Fundraising Updates from March and April 2016

Ever wonder why is this blog titled "Hebrews 10:23 Adoption" blog?

April 2016

Freezer Pleaser Fundraiser Results:

First of all, a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who participated in the Fund Raiser. Whether you sold tickets, bought them, made a casserole or prayed for our endeavors, this would not have been possible without you!

The results are as listed below:

Grand Prize Winners of the Freezer and 30 meals - The Cole Family

Walmart Giftcard Winner for most tickets sold: Lois Sims

Total funds raised: $2500 - 
minus ticket printing costs and shipping of $250=$2250 

Youth received $80 

Honduras Mission Team received $1085 

Walrod Adoption Funding received $1085                            

Again, thank you all for your participation and continued prayers!

----------------------

March 2016

We received and unexpected donation of $1,000.  This covered the costs of our I 800 A application and USCIS fingerprinting.  Praise the Lord!

TOTAL FUNDING RAISED SO FAR is just over $7,000.

Why is this blog titled what it is????

This is why ....HE IS FAITHFUL!  ALWAYS AND FOREVER FAITHFUL!!!

"Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who

promised is faithful."

Hebrews 10:23

Remaining Timeline Estimates and explainations

               Dossier phase:  

This is the phase we are in right now. Here are the remaining steps in this process.

1.     I 800A approval letter - Approval received on March 28, 2016  (This is our clearance notice that we passed the FBI background checks and we are cleared to proceed)

2.     Send notarized documents to Kansas Secretary of State’s Office for certification and authentication of all the notary signatures.

3.     Send one document to Maryland for certification and authentication.  It has to go to the county of origination first and then on to the Maryland Secretary of State. 

4.     Send another document to the Illinois Secretary of State for certification and authentication.
5.  Send completed dossier to the Chinese Consulate in Chicago.
6.  Send completed dossier to WACAP (our adoption agency)
7.  Dossier reviewed by WACAP China staff specialist
8.  WACAP submits dossier to the China Center for Children's Welfare and Adoption or CCCWA.

CCCWA Phase:

1.  Wait to hear back that our dossier has been logged into the CCCWA system.  This is called the Logged In Date or LID.  
2.  Once it is logged in, the ENTIRE dossier is translated.  This is will be AT LEAST 50 pages of documentation.  Maybe more if they translate all of the Secretary of State's certification pages.  
3.  After it is translated, then it will go into review.  This is where they will look through all of our pre-approval information and make sure we are officially matched with our children.  

4.     We will receive notice of acceptance/Letter of Acceptance or LOA.

                 Prep for Travel phase:

I have to find my notes on this phase before I write more about it. 

That’s enough to keep you busy reading for awhile. More later ….

As always, Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all of your prayers and support!

March 2016 Updates

I am sorry for the delay in the March update.  We were busy trying to get our taxes ready to file and working on adoption paperwork. 

Everything about this process seems to move about the speed of cold molasses while we wait.  One the other hand, time is moving along so quickly that it is hard to keep on top of our adoption funding progress and goals.

Here is an update on what has taken place the last few weeks.

On Monday, March 14, 2016, Paul, Jamison and I traveled to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service which is located near the KCI airport. This is otherwise known as “the fingerprinting appointment” or the technical term is biometrics appointment.  It was scheduled by the USCIS several weeks ago as part of our I 800A application.  Our fingerprints will be entered into their database and ran through the FBI database.  The goal of this is (once again) to make sure we have a clean background and no criminal history and prevent child trafficking.  The purpose of the I 800A application to determine our suitability to adopt a child.

While we’ve been waiting for our I 800A to be processed, we’ve been working on our dossier documents.  This seems like it takes forever to get all of this done.  Here is a list of all the documents we have to have for our dossier.  Most of these have to be notarized, and not only notarized but the notary commission cannot expire for 12-18 months.  We also have to be sure the date on the document is the same as the notary signature date.  The officials reviewing our documents are apparently very attentive to this particular detail.

Thankfully, since we are not divorced, single or dead it makes ours a tiny bit easier to complete.

