TWO MONTHS DOWN

Wow it has been two months yesterday since we committed to adopt Josiah. I am amazed that I have only had this little boy in my heart for two months it feels like forever.we are more then half way there and to think in two more months we may be able to meet this little guy.So excited about that.It feels like the last month just flew by I hope the next two fly by as well.

More paperwork

Yet more paperwork and stuff to get done. So now I have to find an accountant to write me a letter for my childcare since I am self employed.One more expense we were not thinking of. And I have to have my childcare certifier write me a letter and send me a new copy of my license. uggg I thought we were pretty much done with all the paperwork and running around but nope. will we ever be done? Today was the first time I thought maybe we should just stop right now, I can't take this anymore, we have no money, we have so much to do, what are we doing? I thought that for a while this morning sitting there feeling sorry for myself. But then I clicked my mouse on my laptop and Josiah's picture was there and I looked at his sweet face and the lord reminded me who told me to do this "HIM"! and that he told me things would work out and finances would be there. So I know we just have to do what ever we have to do, what ever is needed or even thought to be needed. In the end we will have Josiah in our arms and will have the blessing God has for us.

candy fundraiser first trip out

well my Aunt Gayle and Uncle Van said they will match our candy sales up to $100 wow!

so we went out tonight and sold candy, we were out for 2 hrs we went down a couple blocks not sure how many houses but a lot of people just gave us $5 instead of $2 we were asking and some didn't even want the candy but gave us money, some were rude and some said no in a nice way. lol but most were nice. we sold 17 candy bars and we came home with $49  so with the match we made $98 - the $17 we paid for the candy we made $81 pretty good I think. . we plan to go out again next week and maybe do it 2 times a week  in different areas . It really made me feel good knowing I was doing something to help raise the money and not just asking for donations. and we handed out flyers too and it felt good telling people about Josiah. we are tired, our feet hurt it felt like when we went trick or treating lol but for money this time. I only took two of the kids with me. I will take two each time so they don't get tired of it. I had to do all the talking but I think after a while they will get it down from hearing me say it so much and maybe they will do the talking. So we still have I think 18 bars left  and when they are gone I will let my aunt and uncle  know what the total is. So we need  someone else to do a match for our next box ... anyone?  It helps I think people are willing to give more when they know it is being matched when their $2 becomes $4. so please let me know if anyone reading this wants to help out.

CANDY FUNDRAISER

we are looking for someone to do a matching donation for us. we got some fundraising chocolate bars/bags and we are going to go door to door selling them and asking for donations. not sure how much we will make, we have 35 bars/bags and will sell them for $2 each but some people may give more. we are looking for someone to match what ever amount we make from these 35. so if we come back with $65 you will match that $65 or what ever it is. Does anyone want to help us out with this?

Break down of cost of Josiah's Adoption

Break down of the cost of adoption


We already paid for
*commitment fee $1,275
*agency application fee $375
*homestudy application fee $300
*finger prints $40
*birth certificates $205
*Dr health check don't know yet.
*passports $230
*physiologist evaluation $250
*home study $1,625
*2nd set of finger prints $40
*FBI clearance for both of us $36
*CPA fees $65
*Family Picture for Dossier $170
*USCIS I600a form $830 plus $10 to ship it
*notary for our passports $20
*1st set documents apostilled $250 plus $10 to send them
*agency fee $2,500
*foreign fee of $1000
*apostilling docs that were left out $60 plus $10 to send it
Total $9,301


need for court Dossier
*2nd set documents apostilled $350
*Dr for 6 kids $120 copay
Total $470


first trip
*visas $500
*airfare $2000
*foren fees $3700 includes coordination fees orphanage donation ,translation and notarization of dossier, country tax humanitarian aide and assistance fund
*services $900 transportation ect
*hotel and food $1000
Total $8,100




2nd trip
* 2nd payment to our agency of $1,925
* $3,700 support and service fees includes coordination fees orphanage donation ,translation and notarization of dossier, country tax humanitarian aide and assistance fund
*our airfare $2000
*hotel and food $4000
*$200 for gifts for officials
*our visa $500
*parent medical exam $400
*transportation by car while in country $1,000
*train in country $400
*translator fee for court $100
*authentication of legal paperwork while in country $100
*child's medical exam $150
*child's passport $75
*child's visa $400
*child's airfare $1,000
Total $15,950


Total for all $33,821


Total already paid                Total still needs to be paid
$9,301                                     $24,520


3rd trip
If the judge does not wave the 10 wait (and I hear she is not for anyone right now) then we will have to make a 3rd trip and I'm not sure how much that will cost.
I know it would be
airfare $2000
hotel and food $1000


so far we have gotten $670 in donations.and made $32 in candy sales,$150 from parents night out,$80 in t-shirt sales and $150 from garage sale.so we have gotten a total of $1,082 from fundraising.

