here's the colorful picture because I know you'd rather see that. :)

My students also left me these little messages on my board after lunch.

And now for the tricks...

Upon hearing my news, my students went into full Q&A mode. This can be dangerous when you teach unfiltered teenagers. These are some of the lovely conversations I was involved in today.

Student: Why are you adopting? Can't you just make one?
Me: Well, God told us to adopt so we did.
Student: Whatever.

Student #1: What are you gonna name her?
Me: Probably Gia.
Student #2: What? What kind of name is Gia?
Me: Seriously? You don't think that was kind of rude the way you asked that?
Student #2: I just think it's a stupid name.

Student: When she comes home, she'll just speak Korean for the rest of her life, huh?
Me: Yep, they come pre-programmed like that.

Student: Are you adopting from Korea so she can do your nails?
Me: I had no comment for this one. And it was wise that I held my tongue. I'm sure my face said it all.

Despite those pearls of wisdom, today was really great.

Sending Hugs

14 hours and counting...

How can I describe how I'm feeling right now?

I think Jessie Spano said it best.

"I'm so excited! I'm so excited! I'm so....scared."


:)

Sending Hugs

interview today, committee Thursday

Our interview for Baby Girl is TODAY at 5:00 our time. That's 20 minutes!
Committee will meet Thursday to pick a family (between us and one other family). We will know something Thursday afternoon, probably.

Pray for us for clarity and peace. Pray for Baby Girl that God would start preparing her heart to leave the only place she knows as home. This process will be far worse for her than the family getting her.

Sending Hugs

new friends and new referrals

First of all, I cannot figure out why my own blog won't let me comment on it anymore, so I want to take a moment to say THANKS to the nize07 for your very sweet comment. I got it in my email this morning as I arrived at school and it blessed my day! It was precious to read, and I will absolutely send a shirt to Australia!!! That's so cool. Just tell me how to get it there, ha!
Also, a big THANKS to the Gronewold family and Eunice (The Korean). It was fun to hear from you guys and I'm happy you found the blog! I'd love to keep in touch and hear more about your stories.


Now on to some very exciting news...

Over the past 10 days we have received three or four Korean referrals. This is such a refreshing blessing because I've been a little bummed about just doing the business side of the adoption and missing out on the babies' faces! Our patience has been answered with two precious girls that we want to pursue. Each referral is $350 to have reviewed by the clinic we are using, and we knew we couldn't send both files over because that would be $700 that we didn't have. So, we prayed about it and felt a draw to one specific girl, and we sent her file over yesterday.

Let me tell you how cool God is right now. Not only did we not have $700, but truly we weren't sure where the $350 would come from. I remembered we had had a lot of tshirt orders lately, so I checked my PayPal where I found $200. Yay! Transfer to bank, done. Plus we had $80 from RoF's release show last week where a few people bought shirts. Another yay! So $280 is definitely better than none. We pulled the remaining $70 from our own little checking account and sent the baby's file over.

The doctor called today to give us a run down of her current and potential medical needs. We liked what she said, and we felt comfortable with her explanations.

Much like before, we now enter a waiting game. There are two other families that are looking at her file, I know. I'm not sure if they will decide to move forward with her, but we have put in our "yes." So now we wait. If we are the only "yes" family, then she will be ours! We are both hesitant to even discuss how this will turn out because we know all too well that it could be in another family's favor. We are praying for this girl to find the family God has for her, whether it's us or not. Please join us in that prayer. We'd love love love to parent her, but we know that God's ways are higher than our own and we want to be obedient to His will for our lives (and that baby's) instead of our own selfish will.

Updates to follow soon, I hope!!

Sending Hugs