Dear Anonymous Donor,
Jay found your financial gift on his desk this morning. What a way to start the day! We will never know who left the envelope, but we are forever grateful for you. Thank you for helping us bring our daughter home from Nepal! May you be blessed beyond measure for seeking Him and for living out Psalms 82:3. We can hardly wait to share this part of the story with our little girl!
With All our Love and Thanks,
Brooke & Jay
Monday, November 30, 2009
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Good News! Bad News.
After last week’s rather melancholy tone, we were absolutely shocked to receive 2 envelopes in Saturday’s mail from Homeland Security. We have our fingerprint appointment on December 9! What could have taken 12 weeks “seems” to be moving right along. Of course, once we are fingerprinted, no one knows how long it will take the government to process them and issue this 1 final form we are waiting for. For some, this has only taken 2 weeks. For others, this has been the hold-up. But we are once again hopeful that perhaps we can actually be done with all of our paperwork before the close of 2009 as originally planned. WOW!
Things in Nepal right now have halted, unfortunately. We received an email from our agency this week stating “internal conflicts” within the Ministry of Women and Children. I forwarded our email to friends adopting through a different agency. Their agency says that there has been further corruption in Nepal within the adoption program on behalf of some European and some American adoption agencies. When these issues can be solved is not ours to say. But things have come to a halt. No children are being matched and no travel dates are being issued for those who have already been matched to their children! Please pray, on behalf of the waiting Nepali children and their waiting forever families, that the Ministry in Nepal would be able to weed out the corruption and resume issuing referrals and travel dates in a respectable, honorable, above-reproach manner.
Things in Nepal right now have halted, unfortunately. We received an email from our agency this week stating “internal conflicts” within the Ministry of Women and Children. I forwarded our email to friends adopting through a different agency. Their agency says that there has been further corruption in Nepal within the adoption program on behalf of some European and some American adoption agencies. When these issues can be solved is not ours to say. But things have come to a halt. No children are being matched and no travel dates are being issued for those who have already been matched to their children! Please pray, on behalf of the waiting Nepali children and their waiting forever families, that the Ministry in Nepal would be able to weed out the corruption and resume issuing referrals and travel dates in a respectable, honorable, above-reproach manner.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
12 Weeks Left?
This morning I received a very nice wall post on Facebook from a friend looking for an adoption update. Yes, it's been a while. Sorry for that! As I was typing my reply, I received an update directly from our agency.
Our final homestudy was just sent to USCIS yesterday. It was in my head that it had been sent 2 weeks ago when we received our official copy of the home study. But alas, it is still in the mail to DC. And much to my disappointment, we have been informed that it may take up to 12 weeks to be processed, approved and for us to receive that final document we need for our dossier. For those of you looking at your calendars, that would put us back to early February! Oh my! We had hoped to send our complete dossier to Nepal after the first of the year. And now it looks like we could be 2+ months later than hoped.
On the positive side, it does give us more time to fundraise. Gifts have been slow going lately but we're confident that our God will provide.
Please pray that we could receive our approval and final document, as well as the last $2800 we need for our dossier to be finished. And I'm praying to have it before the end of the year, but I know that it's all in His timing, not mine. But "He is able, more than able, to do much more than I could ever dream!"
Updates on the unrest in Nepal? I'm not sure. It's been a busy couple of weeks in our household and I haven't been to the Nepali news websites in a while. Any other adoptive families out there following the news?
Blessings to you all! More updates as they become available, but I guess it might be quite a while before we hear anything (sigh).
Our final homestudy was just sent to USCIS yesterday. It was in my head that it had been sent 2 weeks ago when we received our official copy of the home study. But alas, it is still in the mail to DC. And much to my disappointment, we have been informed that it may take up to 12 weeks to be processed, approved and for us to receive that final document we need for our dossier. For those of you looking at your calendars, that would put us back to early February! Oh my! We had hoped to send our complete dossier to Nepal after the first of the year. And now it looks like we could be 2+ months later than hoped.
