God's doing, not ours!!

Wow, what a week!! Last Friday we finally got our documents back from NJ and the receipt said they were apostilled and the certification wasn't all that clear. After talking to three different people who could not tell us if NJ has generic certifications or if we needed to have them redone, we decided to mail them back with specific instruction to Authenticate them so they will be accepted! 
I got a call on Tuesday from NJ and the nice lady was a bit confused as to why we sent the documents back because they were the generic NJ certification!! I nicely told her that three different people we talked to didn't know if NJ Authentication and Apostille were the same paper!! She understands China requirements and the papers we had had some staple holes and that is not acceptable. So for no charge she re printed the certifications for us to be neat and clean copies!! We just received them back in the mail today and they look wonderful! On top of that, we didn't have to pay the extra charge for having them "done right" because they already were what we needed.
Praising God that this all happened the way it did, because the nice lady was pretty sure the certifications might be rejected on the grounds of the extra staple holes! In thinking it was done wrong, it just saved us having to get it redone anyhow and taking more time on account of a few holes in the paper! God is so good!! 

Another wonderful thing that happened this week was the completion of our T-shirt fund raiser!! Thank you to everyone who bought a shirt!! They will be arriving soon and you can wear them and continue to pray for those children who do not have a family and those families who are desiring to have children and their journeys to find each other.

I know there are some people who are uncomfortable with the idea of raising funds for an adoption and asking people to donate towards it. I have been doing some research on it and found that the average birth of a child in a hospital without complications of any kind can easily run to $22,000 and if you have insurance coverage you thankfully only have to pay $8,000 of that cost. If the birth is complicated or a c-section it is easily an additional $10,000! I wish there was some type of insurance to help us out with adoption costs. As you can see from our spending chart to the right, most of our costs are in three parts. The first part is to our Agency who guides us through this complicated process, the second part is all the government fees to make sure we are who we say we are and that we are meeting the requirements set by the Country we want to adopt from, and lastly our travel costs. We are not "buying a child" as some people think of Adoption. We are compiling our portfolio and assuring the Country that we are able to care for one of their orphans and traveling to go get her! The costs of birthing a child in a hospital and adopting a child domestically or from another country are pretty similar! In our case, we want a child who is already born and in need of parents. Why should that be any different or looked down upon?

There are also 3 types of support: Prayer warriors, Financial helpers, and People of action. Not everyone can adopt, but everyone can pray, some can help financially and others can do things that help the adopting family (meals when the child first comes home, help with fix-it jobs, run errands, be a helping hand in any way needed). Every part of the body of Christ has significance and meaning. We appreciate ALL of you!

We have been continuing to do a lot of research on adopting the older child. These older children are often overlooked because they are older and many people just don't want to have to deal with the trauma and issues that come from dealing with their past. We have been praying that Joy will look forward to having a family and will understand that we want to be her family. We are praying that we will be prepared to meet her needs as she heals from any trauma she may have. There are so many unknowns, yet there are some things that we are learning are common for all children who are adopted. We are trusting that God will equip us for every need and if we can't handle something, he will show us those who can!

Please, continue to pray for us. God has truly been with us these past 4 months as we journey through the process. We still have a long way to go, but our part of paper collecting is almost done. Hopefully by mid May all of our documents will be on their way to China. Then the long waiting begins! 

Psalm 134

¹ Praise the Lord, all you servants of the Lord
    who minister by night in the house of the Lord.
² Lift up your hands in the sanctuary
    and praise the Lord.

³ May the Lord bless you from Zion,
    he who is the Maker of heaven and earth.

Bumps in the road

It seems like the very moment everything is going smoothly, something happens to interrupt my timing. But it never interrupts God's timing. We did receive our documents back from NJ. BUT, they were done wrong and so the long weeks of waiting to save a few dollars has become spending more money to expedite them to have them done correctly. I thought it was clear that documents for China have to be authenticated and not Apostille because even though China is a Hague country, they do not accept the Apostille on documents. SOOOOO.... back the documents go via FedEx this time and with the expedite fee. 
It was not a nice feeling to finally get the documents back only to find out they were not done right! I just have to keep breathing and know that it is all in God's timing. We still need to send our I-800a approval letter to Dover to be Authenticated, so it will only delay us a few days getting the documents to DC and the Chinese Embassy. 
In some ways I wish there was a master list detailed as to what documents need what stamps of approval and where to send and when.... but as different as each state, country and even adoption agency are there are as many lists and requirements to make anyone just a little nutty. 
We are so thankful for our comrades on Facebook where there is a wealth of encouragement, ideas, info, and quick answers to questions every day! This is a journey that is only beginning. The "birthing" pains and stresses are leading us to our knees to continually seek out God's will and help. We are still finding blessings every day! 

