Keeping It Real

The waiting is getting difficult... 
I'll just go ahead & keep it real.


I have been disheartened this week to learn that when our dossier was presented to the IHNFA, they requested another letter from us.  Another! Document!


And-- if that wasn't enough to bum me out, we just received word yesterday that the IHNFA is requesting a NEW medical form (for all 4 us!) that needs to be submitted with all dossiers.


What does all this really mean??  
More time to wait....


We have to make separate appointments to generate all the needed documents.  Take those to be notarized.  Take them to be certified in their respective counties (different than a notary).  Then, take all those back down to the State to be apostilled.
Once all that is completed, we overnight them to our agency in DC... & then they send the package on to Honduras.
And, when that happens... we pray that our dossier will be reviewed & accepted QUICKLY!


As a gentle nudge from the Lord, I read this today:

Galatians 5:22

 ^22-23 But what happens when we live God's way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.


Thanks for reading & for caring.  I really hate being a Debbie Downer.
Committed,
Kristin

DTH

Just a quick little update to say that we have an official DTH!  

If you're illiterate to adoption lingo (like myself) let me fill you in... 

Once your dossier arrives in country, you're given a special abbreviation (depending on which country you're actually adopting from).  

Ours is called a DTH, which stands for Dossier To Honduras.  

However, there is also the DTE (Ethiopia) and a DTC (China) & so on...  

Why is this significant??  Because it's basically the "time-stamp" that begins logging your wait time.

So, with that little bit of education... our DTH is officially 3/16/2012.

Everything is now being translated to Español.

So, we wait...

One Giant Exhale

We mailed off our dossier!!!  
Over 500 pages of personal documents, tests, & evaluations are now traveling to our agency (AWAA) in D.C.
Bless that FedEx driver!  :)


I'm breathing a little easier since yesterday.
Here are some photos...

Photo taken by a kind (& camera phobic) FedEx man.  :)

Future Timeline:


Our dossier will be sent from our agency to our attorney in Honduras.  It will then be translated into Spanish and authenticated by the Honduran government. After that, it will be presented and approved by INHFA.  Once approved, we will be officially placed on the waiting list for our little girl.  
Timeline for all of this:  Absolutely No Clue.


Here's what we will be doing next:  Fundraising, applying for grants, & trying to wait patiently.

Progress & Paperwork

Lots of great progress happening around here lately!

On February 9th (my own adopted father's birthday... I love that "coincidence") we had an appointment at Immigration Services (USCIS) to have our fingerprints taken.

One week later, I opened up our mailbox to a sweet surprise... Our I-600 APPROVAL!!!  Yay!
This document states that we have legal approval from the US government to adopt.

The day after that, February 16th, Darrell and I had our psychiatric evaluation and testing completed... looks like we are not too crazy, afterall.

And... over the past two days I have been running around like a mad woman getting forms notarized & re-notarized, typing letters, scanning, emailing, and organizing our mountain of paperwork!

Next on the agenda is to have everything apostilled (that little gold sticker the government sticks on legal papers)... it's basically a notary-to-the-notary.
We do this at the Secretary of State office (thankfully we live in Nashville).

Then, we will travel to Atlanta to get the Honduran Consulate letter... (and, maybe a celebratory stop at Ikea while we're there).

I am hopeful that we will be able to mail our dossier next week... where it will then be reviewed, translated to Spanish, and sent off to Honduras.

Oh friends... what a JOYFUL day that will be!!!

I am definitely ready to have this part out.of.my.life.
Paperwork is the pits!

And you know I love to take some photos... so, here you go.  

My handsome husband's reflection in the USCIS office window.

Apparently, they are pretty serious about their rules.  

Including photography.

Rats.

Happy Friday!

Kristin

A little adoption update...

Happy New Year!


Thank you to all our sweet friends who have asked, encouraged, and prayed for our adoption.
Here's a quick little adoption update to catch everyone up to speed:


1.  I mailed our I-600 application last week!  Yay!

Basically, this is a document that declares that an orphan that has been adopted (or will be adopted) by a US citizen is an immediate relative to that citizen.  


Now, we wait (an average of 75 days) to get the approved document back from USCIS... before we can mail our dossier.  
We still have plenty of work to accomplish during the wait time... things like our psychiatric evaluations & additional references written.




2.  The Honduras government is a hot mess right now.  They recently opened investigations into IHNFA, workers went on strike and then a couple of top officials were fired.  Now adoptions are on "hold."


Obviously, this feels all too familiar with Guatemala right next door.
At this point, we are not switching countries... we are preparing our dossier, listening to the Lord and praying like crazy!!
We are praying for the country, for the government, and for the thousands of desperate children that are without families.  


We will continue update you as we know more...

Giving Thanks & A "Little" Surprise!

It’s a GIRL!!!

We are officially announcing our journey to adopt a little GIRL from the country of Honduras.  We are overjoyed to share the news... and very excited to add to our family!

For most of you, our decision to adopt is no surprise.  We’ve shared our heart for the fatherless… and we have prayed continually for God to show us the right time to adopt a child (or 2) of our own.

Why Honduras? 

It looks like Guatemala adoptions are on hold indefinitely.  So, we are looking to the neighboring country of Honduras to add to our family.  The two countries share a similar story and culture, as well as being close in geographic proximity.

Right now, we are finishing up the home study process and the mountain(!) of paperwork that will become our dossier.  We are hoping to submit the dossier by early 2012 and then be placed on the waiting list soon after.  All in all, the process is estimated to take about 2 years and cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $30,000.  If you look over to the right, you can see the results of our fundraising efforts to date.  Would you support us and help bring our daughter home?  We would love for you to be a part of our adoption story.

Please pray for us as we continue traveling down a very long road...

Feel free to follow along here, our family blog, as we document the journey.

Grateful,

Darrell & Kristin

Change of Seasons

Just as sure as the seasons were made for change...

I went from a balmy 75 degree day in Guatemala, blue skies, beautiful weather and an AMAZING time with my family. Serving and loving others, building a home for the Ortiz, and a sweet time with the kiddos at Los Gozosos that we've come to adore... It was by far the best New Year that I've ever experienced.

Contrast that with touching down in Houston, on our way back home to Nashville, and getting a voicemail from the plane that my beloved Granny Sara was in critical care at UT Medical Center.

We flew back home and were welcomed with bitter cold weather, gloomy skies, and a change of seasons that I was very unprepared for...

my heart felt very unprepared...

I tend to think in metaphors... and, I cannot seem to shake this one.

I mean, it's no coincidence that this blog is was titled "Blossom-ing"...

For every Spring there is a Winter.
I'm not a fan of Winter.
If I could, I would live in that Spring-like weather all of the time.

Update:  My beloved Granny Sara went to heaven on January 26th, 2010.  I was in the room with my Mama, Aunt Carol, & Aunt Kim when she died.  It was peaceful... beautiful... & sad.  We prayed over her body, we cried & we laughed...

...then, I looked out the hospital room window as snow started falling from the sky...


I miss her so much, it hurts.