What makes a Father?

    Can I say Happy Father's Day to my husband?  In a sense, he doesn't have any children living with him.  But in another sense, he as a daughter who has already been born, and is waiting on him to come get her.  This may be his first time to celebrate Father's Day, because there is a little one set apart just for him. 
    But being a father is more than just knowing you have a child.  It's more than just birthing a child.  Some men may be part of creating a child, thus becoming fathers, but not be a part of that child's life.  So, being a father is really about being involved in that child's life.
    Our daughter will grow up to know Mark as her real father.  He will be there for her when she is hurt and when she needs someone to play with and cuddle with.  The two may not look alike, but they will have a relationship that a mere birthfather will not have.  They can depend on each other, and share inside jokes with each other.  He can teach her how to drive and wait for her to come home by curfew. 
    Though it may be a little premature to say, "Happy Father's Day!" because we don't have anything official yet, I can't help but imagine our little one with her daddy.  So, today I wish my husband a

Happy Father's Day!!

 I look forward to having our daughter home, hopefully, by his next Father's Day!  :-)

Any Coffee Lovers?

Have you run out of coffee?  Do you need to buy some more?  Do you have a friend who loves coffee?

I want to put out there that we have started our first fundraiser.  It's a company called Just Love Coffee!  This amazing company partners with adopting families to help bring home children by donating $5 for each bag of coffee sold, to the family!  It's the first place for us to start the long climb to being able to afford two adoptions at once.

So, if you happen to need to buy some yummy Fair-Trade coffee, please buy from our store, found at this link:

http://www.justlovecoffee.com/Struska

Thank you so much for your support!  I will hopefully soon put up information on how to donate through our agencies.  And I have a few fun ideas for future fundraisers.  Stay tuned...

What does "paperwork" mean?

Absent Alison, I know!
   My time has been preoccupied with getting my husband ready for his "long vacation" and all the paperwork we've had to do.  But I am still alive!  I might be buried under paperwork, but I am alive.

   
    I thought you might be interested to know what the paperwork is like for two concurrent adoptions.  So Mark created a master spreadsheet to keep track of everything (He is a superhero at Microsoft Excel!).  Once he was done and had all the different items counted that we will need, it added up to.....

 230 documents!

Yep!  Here are some the items we need, guess how easily you think you can come by these:

Marriage Certificate Copy

Birth Certificate Copy

Driver's License Copy

Passport Copy

Military ID Copy

*Financial Statement

Tax Returns 2010

Tax Returns 2009

Tax Returns 2008

Employment Verification Letter

Bank Statement

Rental Agreement

Social Security Statement

*Medical Exam Report

Medical Insurance Card Copy

Guardianship Form

FBI Clearance

Fingerprints

Background Check PA Child Abuse Registry Release PA

Military Background Clearance

Military Child Abuse Clearance

Background Check IL

Child Abuse Registry Release IL

Background Check CO

Child Abuse Registry Release CO

Background Check OK

Child Abuse Registry Release OK

Background Check FL

Child Abuse Registry Release FL

Background Check WA

Child Abuse Registry Release WA

UK background check, CRB

Reference Letters--Three

Adoption Education Class Certificates

Autobiographies

Family Life Photographs

List of addresses, past 10 years

*Local Police Certificate of good conduct Suffolk

I-171H Form

*Post Placement Commitment Form *State Clearance Letter WA *Tribunal Letter I-600 A Application Passport-Sized Photos *Medical Letter signed Photocopies of all of the Above

Anything with an * means that it also has to be notarized.  Most of these we have to have multiple copies for each of us.

And this is only the beginning, we know we have more documents to come after these beginning stages.  Many of these documents are for the homestudy, but some are for the dossiers. 

Just a review:   
    Homestudy =  a report usually done by social worker which provides an overview of your family life and states whether or not you are recommended to be a parent.  It includes a visit to your home to see your living conditions.

    Dossier = a giant gathering of official documents, including the homestudy, to be sent off to the country you are adopting from.  Used by the country to determine if you can be allowed to adopt from there.

If you've ever wondered why international adoption costs so much, keep in mind that many of these items are not free to request, and you will need multiple copies of them.  Requesting copies and then paying to mail your requests can add up.

(Just a side note: I wanted to give you a picture of what it is like for us, since we have had to start all over on our paperwork--yes, we have already done it before, but it didn't work out.  I don't want to discourage anyone from adopting because they are afraid of the "costs."  God will provide!  Though it may seem like a lot, God has provided what we needed so far)

This is probably a good time to say that we will be doing some fundraisers to help with the costs for both adoptions.  God may want to use you to help bless the life of an orphan!  I will let you know as soon as I have some things set up.

Finally, I ask that you please pray for this paperwork process.  As you may now understand, it's not easy.  We want to pray that all the forms get to where they need to be.  We want to pray for paperwork that needs to be done in Uganda, though it is out of our control.  Let me leave you with this great verse,

"Unless the LORD builds the house,
   those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city,
   the watchman stays awake in vain."
~Psalm 127:1

We are praying for the LORD to build our house, our family.  Let it not be US who try to make things happen in our time and in our own way.  That would be in vain.  Let the LORD be the one to build our family in His time and in His way!