We are so thankful for each and every one of you who is holding us up in prayer. We need it!! We are hoping to have our documents to China by mid May. Then it is about a 4 month time frame to travel from that date!!!! This summer is going to go by so fast and so slow at the same time.

I'll leave you with one of my favorite songs. :)

"Give me your eyes" by Brandon Heath

One wait done.... another to come!

We got our I-800a approval!!!! Basically, this is the approval that states that we are able to adopt from a foreign country!! We are now able to proceed with getting our documents together and sending them to China!!! 

Right now, we are still waiting for our marriage license and Jolene's Birth Certificate to be authenticated and sent to us from NJ. The wait time has been a staggering 4 weeks and possibly 2 more!! We got our documents from DE and PA in less than 4 days total. I have no idea why it takes so long in NJ! Well, I do have a hint, if we paid $20 per document plus the expedite fee of $15 and the cost of sending them FedEx to and from, we could have had them in a week or two... Ridiculous is what I say! So, $12 for regular post and a wait time of 4-6 weeks, or $70 and a return time of 2 weeks.... Yeah, crazy! We still have to pay that much and more to get the Chinese Embassy stamp of approval.

We didn't have to do any of that or pay anywhere near those costs for our other documents with PA or DE. 

We have already sent 10 of our documents to DC for the US and Chinese Embassy stamps and they will be sent to our agency to be logged into the system and once all the components are together, the whole package will be sent to China!!

While we were waiting for our immigrations approval we went as a family on a backpacking trip to PA with some friends! We hiked 11 miles along the Mason Dixon Trail by the Susquehanna River and enjoyed some great views of the river and the Dam. We had beautiful weather over the weekend and enjoyed getting out into nature. 

We even got to see a bald eagle and it's nest with eaglets in it! So beautiful!! 


This whole process has so many ups and downs emotionally, but God has really been opening doors left and right down to each detail of what is needed each and every day. We are amazed.


We are so blessed by the outpouring of prayer and support. It is amazing! Thank you to everyone who has bought a shirt and or donated funds and Prayed!! Our shirt fund raiser is just about over! If you were considering buying a shirt there are only 5 days left!! So get your t-shirt now!


 We will continue to update as we journey through this huge change to our family. Each day we are reminded that we are God's children and he has everything in His control. Please continue to pray that we would continually rely on Him for every need. It is very easy to fall into doing it on our own and stressing out!

This song has been going through my mind all week and I feel it is so relevant!

1. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! 
 O what a foretaste of glory divine! 
 Heir of salvation, purchase of God, 
 born of his Spirit, washed in his blood. 
Refrain:
 This is my story, this is my song, 
 praising my Savior all the day long; 
 this is my story, this is my song, 
 praising my Savior all the day long. 

2. Perfect submission, perfect delight, 
 visions of rapture now burst on my sight; 
 angels descending bring from above 
 echoes of mercy, whispers of love. 
 (Refrain) 

3. Perfect submission, all is at rest; 
 I in my Savior am happy and blessed, 
 watching and waiting, looking above, 
 filled with his goodness, lost in his love. 
 (Refrain) 

You can listen to it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtbN5N8I8Hk

God is Good all the time and all the time God is Good!

We have received almost all of our documents back with their Authentications except the marriage license and my Birth Certificate (sent them to NJ!!). Praying that they are returned soon with the necessary authentications!!
We are still waiting on our I-800a approval. We have our biometrics (finger printing) on Friday and hopefully everything will match up and we can get our approval letter by the end of April! 

As soon as we have all our documents we can send them off to DC for the US and Chinese Consulate stamps of approval. Then we can send our Dossier to China (DTC)! We are praying for  DTC by mid May Lord willing! 
We are continuing to fund raise. Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who have already bought t-shirts and/or given us money! We only have 19 days left to reach and exceed our goal of 150 shirts! We can sell 500 if we wanted! Share with your friends and family and neighbors. It really is a message of family. https://www.booster.com/joy-adoption-journey

Along the fundraising topic, we just got approved by connected hearts ministry to run a two week fund raising event. We will be listed on their web site in late summer just before we travel. So we will let you all know when you can donate towards our travel costs. The great thing about this ministry is that ALL Donations are tax deductible and we receive 100% of all donations! Check out the web site and share. We will let you know when our story is on the site! 

 In prayer group today I was blessed with this Psalm and want to share with you today.

Psalm 28

¹ To you, Lord, I call;
    you are my Rock,
    do not turn a deaf ear to me.
For if you remain silent,
    I will be like those who go down to the pit.
² Hear my cry for mercy
    as I call to you for help,
as I lift up my hands
    toward your Most Holy Place.

³ Do not drag me away with the wicked,
    with those who do evil,
who speak cordially with their neighbors
    but harbor malice in their hearts.
⁴ Repay them for their deeds
    and for their evil work;
repay them for what their hands have done
    and bring back on them what they deserve.

