Good grief! It has been a long time since I have updated my blog. Well, hold on to your hat. Here goes.
Adoption:
The home study was finished and approved in December. We paid for it ($3800) so now it is put to rest. We still owe about $4000 in adoption fees. Hopefully David's W2s will hurry up and get here, the government will issue our refund check, and we can pay that fee.
The next step is the dossier. If I understand right, the dossier is similar to the home study but it requires different documents which are specific to Hong Kong. I spoke to the lady from Bethany who is in charge of adoptions from Hong Kong. It looks like we are still looking at traveling late summer(ish). That is assuming the funding is there.
When I started writing this post I remembered I had to pay for the I800A (about $900). I believe that has something to do with immigration. I really can't keep up anymore. I think it takes about 2 months to get approval.
Please don't hear me complaining about money or the high cost of adoption. I am simply stating how much we owe. For those that are considering adoption, you need to know what you are facing. David and I also know that God will provide one way or another. This is a big leap of faith for us. We really don't know how we'll get the money to pay for this. All my friends who have traveled this road before me have said the money will come.
I have been working on applying for grants. I just can't emphasize how much NOT fun that is. If it were just about filling out a form and signing on the dotted line that would be one thing. But unfortunately, you fill out forms, sign on the line, and provide about a bazillion documents to prove that you are legitimately adopting. What they don't know is that perseverance is my middle name.
Life in General:
Holley Kate has had a stomach virus this past week. Again with the not fun. She seems to be getting better slowly. Gatorade and soda crackers have been our friend. School work has been minimal, at best, this week. Calvin has used this to his advantage. What he didn't realize is that I would have lots of time to spend with him doing English. :0)
Oh and one more thing. Even though we haven't "matched" with our little boy in Hong Kong we have already picked out a name.
We have always given our kids family names. Holley is actually my great great grandmother's maiden name. Kate came from David's grandmother, Mary Kate. Calvin is David's dad and grandaddy's name. Jeffrey is David's middle name as well as his uncle's name.
David and the kids were happy with the name we picked out but I was still struggling with it. And really it was all because both of his names (first and middle) came from David's side of the family. Yes, I am petty like that. However, the other night I stumbled across a book at my house that chronicles the Rushes since the original one (Abraham) came over Germany. Guess what?!! The name that we had picked out is the same name of my great, great, great, great, great Grandaddy Rush. Woo Hoo! I'm happy with it now.
I'm not going to announce the name now. But if you really want to know, my loud mouthed kids will probably tell you. I just want to keep it somewhat under wraps until we are matched.
As always, David and I appreciate your continued prayers. The kids are memorizing Romans 8:28 right now which I believe is very appropriate to put here. It is what I repeat to myself when things seems to not be working out the way I think they should be.
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
