Originally, I agreed to film a short video surrounding our adoption for Micajah when he grows up to see how much he meant to us and to make others aware about St. Vincent adoptions. While both of those reasons are still very dear to me, there have been so many more unexpected blessings. First, we have raised a little over $100 which means a lot to us. Since starting this journey, we have found out that Andrew and I will likely both have to make 2 trips to St. Vincent and that our costs to St. Vincent have tripled. We do not like to ask for money as I know it is a difficult time for everyone right now, and have just been praying and cutting costs where we can. God is our provider and he has been doing that when we least expect it. And secondly, the encouragement is almost staggering and such a balm for my longing mommy heart. The posts people have left on our Facebook, people sharing our blog and looking to see people that we have never even met donating $1 or $2 toward our adoption means so much! Truly, this blog has been such an encouragement and answer to prayers when I needed it most. I am going to try to thank every one of you personally who have donated, but to all of you who have taken the time to read our story, prayed for us, or have shared our story, THANK YOU!
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Other adoptive parents had warned me, the waiting it tough. They were not kidding, the waiting is TOUGH. This weekend I had an especially hard weekend, maybe the hardest yet. I think it came from making creating our video for the Give1Save1 Caribbean blog. I sometimes have difficulty being really open and to share our story when I knew so many would see it, to open back up the difficult past and to reflect on this incredible journey, really brought out a lot of emotions. I am not sure why through every difficulty I try to rely on myself before praying to our Creator, the one who set all of this into motion, but I do.
Originally, I agreed to film a short video surrounding our adoption for Micajah when he grows up to see how much he meant to us and to make others aware about St. Vincent adoptions. While both of those reasons are still very dear to me, there have been so many more unexpected blessings. First, we have raised a little over $100 which means a lot to us. Since starting this journey, we have found out that Andrew and I will likely both have to make 2 trips to St. Vincent and that our costs to St. Vincent have tripled. We do not like to ask for money as I know it is a difficult time for everyone right now, and have just been praying and cutting costs where we can. God is our provider and he has been doing that when we least expect it. And secondly, the encouragement is almost staggering and such a balm for my longing mommy heart. The posts people have left on our Facebook, people sharing our blog and looking to see people that we have never even met donating $1 or $2 toward our adoption means so much! Truly, this blog has been such an encouragement and answer to prayers when I needed it most. I am going to try to thank every one of you personally who have donated, but to all of you who have taken the time to read our story, prayed for us, or have shared our story, THANK YOU!
Originally, I agreed to film a short video surrounding our adoption for Micajah when he grows up to see how much he meant to us and to make others aware about St. Vincent adoptions. While both of those reasons are still very dear to me, there have been so many more unexpected blessings. First, we have raised a little over $100 which means a lot to us. Since starting this journey, we have found out that Andrew and I will likely both have to make 2 trips to St. Vincent and that our costs to St. Vincent have tripled. We do not like to ask for money as I know it is a difficult time for everyone right now, and have just been praying and cutting costs where we can. God is our provider and he has been doing that when we least expect it. And secondly, the encouragement is almost staggering and such a balm for my longing mommy heart. The posts people have left on our Facebook, people sharing our blog and looking to see people that we have never even met donating $1 or $2 toward our adoption means so much! Truly, this blog has been such an encouragement and answer to prayers when I needed it most. I am going to try to thank every one of you personally who have donated, but to all of you who have taken the time to read our story, prayed for us, or have shared our story, THANK YOU!
Thursday, November 1, 2012
I have had several facebook new friends/facebook messsages and emails concerning St. Vincent adoptions, which is very exciting! It however is also a little scary as ours is one of the first private adoptions that we know of, so a lot of learning involved. For those interested, here is our adoption journey/timeline:
May 2012 - Contacted foster mom in St. Vincent stating we would be interested in adopting.
August 1, 2012 - Received referral for our son.
August 2, 2012 - Saw M for the first time via FaceTime.
August 3, 2012 - Began home study paper work and received email with necessary St. Vincent paperwork.
August 5, 2012 - M moved in with my sister and her family.
August 21, 2012 - M celebrated his first birthday!
August 26, 2012 - M was dedicated at his church and thus allowed for him to apply for a birth certificate.
August 31, 2012 - M received his 12 month shots.
September 1, 2012 - In home portion of US home study completed.
October 8, 2012 - Received final copy of American home study and flew a copy to St. Vincent (literally) and sent another copy, along with our i600a, birth and marriage certificates to USCIS in Texas for approval.
October 9, 2012 - Met my son in person for the first time.
October 11, 2012 - Received email notification that our i600a documents had been received. Met with our St. Vincent lawyer, gave her all of our required, notarized documents. Found out 3 documents were missing the bottom few inches and need to be re-signed, re-notarized and mailed back.
October 12, 2012 - Took M to Dr for full adoption check-up and lab work. He passed with flying colors! Also received Micajah's birth certificate and got a certified copy for the lawyer.
October 15, 2012 - Flew back home leaving Micajah back in the loving care of my sister and her family.
October 17, 2012 - Got our final papers signed, notarized and physician statements re-signed and sent back to St. Vincent.
October 20, 2012 - Received our official letter stating our fingerprinting would be done in Wichita, KS on 11/9/12 at 1 pm.
October 30, 2012 - Received word that the home study in St. Vincent is in progress/completed.
Still to come: News that our case is through family court, then the adoption board, then on to the high court, which we will be attending where we are appointed his guardians for life! After that, we apply to the U.S. for Visa, passport, citizenship, and then finally, hopefully, 30 days later we go pick him up and bring him HOME! (In a nutshell.)
Please continue to pray for our adoption process when it is on your heart. Specifically for the adoption to go through quickly as a lot of the proceedings are changing and for the finances to work out. I have heard that all adoptions are like this, but this being our first experience, it is all very new and exciting, but yet tough. We got word yesterday that our cost in St. Vincent is tripling due to the St. Vincent government changing up the adoption procedure and costs. We also got word that our adoption would be "starting over with all new paperwork". However today (thanks to many many prayers I know) we heard that our paperwork will go through as is, it was processed just in the nick of time. We never know what news our day holds! We cannot thank everyone enough who has been praying for us and for those continuing to do so.
Saturday, October 13, 2012
A glimpse into our new life...
I am not a facebook poster or a tweeter so blogging is completely out of my element. After a few people suggested, I started this blog to document our adoption process. Partly, selfishly, to remember every step of the way, whether good or bad, to look back upon and show Micajah how special he has been to us his whole life and how much he was desired. Another part is to encourage others going through adoptions and have information for those families specifically looking toward St. Vincent. Because I am in St. Vincent currently, I don't have access to my journal that I attempted to record the adoption timeline in, but will update the blog with specific info when I return home. The final part is sharing our requests and knowing that others are praying along with us to bring M home. My prayer requests on my heart at this time are that M knows I am not abandoning him tomorrow, but that Andrew and I will be back as promised and that our paperwork moves through both the US and St. Vincent court systems quickly and with ease.
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