WE ARE LOGGED IN!!!!

We received confirmation today that our LID is November 24. We are officially logged in with CCAA. Now the wait. We count down from this day. About 14-16 months is what the time frame looks like. Keep checking back occasionally for different updates, fundraisers, etc. Thanks!!! Mike
For those of you who don't know - the LID (or Log in Date) is the all important date in Chinese adoption. It means official recognition and exceptence into China's adpotion system. Everything up to this point had been paperwork and approvals on this side of the ocean. So recieving that final piece of approval is very exciting.
The next coorespondence we will be recieving is our pre-travel planning information which I think comes 6-8 months from now. There will then be a couple of other travel info packets before the long awaited "match day" when we recieve the name and picture of our match baby or babies! Match day is about 12-13 months away. After we recieve the match we will have 5-8 weeks until we travel. Of course, keep in mind that all of these dates and times could change at any moment. So now you know as much as we do!! Jennifer

Sucessful cook off

We got to experience another amazing fundraising event today. Our chili cook off got people all fired up:-) We held it jointly with Roy and Kari Smalley who are also adopting from China. Friends, family, and strangers turned out to compete and to buy the chili. Including Roy's and my chili (we didn't compete for the prizes) there were 13 different chilies to choose from. I had no idea there were so many different ways to make chili! There was turkey, venison, pork, beef, sausage, and that was just the meats! We even had a tofu entrant.
My sister Tina captured 1St place with a venison chili that had red wine, cinnamon, and choclate in it.
It was a long day so we will write more tomorrow and hopefullu get a picture up.

Being Translated

As of today October 27, 2006 our dossier is being translated. We were able to get a document changed and overnighted it to our agency. Had to make a minor correction. It is done, the paperwork is done!!!!! For now- we are done, kind of. Once our dossier is translated it will be sent to China. From there it will be about 3-5 weeks before we are "logged" in. That day we are "logged" in is when the countdown begins. It will be about 14 months from that day.
On Saturday November 11 from 1-4 pm a few of the local businesses are sponsoring a chili cook off fundraiser. This is for our adoption and for Roy and Kari Smalley. Their dossier is on it's way to China or already is there. We aren't that far behind them. Keep that Saturday open. Come to Mayville to try some chili and have a visit. We will all be there. This will be a lot of fun. The businesses are Georgia's Bridal, Celtic Crossroad Cafe and Mortgage Central. Thanks to Georgia G., Cyndy B. and Kris Steinbach for doing this and being sponsors. If you can cook a killer chili, enter it. Hot, medium, mild, doesn't matter. Hope there is some for everybodies like. The more chili the better. There will be door prizes and prizes for first, second, and third. Cyndy asked the local radio personalities to judge the chili and they one uped and said they would plus they will promote it on the radio. Can't wait to hear it. Will keep you all posted as the next steps happen. Keep us in your prayers that this next step goes smoothly and we get our log in date. This is a very important step. God bless all of you. Thanks.

We Are There.....Just about

Just about!!!! On October 16 we overnighted our dossier to our CCAI. We finally got enough pictures taken and prepared it and photocopied it all. It is there. Aside from 2 small corrections that we have to make it is approved and ready to be sent to China. We will get the changes made and on Monday we will get the papers and hopefully get them notarized on Monday evening and then overnight them to CCAI so they will get the changes Wednesday. Hopefully by the end of the week, CCAI will have sent it out. Now the waiting begins. The updates will continue but there is only a few left until we receive our match in about 14-16 months. We will try and keep everyone informed as the last few things happen. Thanks to all. Now is the time for patience!!!!

Almost....

Almost there. We have received all documents back from the Chinese Consulates. They all have their approval. We just need to take some pictures and then it is time to mail our dossier to our agency. We have finished all paperwork for now. I don't know of any other paperwork and if there is it will be when it time to go to China. Almost. Will keep you posted.

Another step down, only a few left

On Sept. 11 we mailed out documents to the Chinese Consulate in Chicago and San Fransisco. The documents were returned today from the Consulate in Chicago with their approvals of our documents. We are waiting on the return of the document from San Fransisco. We had to mail Jennifers birth certificate to that one because she was born in the state of Washington. Chicago is the one for the midwest. Once we get the certificate from San Fransisco we will be going through and making sure everything is done and sending to our agency. Almost there.

Finally, we are moving forward!!

