An update

It's time to give you an update! Since starting this process in November, we've been busy getting all sorts of things done, here are some bullet points:

-Applied for the Uganda adoption program through A Family In Bloom Adoptions, based in Boulder, CO.

-Worked on the home study. For those of you unfamiliar with an adoption process, the home study is a key part of the process. The agency/social worker comes to your home (at least 3 times) to get to you know, evaluate your home, talk with you as a couple and with your children. Along with the visits there is also an extensive amount of paperwork involved, most of it is legal documents that show you are a safe parent. It also included a multi-page autobiography, written by each of us, sharing key moments of our lives. This Thursday we had our final home visit & once a few more documents are submitted to our agency our home study will be completed.

-Drew has been writing songs that capture pieces of our hearts about social justice issues that we are passionate about. He spent Friday in the studio and was able to complete the recording of the percussion for the 5 songs. We will keep you updated on the process with his CD, so you can be sure to get a copy when it's released.

(The studio: LaunchPad Studios)

Next steps:

-Wait for the final parts of the Home Study to be completed.

-Work on our dossier. This is a huge amount of paperwork: legal documents, reference letters, pictures and information that we need to gather for the court in Uganda & it is also used for other parts of the adoption process. Some pieces are already starting to trickle in, so the piles of papers are growing. :) Another adoptive mom told me to get a BIG binder for the dossier, because it will be thick!

-Fundraising. In the next couple of weeks we will need to pay our first agency program fee which is $5,000--which we do not have. The "nest egg" we started the process with has already dwindled quite a bit and very quickly. Ordering all of our legal documents (most of them x3) comes with a fee, our adoption training (which was really helpful & informative) and our home study have all taken a big chunk out of our adoption fund. The numbers are impossible for us, but thankfully not for God. 

-Decisions to make. There are a lot. Some of them hinge on finances, others are just decisions Drew and I need to make together regarding the process--timing, our biological children and our soon to be daughter. There are a lot of factors that go into preparing a family and a home for an adopted child. Along with the international process comes another set of things to consider: travel arrangements, length of stay in country, immigration, medical requirements, and the list goes on.

How you can help: 

- Calling all prayer warriors! As you can see from the "next steps" section, there is a lot going on for us in the next couple months. We need a lot of people of praying for us.

Pray for:
1. Wisdom as we make life changing decisions for our family.
2. Smooth and efficient processing at all government offices that will be handling our paperwork.
3. A healthy balance in all areas for our family.
4. Wisdom & guidance for our agency and Ugandans that will be making the connections between us and our daughter.
5. Ethical & honest practices throughout the whole process.
6. For the financing to come in as needed. We are trusting God has this bill covered.

I saw this picture yesterday and I felt it fitting for this process.