New Word--Dossier

It came in the mail on Friday, July 9, 2010. Our packet. A packet full of documents and a checklist of 22 items--most of which require other people/organizations in order to complete them. All of them need multiple signatures, notarizing and state/federal seals. This is going to be an adventure in patience for sure! But we are ready. We are excited. We know that He who has directed us in this endeavor will be faithful.

Here are the stats:

Our adoption agency: Hand in Hand International Adoptions
www.hihiadopt.org

Timeline: This is a hard one to predict, but I will give it a shot.

1. Complete this packet of 22 items which includes our home study--4-6 months

2. Submit our completed dossier (dos-ee-ay), the 22 items in the packet, to our agency along with a LOT of money. The dossier will be translated into French and sent to the Haitian government.

3. Wait for a match to whatever children God has waiting for us. This should only take 30-60 days!!

4. After we accept the match (2 or more children is likely since we are willing to take a sibling group), we will need to wire the remaining money to the Haitian government for them to process our adoption.

5. WAIT AND WAIT for travel dates once our file makes it through several offices of the Haitian gov't. This is where we are praying for God's favor and speed! This was known to take 1 or 2 YEARS prior to the earthquake. Our agency is quoting 12-18 months. We don't really know the state of things as far as adoption processing is concerned since the earthquake.

6. Buy airline tickets and travel to pick up our children! We should probably only need to be gone about a week. If our waiting time (above in #5) is going longer than expected, we may go and visit/meet our children during that time. Many families do that so that the relationship can begin to grow.

Here are the financials for those of you who have asked:

• Home study--about $2200
• Agency fee--$9,500
• Country and Orphanage Fees--$11,000 per child (for us this will be $22,000-33,000) and there is no reduction of the fee for multiple children. And just to clarify--we are not buying a child! That is illegal! All of this fee goes to the various government agencies that need to review our dossier, approve our family, prove that the children in the orphanage are truly orphans, and finalize all the steps of our adoption. Part of this fee also goes to the particular orphanage where our children are to help with their care.
  

I don't know yet where all of this money will be coming from. It's going to be a step by step process, that's for sure! One HUGE praise is that we received our first donation which will cover our Home Study!! We have it sitting in a savings account waiting for Home Study time. In the meantime, I am on the lookout for creative ways to raise money. At this point, our first fundraiser will be next month in the form of a garage sale (much to my husband's chagrin!). If you are local and would like to donate any items you have laying around, we will take them! Also, if anyone has a great idea for another fundraiser, let me know~

We would covet your prayers, and we thank you for all your encouragement!!