Passport pictures

We have our passports from when we went on our cruise. However...we need passport pictures for our Dossier. We were going to get them done on Friday when we went for our 2nd office visit for our Home Study. We stopped at Walmart today to pick something up and we got them done. Seriously took less than 10 minutes from the time they took them until we walked out. Now we don't have to think about that on Friday. Another thing crossed off the list.

In the mail...

Our I600A application was mailed today. Once they receive it, they will send our information to Sioux Falls. SF will call us for a date to go and be fingerprinted. (AGAIN)

Our education workbook (that we needed to complete and return) was also mailed today.

What a relief to have both of these things "in the mail."

Home Study scheduled

We have another office visit on the 30th with Catholic Family Services. Our official Home Study is scheduled for May 19th. :) We will be out of school by then so the timing couldn't be better. It is so exciting to be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

First visit for Home Study

Friday was our first office visit for our Home Study. Our case worker is AMAZING!!! I liked her in the email contacts that we had, but she was even better in person. She was so easy to talk to which is exactly how this kind of situation should be. We will meet with her again on the 30th and then she will come to our house about the middle of May. :)

We are still plugging away at our education. We have the on-line stuff done, but are still working on the workbook. Hopefully soon we can get that finished.

We are waiting for just a few items and then all of information for our Dossier will be ready to go as soon as our Home Study is complete.

I will be getting things ready to send in our I600A form. (the Immigration papers we need to file) I will have to send everything to the head office in Texas. Then they will send the stuff to our local office. They will then contact us and let us know when we can come for fingerprinting.

Current status

First of all, I found out that it is probably a 23 hour trip instead of 18. I liked 18 WAY better. :)

Even though I haven't updated on here, we are still busy, busy, busy doing things. We are getting all of our documents ready for our Dossier. We only have a few letters left to get such as employment verfication and our police clearance. The Dossier process has been much easier than some of the other things we have had to do. We can't send in this paperwork until our Home Study is completed so it will be awhile.

In addition to getting paperwork in order, we have been working on our education part. We have a pretty good sized workbook to read through and fill out. We have to send it back to our agency and if any question is missed, it will be returned to us. Also--we have some classes to take on line. It has all been very interesting and very helpful. It is an eye opening experience to the challenges we may face in a year, 2 years, or 20 years from now.

Plane trip

I have been emailing a lady that lives in Sioux Falls, has used our agency, and has adopted from Ethiopia. What a great resource! I asked her how long of a trip it was. 18 hours! That long of a plane trip plus the huge time difference. Man will we be tired when we get home.

Devotion

This was in my devotional book the other day. It sure puts what we are going through into words better than I can. I cannot explain to anyone the feeling of peace that we have going through all of this. I cannot explain how much we feel this is God's will and that this is what we are to do. He will provide.

"...If we begin with a feeling or an urge to do something we've never done before, and if we have the confidence and freedom to believe it can be done, then somehow the difficulties attached to it begin to lose their scary power of intimidation. By trusting in God and believing all things are possible with him, doors to the unknown begin to open; and in time, a sense of certainty sets in..."

I am so calm about all of the uncertainities in our future. A calmness that can only be a true gift from God.

A few more things checked off the list

On Friday on our way home for Easter, we were able to stop at the Courthouse and get birth certficates and our marriage license. It was nice we didn't have to make a special trip. Today the girls and I will have our physicals with blood work that is needed for both the Home Study and our Dossier.

I just spoke with someone from AGCI. They will be calling us every other week to check in and see how the paperwork is going and answer any questions we have. I was so concerned about this I600A immigration form. I thought we had to get results back before we could proceed. As soon as AGCI gets our completed Home Study and Dossier, they will review it and let us know what things need to be changed. (which is normal) THEN we get put on the waiting list! :)