Nothing new to report

Unfortunately we don't have anything new to report right now. We have been on the waiting list for over 2 months now...only 22 more to go (at most)! : )

Our spring break was great! We bought a tent and went camping with some friends from church at a State Park. We had a blast! We are going to do some more camping at the end of March at another State Park. Our son has never been camping before and it was quite an experience for him. Luckily he enjoyed it...Shane and I love to spend time outdoors so this is something that we all enjoy and can do as a family.

Thanks for reading! I will try to update you all more often...

Misty and Shane

Way to help...

Hello everyone! Still no news to report as of yet...still waiting. Please keep us in your prayers, though!

We have created an Online Mall as a fund raiser to help pay for some of the adoption expenses. Any purchases that you make through this online mall will help us raise money. It is very important that you make the purchases THROUGH THIS WEBSITE. There are hundreds of vendors to choose from including Wal-mart, Gap, and Target just to name a few. We will receive a commission (1%-20%) from your purchases. We would greatly appreciate any help!! Thanks in advance! :)

Here is the link. You can also click on the link at the top of the page.

http://visitourmall.com/MistyandShaneAdoption

Update long overdue...

Sorry I have not updated our blog in a while. The holidays have kept us extremely busy. It seems that everyone in our family is moving at the time and we have been helping them out.

Well, we are officially on the waiting list. Now we just wait to hear from Cathwel in Taiwan to let us know when we have a referral. I did attempt to send in the paperwork to USCIS and apparently I misread what the fee will cost and sent them too much money. Instead of contacting us or sending us a refund of the amount we over paid they decided to send the whole packet back to us and to not start processing it. No big deal. I am just thankful we are over the first small hill.

I hope that every one's year is off to a great start!

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!