update

I600A resent with proper amount of money. signed and notarized a bunch of documents. notary wrote wrong date on several and those need to be redone. Will have to try and get those done again asap. and still waiting on the medical forms. then it will be off to be apostilled. Homestudy is almost finished. Need to send payment to them. Then homestudy will join our I600A at immigration services. When I600A is approved we will get a document in the mail, have it notarized and apostilled and then ALL the documents will go to the country of the child's birth.  They will be translated and filed and after that we just wait to hear we are invited to travel. Although it doesn't seem like much is left to do, it is difficult to get everything lined up. In order for the I600A to be approved we will have to get fingerprinted. The place they do that is about 3hours away. the place that does the apostille(sec of state office) is also about 3 hours away. My husband works most days so finding a day when he is able to go somewhere and sign in front of a notary is not easy. finding time to reprint documents is not easy either with all the kids wanting attention and dinner and having appointments, etc. It is much harder this time to get all the documents done. The dossier(group of documents) is an easier list to obtain than it has been in the past but actually getting it done has proved a challenge. But I like a challenge. Onward and upward. forward ho!

paperwork

and more paper work.  I sent the I600A in and it was returned to me because I sent the wrong amount of money. so I have to send that again. I picked up our marriage certs. planning to get the medical tomorrow, try and get the home owner page too. Tuesday we will sign a boatload of papers in front of a notary. Eventually we will be fingerprinted by the government to be sure we have no background in crime. When all our papers are signed notarized and apostilled(state seal) it will finally cross the sea to the far away country where the child we hope to call our own resides.  Adoption is an expensive venture. Raising a child is expensive but you have the cost spread out. Adoption requires a large sum in a short time. I thought I would write down some of the costs involved in international adoption so people can get a better idea why adopters fundraise. Most people don't have the kind of money necessary to adopt just laying around the house. It runs into the tens of thousands.  so here is the breakdown of some of the costs.

I600A  $720
fingerprinting for each adult over 18 in the home(even if not the adopting parent, we have a 19 year old in college still living at home. he will have to be printed also) $85 per person
Homestudy $2000
translation and facilitation in country (not including travel and cab fees or a place to stay) $9500
airfare $4000
Passport for adopted child varies but can be several hundred dollars.

this is just a partial list of costs. there is postage, each document needs to be apostilled by the state and some states charge several dollars PER DOCUMENT! it adds up fast! We are thankful for every penny donation we have gotten or may get in the future. We are already raising kids with special needs so it isn't easy to throw around that kind of money.

Welcome to our place in the sun.

We are already parents of ten but our family is not yet complete. We are working towards adopting a young girl in a country far far away. She has physical limitations and her future in her own country is not bright. Unfortunately if not adopted she will be housed in an institutional setting for the rest of her life. She will not go to school. She will not learn the love of a family. She will not grow up to be a productive member of society. Follow us on our journey. We also have an auction on facebook. Damaris is a name used by the group that identified this child for adoption. Damaris is not her real name. We have not decided on a name for her so we are still referring to her as Damaris online. Our auction is at https://www.facebook.com/bringinghopetodamaris  New items are being added. Adoption is expensive but the rewards are so worth it. How can someone look at a child and say money is more important than you? I can't. We can afford to add another child to our home. We can feed them clothe them access medical care for them. But getting them home is an expensive endevour. We are working hard to raise funds to bring hope to Damaris. Will you help us?   

As our adoption progresses I will update this page with the details. Please check out our facebook page and share it.