Now that we received the 171H approval we have been able to move forward. This next round is going to go fast. We sent for the notary certifications and received that back in 2 days. We now gather our notarized paperwork and the certifications and send them to the Chinese Consulate in Chicago. From what I understand they approve the certifications and notarized documents. They return to us their approval and paperwork and then we gather everything up and send it to our agency in Colorado. From that point, we wait. We will have completed all paperwork at that point. Finally, we made it and have completed it. The waits starts but we know there is light at the end of the tunnel. The wait time is about 16 months right now.
We have another round of fees we will need to pay. We are about $1200.00 short for this next round. There is the $2300 adoption agency fee. The $400 dossier prep fee (translation) and about $600 in fees for the Chinese government. After this we will have time to save for when we go. We will need about $10,000 for what is left. $3000.00 of that is already taken care from our Will and Memorials fund at church. The $3000.00 is for the orphanage that we receive the child from and that is given directly to them. The balance could change slightly because of air fare rates and in China accommodations. We are applying for grants this week maybe we will be receiving a few so we can get ahead start on saving for when we go. I feel there is nothing to worry about. So far everything has been met and with no problems.
We have another mystery dinner we are thinking about doing around halloween. It is called "The Library". One would dress as a favorite character from classic books. Huck Fin, Peter Pan, etc. I think it is for 30 people. We don't think we will do this as a fund raiser but more of a "free will". I think we have asked for all the fundraising we can do at this point. It is so hard to ask for help with funding. That's why we think a free will is better. If no money were to be raised, that is fine. Most importantly, we were able to gather as a group and have fun and fellowship. (We are talking about, and have been asked, doing another rummage sale next spring at church. I think we will because it was so much fun and most important a great ministry for our church.) Anyway, the mystery dinner looks like a lot of fun and we think it would be a lot of fun just do with friends and family. Don't know where we would have it but possibly at church or something similar. Need some room. Will keep you posted on that.
We will keep you updated over the next few weeks as we prepare to send everything off.

Just When You Think.......

Just when you think.... about this whole process and the wait, the paperwork, the wait, etc..... Today we received our 171H from USCIS!!!!!! This was supposed to take 60-90 days to get. We got ours in 26 days. This is a very important piece of paperwork. We now have the necessary approval (from the US) for our adoption to continue. Now we have to get our notaries approved by the state of Wisconsin, then send off to the Chinese consulant/embassy for their approval, then we send it off to our agency in Colorado, then they translate and and sent off to China for us to be put in the system.
I guess you can say our USCIS office is quick. The other couple from Mayville that is also adopting from China received their approval on the 90 day mark.
I am sure to say this is an answer to (our and your) prayers and most definately-- it is all Gods timing. Remember this Bible verse from Philippians 4:6-7 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your mind in Christ Jesus.
Just when we were getting ready to start sending off some paperwork to have ready for when we get the 171H to get ahead, we are now alittle behind. It is time to start sending off notary for approvals and for grants. We have to get caught up now. Whan can we say. God is good. Until Next Time.....

And the Wait goes on

Just so you don't think we have fallen off the face of the earth - nothing new to report yet. We are still waiting for our FBI/immigration piece of paper that says our fingerprints have been cleared. We probably won't see that for another 30 to 60 days.
We are just working on things around home. We will be starting the second phase of our remodeling projects in the next couple of weeks. We have a door to replace, a window to put in, and a ceiling to insulate before winter gets here. We still have indoor and outdoor painting to do, but we will get to that when we can.
I just have to say that every day that goes by in this long drawn out process, the more firmly I believe that this is whole thing is covered by God. Everything good that has ever come into my life has been His doing - it is just that it usually takes me quite a while to come around to His way of thinking. I have gotten to the point (after many years of banging my head against the wall) that I can pretty much tell when God wants me to go a certain direction with my life, because I usually do't want anything to do with it. So, defying all logical explinations, I dig in my heals and pitch a fit because God's way is different than mine - even when I know His outcome will be better than mine.
I have to be totally honest - I didn't want to adopt. After Mike got sick and we were told we probably wouldn't be able to have children of our own I decided we would be the exception to that rule. God saw Mike through all of the surgeries and treatments and back to full health. Of course God would provide us with the minor miracle of a child, because I knew was close to God and that we had an understanding. He (God) would save Mike from cancer, Mike and I would dedicate our lives to Him, He would bless our commitment with a baby. Made perfect sense to me.
Have any of you every seen the bungie cord game where you attach yourself to a bungie cord that has a big inflatable air pillow behind it and run full speed ahead as far as you can? Well you know what happens, just when you think you can hold it, the laws of super elastic kick in and wham, splat! Back into the pillow.
I was running full steam ahead with my plan - I never even noticed that as soon as you give your life to Christ you automatically get the bungie cord of the Spirit. I stretched that cord as far as I possibly could this time. I'm still trying to clear my head because I hit that pillow so hard:-)
The first thing I realized when I hit was that even though I didn't understand His plan, I needed to be obedient to what I knew God wanted me to do. And in a moment of reluctant insight I knew he wanted us to adopted a baby. Not just any baby and quite possibly babies plural from China.
I have more to say - but it's getting late and I have to get up very early tomorrow so - to be continued........
Jennifer