My best guess

My best guess

OK so a sat down and thought about it,tried to figure out the time line as best I can. I know we never know what may happen with adoption and I may be way off. but I wanted to write my best guess, Then when I look back on this I can see how close or far off I was.
so my best guess is that our first date to go meet Josiah will be the week of July 19-23. and then I think we will go for court and to pick him up sometime around September 23rd. I know my last post I said we may go the end of June but I am thinking now that is too soon, I don't think we will have everything we need by then. So that is my best guess for now.

NEWS

Well I have some exciting news. I just found out today that we do not have to have the I600-a form sent out or have the I 171H form to go visit Josiah. we can go visit him and then come home and put together the court dossier including the I 171H form. This is such great news because now when our social worker gets back from vacation she can finish our home study and we can send the first dossier or registration application, and they will send us a date to come meet Josiah.Then after we get back from that visit we should have gotten our finger print apt. and then about two weeks after that the I 171H from that we need for the court dassier should be in our hands. so we will send that in and they will give us a court date. so what all this means for you that have no idea what a I600a or  I171H is, is that we may get to go see Josiah the end of June first of July and then we may be able to go get him sometime in Sept. There are still things that can hold up the time so we will not say for sure on these dates, but it is something to work for. Now we have to do something to get the funds because June is not far off at all. please please if you can help us please do it now so I can stop being so worried about it.

Finances Ok so I'm worried

Ok so yes I will just say it I have been a little no a lot worried about the finances of getting Josiah home. If all things go well we will get our first date to go see him sometime in late July or early August. That's only around 3 months. seems like a long time when we think about having to wait to see our boy, but seems like no time at all when you think about raising at least $20,000. we have to have that much before we go on our first trip.We can't get any grants until the homestudy is done and that wont be until the first of June. so we will only have a few weeks to try and get a grant. I know I am not supposed to worry about this God said he would take care of it and so far he has. Mike says to stop worrying about it and let the Lord do his thing. It is hard and something I know I need to work on is trusting the Lord. and it seems like I do great for a time then my worries start up again. Please just pray for us that the money will come and pray for me that I will just give it to the Lord and trust.

Dossier prep packet and waiting

We got our dossier packet on sat! we came home in between games(kids baseball softball) and there it was. I was so excited I had been waiting for this for a few weeks. But I couldn't look at it good because we had to get to the next game. So I didn't get to look thru it until that night. I was pretty pleased to see we didn't have much more to do. We do have to go get yet another set of fingerprints, and letters from employers, and bank statement for our mortgage. we have a couple glitches with both of those since we don't own the home we live in, and I do childcare so I have no employer to write me a letter. our agency is in the process in finding out what to do for both those things. We also have to go get a family picture taken at a studio a snapshot will not work. so that's another thing that will be a bit hard to do, get all of us in one place at one time. It is baseball/softball season all the kids but Amelia play and Mike is the umpire in chief for our league, so we are busy to say the least. But we will get it done just like everything else. I remember when we first got the list of things and paper work we needed for the homestudy and I was so overwhelmed, and now we are thru that part and I look back and it does not seem to have been so bad. Can't wait until I can look back with Josiah in my arms at all the stuff we had to go thru and think it was not so bad. :)

so that is what we are doing now the last few things to get our dossier together,waiting for our homestudy to be finished(social worker on vacation), waiting for our passports, waiting to get our finger prints and then waiting for the report. Our next step after the homestudy is done is to send in the I600-a form and wait for our fingerprint appointment for them so as you can see we still have a lot of waiting to do.

PUZZLE PIECES FOR JOSIAH LETS TRY THIS AGAIN

Puzzle Pieces for Josiah

This puzzle will be assembled by our family. It will be framed & hung in our play room. Each piece is being "sold" for $5.00. Your name will be written on the back of the piece you purchase before it gets placed into the puzzle forever.
By participating in this fundraiser, you will become 1 of 500 people who will always be remembered by our family for helping to bring Josiah home.
To pay for your puzzle piece go to the chip in button and you can pay thru paypal. you can also send a check to us at email me for address katrina9@clear.net. You can also pay by cash if you want to give it to us in person. No matter how you pay please make sure to write a note saying that this is for the puzzle piece for Josiah and how many pieces you are getting and what name to put on the piece. After we put the puzzle together we will take a picture of both front and back and post it on our blog.

our next step putting together the Dossiers

OK so I am a bit overwhelmed but happy to have the information I have been waiting for about getting together our Dossier. We should have the Dossier prep packet on Sat. We will have to do two Dossiers one Registration Dossier" is due as soon as home study is complete. It will be sent to our facilitator, she will translate it and submit it to the Committee in Josiah's region, who will officially register us as prospective adoptive parents. Shortly thereafter we will be given a travel date to meet Josiah.I am thinking this may happen in August.

