We only have one more interview left for our Home Study to be complete and we are absolutely pumped! We ended up having to wait a lot longer than we expected for the start of this process. When I last posted we were planning on moving into a cute little rental house the end of January. We thought we would have everything ready to start the Home Study no later than mid-February. Oh how things change! We ended up canceling our lease with the rental house (there were many unfortunate circumstances that caused us to make this decision) and...well...buying a house. We know our new home was all a part of God's perfect plan and are so thankful. After finally being in our home a month, our home study started this past Monday and we'll be done by next Wednesday. The agency told us to allow 4-6 weeks for the home study to be completed. We were happy to hear we'd have all our interviews complete within a week and a half. Our social worker is great and has made this part of the process stress-free and very laid back. Hopefully she'll find us fit to be parents! = )
Now that we're near the end of our home study we're starting to collect all the information we need for the dossier (a set of appropriately authenticated and translated legal documents which are used in international adoption cases to process the adoption of a child in its own country by the adoptive parents, or for the adoptive parents to obtain the legal custody or guardianship of the child in the foreign court, so the child can be brought by the adoptive parents to the United States for adoption. Just in case you ever wondered what adopting families were talking about when they discussed the "dossier.") Looking at our dossier checklist, in comparison with other countries, a list of 14 seems very simple. We're thankful that much of the information we need will be easily obtainable and hopefully we'll have everything put together to send off soon. We're praying the Georgia Dept. of Vital Records will act quickly. Birth and marriage certificates sometimes can hold up the process.
I've recently been day-dreaming a lot about our future family. I am so looking forward to having a little one walking or crawling around (all depends on the age). It's amazing to me to look around and see how God brings families together in so many different and unique ways. I'm looking forward to seeing our whole "family-making story" from start to finish. My hope is that through each step we can give God the glory, no matter how up and down the journey may be.
Prayer Requests: 1) pray for the wrapping up of our home study 2) pray that we would be able to follow the directions for our dossier completely and thoroughly so we won't have to back-track 3) pray that we would have patience and trust the Lord's timing 4) pray that we would remember to keep Christ the center of our marriage and family; this is His adoption!