Fingerprinting is Complete

Today, I was able to be fingerprinted. My fingers had healed enough to pass. Of course there is always a chance the FBI can reject them but they didn't think so. They viewed them and said have a nice day. In and out within 15 minutes. I am not aware of a government office operating at that type of lightning speed. It was nice. Got there at 8:30am and by the time we walked out it was before 9am. 3rd shift was kicking my butt, am I tired. I should go back to bed but I need to eat. Now we wait. It sounds like it will take the 90 days to receive the 171H paperwork for approval or denial. Once we have that paper we can finish our paper work and send it to our agency. Once they have it, with 2 weeks roughly they will prepare and send it to the Chinese gov't for us to be entered into their system. Once we have been entered (which can take 30-60 days) we will have the ever so need Log In Date. From there the wait begins. Right now it is 12-15 months from that date. So if you add up the time line if we receive the 171H in 90 days that will be November 1st. Allow 1-2 weeks for us to makes sure we have all of our paperwork ready. Mail all our paperwork to our agency and they will prepare it for China. They send it off in 2 weeks. That would be about Thanksgiving. Now you have to allow for the 30-60 days for the Chinese government to enter us into their system. That would put us at about beginning of Febuary. From there we wait the 12-15 months to go. YES, that is a long time but don't forget our heading for this. It is a walk by faith. 90 percent of people would never want to go through this process because it is long. It is grueling. It is frustrating and on and on and on. But with the good Lord doing this we have to understand that it is his timing. Everyone needs to know that there is a child already picked out for us and it has to fall into place. Don't be impatient or frustrated about this process, just understand that God is in control and we will do what we are supposed to do. When we arrive home after all of this, everyone will truely know why it took the amount of time it did. I have heard it said time and time again, "I would rather go through a normal pregnancy than do that". Not us, we prefer the hard path to take. And so far, it isn't hard. We are welcoming this walk of faith for us to grow in Jesus Christ through this process. He is teaching us valuable lesson through this walk. So, in closing, don't lose heart, keep strong for us, and most of all--PRAY for us for this process. The power of prayer is more powerful than anything else. Until next time-- God bless.

Mike

Delayed-- Temporarily

We had a minor setback yesterday for fingerprinting. Being I work with my hands alot and doing alot of assembly work (at work or at home/shop) I usually have nuts and bolts in my hands. Being I use my thumb and index finger (either hand) I have somewhat dried out skin. Well, it was bad enough that they couldn't do my fingerprinting. Jennifer was able to do hers. I will have to go back on July 31st and do it then. The sheet we received from USCIS with our appointment says not to have any cuts, scrapes, etc. Not realizing what they meant. They mean even stuff not visible to the human eye is picked up on these machines. It is high tech. They put my thumb on there and it appeared on the screen in front and you could see any little cut/crack what ever. They suggested that I "nurse" my fingers and soak them and use a lot of hand lotion. They did say the one good thing about it is that we only drove 1 1/2 to get there. They have had to turn people away who have come from Michigan and Iowa. Felt better after hearing that. They even said one gentlemen who is a wood worker took a month off from work for his fingers to heal properly so they could do his fingerprinting. So, I will go back on July 31 at 8am and try again. It's like I almost want to wrap them in some kind of bubble rap to protect them. Even a paper cut the size of a pin head could be rejected. That is it for now. Don't be discouraged about this process. It is going to take awhile. Jennifer and I have a whole lot of faith in this and we are trusting God that this is all part of it. There is a special little boy, girl, siblings, twins etc that he has waiting for us and it has to be on HIS timing. It is a hard thing to understand sometimes but in the end, we will truely understand it and know why we had to do what we had to do. It's up to Him, not us. We would want it now, but this isn't one of those buy it and have it now situations. Have faith, and alot of it. It's easier. Until next time.

Mike

Fingerprinting Scheduled!

Finally we have been scheduled to be fingerprinted! It is July 12 at 1 PMThis is important since it is one step closer to receiving our approval from the USCIS. Once we have that approval letter; which can take up to 90 days to get, we will be able to finish our paperwork and send it to CCAI. One step closer to getting our Log In Date. Almost there!!. Thanks to all.

Measurable Progress!

