I can’t believe it’s been over a month since I last shared an adoption update with you. So much has happened since then. Which is really kind of crazy because typically the whole adoption process takes FOREVER!
God works outside the boundaries of “typically” though and He has been blowing us away with his timing. Ok. Now that you are probably completely lost let me back up and explain what all has happened.
When I last left you we had recently turned in our home study to the U.S. Department of Immigration for approval. Typically, approval takes around ninety days and then the next step is to submit your dossier to Peru for approval. Since, ML and I haven’t exactly been Speedy Gonzalez with this whole adoption process we set a goal of having everything finalized and ready for our dossier within one month.
We met that goal… partially because we were still running off of a high from actually finishing our home study. It was tough though because it really is amazing how much paperwork and gathering of information actually goes into the adoption process. It will wear you out!
All our hard work paid off though because February 1 we found out we had been approved by the US for the adoption of one girl between the ages of 0 – 4 years from Peru! That was sixty days quicker than we were anticipating. We are thrilled and got the green light from our awesome social worker, Beth, to go ahead with round two of our physicals for our dossier. All that was lacking on our part was compiling scrap book pages of our family, house, and extended family to be sent to our little girl some day in the future.
(I’ve included all the pages for you to see except for the extended family page. Just in case some of them are a little shy or uncool with their pic being shared out in blogland.)
I had so much fun decorating these pages… thinking about her reaction to them when she sees us for the first time. Thankfully, I had plenty of time to pray over them and for her as I worked on them.
Last Thursday, Valentine’s Day, I turned all our paperwork into Lifeline Children’s Services, our adoption agency!
It was so exciting to have it all out of our hands and to be do it on Valentine’s Day… the official day of LOVE!
Once everything is apostiled (I’m not really sure what that means) our dossier will be sent to Peru. Beth, our social work is shooting for that to happen on Friday.
(Update: Peru will be receiving our dossier today!)
From there it will be a three to six month process of waiting for approval from Peru. Everything has to get translated, questions get asked, and who knows what else before we receive the final approval. God isn’t bound by time though. We could be approved much earlier or later. Whatever He feels is best… and we can’t argue with that now can we?
In the meantime we have started Spanish lessons through Rosetta Stone. I am still just a few lessons in but enjoying it so far. We will see though!
If you are still reading after all these words and so little pictures…. thank you! Again, we appreciate all your prayers through this process, for our family, and for our little girl (possibly already in Peru).
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I hope that everything continues to go smoothly for you! I love all of these little updates.
Thanks! I have been wanting to share the news for a while. It’s just a matter of sitting down to write the post. You know how that goes.
Ahhh!! That’s such amazing news!! I couldn’t be more happy for your family!! Praying that everything continues to go as planned! 🙂
Thanks for your prayers. We really appreciate them. It’s so nice to know that no matter how long the wait God is in control.
Krystle, that is so incredibly amazing! God is kinda awesome in the way he works things out, isn’t he?
We’ll be praying for you!
He is amazing. He’s definitely better at planning than I am. Thank you so much for the prayers. We really appreciate them!
I’m just as excited as you all are! I feel as though I’m waiting for a surrogate grandchild. I love, love, love the adorable pages of photos you put together for your child. I know she will cherish them and fall in love with you even before she meets her new family.
As for “apostile”, I work for a law firm and that is a European form of notarization, but much more formal. It involves attaching other documents that then can’t be removed and must always remain with the original documents that certify that the documents are the originals, etc. I’ve only had to have that done a few times for probate documents going from the United States to Europe to certify that they were the original Will and Death Certificate. It’s interesting that your adoption papers are also being apostiled. I supposed to certify that they are your originals, containing your original signatures and not forgeries.
You are so sweet! Thank you for explaining “apostile”… I was thinking it was similar to having something notarized but wasn’t quite sure.
This is great news! I’m so excited for you and your family!!!
Thanks, Trista. ML and I are still in shock that most of the paperwork is complete. Now we just wait.
If you ever doubt your love for an adopted child…..don’t! You will love her as much as your biological child and will see God’s hand in this addition to your family! Best wishes!
Thanks, Mrs. Cathy! I am already in love with her and haven’t even met her yet. It’s definitely because of His love for me that I am filled with love for her and look forward to “adopting” her into our family as He did me.
I am thrilled our new little Granddaughter will see our pictures of us that were taken at Christmastime! She will think our favorite color is red!!! Each day gets closer to meeting her! Can’t wait to make some memories with her in our family!!
His timing is amazing and perfect – no question about that. I am so glad everything has gone so smoothly for you guys so far, and will continue to pray for an easy road for all of you.
Thanks Amy. We definitely appreciate the prayers… especially as we begin to just “wait” on our little girl to get here.
Love that things are going smoothly and hope they continue to do so! It’s so encouraging and inspiring to hear, um read, everything that you’ve shared about this process! 🙂
Thanks Ashley! It’s nice to know that even if we hit what we perceive to be a bump in the road that it’s all part of God’s planning. Hopefully I’ll get to share about our next step sooner rather than later though!
How exciting! I can’t wait to hear more!
What a cute scrapbook =)
Thanks! I can assure you that will be my only attempt at a scrapbook. I would love to put together a digital scrapbook of all our pictures from last year. That would require time and patience though. Both of which I generally run short on when it comes to projects like that. Haha!
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