⁵ Because they have no regard for the deeds of the Lord
    and what his hands have done,
he will tear them down
    and never build them up again.

⁶ Praise be to the Lord,
    for he has heard my cry for mercy.
⁷ The Lord is my strength and my shield;
    my heart trusts in him, and he helps me.
My heart leaps for joy,
    and with my song I praise him.

⁸ The Lord is the strength of his people,
    a fortress of salvation for his anointed one.
⁹ Save your people and bless your inheritance;
    be their shepherd and carry them forever.

God hears us when we cry out to him. He is our Shepherd forever. How blessed we are to be his Children. Praying God's blessings on you today. 

Blessings overflow

The past 2 days have been a whirlwind! I sent out our 12 documents for our dossier to the state to be authenticated. It was nerve wracking to let those original documents go and trust in the mail system! God will watch over even our documents! As we wait for our USCIS approval letter (which will have to be sent out for authentication as well, but we will rush that one document) we have tried to do other steps in the process to try to speed things up. 

God has been overflowing our cup of blessings. I am in AWE of His love and grace! Our process is moving along at such a fast pace! Also, friends of ours who are ahead of us by a couple months in their own adoption journey have just received their Letter of Acceptance (LOA) and will be able to travel to get their daughter in the next 8-10 weeks!! Seeing how God is working in the lives of friends on their journey is just opening my eyes to how big and awesome God is. He has planned each of our lives in detail even before the world was created. Isn't it amazing??

We have two fund raiser events happening now! Joel and I spent hours creating an original design for our t-shirt sale! https://www.booster.com/joy-adoption-journey Order your shirt today and help us reach and exceed our goal! The more shirts we sell, the more we raise from each shirt sale! Only available until April 27th!!

This design speaks about adoption as caring for the orphan. It also speaks about our life as adopted sons and daughters of God. We look forward to the day we are taken home to be with Him! I am thankful that He is working in us daily!

Our second fund raiser for the next two weeks is an online Origami Owl Jewelry Party. My friend Judy is hosting an online party and all proceeds are going towards our adoption funding! Party open until April 14th.

Log on to http://jharrison.origamiowl.com/ When you enter your mailing address and payment information at check out, be sure to enter your Jewelry Bar Code: JudySpringer234048 to have your order count towards her party!

Check out Origami Owl's new Spring line and looks! Every person has a story. What is yours? Tell it with jewelry! Charms, Lockets, Tags, Dangles and more to tell your story with beautiful style!

We have truly been blessed. As we fund raise we are also applying for grants. We still have yet to hear from any of them in regard to approvals, but we are trusting that God will provide the perfect amount needed to cover any expenses we may have throughout this journey. He has provided so much already. 

Philippians 4:4-9

⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! ⁵ Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. ⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
⁸ Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. ⁹ Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Thank you 100x over for your faithful prayer support!! We are so thankful. 

 

 

God is so Good!

While we wait to hear news on our I-800a Immigration approval we are not twiddling our thumbs! We will be sending off our Dossier documents to get authenticated at the state level. This could take days in itself. The documents from out of state, like our birth certificates, marriage license and employment letter all have to be sent out ahead of time to cut down on the wait times. Then, when we get our Immigrations approval letter, we can send that with our other Delaware state documents to get authenticated. 
The whole adoption process and the steps to getting all the right notarization, authentication and approvals is enough to make anyone nutty! Don't get me started on telling you about staples!! (what ever you do, DO NOT REMOVE staples.) sigh. So, yes, timing and waiting can come down to a little piece of metal being removed. So we are very thankful to be part of the Adoption community on Facebook where we can learn from each other and get the needed support and encouragement. And, find out what not to do!
The reason this process can be so crazy, is because there is not just one set list that everyone can follow. Each state has their own requirements, each agency has their own requirements, and each country you adopt from has their own set of requirements! It is a wonder that children find families to call their own! I do believe that more families would adopt if it were not so expensive and time consuming to collect all the necessary documents. 
In some ways the whole process is feeling like being pregnant for the first time. We do what we need to at each appointment, yet we really don't know what to expect as each month goes on. We have some information to go on, but really, we are flying blindly at times! It is even worse in some ways, because we already know who we want to bring home and all this paperwork and red tape is taking way too long to get stamps of approval! Through it all, thankfully, we have a sense of peace. God is with us. All is in His timing. He will get us through this and be with us every step of the way. 

