Adopting Sophie Grace

We’re still waiting to get all of the paperwork we need back from various state governments so that we can submit it all to the Federal government.  It’s frustrating to wait for bureaucracy to do its job, but at least we know that every day is one day closer to bringing Sophie home. In the meantime, we’ve been talking to local adoption groups about helping other prospective adoptive parents to understand the process, or other post-adoptive families manage the adjustments.

It’s been enlightening (and sad) learning just how much need there is out there locally, nationally and internationally with children in institutions and foster care.  We’re blessed to have adopted twice and to be adopting again, but there are millions more children in need of a home – millions who will go to be tonight without Mommy’s kiss – millions who will not get a hug from daddy today.  If you’ve ever thought of possibly maybe thinking about adopting, you really should grasp that thought and act on it.  Talk to local agencies about foster care or adoption.  If you have any questions at all, we’d be happy to talk about the ups and downs as well.

There are no words for it. We’re parents again, sort of.  Our daughter is not 9 months away, but rather 7,000 miles away.

We got our pre-approval from China today.  It’s the first of several governmental approvals, but it is by far the most important.  Today is a joyous day!  We have the approval and Sophie is a huge step closer to coming home.  Today is also frustrating, because our little girl is 7,000 miles away and we can’t go to pick her up yet.

Thus begins the process of gathering the other 50% of the paperwork and the other 90% of the funds to bring her home.

We know that it will happen. Several people have asked how we know, so let me tell you. We believe that God wants us to help this orphan and be her forever family, and that where he leads, he provides.  We have prayed about this and talked with plenty of others about it.  Everything seemed to point in this direction — even the people who said we were nuts to do this said it was the right thing to do.  Through the process, we know that both friends and strangers are praying for us.  We are encouraged by people all the time, and we have the opportunity to encourage others simply be being part of the adoptive community.  The prospect of another little girl in the house is just amazing. The process in itself is a wonderful thing, even if it’s bureaucratic and long.

For those who are not aware of the special needs program in China (like I was a few months ago), here’s how it goes…

1. China lists a number of children with various special needs (almost always some medical issue – many fairly minor like Sophie who just has slow growth) with various agencies.  Each agency gets a few children to list for a few months.
2. You choose a child to apply for and an agency to apply through.
3. You get approved by the agency and begin your home study.
4. You begin gathering what will become a hill of paperwork documenting everything from where you were born to how healthy your dog is (I’m serious).
5. You send a “Letter Of Intent” (LOI) to China with some of these documents.  This is your first application to the Chinese government and the first they know of you.
6. China agrees that you should adopt this child.
7. Happy dance.
8. You finish your home study – if it’s not already done.
9. You gather up all of your supporting paperwork, and staple more paper to it with official signatures of a notary, the county government, the state government, the US government and the Chinese consulate.
10. You apply to USCIS (US Immigration) to get the immigration paperwork for your new child.
11. While you’re waiting, you can send care packages and pictures to your child to help bridge the distance.
12. You get fingerprinted and checked over by Uncle Sam.
13. After 2 or 3 months, USCIS says OK.
14. Happy dance part 2.
15. You send this pile of papers to China where they burn it to heat a small city.  OK, really they review it carefully over a few months and give final approval to travel to pick up your child.
16. Happy dance while packing.
17. Fly around the world.
18. Gotcha Day – you have now added a new day to your yearly calendar of birthdays and anniversaries to celebrate!
19. Happy, tired dance.
20. A little more paperwork for good measure and you bring your child home!

So here we are doing the happy dance tonight and looking toward the future with a certain hope.

UPDATE Jan 20: Pampered Chef fund raiser is extended by 4 days, so place your order today…

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The fund raising is beginning to kick into high gear. We’ve got a Pampered Chef fund raiser going now.  Our Pampered Chef rep, Leigh says…

1. This month’s Pampered Chef guest special is awesome….Spend $60 or more and receive a FREE serving spatula. Choose either the mini serving spatula, large serving spatula, or the slice n serve.
2. To place on line orders through my personal website. Just go to www.pamperedchef.biz/leighreed and click on SHOP ON LINE at the bottom left hand corner of the screen.  Enter “Russ and Lynn Broomell” as the host and enjoy shopping.  This is a cool feature for those of you that have out of town family and friends. Their products will get shipped to them if their home town is not local.
3. You and your friends can pay by check, cash or credit card for the Pampered Chef orders Make checks payable to Leigh Reed.  Yes…we do pay tax and shipping on these items.
4. All orders will be due on line or to Russ and Lynn Broomell on January 21st.

We earn money from every purchase and there is also a 50/50 drawing going on.

This is just one of many fund raisers we’re working on.  Soon to come, t-shirts, coffee and more gifts.  Of course, you can always donate any amount using the “Donate Now” button on the right hand side of the page.  That will send you to PayPal who handles the transaction.

If you have other fundraising ideas, please feel free to contact us or leave a comment on this page.

Our friends Cynthia and Adam are raffling off a camera – a really nice one.  Take a minute to visit their blog and chip in a few dollars to help them bring Asher home!

Here’s the link to their site (will open a new window).

We’ve been through this twice before, but we tend to forget how frustrating the paperwork part of an adoption is.  Our agency went back and forth with us several times, and we sent in another pile of paperwork before they felt that our paperwork was polished enough to present to the Chinese government. Thankfully it’s all via email, or our FedEx bill would be in the hundreds like it was in the last two adoptions.

Well, at least it’s finally in the hands of people who can make a decision (the first of two).

Please pray!