Baby Bedding and Updates

Things have been moving along.  I'll tell you about a little update, but first:

I thought this bedding set was really cute.  I like the jungle theme.  And I love the giraffes!

 I like the dark wood furniture too.

Plus, my favorite part about this set, is the rug!

 

And the set should work well in whatever house we have, even when we are renting and can't paint the walls.  (These things you have to think about when you move around as much as we do!)

Update: Ok, so now I was going to say that I talked to USCIS again and found out that our application was not suspended.  They said that people get those "your application was suspended due to insufficient payment" letters all the time.  So they said not to worry.  Our application hasn't been assigned a office person yet, but at least they said that the fingerprints have been sent on to be processed.  That is good news.

     I thought I would also provide another explanation about our adoption process, since it is hard to wrap your head around when you are not the one going through it. 

Please explain the process.  So, there are several steps involved in the adoption process.  Completing the home study was one of the first steps.  The home study declares that we are fit to be parents, and our home it safe.  This completed study is used and examined by multiple agencies.  For instance, we are in one of the next steps, applying for permission from the US citizen and Immigration office to bring a foreign person into the United States.  The USCIS looks at our home study when they process our application.  With their approval, we will be able to get a visa from the US embassy in Kenya to bring our child to the US.  You can't just enter the US with out a visa (otherwise you are illegal!). 
     Our next step is putting together a dossier.  The dossier also includes the home study paperwork.  The dossier is different because it is the final package that gets sent to the Burundian government.  The Burundian government has their own requirements (not necessarily the same as the US) for parents who want to adopt from their country.  So, yes we had to get background checks for our home study for every place we lived in the last five years.  And now, for the dossier, the Burundi government is requiring background checks for the last 5 years.  The home study (mainly because of the requirements for the Hague Treaty) also required child-abuse registry releases from every state we lived in since we were 18.  It is a long list!  Being in the military is not easy for this process!
      Okay, so next authentication is needed because we are going to be sending notarized documents to Burundi.  Now every state may have a different procedure on notaries, and certainly the Burundian government would have no idea if a notary is real or fake.  So, someone in the US government puts their stamp of approval on all the signatures, notaries and such to prove that they are truly in fact authentic.  This makes the Burundian government happy, to see big stamps of approval on things, so they wouldn't have to figure it all out.

Where are you in the process?  We are gathering documents for the dossier.  As we gather, they are being reviewed for accuracy from our agency.  Once gathering and reviewing is complete, we will be authenticating things.  We are hoping to have the gathering done, the authenticating started, and everything turned in to our agency by the end of the year.

What does this also mean?  I am excited to say that beginning the authentication process means that we will also be talking to our agency about finding us a child.  This is necessary because our dossier will be sent with a letter to adopt a certain child, who is named in the letter.  So... it is possible that we may have a face, a name, and information about our child by the end of the year!!  Woohoo!  Please be in prayer for this to happen quickly.  I am more than excited to get to see who he/she/or they are!

What have you been learning through this?  Many good lessons.  But one that is sticking with me right now is that God has given us such a privilege to adopt!  It's amazing to me that God would choose us, and count us worthy of the task to parent an adopted child from Burundi.  He is entrusting us with this sacred responsibility, and not everyone receives the blessing.  We are indeed blessed to be part of this process.  We are indeed blessed to be a home to a child who has no home.  We are indeed blessed to be a mother and father to a child who has no mother and father.  We are blessed to experience God's joy and goodness as He brings into our family the child that He has specifically prepared for us.  We are specifically prepared for our child, and they are specifically prepared for us.  God does the work.  I am so thankful that He has given us this privilege, and I am super excited to see what the future holds for our family!