At last! After a couple of months of waiting, filling out paper work, re-doing paper work, waiting, and filling out more paper work we have made some progress! We got the draft of our COMPLETED homestudy in the mail today!! Yeah - we have been officially, officially approved to adopt a child and it says so on paper. Julie (our social worker) already faxed a copy to CCAI and mailed one to Immigration. We should be recieving the call to get our fingerprinting done any time now. Then we just have to wait a little longer to get our "favorable letter of determination". Once we have that we will finally have all of the pieces we need to send in to the State of Wis. to be verified (they have to approve our notary). Once everything has been verified - they actually do this pretty quickly - all of these forms and certificates get sent to the Chinese consulate in Chicago where they get "authenticated". Basically they are double checking the double checker. THEN everything can be sent to CCAI to be translated and sent to China.
O.k. - that probably doesn't sound like we have made very much progress, but trust me, it is a major milestone. Now that we have the homestudy in our hands we can start applying for grants for one thing. That's all for now folks! We will update as soon as we have more to share.

All I can say is--- WOW

The rummage sale at our church was a huge success. We raised $1100 to go toward the upcoming expenses. We have a few items from the sale we are going to put on Ebay. That will generate another $50-$100. We filled most of the fellowship hall and also used all the tables. We were doing everything we could to get some more. We brought some from the upstairs to use. Check the pictures out. We thank all who helped and supported us. Jo P, Ellen J. Jon and Jean, Jerry G. Tom and Dee R. and everyone else from our church at FAUMC. Sorry if I forgot a name or two, we will do our best to try and thank everyone personally. Everyone has been so supportive in one way or another. I think of Pastor Jeans sermon 2 weeks ago. She called it "FANAFI". I liked it and thought it was very good. I knew that sometime it would come in handy and I would recall it. Well, I did. Sooner rather than later. I really didn't put it together though until after the rummage sale. We (the Church) just did this "FANAFI". Really, I thought. Still haven't figured out what it means-- it means "Find A Need And Fill It". We did that with the sale. No. We really did this. Applied to a life experience but didn't realize it until after. We came at FANAFI in 3 different directions or maybe more. One- it filled a need we have with the expenses. Two- it brought people into our church who might not attend a church. Three- we will able to meet the needs of people who couldn't other wise afford to buy clothes at a department store. I know there are more but that is a few. It was all worth it for the last two. The first one just comes with the sale but the other two serve as a ministry in some wayfor our church. Something to think about. Check out the pictures of the sale. Take care everyone and God Bless all of you. Thank you!

Waiting, Waiting, Waiting

Well, we haven't really progressed that far since the last update. Now is a waiting game. We are waiting for passports to come. We are waiting for Immigration to notify us when to have our fingerprints done and then will wait for the Immigration approval letter. We are waiting for the homestudy paperwork to be finished.
This is the order of what needs to be completed:
Once we view to homestudy paperwork for review and it is finalized, it will be sent to the immigration office in Milwaukee. The immigration office will then notify us when we will have to have our fingerprints done. Once that is completed it will be about 60 days until we are either approved or declined for immigration. It is highly unlikely it will be declined. We will then receive an approval letter from immigration and that along with our other paperwork will have to be notorized and then sent to the Secretary of State here in Wisconsin. They have to verify the notary on the documents. This should take about 1-2 weeks. Once we receive them back with the verification we have to send it to the Chinese consulate in Chicago to have the Secretary of State Seal Authenticated. That should only take a short time. Then they will send it back. We then send all that along with a few other miscellaneous forms to our agency in Colorado. They take about 2 weeks to prepare our dossier for China. They send it. From there it is reviewed and entered into the system. Once it is entered into the system it will take 10-14 months before we are matched. This is taking longer at this time but that time can change as it goes. That, in a brief overview is what we are waiting for.
We are getting ready for the rummage sale at church this Friday and Saturday--June 2nd and June 3rd. We are truely grateful for all the people who are helping us with this. There are a large number of donations for the sale. The one thing we don't know is everyone who has brought items. It will be hard to thank everyone for supporting us. I would love to see this done every year for this type of outreach ministry. We as a church could do alot of good with something like this. I can only hope and pray this continues. It would really be great if we could help other couples with this journey.
As for now, we are waiting. We will do our best to keep updating this blog as things happen. Until then--Have a great and wonderful day!! :)

More Completed

Jennifer and I have completed more paperwork. We mailed the I-600A petition to the USCIS in Milwaukee. We completed and sent for our passports yesterday. So far we are on track. This Sunday we will be having more paperwork notarized and then mail that to CCAI for our dossier. All has been going well. We are starting to organize the rummage sale and have already received a few bags of items. Jennifer ordered a few more books and a DVD that talk about Chinese adoption. The DVD is titled China's Lost Girls by National Geographic. It is only 40 minutes but is packed with valuable information. Really is an eye opener. Tomorrow I will watch the last 10 minutes of it. Well, until next time--Take care everyone.

