worth the wait!

We went to a children's resale shop this weekend and Madison found this t-shirt (I WAS WORTH THE WAIT) for Josiah it is just so perfect! can't wait to put it on him and take pictures. I know he is worth the wait and worth all this stress, all the paperwork, paper chasing, people chasing and money. He is worth every bit can't wait to hold him in my arms.

social worker home from vacation

sighhhh......... our social worker is home from vacation today and can get our homestudy done.It feels so good to have her home and to know the homestudy will be done soon.and to know she is there if I need her, funny how I sorta felt lost while she was gone this lady I had never met before two months ago plays such a big part in our lives now. so nice to have her home!

Scentsy Fundraiser

My sweet friend Angie is doing a Scentsy fundraiser for Josiah 20% of all sales go to help bring Josiah home. If you have never tried scentsy you are missing out, it is the best!
click the link and go to  the website then go to "buy from party" next to "Bring Josiah home Fundraiser" on the left side of screen. 20% of each sale goes to Bring Josiah home..


click here to order scentsy to help bring Josiah home.

$25 starbucks gift card

Here is what we are doing whoever raises $150 or more for us we will give a $25 starbucks giftcard for every $150 you raise. If you think about it  $150 isn't so hard just get 6 of your friends to donate $25 you will be helping to bring this sweet boy to a family and you will get a treat for yourself too.

If you want to be part of this please email me at katrina9@clear.net and I'll give you the details
 If you don't want to do that but just want to donate some yourself
"for every $20 donation
you make we will put your name in a hat and you could be the lucky recipient
of a $25 Starbucks Gift card. We will announce our lucky supporter on June 15th

Family portrait

We went this morning to Olan Mills we had to have a family picture for our Dossier.I will say I think we got some great pictures.my thoughts while we were there kept going to Josiah how this will be our last family portrait with out him. when he gets home we will get a new family portrait taken . and I though about how fun it was going to be to get him dressed up to get his own pictures taken.
I would post the pictures from today but I can't because it takes 3 weeks to get them. 3 weeks to wait for yet one more thing. I think I'm getting pretty good at waiting and I am starting to realize that I don't need to try and rush things it will all happen in Gods time.

need to vent

OK what I am about to say please don't take in the wrong way because we would do it all 100 times again to bring our boy home but I need to vent so

The past two months we have been poked at, picked on and looked over,we have done so much paperwork it makes me want to scream, we have had our house looked thru top to bottom, our children talked to and questioned, our friends/family interviewed.even the dogs and cats had to go to the vet. we have had our blood taken, fingerprints taken, pictures taken, thoughts taken to make sure we would be good parents.we have letters from our family,friends,employers,bank and Doctors. I have written my signature more then I have ever in my life. we had to get any sort of document we could ever have that says who we are. birth certificates , marriage certificate,social security cards, passports,and we will be getting visas.we have been checked and double and triple checked by the FBI. we have had our world turned upside down! we have busted our butts selling candy bars, puzzle pieces, handing out flyers, sending letters and begging for money.Finding out who really cares about us. Thru it all it has only brought us closer and stronger. we are near the end or is it just the beginning ? we still have court, we still have to go out of the country to a land we don't know, we still have to fly for I don't even know how many hours and land in a place where people do not speak our language. we still have to prove that we want this boy, prove we will love him forever, prove we will take care of him and not send him back on a plane one day by himself. we still have so much to do! but we are willing to do what ever it takes! the thing is we can't continue without the funds, we can't send in our paperwork documents and letters we have worked so hard to get together, we can't do that and have them send us a date to come meet him if we don't have the money to go. so what do we do? Mike my husband says "trust the Lord he said he will provide it." so do we send the precious package of papers and have faith we will have the money? what if the money doesn't come and we miss our date? do they give us another chance? I don't know what to do.If you read this please post a comment I need the support or even if its just to tell me to stop crying about.

Got our passports

We got our passports yesterday! Excited about this because it only took 3 weeks. now the only thing we need is our homestudy done, and our social worker gets home from vacation the 24th she should have it for us the first week of June. then we can get the Registration Application  notarized and apostilled and get it sent. then they will go over it and send us a date to come see Josiah. so exciting! we still have a few things to get done for the court Dossier and that will need to be sent just before we go so that that we can get a court date for our 2nd trip. we will still need to send in the I-600a form so we can get our fingerprint date and then get our I 171H ,we also need to get back our FBI clearance forms we sent in for yesterday, and we have a couple things still to have done like, employment letters ,deed to house and mortgage letter.but we are looking good.

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.