Progress Report

I haven't posted an update in awhile and wanted to let you all know where we are in the process. We're very close to having all of our paperwork turned in for our homestudy. We should have it all together to turn in at our final adoption class in Roanoke on Tuesday. That feels good, our final adoption class! Marty and I have enjoyed these Tuesday night dates. We've been so busy that it's nice to have a set time to "catch up" and make sure we're on the same page with what's going on not just in the adoption, but with our lives in general.

We mailed out a package on Friday to the Sec of State's office for apostilles. An apostille is a notary of the notary, so to speak. They verify that the notary we used is in fact licensed in the state of Virginia. That package has our commitment documents for Joseph and they should be in EE by the end of this week. This is the document that states our intent to adopt and that we are COMING!

I'm going to start working on our next HUGE fundraiser on Monday. I'm hoping this will be something the whole community can be involved in. More on that Monday. We're wrapping up the Mother's Day "Gift"Away tonight and I can't wait to draw the winners and announce them here. We have been overwhelmed by the number of people who have graciously contributed, shared, and prayed. We're still looking to make our $1000 goal by the end of the day. Please consider helping. We're getting close to the half way mark with our funding.

The next step and how you can be praying.

First, we need our homestudy to be finished. We're hoping by the end of this month. We'll have 2 more interviews. One at the social workers office and one here in our home.

Second, we'll be sending the written homestudy along with our application to the USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) to be approved to adopt internationally. This process can take 2 weeks to 2 months. Obviously, we'd like you to pray for the quicker timing, but more importantly for God's perfect timing.

Third, I have one piece of paperwork that is alluding me and I need some people to pray that I will get that taken care of this week! Pray for favor!

Fourth, pray that we'll find a great location to host our big fundraiser in June and that we'll get lots of support from the local community.

Last, but certainly not least, continue to pray for our boys, Joseph and Samuel. Pray that their care will be in compassionate hands. Pray that they will stay healthy and that they will somehow know that we are coming. Pray for our hearts to be at peace in the waiting.

Thank you for following our journey and for letting me share my heart.

Don't forget to Do Something this week to advance the Kingdom for God's glory!

Hidden in Christ,
Mandy