Paperwork, Paperwork, and a whole lot of Faith

Well, Jennifer and I met with our Homestudy Agency for the last time this past Monday. We are where we need to be and are finishing our paperwork. Our I-600A will be mailed this week to immigration office in Milwaukee. More paperwork will be completed and will be notarized next Sunday and then we can mail it out. Everything is going great. We have planned a church rummage sale for the first weekend in June. It will be held Friday and Saturday. We have asked for donations to sell at the rummage and proceeds will go towards the expenses. I have a hope that this can be done every year with the proceeds going towards an adoption fund the church has set up. From there we as a church may be able to help other Christian couples with some of the expense. Will have to wait and see how it goes this year. After the homestudy has been completed we will be able to apply for different grants to help with the expenses. That we will be doing by the beginning of June. We have 4 or 5 different places to apply. Will have to wait and see what comes from those. Once we have mailed our paperwork to the CCAI they will start working putting it together and that is our dossier. That is then mailed off and from that point it will be a 10-14 month wait for our match. A day I know we can't wait for but also we know so many of our friends and family are excited for that day also. I can truely say that God is teaching us a lot of patience through this process. We have little if any concerns or worries. Our homestudy agency has been great and she has given us some valuable advice that we are going to follow. A lot of it will apply once we have brought our little one home. Our lives are going to change in such a different way. There will be a new appreciation for life. We are putting all of our trust into God on this. We have to fully rely on Him to see us through this. It will be a new witness for us that we hope to share with people as we complete this adoption. God is good, that is all I know right now. Today, we were at some friends house for dinner and they have a newborn. I was able to look at him with a whole new and different perspective. Just to think that we will have an infant is an amazing gift from God, especially they way we are going about it. I think I have heard from a few different ladies that they would rather go through a pregnancy than to go through this process. It will definately be a test of our faith. But, we all know that Jennifer and I are on a firm rock. We thank everybody for everything that they have done and all that they are going to do. Praise God for all that is happening.

Postponed

We have postponed our homestudy visit until next Monday the 24th of April. I have the flu and don't want anyone else to get it.

What's Coming Up!

More great news. We are right where we need to be. Tomorrow on April 17 we meet with our homestudy agency for the last time. She has been great in seeing us through this process. We have received copies of our marriage/birth certificates and have sent them back to the Secretary of State in Minnesota and Washington and waiting for there return. We have to do this because they have to be authenticated. It is all part of the process. We had our physicals and blood tests done and we passed that. We have completed our autobiographies. Both Jennifer and I had to do one- 5-8 pages long. We will soon send off our imigration paperwork and then will have to wait for their response for fingerprinting. We hope to mail that off as soon as we receive our authenticated marriage/birth certificates. Our dossier will then start to be completed. We will send everything off to CCAI and they will start working on it from their end.
We have been doing well with the fundraising. So far we have raised $7738.50. $3000.00 of this amount is for the orphanage when we go to China. That will be given directly to the orphanage. That is a gift from our Wills and Memorials committee at Fifth Avenue United Methodist Church in West Bend, WI. We are truely blessed to have a church family like these people. We couldn't be happier to share this experience with everyone there. We will try to remember and thank everyone personally as we go. We are planning another mystery dinner. We won the photo contest for the first one we had so as a prize we received a free mystery dinner. We chose "The Library". That is where everyone can dress up as a character from some of their favorite stories like Snow White, Robin Hood, Little Red Riding Hood, the wolf, Huck Fin, etc. That is for a group of 17-30 people. It is one we can do 4 different times because it has 4 different endings. We are really anxious to do another one because the first one was a great time. The costumes were great. We will keep everyone posted on the next one. That is it for now. We will try to post another update this week after the homestudy visit. Thanks to all. God bless everyone of you!!

