Hello friends!
As promised, here's a super overdue update regarding where we are on our adoption process. Thank you so much to all of you who haven't stopped praying, asking us questions or showing interest in our adoption journey! We have been specially blessed to know that some of you have even been encouraged to become a forever family yourselves. Yes! For those of you that have recently joined our supporting group and haven't read our previous updates, here they are: Update # 1, #2, and #3. Also, to those that want to know how can you specifically pray for us at this point, there is an updated prayer request list at the bottom of this post. We covet your prayers!
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| As always we'll spice up your reading with some of our latest family pictures |
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| And invite you to join our wishful thinking as we imagine our daughter being part of them! |
At this point we believe to be at the tail end of the 2nd step of our "Paperwork pregnancy". Just as a reminder, and at a very high level, the five major steps of an Chinese adoption are: Applying and Obtaining the Agency Approval, Compiling the Dossier (Documentation to get approved by China and the U.S), Being matched with our child, Traveling to China to bring our child home and last Bonding and Post-placement.
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| We would love her to try the best Sweet potato casserole of the world, Daddy's! |
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| Or just join our joyful noise as we sang carols after dinner during Christmas! |
Every step mentioned above involves lots of action items. We don't want to bore you with details, but please free to ask us if you like to know. It is true, adopting a child requires lots of diligence in the way of legalities that need to be taken care of. And now being in the middle of the process we understand why. In the case of international adoption, making sure that you are dealing with a legitimate organization prevents fraud and abuse. Human trafficking is rampant worldwide, including the U.S, but is even more rampant and less restrained in underdeveloped countries. Therefore the need for inter-country treaties like "The Hague Convention" which establishes parameters for international adoptions. If you are interested in becoming a forever family, one of the first things you have to make sure when choosing your agency, is that it is a "Hague accredited agency". The Official Intercountry adoption website is a good place to educate yourself about many of the details of international adoption. You can read about the status and requirements to complete an adoption from virtually any place in the world.
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| We dream with getting her 'Thing 3" family t-shirt |
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| And watching her devour her Birthday cake! =) |
At this point we have completed most of our "Dossier", which is the compilation of all the documents required to be approved by the Chinese government. This is a list of roughly about 15 documents (Birth-marriage certificates, employment-income verification, financial statements, social workers interview, etc.) that need to be notarized, and certified by different local, state and federal officials, before they are sent for final approval by the Chinese government. That is how the expression "paperwork-pregnancy" was coined. Capiche?! No joke, dealing with so much red tape has felt a bit like morning sickness at some times. But do not be discouraged, it's is doable. Our agency has been of great help to keep ourselves organized and going at a good steady pace at this stage of the process.
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| and to play and read silly stories with mommy and brother! |
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| And to grab Daddy's other leg...wouldn't that be fun! |
At this point we are specifically waiting for the last piece of document to add to our pile which is the approval by the Department of U.S immigration. Once this is received, the whole stack will be translated into Chinese and shipped to the CCCWA or the China Centre for Children's Welfare and Adoption, which is the office that finally approves our family to bring our daughter home.
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| We are eagerly waiting for you sister! |
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| We have a lifetime of love & adventures to share with you! |
Ok friends I think this gives you an idea of where we are at now. The next time we will be sharing about our Adoption agency CCIA and why we chose to work with them. Again thank you very much for your continuing support and prayers. We are overly ecstatic for the success of our fundraiser "Bubbles for Hope". We have for sure been super busy making soap, but what a difference when you are exhausted for a purpose! =)
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| We can't wait 'til the moment where we can hold your hand too! =) |
Here is the list of specific ways you can pray for us now:
- Pray for God's protection over our daughter's life. That the Lord
surround her with angels and compassionate people that would protect her thru
whatever circumstances are leading her family to abandon her or giving her
away.
- Pray for her health. (I'm tearing up here, this is hard to type) Please pray
that God would touch her body with the power of His healing. That He would be
her doctor and her main care taker. That He would provide compassionate people,
physical and financial means to care for whatever physical challenges she's
facing, whether these may be congenital, or any diseases coming from the
orphanage setting. Please pray that God would supernaturally strengthen her
immune system.
- Please ask God that she will be given favor and be assigned a foster mother
that provide the care and love that she needs at her early age. If this is not
possible, that she be surrounded by loving caretakers in her orphanage that
would be passionate about caring for these little children.
- Please pray for protection against any abuse or any harsh circumstances
that may cause her to be psychologically, emotionally or physically wounded.
And please pray for us as we try to learn about compassionate healing
parenting. That the Lord give us the wisdom, stamina, patience and means that
we need to love her to health, thriving and to Him.
- Please pray that God's favor be upon us as we work on the tail end of
our paperwork. Please pray specifically that the Secretary of State and the
Chinese embassy would expedite the certification of documents and that
immigration would give us our approval soon.
- Please pray that God would orchestrate the timing of our matching with her. That He gives us peace knowing that the waiting is not arbitrary, and that He's the author of our story.
Xie, Xie,
Paola
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