Yahoo!!!!!!

As of this very moment, our payment and packet are in the mail on their way to the agency so we will be placed on the waiting list!!!
We were put back for a few days once again because the wrong photo album was sent to us. We re-ordered it and we didn't get it until after Thanksgiving.

Thanks to everyone for your prayers and of course to the couples who provided us with a reference for the home study. We will continue to need your support throughout this whole process.

Now it's time to...........WAIT!

Finally moving forward!

Well, we are just one day from sending in the preliminary package to Commonwealth to be put on the waiting list! I created our photo album through the kodak website and the album should be delivered tomorrow!

While we are on the waiting list, the next step is to apply to US CIS. We will fill out an I-600A form and pay yet another fee. This is what the Commonwealth website states:

1. After you submit your I-600A and fee they will wait for your home study and then send your fingerprint appointment. Get your fingerprints taken as directed in the US CIS letter. The fingerprint results will automatically go to US CIS.

2. US CIS will mail to you pre-approval to adopt an orphan from overseas. It’s called an I-171H and is a one page white letter. Your I-171H from US CIS is very important. We will send it to the country from which you are adopting along with your Home Study as part of your Dossier.

Uplifting Experience

Still no change with the job situation, but we did find a way to come up with the money! Yay! I'll let you know when we are 'officially' on the waiting list.

We had a really uplifting, reassuring experience today. We attended an Adoption Fair at Dell that promoted their adoption benefits to their employees. They reimburse their employees for some of the adoption expenses, however, since Shane is only a Dell contract employee we do not qualify. BUT, we did get to listen to some great adoption stories from people that have adopted both domestically and internationally. At least 2 speakers that we know of went through our adoption agency (Commonwealth) with a positive experience. That's reassurance in itself. We have had a good experience with them so far but a positive testimony just brings more reassurance.

The key speaker of the adoption discussion was none other than our social worker that performed our home study! Coincidence? I think not. Out of all the social workers in Austin it just happened to be her. And another irony is that this is Dell's first EVER adoption fair...which happened to be held in the same building that Shane works in. And anyone that knows Dell, knows there are tons of buildings! I really think we were meant to be there. Especially with all the doubt that has gone through my head lately and the stumbling blocks that have been placed before us.

There was also discussion about domestic adoption through the state of Texas. I was sure to gather some information about that too because domestic adoption has also been put on our heart. Maybe sometime in the future... : )

Another Setback

We are back to square one again. When Shane was hired to work at Dell he signed a No Compete Clause that includes several businesses that he is not allowed to be employeed with due to competition reasons. Circuit City is one of those businesses.

It just occured to me that this journey has taken us down a long, WINDING road. This is just another curve. But we will keep praying and relying on God to guide us!

Job Search Update

Great news! It seems that Circuit City is going to hire Shane and his orientation is this Sunday at 1:00 pm. Still no word about his schedule but I'm sure he will find out on Sunday.

As soon as we get this squared away we will work on getting the money to be put on the waiting list! : )

Please keep us in your prayers!

Prayer Request

As some of you know Shane has been on the lookout for a 2nd job to pay for the upcoming adoption expenses. Our priorities as a family are to be active in our church and to have at least one family day a week so we chose for him not to work on Sundays. It seems that most employers - retail employers - are not interested if you are not willing to work on weekends.

Well, on Friday we got a call from Circuit City and they are interested in interviewing Shane. His interview is set for tomorrow (Sunday) at 8:00 am. I thought that was an odd time for an interview but Shane understood that it was a group interview.

So we have 2 prayer requests:

1.) They will be willing to work with Shane on having Sunday's off
2.) For strength as we are going through a financial hardship right now. Please pray that we hear God's guidance and that we will have strength to lean on Him and know that He will provide.

Thanks everyone!

Program Info

There are several different programs that are offered for Taiwan adoptions with the differences being:

1.) Your child being in an orphanage vs a foster home
2.) Price
3.) Referral time : Referral, in adoption language, means the child (or children) referred to you for adoption.
4.) Age of available children

I'm sure there are more but these are the most important ones in my opinion.

Orphanage vs foster home:
Program A (which is our program) involves children who are in an orphanage (Cathwel Service: http://www.cs.org.tw/en/03.htm).

Price:
Well, we won't go there. We'll just say that we are paying about as much as we paid for our car.
But I will say that we are going with one of the cheaper programs.

Referral time:
When we first started the process 8 months ago we were told that the referral time after we are put on the waiting list would be about 9 months. Now the wait time is 18-24 months. That's just the time it is taking to be referred a child. That is not counting the addtional 5 months after the referral to wait to travel to Taiwan to pick up the child. Our stay in Taiwan will only be 3-6 days. One great advantage with Taiwan is that the birth mother/family will choose who the adoptive parents will be. We put together a photo album of our family and the birth mother will consider that - along with our home study* information - when making her decision.
*Home study: A Home Study is conducted by a licensed Social Worker under the aegis of an agency in the state where the prospective parent(s) reside.

Age of available children:
Boys and girls 6 months to 12 years of age. We do not have a preference on the sex of the child - they are all so precious! The average age the baby will be when he/she comes home is 9 months (for an infant).

We are not yet on the waiting list but will be soon I hope. With that being said our child may not be home for another couple of years or more. Please pray for our patience!

Guess I will start here

Hi!

We are Shane and Misty of Austin, TX. For those of you who don't know us we have been married for 11 years this past June and have a wonderful 6 year old (bio) son named Jeffrey. And if you must know, I am 31 years young and Shane is 33. : )



We are currently in the paperwork stage to adopt from Taiwan (boy or girl). Only God knows how we were fortunate to get to this point in our life and 10 years ago I would've never guessed that we would have this oppourtunity. And to tell the truth, it still does not seem real some days...like I'm in a dream world.

We are a bit slower than most people in this adoption process. We sent in the initial application to our agency (Commonwealth) about 8 months ago and just finished our home study about 3 weeks ago. We are in the process of getting some funds together to pay a fee before we can get placed on the waiting list. I think we have finally found a way to produce the money we need for now. We have a few more details to add to the birth mother letter and photo album.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read our story and I will get some pics and more information up soon.

Shane and Misty