Homestudy Progress

We had our 3rd homestudy meeting on Wednesday(3/29). We drove to Madison for this meeting. Once again - not at all what I have been expecting - in a good way. This meeting was basically just preparing us for what to expect when we pick up our child. I am still trying to get my mind around the idea that, yes we have been accepted to adopt a child, so talking about it as a for sure thing is a little overwhelming. Once again things seem to be moving swiftly out of my control, swiftly being the key word.
I am guestimating our time line right now as: Finish homestudy by the end of April, complete dossier and immigration paperwork by mid May including submission to China, then all we have to do is wait.
The dossier is the large collection of personal information that Mike and I are currently putting together, birth, marriage certificated, police reports ect. We send this to CCAI, our agency, they translate everything into Chinese and send it to China. From there it takes 8 to 10 months for the Chinese government to "match" us with a specific child. Once we are matched with a child we will be traveling to China within 5 to 8 weeks. So optimistically we are looking at anytime from January to March to bring home our little girl. I say optimistically because there are all kinds of things that could cause delays, politics, natural disasters, bird flu - who knows what.
Finance wise we are doing pretty good. So far we have paid out $3376.00 for our 1st agency fee and the first half of our homestudy. We have $4945.00 left to pay before everything can be submitted to China, this will be due once our homestudy is complete and as we finish our immigration paperwork/fingerprinting. Of the $4945.00 we have $1400.00 that we have already raised and set aside, so we need to raise $3545 by the middle of May. Right now our grand total looks like it will be about $18,500.00 plus or minus depending on what type of rates we get for airfare and things like that. If you want to see our exact fees and what they go for scroll down to my earlier posting on the monetary breakdown. I am going to try to keep it updated with exact amounts that we have paid or that are due. The nice thing is that once we make these next few payments in May to get the dossier sent out, we will have 8-10 months before anything else is due. That will give us a nice window of time to work our butts off - hopefully do a few more mystery dinners and who knows what else.
Most of all I cannot say a big enough thank you to everyone who has helped us out, just knowing that you are all praying for us and supporting us in this process is an amazing blessing. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Jennifer

Mystery Dinner Success

Our "Case of the Missing Gold" mystery dinner was a huge success!!. I think it will be a night for everyone to remember for quite a while, and if you forget, we have the pictures to prove it. It was a little slow going to start, but by the end of the night everyone was really getting into their parts. And it wasn't as easy to figure out "who done it" as I thought it would be. I thought I might have even stolen it myself:-) Thank you to all of our brave participants - you were a blast. And thanks to everyone for helping us to completly fund our INS/Fingerprinting fee. We raised $670+. There are still a few checks coming in, so I'm not sure of the exact total. We thank God for blessing us with such a wonderful group of friends and family.

1st Homestudy Visit

Whew!! Big sigh of relief. Our first home visit with the social worker went well. Julie Dalen is our homestudy social worker and it is her job to do all of our various background checks(which have already come back clear), references, birth and marriage certificates, Immigration and on and on. She also writes up a description of us for CCAI basically verifying that we are fairly normal stable people capable of raising a child.
We were quite relieved to discover that we are right where we are supposed to be with getting things done, as far as paperwork goes. She is very relaxed and encouraging about the whole process which relaxes and encourages us. We now have a rather short list of things to get done by our next visit with her which will be next Wednesday down in Madison. As far as trying to predict when we might be going to China - it all hinges on the INS(Immigration/Naturalization). Julie said that the Wisconsin office is one of the best in the country, and that they are very efficient and on top of national and international policy changes that have the biggest impact on how quickly things move. So we will have to wait and see. Once our INS paperwork is in we might have a better timeframe.
Now I actually feel like I can start enjoying this process. There is still a ton of paperwork to do, but that's o.k. My fear of the unknown about the homestudy has been relieved, now we can just move ahead. Yeah!

1st Fundraiser

Well, we did it! Our first fundraiser, potluck at 5th Ave United Methodist. Or more accurately - everyone else did it. I never fail to be amazed at the robust portions and endless choices that present themselves at potlucks.
We enjoyed a wonderful meal with about 25-30 people. As we worked on the desserts we showed the DVD from CCAI and answered questions.
When all was said and done we raised a total of $410.00 today. What a wonderful blessing. Thank you to everyone who cooked and ate, participated and donated. We are so thankful for your prayers and support.
This money will probably go toward either the I600/fingerprinting INS expense or the Dossier preperation/translation. I am not exactly sure which one comes first.
We are scheduled to meet with our homestudy social worker on Wednesday, March 22 at 11:00. So keep us in your prayers for that.
I am sure I will have more to update on Wednesday, and we are having our 2nd fundraiser on Saturday, March 25 so it will be a busy week!! Thank you all so much!

Jennifer

What week is this anyway?!

