We have just received our Verbal referral!

Hi Everyone, Thank you for praying. We received news today from our attorney that our children's country has given us their verbal referral. They have reviewed our dossier and have agreed after review that our file is complete and qualifies to be a match for these children. We now continue to pray that we will receive a written referral as quickly as possible. Once we have the written we are allowed to make travel plans to go see our children for the first time. Thank you everyone. All of you are with us in this journey and as soon as I receive that written referral , I will start packing. You are all coming with me since I will continue to keep my blog open and will share with you the joy of meeting these 4 precious children. I have included some pictures of them. It is the only pictures I have but thought you may appreciate them as we have.

Where are we in the adoption process?

Hi Everyone, I felt it was very important to update you and let you know where we are in the process of bringing home these precious children. We have submitted all of our paperwork needed to their country. We had many forms besides our home study, medical exams, employment, criminal background checks with 3 sets of fingerprints, references, marriage/birth certificates and of course our I-800a (approval from our country that we are suitable parents to adopt). This collection of papers are called our dossier. Dossier is a collection of papers or file containing detailed information of a person, in our case our family.
Once we had each form notarized we went to our capitol city and had them apostilled. This was to certify to our children's country that our notarized papers were truly notarized by a person who had the right to do so. Anyways, as you can see it is a process and then once it arrives to their country it will be translated and again officially stamped, notarized in order that an official legal file is held to the proper officers of adoption requirements. They will then review it and let our attorney know if we are elligible to adopt from their country and if they allow us to persue adopting these particular children.
So what do we need now....PRAYERS and PRAYERS please Pray because that huge dossier has been officially handed and will be read this week. We are waiting for a verbal referral stating that they have reviewed and we have been officially matched with these children. If they review the file and we have missed anything it would cost more money and most of all delays. These children cannot wait they need your prayers. We need your prayers that the officers will review with a speedy quickness and understand the urgency that these children have in having a family. I have included a poll on the side this way as we feel down, we can look over and think of all of you who have prayed and are praying for us and these 4 precious babies who are true ORPHANS. These 4 Orphans had no one even thinking of them, now they should have thousands (all of you my dear readers and friends) praying for them all the way to freedom. May our Father Bless Each and everyone of You.

Goodbye 2011 and welcoming 2012

Happy New Year Everone!




















Hi Everyone, These are a few pictures that I just wanted to post. 2011 was one year that we did not adopt any new children. It was a year that many of our children started school. We had 7 children start school for the first time!! We wish we had traveled more but that was not possible. It was definitely a year that we stayed home other then local trips to the lake, beach and parks. It was a year of adjustments for Ian, Ellia and Benjamin where they had "first" of everything. These are children who had never celebrated birthdays or holidays. In 2011 they received their first Easter baskets and egg hunt. They watched fireworks for the first time dressing in their red, white and blue. Even though we were not able to go door to door dressed in halloween costumes, they were able to carve pumpkins and dress up in costumes going room to room making each other laugh. They loved dressing up pretending to be this and that. Thanksgiving was wonderful, the children sat at the table dressed as Indians ( with their head gear made at school). Yes, 2 turkeys were needed and there were very little leftovers. Christmas for us was celebrated with so much joy because the children did remember it from the previous year. The moment the tree went up, Ian especially started jumping with such joy saying he knows "Christmas". I can tell you he did not have that connection until the tree went up. This was his 2nd year celebrating Christmas even though he was now 6 years old! I had to work on New Years Day so our New Years Eve "party" was celebrated from 7pm to 9pm. Angelina (6 years old) said it was the "best New Years party she had ever been to." How cute! Sorry about so many double pictures, with some more time I will go back and edit.