The following documents are required for the dossier and must be notarized, verified and authenticated:

_____1. Birth Certificate(s)

_____2. Marriage Certificate

_____3. Financial Statement

_____4. Medical Form(s)

_____5. Police Clearance Report(s)

_____6. Letter of Employment(s)

_____7. I-800A, Approval Notice

_____8. Adoption Application Letter

_____9. Home study Report

_____10. Affidavit of Single Status (*Single applicants only. Forms are enclosed)

The following documents are required for your dossier and DO NOT need to be verified and authenticated:

_____11. Notarized Reference Letters (3)

_____12. Copies of Signed Passports

_____13. Passport Photos (Two (2) per applicant)

_____14. Six (6) Family Photos

_____15. Statement from Guardian (*Single applicants only)

_____16. Medical letter from a doctor (if required)

_____17. Psychological Evaluation (if required)

_____18. Divorce Decree (*Single applicants only, if required):

_____19. Death Certificate (*Single applicants only, if required):

Once we get our I 800A approval letter, we will take it to be notarized and then our dossier will go to the Kansas Secretary of State’s office for authentication.  This means they will verify all of the notaries and make sure they are all legit.

After our dossier is done at the Secretary of State’s office, it will come back to us where we turn around and send it to the Chinese Consulate in Chicago via a courier service.  We have to use a courier service because the Consulate does not accept mailed in documents.  They have to be hand delivered.  So we have to pay a courier service to deliver it for us and then return to pick it up a few days later ….that is unless we want to make a leisurely drive to Chicago and back.  So I guess a courier service will be cheaper and work better than us trying to do it ourselves at this point.

Dossier Process - What is a dossier anyway?

At this point in our adoption process we are working on our dossier.  

(Pronounced: dô′sē-ā .  You can hear a pronunciation here on this webpage:  http://www.thefreedictionary.com/dossier )

A dossier is the set of documents which contain detailed information about our family.  The dossier is what will be sent to China to be translated into Chinese and then closely reviewed by the Chinese adoption officials.

As you may imagine, attention to details is of the utmost importance.  Not only do these documents represent our family, but the officials reviewing them can be real stickers on when documents are dated, signed and notarized.

Here is a short list of details we need to watch for:

• Without proper wording, some states will not complete the notary verification.

• We have to be sure the date on the document and the date of notarization match.  Many Chinese Consulates will reject documents if the date on the document is different than the date it is notarized.

• The Chinese Consulates will not accept any document with white out on it.

• We have to be sure the notary’s commission does not expire for at least 12-18 months from now.

There are four main steps to the dossier process before it can be sent to China.
Step One:

Gather, sign and notarize all the documents on the checklist below.

DOCUMENT CHECKLIST:

The following documents are required for your dossier and must be notarized, verified and authenticated:
_____1. Birth Certificate(s)
_____2. Marriage Certificate
_____3. Financial Statement (Form is enclosed)
_____4. Medical Form(s) (Form is enclosed)
_____5. Police Clearance Report(s) (Form is enclosed)
_____6. Letter of Employment(s)
_____7. I-800A, Approval Notice
_____8. Adoption Application Letter
_____9. Homestudy Report
_____10. Affidavit of Single Status (*Single applicants only. Forms are enclosed)

The following documents are required for your dossier and DO NOT need to be verified and authenticated:
_____11. Notarized Reference Letters (3)
_____12. Copies of Signed Passports
_____13. Passport Photos (Two (2) per applicant)
_____14. Six (6) Family Photos
_____15. Statement from Guardian (*Single applicants only)
_____16. Medical letter from a doctor (if required)
_____17. Psychological Evaluation (if required)
_____18. Divorce Decree (*Single applicants only, if required):
_____19. Death Certificate (*Single applicants only, if required):

What happens to the dossier once it is done?

Step Two:
Once our dossier is done, it will be sent to the Kansas Secretary of State's office where they will authenticate (verify and certify each one to make sure they are legit) each notary's signature.  

Step Three:
Once we get everything back from the KS Sec of State office, we will send it on to the Chinese Consulate in Chicago.  We will have to hire a courier service to walk it into the consulate office one day and then go back and pick it up a few days later.  We have to hire a courier service because the Chinese Consulate does not accept these documents sent through the mail.  