So much for my weekly dedication to writing updates. Time is disappearing, and I haven't figured out a way to get it back yet. So here is the low down. Sent the homestudy app. in, just waiting to hear back when we meet for the first time. Sent the 1st agency fee in (look at the monetary breakdown if you want to see where this all fits in the time line).
This whole process really plays with your mind. It magnifies any and all anxieties you have, plus it creates some new ones along the way. We haven't even started the homestudy and I have already imagined half a million reasons why she is going to tell us we won't be able to adopt. Not to mention the fear that is always in the back of my mind - how are we going to pay for this? For those of you that don't know this about me, money freaks me out big time, or more accurately, the lack of it.
I am trying to keep my money anxieties in check, but if you find me hyperventilating in a corner somewhere, you will know I got left alone with my thoughts too long. To ease some of the anxiety I am trying to focus on the fundraising events we have coming up :
Potluck at church March 19th 11:45 a.m. - mostly informational but a free will dontion will be taken.
Mystery Dinner #1 - Case of the Missing Gold March 25th - invite only, this is our trial run event if it works well we will be doing hopefully several more at church, in Mayville, and back home this summer.
We are working on several other ideas as well, from a church rummage sale to setting up an Ebay charity account through the church.
Along the lines of money anxieties I took Mike through the baby section at Walmart, kind of a prep run. So if you find him hyperventilating in a corner it is because he is in shock over realizing how much diapers cost. So that's it for now. Keep checking back - I will try to get better at posting things a little more often. Jennifer

THANK YOU'S

This posting will be continiually updated as time goes on. So don't freak out if you don't see your name, this is a work in progress!

You are all our hero's. We wouldn't even be embarking on this journey without the support and encouragement of our friends and family. I don't think there is any way to thank you for all you have done and continue to do.

Moms & Dads - Pat & John, Tom & Jan
Thanks for never pushing and always supporting. And thanks for your genuine excitement and enthusiasum.

Grandmas & Grandpas - Albert & Del, Pat & Spike
Thank you for being even more anxious for our baby to come home than we are!

Sisters & Brothers - Chad, Tina, Alisha, Jerod, Delacey
Thank you in advance for answering all of the midnight phone calls of "what do we do now???!!!" Hopefully not too many:-)

Vicky - Thank you from the bottom of my heart for praying me through this. You are the older, wiser sister I never had. Thank you for showing me how to lay it all down for the Lord.

Mark & Tanya - Thank you for sharing your family with us. Spending time with your children helped us to open up our hearts to the possibility of having our own.

Tracy & Jason - Thank you for your big hearts and wonderful smiles - you have been nothing but encouraging from the very beginning.

Jon & Jean
John, Jo, Christopher & Jennifer
5th Ave United Methodist Church
Roy & Kari
Janet & Steve
Jerry & Shelia - Our notary extroirdinaire!!
Alma & Baiz - Yesterday's Pub and Grill
Georgia - Georgia's Bridal
Emily
Ellen
Amy & Gary
Cyndy Beecroft - Celtic Crossroads Cafe
Terri
Wanda
Pat & Barney
Dale & Barb
Peggy
Betsy & Doug
Linda
Dex & Margie
Tony & Peg
Bruce & Bonnie
Michelle & Dave
Kris Steinbach
Dianna & Mike (Norsk Winds)
Mayville Auxiliary

Plain Old Elbow Grease

If you want to help with the adoption but can't offer financial help we have oodles of other things we need help with around home/shop. Here is a list of things we need to get done before baby comes home (I'm telling you, this feels rather like actually being pregnant):

Replace stair treads and risers - paint all
Finish repairing/replacing stair banister
Replace Apartment door
Replace flooring in our bedroom
Build and paint heat register covers ( Mike has started and they look great!)
Fix/repair back patio
Seal coat cinderblock addition of the building
Replace sofit/fascia on bedroom
Put up rain gutters
Gut back room downstairs, insulate, get heat functioning
Replace front door of shop
Paint backroom downstairs
Paint entire outside of building
Finish painting building trim
Trim windows(12), doors(3)

O.k. - that's enough for now, I'm making myself sick thinking about all of this. Thank goodness Mike will have the option to take some time off this summer. Some of this stuff is pure labor, some things, like the trim work, we will only be able to do a little at time as we have the money (which at this point could be never, ever). I haven't even gotten to the part about setting up cribs, changing tables, blah, blah, blah.......Anybody what to sign us up for Extreme Home Makeover?!?!

Jennifer

Monetary Breakdown/Timeline

Agency Application Fee -----------------$150.00---------PAID
First Agency Fee------------------------$1950.00--------CHURCH LOAN
Homestudy Application------------------$300.00---------PAID
1st Homestudy Payment-----------------$900.00---------PAID
Certified Birth Certificates----------------$76.00----------PAID
Certified Marriage Certificate-------------$18.00----------PAID
2nd Homestudy Payment----------------$900.00---------COVERED - not paid yet
Fingerprinting---------------------------$685.00---------Mostly covered
Dossier preparation----------------------$450.00
Second Agency Fee----------------------$2300.00
China Center of Adoption Affairs---------$610.00

