One paper at a time
Hi Friends,
We wanted to take a moment and give you an update on our sweet daughter.
Olivia is 20 months old today, and we are so wishing we could be with her. It's been hard to know she has so many needs that we can't meet at this time, but we are also trusting that God is much better at that than we are!
At this stage of the game we are moving along well in our paperwork process. We have completed our home study and our initial welcome packet for our agency, both of which get everything rolling. We have also submitted our I-800A form to USCIS for immigration and are waiting for our fingerprint appointment and ultimately our immigration approval. Once we have this, we will be able to submit our dossier (basically our entire lives in paper format) to China for full approval. I have been diligently working on our dossier paperwork every week, but now we're waiting on other people to get their part done, so it's all in God's timing.
We wanted to take a moment and give you an update on our sweet daughter.
Olivia is 20 months old today, and we are so wishing we could be with her. It's been hard to know she has so many needs that we can't meet at this time, but we are also trusting that God is much better at that than we are!
At this stage of the game we are moving along well in our paperwork process. We have completed our home study and our initial welcome packet for our agency, both of which get everything rolling. We have also submitted our I-800A form to USCIS for immigration and are waiting for our fingerprint appointment and ultimately our immigration approval. Once we have this, we will be able to submit our dossier (basically our entire lives in paper format) to China for full approval. I have been diligently working on our dossier paperwork every week, but now we're waiting on other people to get their part done, so it's all in God's timing.
The worst part about the paperwork is the financial side of things. We're estimating around $2,000 just for paperwork requests, verifications, authentications and mailings, which doesn't include any part of our other fees. It's so frustrating to see how quickly this all adds up, but we know it's needed, so we try to not let it get to us. One paper at a time :)
On Friday, I spoke with our case manager for quite a while on the phone, and it was helpful to hear her thoughts and insight on the process. At this time she feels our timeline to travel will be closer to November, which is a little later than expected, but still in the normal range. Based on how things are moving, we still have a few things we will need to get done before we'll get our travel approval from China, but we are trusting that God's timing will be perfect.
We have started to receive some donations of clothes and shoes from people, and it's been so fun to have little girl things to organize! We still have a lot to do for her room, but are hoping to get things done this Summer.
The boys are coming along in their acceptance of her and it's been beautiful to see them start drawing her in their family photos. Paul and I pray for her every night during our prayers with them, and it's been neat to see God working on their hearts toward her. We know it may be a different story when she's here, but we are excited to see them step into the role of big brother :)
We currently have our t-shirt fundraiser going until May 28, and have a few more in the works, so keep your eyes peeled!
- Short Sleeve: https://www.booster.com/bringoliviahome
- Baseball Tee: https://www.booster.com/bringoliviahome2
We can't thank you all enough for your continued love and support, and we are so blessed by your friendship.
Here's to bringing Olivia home!
On Friday, I spoke with our case manager for quite a while on the phone, and it was helpful to hear her thoughts and insight on the process. At this time she feels our timeline to travel will be closer to November, which is a little later than expected, but still in the normal range. Based on how things are moving, we still have a few things we will need to get done before we'll get our travel approval from China, but we are trusting that God's timing will be perfect.
We have started to receive some donations of clothes and shoes from people, and it's been so fun to have little girl things to organize! We still have a lot to do for her room, but are hoping to get things done this Summer.
The boys are coming along in their acceptance of her and it's been beautiful to see them start drawing her in their family photos. Paul and I pray for her every night during our prayers with them, and it's been neat to see God working on their hearts toward her. We know it may be a different story when she's here, but we are excited to see them step into the role of big brother :)
We currently have our t-shirt fundraiser going until May 28, and have a few more in the works, so keep your eyes peeled!
- Short Sleeve: https://www.booster.com/bringoliviahome
- Baseball Tee: https://www.booster.com/bringoliviahome2
We can't thank you all enough for your continued love and support, and we are so blessed by your friendship.
Here's to bringing Olivia home!