On the positive side, it does give us more time to fundraise. Gifts have been slow going lately but we're confident that our God will provide.
Please pray that we could receive our approval and final document, as well as the last $2800 we need for our dossier to be finished. And I'm praying to have it before the end of the year, but I know that it's all in His timing, not mine. But "He is able, more than able, to do much more than I could ever dream!"
Updates on the unrest in Nepal? I'm not sure. It's been a busy couple of weeks in our household and I haven't been to the Nepali news websites in a while. Any other adoptive families out there following the news?
Blessings to you all! More updates as they become available, but I guess it might be quite a while before we hear anything (sigh).
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Unrest in Nepal
Things don't sound great in Nepal right now. There has been much protesting by the Maoist Party and threatening to blockade the entire Kathmandu Valley. Visit www.ekantipur.com for details on what is happening in detail.
This does not bode well for those of us adopting from Nepal, but we pray for a peaceful end to these protests. And in the midst of this, we receive an email from our case worker at our agency:
Dear Friends,
We have received several inquires about the activities recently happening in Nepal. As many of you have read on online newspapers and Nepal Adoption blogs, the Maoist political party has taken to the streets again, for what they call “peaceful” protests. When these types of events happen it is common that the government offices will close down for the day, and this has happened during this time as well. These activities have been happening over the last week. We understand that this is not the news from Nepal you would like to hear, but we strongly believe that the protests are not an indication that the adoption process will come to a halt or be affected in any negative way.
Many agencies in the US are currently awaiting referrals. We have hopeful that we will receive our first referrals by mid November for two families whose dossiers were submitted to the Ministry in the Spring.
Louise
So, please join us in praying for peace in Nepal and that the Nepali children can come home to their forever families across the globe!
In personal adoption news, our certified, notarized, official home study is here, actually in my possession! Three additional copies are on their way to our agency for our dossier and one more copy for the USCIS. That means we should be expecting our invitation to Omaha for our fingerprints. How long will this take? We don't know. For friends of ours, this process delayed their dossier and set them back on their agency's list. But once our fingerprints are processed, we will receive the 1 final piece of documentation for our dossier. We'll be done! Then the real waiting begins.
This does not bode well for those of us adopting from Nepal, but we pray for a peaceful end to these protests. And in the midst of this, we receive an email from our case worker at our agency:
Dear Friends,
We have received several inquires about the activities recently happening in Nepal. As many of you have read on online newspapers and Nepal Adoption blogs, the Maoist political party has taken to the streets again, for what they call “peaceful” protests. When these types of events happen it is common that the government offices will close down for the day, and this has happened during this time as well. These activities have been happening over the last week. We understand that this is not the news from Nepal you would like to hear, but we strongly believe that the protests are not an indication that the adoption process will come to a halt or be affected in any negative way.
Many agencies in the US are currently awaiting referrals. We have hopeful that we will receive our first referrals by mid November for two families whose dossiers were submitted to the Ministry in the Spring.
Louise
So, please join us in praying for peace in Nepal and that the Nepali children can come home to their forever families across the globe!
In personal adoption news, our certified, notarized, official home study is here, actually in my possession! Three additional copies are on their way to our agency for our dossier and one more copy for the USCIS. That means we should be expecting our invitation to Omaha for our fingerprints. How long will this take? We don't know. For friends of ours, this process delayed their dossier and set them back on their agency's list. But once our fingerprints are processed, we will receive the 1 final piece of documentation for our dossier. We'll be done! Then the real waiting begins.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
What's in our Dossier -- Part 3
Here we are with the last of our dossier! Okay, it isn't quite the last because we are still awaiting our I-171H form and need to be invited to Omaha for the finger printing appointment for that form to be issued. But this is the last of the bulk mailings we have for the dossier. Included in this mailing were:
- 10 passport size pictures of each adopting parent
- 2 Employment and Educational History Forms
- 2 copies of our home study agency license
- 2 copies of our home study agency non-profit certificate: the 501(C)3
- 2 copies of our home study social worker’s license or credentials
- 2 photocopies of the photo ID/signature page of our passport for each applicant
- 2 sets (12 in each set) of photographs of our home and exterior views from our home.
