Wish you where here "C"

dear C,
i love this shirt mommy found for me...it says, "wish you were here!"  that couldn't be any more true!  i can't wait for you to come home...i ask mommy and daddy about you all of the time and i just know that even when we don't get along, it's going to be wonderful having a little sister!  i love you little sister!
love,
your big sister Allie

Picture book...

I had posted that we were supposed to make a photo book for C that would be sent to her orphanage and the nannies would begin getting her familiar with our home and family.  We ended up making a hard covered photo book through Shutterfly and it turned out A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!  I originally wanted to make a board book and although I think that would have been nice, we had too many pictures to fit in a board book.  In the end, the book had about 20 pages and was filled with pictures of Cory, Allie, and me, pictures of all of the rooms of our house with descriptions of what we do in each room, the outside of our house, the backyard, and a prayer for C.  It's our hope that this book will help C (since she'll probably have 4-5 months to look at it) with her transition into our family.

We are also going to buy a Hallmark recordable book and bring it with us when we go to some required toddler adoption classes next weekend at CHSFS.  We are hoping and praying that CHSFS will send it to C's orphanage (we aren't allowed to have contact until we go to India) for us so that she can also hear our voices.

If anyone has any other ideas of things we can do to ease C's transition into our home, please feel free to share!

We hope everyone is surviving the heat!  I've been wanting to take pictures for the past 2 weeks, but the humidity is so high that my camera lens fogs over!!!

Scrapbooking

I took Allie to daycare today (I don't do that much during the summer) so that I could work on her scrapbook.  I'm on her 3rd scrapbook (although I have a few things to do in both of her first two books still) and I LOVE looking through the pages and remembering all of the moments...her first minutes with us, her birthmom coming to visit, her first steps, first birthday, favorite summer memories, holidays, and so much more.  Allie also loves to look at her books and asks me to tell her a story about the pages...I hope she cherishes these books as she gets older and knows how much love went into them.
I know I write this every year, but I'm going to miss her so much when school starts!!!

Dossier

Just received an e-mail from CHSFS to tell us that our dossier is being FedEx'ed to C's orphanage today!!! Every little step just brings us closer to bringing C home!

Update on "C"

We received an update on "C" last night and it felt amazing to hear how she's doing, her interests, and how much she's grown!  There weren't any new pictures, but we're okay with that.  We really wanted to know how she's doing and it sounds like she's a sweet little girl who is very active (sounds A LOT like someone else we know around here!)!!!  She's going to fit in perfectly!
Have a great rest of the week everyone!!!

I800 & I864

We had a little hiccup last week with our paperwork.  It seems that something wasn't listed on the I800A approval that needed to be and so we had to contact the USCIS and then have our homestudy amended.  The USCIS then had to reissue the I800A approval and it came back yesterday...thank God!  On Monday, CHSFS will submit our I800 and I864.  It's all in God's hands now!

Where we are at with waiting for "C"...

Here an update on our adoption now that our I800A approval came back!

1.  CHSFS will now submit our I800 application packet to NBC Hauge Unit (3 weeks)
2.  CHSFS will submit our dossier and DS-230 to "C's" orphanage
3.  Orphanage will receive our dossier
4.  NBC Provisional Approval, CHSFS will notify orphanage
5.  Orphanage sends DS-230 with a visa photo to the U.S. Embassy
6.  Orphanage sends dossier copy to CARA for issuance of NOC (No Objection Certificate) (1-2 months)
7.  U.S. Embassy in New Delhi issues Article 5 letter to CARA for issuance of NOC (3 weeks)
8.  CARA issues NOC and our case is filed in Family Court
9.  The Family Court will hold 3/4 hearings before verbal guardianship is granted (2 months)
10.  2 weeks after verbal guardianship, the orphanage will receive written court order
11.  Orphanage applies for and receives "C's" Indian passport.  We can now make our travel plans!
12.  We arrive at the Orphanage to receive "C" and fly to New Delhi to complete our visa process

Our trip to India will probably be a two week stay and we are told that we should not plan on a certain time frame or month that we will be traveling in.  With international adoptions, things happen that are out of our control.  An estimate for the process is 4-7 months.  We are hoping that we are, of course, on the shorter side of the spectrum but we are trying to give the process over to God and have faith in him.

I800A approval!

We have it!  It came today and we are beyond excited to be able to now send our documents to India!  We now feel one step closer to our beautiful little "C"!
On Tuesday we will be heading to the cities to get our documents apostilled and delivered to CHSFS...after that the rest is in Gods hands!

Clean up time!

A really bad storm/tornado went through my hometown and the surrounding towns and many of my friends and family have tons of damage.  They are all safe and no one was hurt and after seeing the damage with my own eyes tonight I have to believe that God was definitely watching over everyone!  My prayers go out to the hundreds of families who will now have to begin cleaning up from the storm.  We plan on heading back to my parents' house tomorrow morning to begin the clean up process.

I want to make this!

I sure wish my husband was handier because he would surely be making this for me!  I love it so much that I think I might have to take a stab at it!  What do you think...isn't it adorable?!

I like this one too!

Prayers answered!

According to the Secretary of States Office website, the office is to remain open throughout the Minnesota shutdown!  Which means that (hopefully) our journey to C won't be slowed due to the shutdown!  I'm so excited and now we're just waiting for our USCIS approval!!!  Thank you so much for your prayers!!!