We did it!! I almost get hesitant about saying the paper chase is over...but we DID mail our dossier out to our agency yesterday!! Here is the dossier with our three copies of each document. The originals and two copies go to the agency and the third copy is for our records.

Yesterday didn't quite go as I had envisioned. I had thought we would make our copies, put everything together, drive to the post office as a family, take pictures, pray over the documents, and send it in together. Well... the copies took a lot longer than either of had thought they would. With all the staples and seals I had to do it carefully and there were so many pages! By the time I was done, it was 2 o'clock. I was thankful I had brought snacks for the kids but they hadn't eaten lunch and Weston was very tired and ready for his nap. I came home instead of going to the post office. Nathan came home early so I could rush it to the post office. The children were napping so only the two of us could pray over it and we did not take any pictures. (I'm glad I took the one of the stack!) I was a little sad that I had to mail it off myself. In life, things don't always go the way we think they will but at the end of the day...we mailed our dossier!! Along with all the money needed to go with it! That is what really matters.

I think both Nathan and I would agree that I did most of the work to get this all done. It was easier for me because I was at home during the day and could set up appointments, read over things, and really devote time to keeping us organized and progressing. I know that Nathan wants our son home. He loves him already and we dream of having him here and our family complete. However, it is nice to get a little recognition for 7 months worth of work! :) This is the sweet note I woke up to this morning!

So now we wait about a week or a little more due to the holiday. If everything we've sent is correct, they will mail it to Honduras! Then it will take several weeks to translate before going before INFHA. (government group responsible for adoptions in Honduras)

Please join our family in praying that our documents are all correct or that if changes need to be made it can be done quickly. Pray that our Dossier will arrive safely in Honduras and the process of translating and going before the INFHA will move faster than expected. Please pray that we would pass the first time so that we can move forward to be "officially waiting" and receive our first wait list number!

Dare I say it??

As far as I know....we have ALL the documents needed for our Dossier!!! I picked up the last thing we needed today!

If I were to overnight the documents that we need to be apostilled and paid for them to be sent back overnight, the earliest it could be here is next Wednesday. Nathan is actually going to be traveling for work in the same direction so it will be easier to save the money and have him have the documents apostilled. When he arrives home on Thursday, we will make the copies of everything. All documents have to have 3 copies. (That's a lot of trees!) The original dossier, along with two copies of the dossier, will be sent to our agency. The other copy is for our records. We also have to send several checks. Our middle payment to our agency, Dossier Service & Translation Fee, Post-Adoption Deposit, Consulate & Courier Fee, 1st part (of 2) International Program Fee. This totals to $8890.

I'm so excited! And nervous! Part of me wants to just load up the kids and drive there tonight so we can send it a couple of days earlier but financially it doesn't make sense when Nathan is getting paid to go up there next week. I know a couple days doesn't seem like much in light of the entire journey but every day without him home is hard. I'll admit that my stomach is in knots. The idea of placing this many months of hard work into the mail and praying it all arrives safely to Virginia and then to Honduras makes me nervous. All we can do is pray!! Part of me doesn't believe that we're actually going to send it in next week. Nerves and all...I can't wait for Nathan and I to lay our hands on the the 100% completed Dossier, pray over it, take our picture, and send it on it's way!!! :)


Hey Little Man! This is your sister Addison. She is proudly holding up the last document we needed for our file. She is so ready to meet you! She has been drawing you in family pictures, asking questions about you, and praying for you. I can't wait for you to meet her too!

Update!

Our I-171H form came in!!! Yay! Now we're really close to completing our dossier! We are waiting on a couple of updates to be turned into us. Because the process has taken longer than expected, we needed to update a few of our documents before sending it to Honduras. The things we lack are the updated deed for our home, which we should have today or tomorrow, and then the medical letters. Honduras has been through a reforming process with new leaders and an updated adoption process. It's been really hard for the families that submitted their dossiers last year and waited for months without ever making it to the waiting list. Thankfully things are moving forward again! It's been exciting to see people's numbers move up the list and I can't wait for it to be our turn! That being said, there are just a couple things that changed from what it used to be. One of which, is the standard letter each person has to have written on their behalf from their doctor.

What happens next? - Once we have all of our documents in hand, we will have these few notarized documents apostilled. The others have already been apostilled when Nathan drove them to Atlanta. Then we will make all the copies that are needed for our records and the agency. Then we submit it along with a few different checks. After final approval, our agency will send our Dossier to Honduras! Once in Honduras, it has be translated. That process alone takes a few weeks. I will keep you updated along the way. Praying that we can still get our Dossier to Honduras by the end of the month!!!

I'm so excited that there is a light at the end of the paper chase! I'm so excited that we're moving forward! We have no idea if our wait time will be short or long but at least we will finally be "waiting"! Thank you all for your continued support and prayers. Along the way it can be frustrating and we know our road until he comes home is probably much longer than the road behind us. We feel the Holy Spirit all over this adoption and continue to move forward with confidence! God already knew that our paperwork would take longer than we expected before he placed this in our hearts. We believe he is guiding this situation with his hand and it will come together in his timing. I was thinking today that I can't imagine how people do this without a relationship with our Savior. It's his peace, his promises, and the knowledge that he is leading us that keeps me going. I would be a frazzled mess without the Lord in this situation! (or in any aspect of life)

So close to finishing our Dossier!

I must admit I've been discouraged. It seems like we started slower in the paper chase than I wanted and faced several problems along the way. Things took longer than we were told they would and each step seemed to be a waiting game. It's hard to see others who are in this journey with us moving along faster even though they got started after us. However, I just keep thinking about God's perfect peace and his plan for our child and our family. I'll be honest and say there are times I worry and stress but even in those dark moments I never seem to allow it to go fully in that direction. The Holy Spirit is there each time speaking peace and reminding me of God's promises. We have had to redo some paperwork and forms this week because time has elapsed on some of the documents. Thankfully, they were all pretty easy to fix! I had thought surely our Dossier would be on it's way to Honduras by now but it isn't. Still, God is faithful!

We have our Dossier complete and it was pre-approved...minus one government document. Nathan will be taking our file to be apostilled this week. (basically a notary of a notary) Once our approved form arrives, we will have that apostilled and we should be ready to send it to our agency! I'm so ready to have this file out of our hands and in Honduras!!

One of the final steps necessary was a trip to USCIS office to have our electronic fingerprints done. Here Nathan and I are with our signed forms after having that done.



Please be in prayer with us that everything will go smoothly this month and we can get this Dossier sent to Honduras!