Let the paper chase begin!

Time for an adoption update!

After we got the call about being accepted into the Ind*a program, we were emailed a bunch of documents and agreements to read, sign, and send back to our agency along with our first big program fee. 

Here are the big brothers getting ready to take everything into the post office! P.S. I'm so excited that they are getting to share in this journey with us! So much fun...and quite the learning experience (no blog title pun intended!)

Yesterday, I got a call from our family coordinator who we will be working with up until we travel to Ind*a. Mark and I are so excited to be officially beginning the infamous "paper chase" phase of our adoption process. I know that at times, all the paperwork will be overwhelming and stressful, but at the same time, I know that each day, each document checked off the list, is one step closer to our sweet girl.

We dream about the day when we get a referral and finally get to see her picture, we imagine traveling to India hold her in our arms. We talk about bringing her home to her forever family with her two big brothers who are already praying for her daily. Mark and I are just amazed at how much we already love this little girl that we don't even know yet! While it's fun to dream, I also realize that we've got a long road of waiting ahead that's going to require an enormous amount of patience that only our God can provide.

And with that, I'm brought back to reality with words that are going to become a frequent part of my vocabulary. Words such as dossier, home study, Apostille (no, I don't mean Apostle), Hauge Convention, and oh so much more.

So, here we go! It's time to start collecting documents for our dossier!

What's a dossier, you ask? Well, basically it's a compilation of paperwork that will be sent to the C*RA and the local adoption authorities in Ind*a to prove that we are in fact, awesome parents that are fit to raise a little girl! It will include our home study, copies of birth certificates, marriage certificate, passports, tax information, financial information, physical exams and lab work, criminal background (of lack thereof), reference letters, and I'm sure there's more but you get the idea...and now you understand why they call it the paper chase! Our goal is to get this completed as quickly as possible and hopefully before Christmas! Once our dossier is complete and we are approved with C*RA, we will be able to receive a referral. There is no way of knowing how long we'll wait for a referral, but we're leaving it in God's hands. We are confident that he's called us to Ind*a to bring home our daughter, so we'll do our best to trust in him and his timing...he hasn't failed us yet! ;) 

Please continue to keep our family in your prayers. Specifically, please pray :

• That we can navigate through this dossier building process quickly and efficiently...and that we won't mess up any paperwork! 
• That our upcoming fundraisers would be successful. I'll be starting to work on the t-shirt fundraiser soon, and our big garage sale will be in the beginning of October. More details soon...
• For our little girl. That she is safe, protected, and loved on until we can provide all those things for her.