On to the Twin Cities

I haven't posted the last few weeks because there hasn't been much to post about :). We've laid low the last 2 weeks, working from home and working on the home. The slower pace has been such a blessing - time to rest and be home in the evenings before the busyness of the fall. The ball starts rolling tomorrow. We head to the Twin Cities with our team. We have a training time on Monday and Tuesday with other staff from the region, and then we have our adoption class on Thursday and Friday. I want to try to walk people through this process of adoption with us. My hope and prayer is that as the Lord used someone else's story of adoption to call us to adopt, he'll use our story of adoption to call someone else to adopt as well. The more we're in it and learning about it, the more I feel the weight of the need. So maybe through our story, the Lord will capture the hearts of others... :) Here's what we've done so far so you can get an idea of what the initial process is like (and this can vary depending on the agency):

• Requested official application (sent with small fee).
• Filled out the application (again this can have other names), but this was the BIG application - sending copies of birth certificates/marriage certificate, signed (and notaried) documents to release court and police records for each county we lived in in the last 10 years, questionnaire about us and where we live/lived, fingerprints, copy of our income tax, employment history, 3 references... that's all I can think of at the moment - it was a lot of paperwork but manageable. They send a checklist so you can help keep track of what's done and what isn't. This was also sent with a little bit larger fee (I mention the fees so you have an idea of the increments of payment - due gradually throughout the adoption and not all at once).
• Now we have our adoption class this week. I'm looking forward to it - the topics look very helpful - hearing from birth mothers, adopted kids, parents that have adopted, cross-cultural parenting, 2 info. sessions regarding different countries for international adoption, and time in a small group with others who are at the class. And with this our home study fee is due. A home study (at least what I know before actually doing it) is meeting with a social worker twice - and I'm sure other things - and the social worker puts together a file about you along with the paperwork you had sent, and this is called a dossier (again, what I think I know before actually doing it).

So that's what we've got so far. We'll continue to let you in on the process. Love the Joneses