The home study just needs 2 sections rewritten, but should be on it's way to our agency by now. And thanks to donations by friends and family, that $300 we were waiting on for the Home Study Review Fee ($600 total) has been sent to our agency. God just showed up and dropped these gifts in our lap. Thanks to those of you who have answered the call and served us! We are completely humbled by His provision through your support!
With the dossier almost done, we are trying to raise funds for the Completion of Documents Fee. This fee is $4000 and you can see our ticker at the top of our blog on where we are. We keep receiving little checks here and there and the ticker is creeping forward. Wow! Yes, even a little bit helps! Please be in prayer for these finances. I am still praying that we can remain debt free through 2009. If we can accomplish this phase of fundraising, we will move onto phase 2 which will be an additional $7000 that will be due in January as our paperwork goes overseas!
We hope to hear of news of referrals going out for families on the waiting list. Our agency is confident that the families going before us should be receiving news of their children soon!
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Anxious
Philippians 4:6
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
This week I’ve been worrying about how we’re going to handle the finances of our adoption. Yes, we know we probably won’t be able to raise all the cash we need to bring our daughter home, but I was hoping to split the total cost into thirds: Raise 10K from family/friends, Spend 10K of our own/loan, and receive 10K in grants (which are hard to come by). Wishful thinking, I know.
Our home study is still being reviewed by our agency and it seems to be taking a long time. They said it would take about a week, but we’re past 2 already. I called the agency to see if the financing is holding us up and they insist it is not. They know full well that we’re trying to raise money this year. I’ve been so concerned over the $4K Completion of Documents Fee that won’t be too far off on the calendar that this $600 fee due now for the Home Study Review totally slipped my mind. Thus, came my worries.
So, I’ve been disappointed all week and we’ve talked about just going to the bank and starting the home equity loan 3 months before what we had hoped and planned. But my prayers were answered in the form of multiple donations that arrived this week. While it doesn’t add up to the total we’ll need, we're over half way there to the $600. God totally amazed me. Just when I was about to take things back into my grimy little hands, He reigns down and reminds us that He is in control and He will be faithful to complete the dream that He gave us in the first place. He told me through 3 generous families that He will provide for us. I'm not going to the bank any time soon and I'm not anxious about it in the least!
We’re still praying about the remaining $300 due now and the $4K that will be due at end November or December. But I’ll package those worries in a beautifully wrapped box and place it at the foot of the Cross. I can’t handle it but God can!
I’m basking in His goodness and it feels great!
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
This week I’ve been worrying about how we’re going to handle the finances of our adoption. Yes, we know we probably won’t be able to raise all the cash we need to bring our daughter home, but I was hoping to split the total cost into thirds: Raise 10K from family/friends, Spend 10K of our own/loan, and receive 10K in grants (which are hard to come by). Wishful thinking, I know.
Our home study is still being reviewed by our agency and it seems to be taking a long time. They said it would take about a week, but we’re past 2 already. I called the agency to see if the financing is holding us up and they insist it is not. They know full well that we’re trying to raise money this year. I’ve been so concerned over the $4K Completion of Documents Fee that won’t be too far off on the calendar that this $600 fee due now for the Home Study Review totally slipped my mind. Thus, came my worries.
So, I’ve been disappointed all week and we’ve talked about just going to the bank and starting the home equity loan 3 months before what we had hoped and planned. But my prayers were answered in the form of multiple donations that arrived this week. While it doesn’t add up to the total we’ll need, we're over half way there to the $600. God totally amazed me. Just when I was about to take things back into my grimy little hands, He reigns down and reminds us that He is in control and He will be faithful to complete the dream that He gave us in the first place. He told me through 3 generous families that He will provide for us. I'm not going to the bank any time soon and I'm not anxious about it in the least!
