Moving Forward...

Thursday was a big day for us. We started the day bright and early at the Kansas City Department of Homeland Security. The appointment was relatively fast, and the people were very un-government like...compassionate and genuinely interested in getting us in and out of there as fast as possible. Even the security guards were cheerful at 7:45 am! We turned in our I-600A form and were fingerprinted, then on our way in just over an hour.

Thursday afternoon I went to the Secretary of State's office to certify my MO documents. Aside from one small glitch, all went well and again, everyone was very happy to help. There is something about knowing that another child will be safe in a loving home that seems to warm hearts and make even total strangers excited for the road ahead of us.

I have had a few friends ask recently what they can do to help in this process. My number one response is to just pray for our daughter and for the process in general. Obviously the financial aspect is another concern, but we have been blessed by a few family members that have helped tremendously in just getting us as far as we are right now. Just today, we received acceptance from the Eternal Family Program, which is sponsored by our agency, America World. The fund allows us to receive donations from friends, family, or church members as it is a nonprofit (501-3) organization, and can then get those funds to us to help with the midpayment and final fees. We are not planning on sending out unsolicited letters, as we don't feel that this is the proper way to fund our adoption. However, for those of you who have mentioned wanting to help, please just drop me a quick email at cherrykitchen@peoplepc.com, and I'll let you know how you can contribute to the Eternal Family Program.

Now, as I said in my last post, we will wait on the treasured '171H' form (the acceptance letter after fingerprinting), after which my wonderful sister will be walking all of our documents into the State Department and Chinese Embassy in Washington D.C., where she lives. This is an incredible blessing, as we will not have to rely on the mail system and someone we trust will have our documents in hand the entire time.

Real religion, the kind that passes muster before the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world. -James 1:27 (The Message Bible)

Wow! So much has happened since I last wrote. Our home study is officially complete and in my hands. We have certified our Kansas and Nebraska documents, and just have Missouri documents left (I hope to walk those in to the KC office this Wednesday). Once all those documents are certified, they will be sent to the Chinese Consulate and then on to China! Once our documents are in China, we hope to have a referral in 6 months or so. This Thursday, we have our CIS appointment, at which time we'll get fingerprinted and fill out the paperwork necessary to bring an orphan on to American soil. This is a huge step (the final piece of paper) and here is where we ask for your prayers. From speaking to many families, this process usually takes approximately 2-3 weeks (to receive your approval letter). However, it can take up to 90 days, which is a distinct possibility with the upcoming holiday season. Every week longer that it takes is another week we wait to get our documents to China, and another week later that we go pick up our daughter. We would ask you to pray for a speedy turnaround of this 171H document...and thank you in advance for praying specifically for this need.

Other than that, things are moving forward. We received our new passports, we are applying for financial assistance from many organizations (they all require a completed home study before letting you apply), and we are getting more and more excited for next summer! Thank you again for checking in---we love and appreciate you!

Jason and Alissa