Dossier submitted for translation/sent to China

WAIT FOR CHILD MATCH - 8 to 10 months

Post Placement Deposit------------------$500.00---------Refunded after completion
Visas to enter China----------------------$160.00
Domestic and International airfare-------$900-1600/person
Child's return ticket----------------------$ ?
In China Travel/accommodations--------$1700.00
China's Adoption Registration------------$400-800 CASH
Child's Passport--------------------------$100-150 CASH
Orphanage Fee---------------------------$3000.00 CASH
Food-------------------------------------$600-800.00
Child's physical/photo (in China)---------$70.00 CASH
Child's U.S. entry visa--------------------$380.00 CASH
Post Placement --------------------------$800.00

Grand Total: $16,955 - $18,305
(my addition might be off, I did it by hand)

Week 3

We met with our prospective homestudy agency this morning down in Madison and we were very pleased. It is a very small company - owned/run by two women - very organized, and extremely nice. They have been doing homestudies since 1987. They were refered to us by the Luebke's who are the couple that we met that adopted through CCAI this past summer. So we know they are familiar with our adoption agency, plus the personal reference is always reassuring.
Now we start with all the fun stuff. We will fill out the first round of record/criminal background check papers and send with it a $300 application fee. Then we will meet with Julie, the homestudy lady, 4 different times, twice in Madison, twice in our home. China requires four face to face meetings with prospective parents. Then Julie puts together a discription of our home, character, finances ect. that becomes part of our dossier. At least I think that is how it works. The total cost of the homestudy will be $2100, that includes the $300 application fee. $900 will be due at the second home visit and the final $900 will be due when the homestudy is completed. The homestudy usually takes 4-6 weeks to complete.
We also got to attend a Valentine's Ball fundraiser yesterday for Roy and Kari, some friends of ours that are also adopting from China. They are at about the same stage we are right now. We are hoping to do some fundraising together with them so we will be working on that the next few weeks.
So that is where we are for now! Jennifer

1st Fundraiser

We have a tenative date for our first fundraiser. It is a small one with some close friends and fellow business owners. We are going to host a "murder mystery" dinner on March 25th at the Celtic Crossroads, the cafe and coffee shop next door to us. We haven't worked out any of the exact details yet, but it is exciting to at least have something to do! All this waiting gets old, and we've just started! It is a St. Patrick's Day theme mystery which is perfect for the Crossroads in March. I am hopeful that if this one works out good that we will be able to do a couple of larger ones with our church and with Yesterday's restaraunt across the street. We will just have to wait and see. Jennifer

Adoption Week #2

There is nothing new to report this week. Next Monday we meet with a potential agency to do our homestudy. Find out all the details and go from there. There is another agency I will be calling today or tomorrow to talk to them. They are also in Madison. Would like to have a back up in case, another option. We are greatful for all the friends and family who are supporting us in some way shape or form through this. This will be alot of fun and very exicting. We are planning on setting up a fund account and will be posting that soon in case anyone wants to help financially. This is something we do not expect from anyone but some may want to help us in this way. It will be set up at our bank. The adoption as a whole will cost about $18,000. We are going to be doing (hopefully) a lot of fundraising through our church and local businesses. We have a plan to start this fund and to keep it going for other families after us. This is something we hope to do through our church. If we raise more than what we need then that excess will be the start for that fund. I want to be able to help others in this process. It's not like a couple has $20,000 around for an adoption. We will post another "blog" next week sometime. Take care all and God Bless all of you. Mike

Adoption Week One

Well, all the anxiety and build up waiting to see if we were accepted by CCAI (our agency), and now we are.....waiting....again.
We have 90 days to come up with our 1st agency fee ($1950) and secure our homestudy agency. We have an appointment with a homestudy agency on Feb. 13th. That will cost $1500. I am not sure if that is an up front cost or if it is broken up over the course of the study. For those of you who don't know what the homestudy is - it basically consists of a social worker going over your life with a fine tooth comb with the ultimate objective of discovering whether you have ever farted in church, ever. Just kidding:-) Really, they do the local, state, and federal background checks, personal interviews, and a home visit to make sure we don't live in a cardboard box or something. A cardboard box would sure be a lot cheaper to remodel, but oh well. Earl has been sternly warned to be on his best behavior - which, come to think of it, isn't all that good.
We are starting to get together some fundraising ideas and all of a sudden it doesn't seem like we have very much time, and that this is going to go very quickly. We have started thinking about names, primarily girls names, but we will have a few boy's names just in case. That's all for now I guess. We are looking forward to hearing back from all of you - it looks like you have to create a user name and password to leave a comment - I think you can handle that:-)

Jennifer