Adoption Moment - What is a Home Study?

Educational Adoption Moment #1 So, you may be asking, what exactly is involved in the international adoption process (I believe that Domestic Adoptions are pretty similar too.) Well, let us share the process in a nutshell: Research Countries / Programs (We needed to find a country that allowed for one divorce, older parents, not a super long wait until the child came home, not huge in-country stays for both parents, find a country that allows the adoption of the age range of child you are interested in adopting, one that was financially feasible, etc.) Research what Adoption Agencies work in those countries that we had interest in. Then Research each Agency. Read their reviews. Speak with families that have worked with the Agencies. Dive into their processes, support, fee structure, relationships in country, children available through that agency, etc. Send out for the Agencies Adoption materials. Meet with the Agency Coordinators either in person, on the phone or via email. Pray. Sign the application to commit to work with the Agency. Start the Paper Chase - This is when us Adoptive Parents say that we are 'Paper Pregnant!!' Ahhhhhhh and now the beloved paperwork starts. If only every person that got pregnant had to go through these next steps, it would sure change our world! So, what is a Home Study??? A Home Study is a HUGE packet of paperwork that basically exposes every little thing about your background to your agency & your child's country. SO, if you think that 'what you did in your 20s doesn't matter................' Not so much! It does, and it matters a lot! First things first, we meet with our Social Worker at our home, she asks us a lot of questions about us, why adoption, how we parent, what our family dynamic is, how we plan to take care of a child. She looks through our home to be sure it is suited for a child, that it is safe. (Truly that part was a breeze, usually the visit by your SW isn't as bad as many fret about.) Here is the paperwork we are collecting for our Home Study: Individual Fact Sheet, Photo of Adoptive Parents, 2011 Taxes, Guidelines Written by Family (5 page list of questions to answer about your upbringing, past, feelings about a million things, why you want to adopt, any issues you have, any medications you are on or have been on, etc.) Permission to Release Information, Legal Names Forms, A Copy of Any Arrest Records you have had / Court Documents / Certified Copy of Proof fines were paid and community service was completed, 4 Reference Letters, Medical Insurance Coverage Proof, Physician's Report (you must get a physical from your primary Doctor and they fill out a fact sheet on your health), Certified Copies of your Birth Certificates, Certified Copies of your Marriage Certificate, Certified Copies of the Divorce Decree, Attitude Toward Disabilities & Behaviors, 10 Hours of Approved Adoption Training, Addresses since 18, Background Checks in each State you have ever lived in (Colorado, Nebraska, North Dakota, Texas, WI and MN for us) plus a Background Check from the Department of Homeland Security. Yowza! The good news, you don't have to be perfect to adopt = thank goodness (because we are not, have not been, perfect), but you do however need to pretty darn awesome..........and thank goodness we ARE just that! :)

Daddy's Birth Certificate

Check! Today we visited the County office in Maple Grove and scored a copy of Daddy's Birth Certificate for the Home Study and our Dossier. Each day we are working towards bringing you home sweet baby girl!

Chasing Paper

Every day we are checking things off our paper list. :)

Today's tasks: *Send out Mommy's old Passport so she can get a new one with her new'ish' name! FELLERMAN! Must do that. *Get certified copies of our Marriage License. *Get certified copies of Daddy's Birth Certificate.

Zahria's Clothes

Ahhhh SO many memories! This afternoon we brought out all of Zahria's old clothes... my heart. Why is it that clothes bring back so many memories? It was so crazy to look at some of those outfits and think that she fit in them....Z was such a little peanut, even at 1 year. Zahria helped us go through her old clothes, we had a donate pile and a, save for Julieth, pile. It is going to be so fun to see Julieth in Zahria's old clothes. SISTERS!

Paperwork & Football

Go Team Fellerman!! Today Daddy, Z and Uncle Greg headed up to Duluth to watch Alex, Chris' oldest son (#74), play football. Alex attends Crown College in the Cities and plays ball. So fun! Here is a pic of Devon (18), Alex (22), Nate (14) and Ben (15.....16 in 2 days!)

I, on the other hand, stayed back to tackle what is left of our HomeStudy. :) KTIS playing in the background, coffee in my hand and Julieth Paperwork spread all over our desk. Perfection! Can I just say that I am one lucky lady!! My husband is SUCH an amazing friend, husband & daddy! I am not really sure there are many men out there, at least not enough, that would offer to take the little one to a football game, 3 hours away, and let their wife stay back to have a quiet day to get things in order back home. I am so blessed! Julieth, your Daddy Rocks!

Julieth in Her Piggies

Oh my word, today, while we were in class, we got the BEST email ever! Updated pics of our little bean, Julieth, in our email box. She had piggies in! Our hearts sored! 3 new pics of her. So stoic. So beautiful. Thick pursed lips. Big brown eyes. Dark brown hair. Chubby cheeks. Piggies in her hair. Oddly, she looks so similar to Z. Two girls from opposite sides of the earth, and they look so similar. LOVE this!

