Many have asked lately for an update.....
If you're familiar with International Adoption, you'll know that it's a lot of "Hurry up and Wait". And, we are at that stage again. We recently had our Home Study completed and approved. And, just this past week, we sent off our I600 (I think it had 14 pages) to the USCIS (United States Center for Immigration Services). The I600 is a Petition to Classify an Orphan as an immediate relative. Part of this process involves getting our Fingerprints done on the Federal level.....but we must wait until the USCIS grants us that appointment and then we can get approval for our I600. We'd appreciate your prayers that our Fingerprint appointment would be set up soon and that this whole paperwork process would continue in an extra timely fashion.
We are working a bit on our ASL (American Sign Language) and will begin taking a class in January. It's a slow progress, but we are making some steps forward. Please pray that the ASL we are learning and the ASL that our son knows will have more in common than not in common. As in any language, there are many dialects to ASL.
Later this week, our Social Worker will be traveling to Ethiopia to do some face to face work for a few of her cases. She will be ironing out some details in our case in the area of finances. There is a lot of background to our upcoming adoption involving different agencies and a lot of history (much too complicated to explain here.....). Would you please pray for her trip to be productive on all levels and that our case and others (who have been stuck for a while) would make great strides in bringing Children home?
Another part of her trip will be telling our Son that he HAS a family! She will be taking a few things from us to give him - and that small package will include a letter and a picture of our Family. Please pray for him as he receives this package and news. We have been told by other adoptive families that he is eager for a family and has been waiting for a very, very long time. Please pray for excitement at this long awaited answer - but also peace as it means MAJOR life change for him and probably a lot of anxiety and fears.
Finally - continue to pray for Ethiopia. In addition to major political upheaval lately, there is also a lot of insecurity in other areas. Our recent Ethiopia update from Compassion states that 10.2 million Ethiopians urgently need food assistance; 6 million children are currently at risk of hunger, disease and lack of water because of the recent drought and 458,000 children are expected to be treated for severe malnutrition in 2016, up from the usual 250,000 annually. It is a Country that needs help and prayers......and as you go about your Thanksgiving and Christmas shopping, eating and celebrating.....please remember how blessed we are in this Country. If you have that one person on your list that you never know what to buy for - please consider this: https://www.compassion.com/charitable-gift-catalog.htm
Thanks for your continued prayers - Thanks Be to God for His Gifts!
If you're familiar with International Adoption, you'll know that it's a lot of "Hurry up and Wait". And, we are at that stage again. We recently had our Home Study completed and approved. And, just this past week, we sent off our I600 (I think it had 14 pages) to the USCIS (United States Center for Immigration Services). The I600 is a Petition to Classify an Orphan as an immediate relative. Part of this process involves getting our Fingerprints done on the Federal level.....but we must wait until the USCIS grants us that appointment and then we can get approval for our I600. We'd appreciate your prayers that our Fingerprint appointment would be set up soon and that this whole paperwork process would continue in an extra timely fashion.
We are working a bit on our ASL (American Sign Language) and will begin taking a class in January. It's a slow progress, but we are making some steps forward. Please pray that the ASL we are learning and the ASL that our son knows will have more in common than not in common. As in any language, there are many dialects to ASL.
Later this week, our Social Worker will be traveling to Ethiopia to do some face to face work for a few of her cases. She will be ironing out some details in our case in the area of finances. There is a lot of background to our upcoming adoption involving different agencies and a lot of history (much too complicated to explain here.....). Would you please pray for her trip to be productive on all levels and that our case and others (who have been stuck for a while) would make great strides in bringing Children home?
Another part of her trip will be telling our Son that he HAS a family! She will be taking a few things from us to give him - and that small package will include a letter and a picture of our Family. Please pray for him as he receives this package and news. We have been told by other adoptive families that he is eager for a family and has been waiting for a very, very long time. Please pray for excitement at this long awaited answer - but also peace as it means MAJOR life change for him and probably a lot of anxiety and fears.
Finally - continue to pray for Ethiopia. In addition to major political upheaval lately, there is also a lot of insecurity in other areas. Our recent Ethiopia update from Compassion states that 10.2 million Ethiopians urgently need food assistance; 6 million children are currently at risk of hunger, disease and lack of water because of the recent drought and 458,000 children are expected to be treated for severe malnutrition in 2016, up from the usual 250,000 annually. It is a Country that needs help and prayers......and as you go about your Thanksgiving and Christmas shopping, eating and celebrating.....please remember how blessed we are in this Country. If you have that one person on your list that you never know what to buy for - please consider this: https://www.compassion.com/charitable-gift-catalog.htm
Thanks for your continued prayers - Thanks Be to God for His Gifts!
No comments:
Post a Comment