While we wait for our next step (US authentication and China Consulate Authentications, then Dossier to China), I have been working tirelessly (ok, maybe exhausted is more like it!) on filling out Grant applications. 
For those of you holding us up in prayer. Please pray that we would qualify and receive some Grant money to help us cover some of the costs. These Organizations work hard to raise money to help families who are adopting. If you want to give a Tax Deductible donation to these Foundations it would be a blessing! We are not guaranteed a grant approval even though it has taken at least 3 hours time to fill out each form and collect the information requested. We are just blessed to know that there are Foundations out there that are making it possible for families to adopt! 

Here is a little bit of an update for our family:
Jessica is playing soccer with the local Christian School. We are so blessed to be able to home school and still be involved in sports! Jessica is in 8th grade and playing on the Varsity team. I am so proud of her! Their first game was played yesterday. They played the whole game without either team scoring but lost in overtime. For a young team they did really well! It was only 34 degrees out and freezing to sit and watch. I am looking forward to normal warm weather soon! 

Jared has been doing really well playing bass guitar (self taught) with the weekly youth group band. He loves his music! He plans to play soccer in the Fall with the boys soccer team. We look forward to that. He is finishing up his 9th grade year and is a stellar student and computer techie. (He takes after his father!)

Joel has been working with his new employer for over a year now and has been doing really well. He is enjoying his work and making great advances for the company. After 5 months out of work last year, God has really been blessing us with steady work this past year! Joel still enjoys his computer games in his time off and will soon start up trail riding once the weather warms up. There are local trails he bikes and leads an outing group from our church. Anyone can join the rides. 

I am continuing to fill out paper work and keep everything on task for this adoption, but when I am not doing that I play volleyball with local adult leagues to stay active. I have actually read two books in the past month which is saying something.... lol! I rarely have time to read books, but occasionally splurge on a good sci fi or fantasy novel! :) I continue to have Origami Owl parties when they are scheduled, but am thankful for the flexibility the business gives me so it is not too overwhelming.

Praying you all are blessed and praising God in your Day.

The Waiting Game

After 7 weeks of collecting documents and waiting on the completion of our Home Study, we are finally ready to send our USCIS Immigration application!! This process has had so many stresses and blessings. When we are weak, God is strong.

Update on what steps are next:

USCIS Application - 35-45 days to wait for approval letter.

While waiting for the approval letter we can get all our documents for the dossier authenticated. 

Once we get USCIS approval we can send that letter off for authentication and then send our Dossier to China! Once the Dossier is in China we have a 4-6 months wait for all the approvals. 

During this time we are fund raising for the $6,000 required donation to the orphanage, and our travel funds which will range from 10,000 - 16,000. We are praying that all 4 of us will be able to travel. 

Please continue to pray for Joy. She will not know a family is rushing to her for many more months. Pray that she will not be discouraged as she sees so many of the little ones in the orphanage be adopted and taken away. As she is getting older she may be resigned to aging out. We pray for her to have hope, that she will have a forever family to call her own. We are gathering items to make a care package that we hope to send as soon as we are allowed. It is so hard to wait, and yet, all is in God's timing.

Fund Raiser:

Origami Owl Fund Raiser to help raise the needed funds for the orphanage donation and travel costs: Origami Owl Custom Jewelry is truly one of a kind and a fantastic way to tell your story with lockets and charms!! Go to jharrison.origamiowl.com to order directly from my site and put JoleneHarrison199395 in the jewelry bar code box so it counts toward our fund raiser! Mother's day is coming up! Shop now just for her!! FOR EVERY $120+ ORDER I WILL SEND YOU A FREE TAG "FAMILY"! Help us in our Adoption Journey!
NEW spring items are here!! Check out the website for brand new charms, lockets and earrings!!

 

 

Upcoming Fund Raiser:
Custom T-shirts! Bondfire funds is a web site set up to create custom T-shirts for all types of fund raisers. Portions of the cost are sent directly to our Agency to help with adoption costs. Wear your shirt to raise awareness for adoption and to be reminded of the life you helped bring home! We will need to sell 50 shirts minimum for the order to be made. So be ready when we design our t-shirt and let you know when they are available!! Possible design idea:

God has been so good to us! I am so thankful for all the support you have been in prayer and encouragement and funds! We are awed by this whole process. Money has been available to us just when we need it for various fees and costs. It is just amazing to experience! Almost like the manna that was provided for the Israelites in the Old Testament. God gave them what they needed for each day and anything that was left over would spoil. He is providing exactly what we need for each step of this journey! 

Exodus 16:13-21

"That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. ¹⁴ When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor. ¹⁵ When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was.
Moses said to them, “It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat. ¹⁶ This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Everyone is to gather as much as they need. Take an omer^[a] for each person you have in your tent.’”
¹⁷ The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. ¹⁸ And when they measured it by the omer, the one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little. Everyone had gathered just as much as they needed.
¹⁹ Then Moses said to them, “No one is to keep any of it until morning.”
²⁰ However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them.
²¹ Each morning everyone gathered as much as they needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away."