We’re still praying about the remaining $300 due now and the $4K that will be due at end November or December. But I’ll package those worries in a beautifully wrapped box and place it at the foot of the Cross. I can’t handle it but God can!
I’m basking in His goodness and it feels great!
Saturday, October 3, 2009
What's in our Dossier -- Part 2
Here we are again with another milestone -- the second shipment of paperwork to our agency! This is the second of three mailings we’ll complete and it is comprised of Certified Documents. We had to provide:
· 2 copies of birth certificates for both Jay and I
· 2 copies of birth certificates for both boys
· 2 copies of our marriage license
These all had to be certified copies, not photocopies, and with recent issue dates stamped on them so that they don’t “expire” before being sent to Nepal. This isn’t really a huge feat in and of itself, but the cost of ordering multiple copies of all this stuff added up. Your gifts and donations helped cover these expenses and help keep us debt free to date!
You may recall that in our first mailing last month, we were missing 2 key Notarized Documents for our dossier. Thankfully the first document has now arrived and was also included in today’s shipment. That included:
· 2 copies of our Nebraska State background check for both Jay and I
· 2 copies of birth certificates for both Jay and I
· 2 copies of birth certificates for both boys
· 2 copies of our marriage license
These all had to be certified copies, not photocopies, and with recent issue dates stamped on them so that they don’t “expire” before being sent to Nepal. This isn’t really a huge feat in and of itself, but the cost of ordering multiple copies of all this stuff added up. Your gifts and donations helped cover these expenses and help keep us debt free to date!
You may recall that in our first mailing last month, we were missing 2 key Notarized Documents for our dossier. Thankfully the first document has now arrived and was also included in today’s shipment. That included:
· 2 copies of our Nebraska State background check for both Jay and I
Our home study is done too! We've seen the rough draft and our agency should be approving it this week. Then we can have that notarized and added to our dossier as well.
Next we move onto section 3 of 3. I have most of these documents done but am waiting to receive Jay's renewed passport. We also expect to be invited (yes, you read that correctly) to Omaha to have our fingerprints taken for our Federal file. When those are taken, we will be issued our I-171H form and we’ll be done with the dossier! We hope these final things will be received within 4 to 6 weeks.
Urgent Prayer Request
Friends you may have read this on Facebook. When our paperwork is done, we will owe the next payment to our agency. The amount due will be $4000. Right now, we have a commitment from a family member to cover a quarter of that cost. Would you please join us in prayer that we will continue to receive financial support from friends and family who have received our support letter? I truly believe that with God’s provision, we can finish 2009 without taking on any loans. Please pray specifically for the $3000 that we’ll need in the next 6 weeks or so.
Shortly following that, there will be an even larger payment due to Nepal as our paperwork goes overseas in December or January. But we’ll take things one step at a time.
Urgent Prayer Request
Friends you may have read this on Facebook. When our paperwork is done, we will owe the next payment to our agency. The amount due will be $4000. Right now, we have a commitment from a family member to cover a quarter of that cost. Would you please join us in prayer that we will continue to receive financial support from friends and family who have received our support letter? I truly believe that with God’s provision, we can finish 2009 without taking on any loans. Please pray specifically for the $3000 that we’ll need in the next 6 weeks or so.
Shortly following that, there will be an even larger payment due to Nepal as our paperwork goes overseas in December or January. But we’ll take things one step at a time.
If you would like to be a part of the journey, donations are being accepted at our agency! Please mail a check payable to La Vida International along with a note stating it is for the Jay & Brooke Collins adoption from Nepal to:
La Vida International
150 S. Warner Rd. Ste. 144
King of Prussia, PA 19406
Thank you for your continued support! More updates to come as we finish this final section of our dossier.
Thank you for your continued support! More updates to come as we finish this final section of our dossier.
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