Step Four:
Once all the documents are completed, then we will send them to our agency who will then send them to China where they will be translated and reviewed. 

There are a few mile stone acronyms which are commonly used during this time:

Once they receive our dossier and it is logged into their system, it is a milestone called DTC - Dossier to China.

Once the dossier is translated and logged into their system is is called LID - Logged In Date

As you can imagine, all of this takes time.  We still anticipate that we will travel sometime very late summer, but most likely fall 2016.

Thank you for all of your thoughts, prayers and support of our family during this adoption process.

Process updates and Thank You!

First we want to say “Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts!”  We have never felt so loved and cared for as we do by this body of believers! You are an amazing church family and we could not do this without you!

Clothing drive update:

We received a total of 10,890 pounds of clothing and shoes which is awesome!  You guys really helped us rock that fundraiser.  The recycling company pays .15 a pound, so the net proceeds from that fundraiser will be $1,633.50.  This may not seem like a lot, but it is still way better than we’ve done with fundraiser garage sales in the past and it was a much better return on our investment of time and man power. Thank you to everyone who hauled clothes from all over, let us borrow garage space and trailers and supported us in any way.

Fundraising update:   

We just hit the $5,000 raised mark.   Praise the Lord!  We still have a long way to go, but God is faithful.  He has shown this to us over and over again.  Here is a very simplified breakdown of where the fundraising dollars have come from so far:

Walrod jewelry sales for 4 months = $300

EBC Fundraiser soup and chili feed = $2,140

Donations = $990

Clothing Drive Fundraiser = $1,633

Grant Total of $5,063 towards our goal of $45,000

Where are we in the process now?

Our home study was finally officially approved on January 20, 2016 after about a month of delays.  We just submitted our application to the US Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS) to get their approval for this adoption.  This application is called the I 800A and once it reviewed, they will send us an appointment time to appear in person at the Kansas City office to be fingerprinted.  These finger prints will be screen by the FBI and is part of the intense background checks which are required for the adoption.  This documentation is part of what needs to be completed for our dossier to be sent to China. 

What is a dossier?

In a nutshell, the dossier is our life story and more.  It contains our home study, letters of reference, medical info, income verification and all of the USCIS clearances.  So our next big step is to get all of the USCIS documentation and clearances, then submit our dossier to the Chinese Consulate in Chicago.  This probably will not take place until March 2016.

We still have at least 6-8 more months to go!  Thank you for your continued prayers.  

Fundraising Update

I finally had time to sit down and calculate all of the totals from fundraisers and donations.  We just hit the $5,000 mark!  Praise the Lord!

Here is a very simplified break down of where it came from:

Walrod jewelry sales over the course of 4 months = $400
EBC November Fundraiser Meal = $2,100
Donations = $990
Clothing drive fundraiser = $1,600

Grand Total = $5,090 raised to date!! 
towards the end goal of $45,000

Thank you all so very much!!  

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions:

How long will this process take?  International adoption is usually a very long, complicated and expensive process.  Our best guess (based on what we know right now) is that we hope to travel to China to adopt the children in late summer or fall of 2016.

How many children are you adopting? Two  (we have three biological children and we have adopted internationally three times)

How old are the children?

We pre-approved to adopt a boy age 3 and girl age 4.

Are the children related?

They are not biologically related that we know of.  However, they are originally from the same city. 

Why does adoption cost so much?  The short answer is that everything about the adoption process is intended to help reduce child abuse and trafficking.  Since these travesties are on the rise worldwide, more and more rules, regulations and systems have been put in place to help reduce the risk.  All of these things require the involvement of professionals on both sides of the ocean.  We have a complete list of all our expenses and it is available for anyone who is interested.  We aim to be completely transparent about the fundraisers and expenses.

What are their special needs?

This is generally private information but we can share some details to help you understand their needs a little better.  The girl has some issues with her eyes and language development.  We actually have more questions about her needs at this time.  We will not know the extent of her needs until she is home and examined by a team of specialist. 

The little boy actually has a brain malformation.  His condition is most commonly misdiagnosed as Asperger’s syndrome.  We also will not know a whole lot more until he is home.