Light at the End of the Tunnel

Today was a day of great surprises.  I went to the mailbox and as usual, immediately looked for a large 8.5x11 size envelope that most important papers have been arriving in but no such luck.   I threw the mail on the island and as I turned to unload my stuff from the car I looked down and saw a regular sized envelope with the return address we have been waiting 11 months to arrive!!  It was the final piece of paper we have been waiting for - permission from our government to adopt DJ.  A few minutes later when I was on the phone telling my husband the exciting news another call came in the other line.  I clicked over and we got another bit of great news - our oldest son is going to be able to accompany us on our trip to get our daughter.  There had been some hiccups with a summer class he wants to take but now it is all taken care of.

Now we just wait for DJ's agency to tell us when we can come to pick her up.  We have been told to expect about 4-6 weeks.  It seems like we have been waiting for so long but now that a potential date is out there is seems so soon! 

We have also been able to video conference with DJ twice now.  Both times we talked for over an hour. It is so wonderful for all of us to chat.  We gave her a tour of our house and she was just glued to the monitor taking everything in.  It was fun to see her reaction to everything.  DJ made a big, beautiful poster for me for Mother's Day and sang us a beautiful song about the journey that life can take you.  Such a special day!

Thanks for sharing in our excitement!

Happiness

We got some really exciting news today. . . We have been given permission to Skype with DJ!  It still may be a few days but we are praying for Monday morning our time.

Additionally, all of the pre-adoption paperwork is now completed for the state and the US portion has begun. We are very happy that progress is being made.  As soon as the next level of US paperwork is complete, it looks like we might even get an idea of when we can travel to bring our daughter home!!

We never thought we would have permission to communicate with DJ so we are just unbelievably happy!  Thanks for your prayers and support!

Waiting is the Hardest Part

After nearly two months, I have one bit of exciting news to share. We found out on Friday that DJ has been told that we are going to be adopting her and that she was thrilled. That is all we know but are so happy that she knows that we love her and are waiting for her to come home. Still no word on whether or not she has received our letters and photo album.

Unfortunately, it has been nearly two months since my last post and I am sad to say that nothing else has changed to move us closer to the adoption. After my last post, I was told we weren’t allowed to have any communication with DJ. That was very painful to hear because we really believed that once we were approved that we would be allowed to communicate with her. On another sad note, we still have not received any of the paperwork necessary to begin the visa paperwork on this end yet. Not sure what the hold up is or when it might arrive.

It is very frustrating to wait so long. They give us timelines of how long each step of the process should take and every step of the way there have been delays of many, many weeks each time without any explanation. We originally thought that DJ would be home in April and were thinking for sure by May but now we are praying for June. We know that each step of this process is in God’s hand and that He is in complete control. With that, we look forward to the day when our whole family will be together!

DJ’s birthday is coming up soon and we requested that we be able to communicate with her in some way on her birthday. Please pray with us that at a minimum we could send her an email directly and at best, we would be allowed to Skype with her.

It continues to amaze me how a little girl who has never met anyone except for me can be loved so much by so many people. We are so blessed to have been given the privilege of being her parents!

Thanks for checking in and thanks for praying with us.

The News We've Been Waiting For!!!

It is with much joy and excitement that I can announce:  WE HAVE BEEN OFFICIALLY APPROVED AS THE ADOPTIVE FAMILY OF DJ!  We got a call this morning from our social worker with the good news.  Thankfully the kids were all home from school and we had friends over so it was a joyous celebration!  I made many phone calls passing along our exciting news to many and there were lots of tears of joy and thanksgiving. 

The paperwork is in the state and it will just be a bit until it arrives in our city so we can officially sign.  I asked our social worker to get details of how and when we can contact DJ and tell her we are her new family.  Hope to hear word yet this afternoon.  Unfortunately it is the weekend in the Philippines already so we may have to wait a couple of days.  I will keep you posted though. . . our dream is to Skype with her when we tell her but not sure all of the tech is in place and not sure I want to wait until any longer than necessary.

Thanks for sharing in our excitedment!!

Still Waiting. . .

I know many of you have been checking in to see if there is any word on our adoption so I thought I would post an update. . . but unfortunately we have nothing to update!