"Court Dossier". is due just prior to our first trip to meet Josiah, The judge will not issue a court date until he/she has reviewed the "court dossier" in its entirely, which can take up to two months or longer depending upon such variables as holidays, vacations and the judges docket.so we want to send it before our first trip, but know we will have to come home before we get our court date and date for our 2nd trip. we will be praying for this to be fast and that nothing holds it up.so we can get Josiah home before his 3rd birthday on November 3rd.
Sounds like we have a lot more work to do I'm sorta scared to get the packet not knowing what else we need but we will get thru it and get it done like we have all the other stuff.I guess it was a good thing our social worker for our homestudy is going on vacation, it gives us time to get this done. Otherwise I may have tried to rush it and missed something. It's all in Gods timing so we just need to remember that.Plus we do still need time to raise funds somehow.
Also I wanted to say we can't say what country Josiah is in, We were advised not to on a public blog. But I will tell you from looking at the pictures it is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. I hope that while Mike and I are there we can take in some of it and treat it like a vacation. I know it will probably be stressful but I hope we can remember to have some fun and see all the beauty of this country.
excited and a bit overwhelmed for the next step but bring it on, Dossiers here we come!

To hear your name spoken out loud

I don't know why but this morning when Mike said Josiah's name it hit me in a way I have not felt yet I didn't know how to say it so I wrote this poem.
To hear your name spoken out loud
I have said your name so many times to myself,but to hear it spoken out loud is something else.
It is like a secret being told, a secret of my heart unfolds.
Shout it yell it say it clear,to say your name makes you feel so near.
How can a name make me feel this way,I know you will be in my arms one day.
How can a name spoken bring such tears,so many emotions love and  fears.
One day I will hear your name and it will be a common thing,for now I will let flow the tears that it can bring.
Happy tears and sometimes sad,to hear your name makes my heart glad.
To hear your name makes me proud, to hear your name spoken out loud.
 
:written by Mommy for Josiah:

we are ok to be parents the psychologist said so

well I guess we are ok to be parent s whowee! that was a close one! lol well at least I can use that on my kids now ha-ha! "I am A good mom because the psychologist said so ha-ha!" Well it was no big deal she just asked some questions and we had to take a little test is what she called it but it was just a bunch of questions about how you feel not any thing big. the plan was 30 min for Mike and 30 min for me,well I went first and took up 45 min so when Mike went he only had to talk to her for 15 min because we only had 1hour. I guess I just talk  a lot teehee! so anyways good to know we are fit to be parents after 16.9 years of already doing it.

psychologist visit today

Off to the psychologist today to see if we will be good parents haha! we have been parents for 16 years and 9 months to six great kids I hope the psychologist says we will be able to be good parents, I'm not sure LOL!
well still it is sorta strange having to go to someone that does not know you and have them tell you if you are fit to parent or not.I will let you know how it goes.

chose to listen to God

I took this from another Mommys blog they just got home with their baby girl and they went thru some tuff times to get her. I just had to share some of what she said now after they are home.
"I also thought about how I would not be in that moment, rocking my sweet baby to sleep, if we had not taken this leap of faith and listened to God's call. We had every excuse in the book not to adopt her. We convinced ourselves this couldn't be for us. Finances. Time. Travel. Work. Life. Comfort. You get the picture. Thinking about how close we were to choosing not to adopt her makes me sad. Rocking her to sleep, holding her in my arms, feeling her heart beat, overflowing with love and gratefulness....thinking this may not have been because we were afraid. It makes me wonder what I have missed out on in life due to fear, lack of faith, and selfishness. If you feel you are being called to do something, listen to the call, take the leap, jump out of the airplane, because you won't be left to crash to the ground....if you just believe. We are NOT great, wonderful, extraordinary people. We are average, weak, mistake-filled, every day people who chose to listen to God, listen to our hearts, push fear to the side, and take a leap of faith. The reward is great."