SOLD

Wednesday we recieved an offer on our flip home in Zimmerman and today.......we finalized it!! Our first flip is on its' way to closing. So exciting! Although the dollars aren't as great as we had hoped, this sale will help us with fund most of our journey to Julieth! Feeling so blessed, over and over and over and over :)

Background Checks..... Check

Holy Man, you have to be squeaky clean to adopt! For anyone that might think that adoption is an easy alternative, it is nothing of the sort. They make sure and double sure and triple sure that all parents are fit to parent! Today we sent off our fingerprints for background checks in Texas, Wisconsin, Colorado, Nebraska, North Dakota and Minnesota. Holy WOW, that is a lot of searching into our backgrounds. They require that we get a background check in every state that we have lived in since we were 18. Good thing it is only every state and not every county, we would be SO in trouble then. :)

Offer!!

Woop Woop - We got an offer on our flip today!!!!

Fingerprints - Check

Every day we move closer and closer to bringing you home. Working hard on getting our Home Study done! :) Yesterday we visited the County to gather important paperwork and get our fingerprints taken, times two, for our Adam Walsh background checks and our DHS (Department of Homeland Security) checks too. Jumping through the hoops baby.

Our First Open House at Zimmerman

Hello Sweet Baby Bean. We continue to plan for you, and dream about you, every day. Today we held our first open house at our flip home in Zimmerman, the sale of this home will help us travel to Colombia to bring you home! We are praying for a speedy sale! Your sister Zahria was there with us today, getting the home ready to sparkle!

18-24 Years of Addresses - Seriously?

Holy Man, today's feat was uncovering every address that we have ever had, (apartment #s, counties and length of time at each), since we were 18! Do you realize how many places that is? In college alone we must have 15 different addresses in that 5 year period. This is a crazy feat, but we can do it, we can do it, we can do it. I, Christy, went through all of my old credit reports and pulled my addresses. Yes, I am kind of a saver of that kind of information. Weird maybe, but it comes in handy sometimes. Note: right now! Chris, no Chris is not a saver, instead, he is the personality that just throws credit reports in trash with little regard to all of that personal information that lurks on those pages. Chris instead, goes on line and googles, and finds the most amazing website www.intelius.com and for $1.95 he had all of his addresses that he had ever lived at. Ok, so maybe that was pretty smart on his part!! ;) On to the next piece of paper. Tomorrow, off to Anoka County for fingerprints, copies of birth certificates, etc.

Bean's First Baby Blanket

What a fun Mommy Zahria date we had! About a month ago, Z and I went to JoAnne Fabrics and picked out our favorite fabrics for a blanket for her little sister. Z specifically picked out the cupcakes, it was very important that we had those cupcakes in the baby's blanket....so, we designed the blanket around the cupcakes and it is going to turn out just great! Mommy then picked a couple faves too! It is going to be a comfy soft blankie, perfect for Bean to cuddle up in for years to come. Auntie Becky is going to make our Bean her first baby blanket, just like she did for Zahria. Z still snuggles in her blanket every night when we rock-a-bye and when she goes to bed.

Totally a 'God Thing'

Let's go back a bit to July 19th, 2012. This is one of the major days that changed all of our futures!! I mean REALLY changed our futures!! :) That night, we met with some past clients of ours at their home in Big Lake......the focus of the meeting was to discuss the idea of partnering up to start investing in distressed properties, rehab them, bringing them back to their glory days, and then resell them for a profit. Here is the total God part, Chris and I have dreamed about this opportunity together, but pre-this meeting with Andy & Candy, it was just not a reality for us financially. This is one of those amazing times when you see God truly does LOVE big prayers! He knew that adoption was on our hearts, and He knew that we were totally unsure of how, and when, and where, an adoption could even be a possibility for us. Over the past 2 years we had dicussed our family on several levels, and we both felt lead to international adoption, but financially, we were not yet ready, or able, to make those commitments. And then, seemingly out of nowhere, God presents this AMAZING opportunity to us. It is like He said, 'Trust in me. In Me, anything is possible. Just have Faith! I put adoption in your hearts for a BIG reason, because that is the plan that I have for you, and your family. Do not worry about anything, I am bigger than you can even imagine. Continue to move forward in Faith and I will provide for you.' And He has! Out of (what seemed to be) nowhere, we are presented this amazing opportunity, to team up to start flipping homes. I mean, who does that happen to? It happens to US, a couple with a dream in our hearts, but not enough money to make it a reality....at least not until July 19th! :) Needless to say, we have been SO incredibly blessed by Andy & Candy's invitation to us to partner up with them in this exciting venture! Since that day, we found, and closed on the purchase of our first 'flip home.' Check out some of the before and after pics. So fun! Our prayer is that the sale of this home will pay for our adoption costs to our daughter!! :) August 17th we closed on this home and for the last month and a half we have been working on our updates. Today we listed the home! Good Luck to us!!

Colombian Coffee at Dunn Brothers

Tonight Chris gave me the green light to take our Home Study packet to Dunn Brothers... Ohhh what could be better than quiet, coffee & making progress to bring our baby home??!!! So, as I was grabbing my Latte, I looked over and what to my wondering eyes would appear but Colombian Beans! And so it is, our baby is our Colombian Bean now!