When I was pregnant with all three of my biological children, they all arrived much later than their due dates.  In fact, I was pregnant a total of 38 days longer than I should have been.  So, it should come as no surprise that our adopted daughter is following that same pattern.  We were told to expect a period of 6-10 weeks before we hear if we are officially approved as the parents of DJ.  Next week Thursday it will be 12 weeks that we have been waiting.  So if the 10-14 days overdue pattern continues, we should be hearing something this week.  At least we pray that will be the case.

Thanks for checking in and we hope to have some good news soon.

Jumped Another Hurdle

We got another good piece of news yesterday. . . We have officially been approved by the US to adopt!!!  My lack of fingerprints has not delayed us too much in the process for which we are very grateful.  Now we wait for the final and most important hurdle. . .permission from the Philipine government to adopt our daughter.  Every time the phone rings there are always butterflies in my stomach as I answer hoping and hoping that it might be our social worker with some good news. 

We continue to pray for the process & adoption board as we await their decision and for DJ who still has no idea that there is a family out there who is trying to adopt her.  We also continue to prepare the kids at home for the addition of a new sister into the family.  If you feel led to pray for us and this adoption journey, we would be so grateful.

With anticipation,
Jenn

Tiny Bits of Good News

We have had two tiny bits of good news that I thought I would share.  The first is that my fingerprints were rejected again.  The good news is that they rejected me in just four days and now I am on to the next level of investigation and don't have to go back for more biometrics.  I already had notarized copies of the information they requested so I was able to send it out without any delays.  The other bit of good news is that we heard from a caseworker in the Philippines who is preparing our dossier to present to the board.  She had two questions and wanted more clarification.  It was reassuring to hear that someone is looking at our dossier and that we are one step closer to going before the board.

It was a huge surprise and very heartwarming for us to be given a few Christmas gifts for DJ from extended family members.  We are so blessed to have such a thoughtful family.  Often, over the holidays, we have asked one another, "What do you think DJ is going to think of this?" With the loud and crazy family that we have, DJ is going to have a memorable first Christmas in the US and with her new family!

Wishing you a very happy New Year!

My Life of Crime?

Yesterday I went to get fingerprinted again.  They were able to capture one fingerprint and one thumb print.  In addition to the one they captured last time, I am hoping that will be enough for them to determine that I am not a wanted criminal.  We will keep praying that we are passed to the next level.

Unfortuately we still have not heard anything from the Philippines.  Each day I wake up and think, "Today may be the day that we find out we are approved and we can tell DJ that we want her to be a part of our family forever!"  But now as it gets closer to Christmas, my hopes are diminishing as I am sure many are beginning vacations that will last until the new year.  It would be my best Christmas gift ever to be able to let one little girl halfway across the world know that she has a family who loves her so much!  We will keep praying and will rest knowing that God is in control of the whole process.

Unless we hear something before then, I wish you a very Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year!

Welcome to our Blog!

Welcome to our blog!  We created this blog to keep friends and family up-to-date on the progress of our adoption of our new daughter, D.J.

This summer Jenn went to The Philippines as an Adoption Ambassador. During her two week stay she was able to spend time with and get an opportunity to get to know eight incredible children who are available for adoption.  Jenn's job upon arriving back in the U.S. is to get the stories of the children out to people who might consider adoption.  During her time in the Philippines, Jenn fell in love with a little 12 year old girl and thought that she would fit perfectly into our family.  After much prayer and conversation, the whole family agreed that adding one more person to our family was just what God had in mind for us.

Currently, we are waiting for two things:  Our dossier was sent to the Philippines in November and now we are waiting to hear back from their government for official word that they will allow us to adopt D.J.  We are also waiting for permission from USCIS to adopt.  The hold up with USCIS is that Jenn does not have fingerprints and they are requiring her to come back several times before they give up and do a background investigation.  Until these two things are approved, we cannot tell D.J. that we are the family that is trying to adopt her.  It has been very difficult to not be able to communicate this to her and we are all anxiously awaiting the day when we can tell her how much we all love her and can't wait for her to be home.

If you would like to pray for us in our journey, we would appreciate your prayers that the legal process would move along at exceptional speed.  Please also pray for D.J. that God would be preparing her for life in the U.S. and in our family.

We will keep this blog updated as we have news to report so check back.  Feel free to leave a comment as well.  We would love to hear from you!